Camping

We went camping this weekend for Jay's birthday. I think he really liked getting out in the woods and sleeping again. Jay's brother, Ben, camped with us which was nice because we barely get to see him. Saturday Jay's sister and BIL, Elizabee and John, came out and we all took a hike through some really beautiful areas. On the hike we went through woods and meadows then ended up at a river. We had a campfire that night...hooray for camp fires:-) I did forget to bring the marshmallows and graham crackers, but I don't think anyone noticed.
The poor people in the campground got to find out what it's like to have a baby who doesn't sleep through the night...well sort of- they didn't have to get up and get him, then have him crawl all over them in their sleeping bags. I really hope our next one is a sleeper! If it's not I may not survive the toddler years.

Siblings

Why must they tease?!

Nothin' much

I don't really have anything to post about, but I didn't want the posting Nazis coming after me telling me to update ;-)

So I'll ask a question...What are you doing for Father's day?

Okay I have more questions...
Does anyone else think that Father's Day doesn't seem to get the same attention Mother's Day gets? If so- why do you think that is? I have a couple theories of my own, but I want to hear other people's thoughts.

When will I learn...

that my little Ryan is *not* a spectator? He wants to be in on the action. He can't just stand by and watch while something happens in front of him. He needs to get right in there, no matter what it is. I re-learned this lesson this evening when I tried to water the flowers in the front garden. They were in desperate need of water. I asked Zach if he wanted to help me. So the three of us went out front and I started watering. Ryan was holding on to the hose right near me "helping". I guess he decided that helping was not enough action, so he started trying to touch the water. I managed to keep the stream away from him for a while. I even told Zach that I would have to do the watering until Ryan stopped trying to get in the water because I was afraid he would accidentally get wet. I didn't think it would be that hard to keep a child from getting wet with a hose. He managed to get the back of his head right in the water as I tried to dodge him. I thought "He sure got a shock, that water is cold. He won't try that again." I was wrong. He did it again, and again, and again! I gave up trying to keep him out after the second time he got his head soaked. He didn't seem to mind that the water was freezing, the air was cool and the sun was behind the clouds. I told Zach he could get wet if he wanted to. He went through the stream a couple times. He seemed to think it was fun too. I guess sometimes I'm going to have to let loose a little bit and just have some fun with my kids that doesn't make sense to me. They sure were having a good time and no real harm came from it. They weren't wet for long...as soon as we were done I took off Ryan's wet clothes, got him inside and wrapped him in a towel. He is now in warm jammies and doesn't seem any worse for his cool shower. Zach just changed into dry clothes and went to play with the neighbors.
It's so hard to let them do things like that! I think I might be a little tightly wound!

Memorial Day in Washington DC

Our trip to DC was fun. It was a long day, but it was fun. We started with a walk through an art garden. I just don't get modern art. There were a few things that were cool. A sculpture with spinning cubes and a house that changes perspective although our resident artist, Benjamin, had to ruin it by pointing out that the window sills wouldn't be visible if it was coming toward us;-P It was still cool. The garden was beautiful and the fountain in the middle was pretty too. It had a duck ramp for the ducks to walk up over the wall. Last time I checked ducks could fly, so they really wouldn't have a problem getting over a 1 foot wall into a fountain if the really wanted to. I guess it's really for baby ducks, but it is funny. Then we headed over to the Mall. We went to the Air and Space Museum. Zach wants to explore the universe now. Ryan didn't like the space part as much as he liked pulling his stroller shade down and playing peek-a-boo with me and his Uncle Ben. But he really lit up when we went to the air plane side. "Plane, plane, plane" It was kind of like going down the road next to a forest and Ryan pointing out every tree. He actually seemed excited about each one. He liked reading the letters and numbers on the sides and wings of the planes. Jay got super excited about the air craft carrier model. Maybe one day someone we know who has access to such things could take him to a navy base so he can actually get on a carrier or at least see one up close. I'm really excited about the idea of taking Ryan to an air show now. He was so excited just looking at the planes. Maybe if we are ever in the area we could see a space shuttle launch or land for Zach...this I think is a little less likely, but we can always think about it. We wanted to go to the National Zoo, but it started raining, so we settled for stuffed animals at the Museum of Natural History. We saw the dinosaur wing and the mammal wing. Then we got hungry, so we went to the only other place I know to eat in the Mall...the cafeteria in the American History Museum. It had closed at 4. What's up with that?! So we had a snack to tide us over and then looked at the science area of the museum for Ben. I would have chosen the TV section, but we didn't have time. I also like to look at the old toys, but I end up feeling old because they have toys I played with when I was a kid in there. I'm guessing they now have toys I played with as a teen- Pogo ball, Skip Stick, etc. I wonder if they have Atari and Nintendo 64? I guess we'll have to plan another trip to see because the museums closed and we hit the Metro to go home. It doesn't really sound like a long day, does it? Hmmm...it seemed like it at the time!

Here are some pictures from our day in the capitol.
Washington DC trip