Playgrounds!!!

One of my favorite things to do is visit the playground with Mom or Dad (or on a rare occasion, both of them at once!) We are very fortunate to have several playgrounds within walking (or biking) distance, so it never gets stale week to week!

Dad always makes sure to get me to a playground at least one day out of his weekend on Thursday or Friday, and Mom does the same on her weekend on Saturday or Sunday. Weather permitting, I am usually at one or more playgrounds several times a week!


There is one that is really close to our place that we go to a lot for convenience, but it's also a lot of fun! There are little cars to pretend to drive, slides, swings, and lots of dogs walk by with their owners, so I even get to see dogs sometimes!


There is one a little further out near a supermarket that we go to a lot, and at the end of last year, they gutted the whole thing and rebuilt it into a super awesome new playground!



There are different sections geared towards different age groups...and so I get to play on a whole range of things that pique my interest. Sometimes I even push it a little, and go on stuff that's a little "big" for me, but Mom or Dad is always there making sure I don't fall.


Also, during one of the days that Dad and I had to bring our car in to get fixed, we stopped at a playground that was on the way home. It was so much fun, but a bit far away for our tastes, so we didn't go to it very often.


However, during one of our many bike rides, Dad and I rediscovered it because it's located on one of the bike trails that Dad and I like to ride on.


We stop the bike, and take a break for me to play on the slides, go on the seesaw, have lunch, etc...sometimes, I can even convince Dad to go down the slide with me (But strangely, he has no pictures of that....weird, right?)

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There is so much to do, and I love stopping there (I call it "The Blue Slide" playground, for obvious reasons)....the last time we went a few days ago, there was a birthday party going on (Dad had to explain to me why we couldn't partake in their cupcakes with them) so there was a lot of kids running around for me to play with, too.

Hopefully it'll be kind of a mild summer, so we can continue getting outside a few times a week, in addition to all the outside time I get to have at daycare! (Buggy rides!!!)

Gramma Mindy & JustRichy's Spring 2011 Visit!

Some time ago (Right around Easter) Gramma Mindy and JustRichy visited us and we go to do a lot of fun things! We spent a lot of time playing outside on the roof of our building...

JustRichy was kind enough to set up a row of chairs so that I could take part in my very own slalom event...
He got me all ready for the slalom, giving me a bit of a pep talk...he's good at that. he got me allllll full of pep!

Once let loose, I navigated the slalom like a champ! I have gotten much better on my tricycle, but this was definitely an event that helped me get a little better with my balance, and speed. I rode like I'd been riding for years. Back and forth, it was like second nature....

Gramma Mindy and Mom enjoyed watching me ride around, and in general it was a lovely day outside, so we all had a lot of fun!

Sometimes it's a bit of a chore to get me to go outside...but really, once I'm out there, it's nearly impossible to get me back in! :-)

Later, we went out to the mall and ended up having dinner at a pretty nice little Italian restaurant (After a prolonged session of hanging out in front of the Easter Bunny being alternately fascinated and terrified of him) However, it was when Mom, Gramma Mindy and I found


We had a lot of fun riding around the mall on the train, and Dad chased us around to get some pictures...he's hilarious.


At the mall, we also picked up a new chair for me, which I am IN LOVE with...it's soft, yet firm, and not only provides an excellent place to sit and hang out, but is great to climb on...I'm sure that pictures of it will pop up on the blog soon enough!

This last picture makes a nice preview to my next entry...a trip to The Building Museum to visit The Lego Exhibit!!! This is a shot of us standing in front of some lion statues near the Metro...I was a little bugged out by the statues (What? You're not?) but once I started doing my lion impression, I felt a lot more comfortable...we met up with Dad after work, and headed off to the museum....

Monster Bowling

This is a totally random post that I found from many months ago, that I never finished....my second cousin (I think that's how it works) Beth got me this game called Monster Bowling for Christmas. It...is...awesome.

The bowling pins are all little stuffed monsters, as is the bowling ball. You set up the Monsters in the same fashion as you'd set up bowling pins, and then you go ahead, and roll the ball-shaped monster at them in an attempt to knock them over....incredible...


These pictures were back from Christmas 2010 (Yeah...seriously) but they are still just as fun as they were then to look at! I got to play with my Uncle Mat which was super fun.


I still play Monster Bowling, setting the MonsterPins up in our hallway, and rocking out that way...

Though, sometimes, I just like to run and jump on the pins and knock them down that way...

To each his own, I say....

A+ Christmas gift, Second Cousin Beth....

NYC Winter 2011!

In keeping with my theme of "Catching Up", Mom, Dad and I got to go on one final New York City trip for the winter...and it rained the whole time.

This would get many people down, but not us. We still did some exploring of the city in the rain (Though there aren't pictures, as we didn't want to damage the camera) AND I got to play in the hotel room...A LOT.

As you can see from the leading picture, there was a lot of jumping on the bed...

