Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 18 Fun with Forts and a visit from the Whites

Mia's growing so fast in so many ways! She loves, loves, loves her baby brother. She wants to play with him, take care of him and even during bedtime when she's trying to put off going to bed, she asks, "Where's my brother? I want to see him!". She has now taken on a new liking to building forts in the living room. Out of the blue the other day, she asked mommy to build one. Later that night we had a great time BBQ-ing with friends Nick, Tammy, Tom, Nate, Brandon, Sarah and Vivian. The kids had fun running around the house and the adults had a chance to catch up- even if we all ate in shifts!

We also had a very nice dinner at Andrew, Claire and Luke's followed by a fun trip to the park until... Mia let go of the swing daddy was pushing her on and she did a black flip and landed with her face in the mulch! For those of us who saw it, it was frightening and it's surprising that she wasn't more badly hurt. But, just like her mommy after one of her clutzy moves, she got right back on a swing only this time, it had a shoulder harness. Ben even attempted to try swinging in the baby swing and had a wonderful time. A few nights later, Luke came over for his first slumber party so that his parents could go out for their anniversary. Luke and Mia had a grand old time and they even included Ben in the fun by singing Ben's name and talking to him. You'll see below that they even built another fort!




Mommy had to go back to work this week and while she was preparing her classroom, Mia and Ben got to stay home with their daddy. [ Daddy talking now -- it was a wee bit overwhelming. Work wanted me and kids needed me. Most of the time I ignored the blackberry, but sometimes it was impossible. Given all that, we had some great times walking around the hood, and playing at the house, getting to know each other. It is a week of "vacation" that I'll look forward to every year.]

In addition to hanging out with daddy, we were fortunate to have Kerry, Laura and Bernadette stay with us while they moved Bernadette into her dorm at Georgetown. Mia and Ben took a liking to the Whites and tried to snuggle and play as often as they could.


Funny stuff: Mia has gotten into jokes. Mommy tries to tell her knock, knock jokes, but she insists on the one about the Texas business man -- one daddy may have have mistakenly told, in a cleaned up version, to her while she was sitting in the potty. Oops. Hey, she likes a good story.

Next week we go back to work, school and hopefully a routine?

Our Generation Vol. 1 No. 17 Fun with Family

We had an awesome visit from the Perrys and Camachos that was fun-filled and jam packed with activity. Mia and Ben were excited to welcome Mark, Michelle and Melia. The girls were a little shy at first but it didn't take long. Melia was kind enough to share her grilled cheese sandwich with Mia and once they ate, they warmed up to each other. Within minutes, they were running circles around the house squealing with delight and needless to say, they were pretty tuckered after that!

The next day, the girls had a great time hanging out with each other while we waited for Abi and Tata to arrive. They played dress up, read books to each other, played with barrettes and even disappeared for a while. (We found them hanging out in mommy and daddy's closet!) Ben enjoyed watching them run around, getting kisses from them and all the extra attention from Mark and Michelle. Abi and Tata finally arrived after a LONG trip involving an airplane, bus, metro, another bus and finally a car ride back to our house. It was so nice to have dinner together and to hang out.


The next day, we decided to go to Brookeside Garden's Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit, an old favorite of ours. Everyone had a great time observing butterflies, watching them land on us and Mia and Melia even got to touch some specimens. We took some photos in the park then headed to lunch to have some papusas... yummy yummy yum!

Abi and Tata took care of the kids while Mark, Michelle, mommy and daddy went to see Phish in concert. Abi and Tata sure had fun making heart pasta for them, doing art projects, playing games, reading and tucking them in to bed. The next day, Abi and Tata joined us at the pool and were able to see Ben and Mia take a dip in the water. After that, they enjoyed giving Ben a bath. Ben loved the attention and had fun splashing and kicking in the water.

After the kids got a good nap, we headed to the Montgomery Country Agricultural Fair with the gang and some extras, Allen and Owen. Mia, Melia and Owen had so much fun checking out the animals, sitting on the John Deere tractors, jumping on the Fire fighter moon bounce and wearing fire hats. Owen and Mia were brave enough to ride the ponies (well, Mia needed to tries to warm up to the large dog sized critters) and the adults were brave enough to have dinner there too! Everyone enjoyed a sweet treat before we left and we all headed home ready for bed!

As if we didn't have enough fun already, the next day we headed up to the Baltimore National Aquarium for a morning visit. Thanks to Abi and Tata, we now have a year membership! We loved walking around and down the big aquarium checking out all the big fish and the sharks! We later went to the Hard Rock cafe for lunch where James Benjamin Brown got his picture taken with Abi in front of James Brown's crushed velvet suit.

We were sad to say goodbye to Abi and Tata but still there was much fun to be had. Daddy got home from work and decided to stir things up in the backyard. He chased the girls, ran around with Ben, kicked the ball around while the girls chased it and everyone giggled and giggled.

Hanging out around the house was sure fun. The girls ate snacks at the "little table" (notice mommy just painted it) and watched movies. Thanks to Uncle Mark, Benjamin found a girlfriend, Kasha Kashka. He also LOVED watching Mark make butterflies, spiders and fireworks with his hands and would stare at him for really long periods of time just smiling away.

We took the kids to the National Building Museum one afternoon. Mia and Melia built towers, an airport, played in a play house and ran around the Building Zone room. After that, the ran around the museum fountain. Little Ben cuddled with Uncle Mark. They sure did bond a lot.

A visit with the Brown's would not be complete without a trip to the local Corner Pub for half-price pizza night. We were all stunned when Mark and Michelle decided after 14 years to eat meat... here they are eating pepperoni pizza (after all, pepperoni is the gateway meat).

We spent our last day together playing around the house. Mommy found some punching balloons for the girls to play with but it ended up being a disaster. Michelle and Mommy overinflated them causing them to each pop after a few minutes of play. Luckily, we found a box turtle to play with.


We had SO much fun with the Perrys and Camachos and we sure do miss them a TON!!!

Next week mommy heads back to work and daddy will stay home with the kids while their daycare is closed for teacher inservice. We also look forward to a visit with with the Whites as Kerry and Laura drop off Bernadette at Georgetown. We sure are happy to have some family out here!