Keepin' cool

So...it's been a little hot this week. Yesterday afternoon we played with the kitty pool and garden hose in a shady spot and relaxed with some popsicles:

getting a little toss into the pool :)

Spelunking!

After watching the TV show, Berenstain Bears Lost in a Cave, Anna has been asking and asking, "when can I go spelunking?" Growing up Matt & I had each visited Howe's Caverns in upstate NY a number of times, but we were worried she wasn't quite ready for this type of experience. It includes an hour drive to get there and an hour long tour that you really can't leave - like if you have to go to the bathroom or you feel scared. You're just stuck in the cave for the full hour. So Matt tried to search for a little wild cave near us that he could take her to and let her walk around at her own pace. Matt couldn't find anything like that and she just kept asking. So finally he decided to just take a chance and drive an hour west to skyline caverns, a cave much like Howe's, but near us in Front Royal, VA. Well, it turned out to be a great day!

All week Matt & Anna have been talking about today. Based on her Berenstain Bear's show she had a lot of ideas about how it was going to go. She planned to wear a "spelunking suit" and a hat and carry a backpack with a snack, drink, and flashlight in it. She really did need to pack a "spelunking suit" this morning since it was 100 degrees outside and 54 degrees in the cave. She packed up all her snacks and they made a quick trip to CVS to buy a flashlight to replace the one that broke (after much use getting ready this week).

Matt & Anna arrived at the cave just in time to join a tour. As they were about to walk into the mouth of the cave Anna announced, "This is very exciting!" Anna liked the tour guide, but during the first half of the trip, spent much of her time exploring darker parts of the cave on her own with her flashlight.

There were even some crevices that only Anna was small enough to get into to get a look with her flashlight. Because the lights in the cave were only turned on in the space the tour was currently in, Anna liked to shine her flashlight back to the previous room so she and other people on the tour could look back at the dark spots. On the second half of the tour Matt & Anna stopped several times for snacks from Anna's backpack. During one of these snacks was when they turned off all the lights. Matt thought Anna would be scared, but she loved it and just kept eating her snack. Anna really liked the lakes:

Despite Matt's concerns, Anna walked herself for almost the whole tour and carried her pack the whole way:

I love spelunking!

It was a great day. At dinner she asked if we could find a cave that would be good for Abby to go spelunking. Then as we put Anna to sleep tonight she said, "Can we go spelunking again tomorrow?"

Happy Anniversary!

Matt & I actually celebrate our 7th anniversary a few weeks ago now, but I just got this picture now. We had a fun night going to dinner at a fancy restaurant (2941) that we had been wanting to try for a while. I can't believe it has been 7 years!

snack time!

Often when Abby gets up from her nap, Anna & Abby have a snack together sitting at our dining room table in their seats (high chair for Abby & booster for Anna). Today when it was time for snack Anna announced, "Time for us to sit right next to each other and have a snack together." Then she sat at her little table and told Abby to sit there with her. At first I thought, "Abby is not ready for that." Then I figured why not give it a try. Abby loved it and did great! She actually didn't want to get up when she finished her snack. I think she may actually have been purposely eating her snack slowly to make "snack time" last longer because I've never seen her take so long to eat two animal crackers. Here they are lovin' their new snack routine:

A stay-at-5 birthday?

When I was a little girl my Dad never wanted me and my brothers to get older. At every birthday party he would pretend to prevent us from turning the next age by keeping my mom from putting the last candle onto the cake. Somehow he always failed and pretended to get upset when he counted the candles after we blew them out.

Lately, Anna has had a new interest in how old she needs to be to do different things. She has asked how old she needs to be to go to kindergarten, roller skate, ride a big bike, and get a bunk bed with Abby. For the bunk bed she seems to understand that it is Abby's age that is the limiting factor. This has led to a lot of conversations about how old she will be when Abby is different ages. Sometimes I think she is getting it. Then a few days ago she asked me, "How old will I be when Abby is 5?" I said, "7." She got quite frazzled and said, "No, no, I think I will be 5 too. I'm just going to stay at 5 until Abby is 5. At my birthday I'm not going to turn 7, I'm just going to stay at 5." I tried to explain without much success so I finally just said, "okay," and thought to myself that Grandpa will be quite pleased if the "stay-at-5" party really comes to fruition not just once, but two years in a row.

Raindancer!

A lot of great pictures and videos are taken at planned events - birthday parties, vacations, ect. I thought Friday was going to be one of those days. Anna, Abby, & I went to the mall to get Abby's first haircut. However, with Anna in one chair getting her haircut and Abby on my lap, I just couldn't quite get the "perfect" picture of this momentus occasion:

I sure did try though!

When it was time to leave the mall, it was pouring! And then, the opportunity to take the "perfect" video present itself:

raindancer!

Anna not only made my day, but cheered up a number of passer-bys. One man said to me, "I can't remember at what age rain stopped being 'amazing'"!

adventures with Cheyanne

Even though Corinne ("Cheyanne" - her beach name from ages ago) lives just a few miles away in DC, we usually don't get to see each other on back-to-back days. Except this week we went to a Nats game on Monday and she came to our house for dinner on Tuesday (which was followed by ladies night in Vienna). What a lucky week!

We all remembered to wear red! Go Nats!

Happy 4th of July!

Yesterday we had a barbecue with two families in our neighborhood and did some fireworks and sparklers afterwards. Abby & Anna had a great time at the party and watching the "show."

Happy 4th of July!