And these two pictures right here, give away one of my favorite hiding places for our game of Hotel Hide and Seek.

Dad let me play with the camera, and I took this dashing self-portrait...

Plus, I also took notes for future endeavors. I like hotel rooms, since they always have pen and paper close by for when one has an idea...lately, I have been having lots of ideas (All of which I tell people about, even when I don't actually have an idea...) so it's always good to be able to jot them down at a moment's notice.

We got dinner from this cool NYC diner downstairs, and we WAY over-ordered, not realizing how big the portions were...no matter, it just meant that Mom and Dad had food for the next day, and also dessert. (Yes...we REALLY over-ordered)

So even when I'm stuck in a hotel room for the majority of a couple days...I will always find ways to have fun, by gum...it's a healthy way to live, really...

Easter 2011!

...Really...


...All I remember about Easter....


...Is that I was given an entire Cadbury Chocolate Egg before my nap...

...there was no nap....dinner was lovely...seeing Gramma Mindy and JustRichy were lovely....

....The rest is a sugar-induced blur...

TODDLER_TOUR_2011_LEG_1_AN_EARLY_EASTER

Jeez...was Easter really, like, almost a month ago? As you can see, it's taken some time to get back into the rhythm of posting blog entries...but let me take you back...

Since Dad had to make a pre-Easter trip to Connecticut, he decided to bring me with him, and make a weekend out of it.

Since it was a few days before Easter, I got to hang out with my Dad's side of the family and do a pre-game type of Easter with them!

Gramma Debbie had an Easter basket waiting for me, and it was wrapped up so nice!!

She helped me unwrap it to get at all the awesome gifts that awaited me inside!!

There was a sweet, fun card for me, some bubbles (which I have been enjoying, by the way...) lots of candy, some plastic Easter Eggs, and even a few bucks to put in my piggy bank!!!

I was so excited about the money, I got down to show Layla some of my haul. She seemed more interested in sniffing at the money than looking at it, but I suppose that's just her way of showing that she's excited about something.

Later in the day, Grandpa took me out to show me the work he was doing on his boat. He hopes to have it all pimped out so that he can take me out fishing on it when I get a little older. I am both excited and terrified at this prospect....

My cousins Braelynn and Nicholas were there (Nick was sleeping, so I don't have any pictures with him, but I did give him lots of kisses when he was in his baby travel bucket)

Braelynn and I got along really well! She had just started walking, so I was chasing her around, and letting her chase me!!

And get a load of that hair...how adorable is this kid? And that's coming from a super-adorable kid....

I even brought her a few toys without being prompted. I showed her how they worked, and we had fun playing together...

Auntie Steph gave me some new clothes (a shirt which I can't get enough of) for Easter, while Uncle Steve and Aunt Amy gave me a Toy Story baseball set....I had to open it immediately, and run outside to play with it! (Somewhere, there's some good video of me whacking Uncle Steve with the bat a few times...)

The set came with several balls, a bat, and a catcher's mitt. I went outside with Gramma Debbie and the kids that lived next door, and played for awhile...it was SOOOOO much fun...

One of the best parts of the weekend, was when Gramma Debbie was feeding me lunch, and she was having a hard time remembering something she had to do...while she was in the midst of searching for the right word, I finished her sentence, and she started cracking up...this got me going, and before long, we were both giggling messes in the kitchen. It was too funny!

Once again, everyone went their separate ways, and we got to chalk up yet another successful trip back to the MotherLand!

I am a Junior Firefighter!!

Last week, I had a very exciting run-in with some fire fighters!

Dad picked me up from daycare, and when he did, there was a fire truck waiting outside. As I am a huge fan of fire trucks, I asked if we could stick around and check it out. Dad obliged, and we got to look at all of the lights and equipment on the truck for a awhile. It was really cool! Dad tried to explain what stuff on the truck did (as far as his limited fire truck knowledge could take him, obviously) and I really enjoyed hanging out.

When it was time to go, we bumped into the fire fighters as they were exiting the building (Luckily, it didn't look like there was a real emergency, which is always nice)

And then, something extraordinary happened...they all stopped to talk to me. I didn't even have to ask! They were all giving me handshakes, and high-fives, and they totally made my day. I told them I really liked their truck, and one of them asked if I could walk back to the truck with them, because they had a present for me!

We got back to the truck, and one of the fire fighters came out with a roll of stickers shaped like badges, and he stuck it on my shirt, making me an honorary Junior Firefighter with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase rescue squad. How amazing is that?! And then to top it all off, he gave me one of the little fire fighter hats that they keep in the truck for just such an occasion. I got to watch the truck drive off, which was really cool since I was so close to it while it drove away...

I was so happy, I couldn't contain myself, and have been wearing the hat pretty much every day (at least once a day) ever since...

In addition, on a side note, I finally got to take home the grass seeds that we have been growing in little cups at daycare....pretty cool, right? It's quite soft, and smells so good...like a fresh Spring day!