Box set

I never really believed those dog trainers who said that puppies actually prefer being in a crate because it makes them feel safe--until we had some boxes in the kitchen on recycle day. The girls came like moths to a flame.

A walk in the park

Here are some photos from today's trip to a really cool 2-acre park in Northern Virginia. I'm feeling more exhausted than witty, so consider this entry to be primarily for the grandparents who just want to look at pictures of the girls -- never mind my clever comments.

The carousel. On the outside looking in.

It was weird riding a carousel without any music. Definitely loses something.

Amalia chasing her big sister.

I'm sure this is how Beethoven got started. Or perhaps Schroeder.

Amalia wanting the globe to spin some more.

Exploring the great Northwest.

An example of something I will never do at my child's birthday party. Yes, I said never.

My bad

I adore Lily, but she is turning out (thus far at least) to be much more girlie than I. So imagine my delight when she came out of her bedroom this morning wearing this very cool outfit:

I needn't have gotten my hopes up. When we got home from dance class it was much warmer outside, so she went upstairs to change out of her jeans. I was greeted with this:

Actually, to be completely accurate, she first came out having changed into the pink polka-dotted skirt with her black t-shirt still on, asking me to help her take her shirt off.

Me: Why do you want to take your shirt off? You can leave it on with your skirt.
Lily: No, I want to wear something prettier.

Sigh.

Girl band

Here's a short montage of our musical evening, complete with storytelling and a standing ovation. Sort of.

You are what you eat

Transcript:

Lily: Hey, your shirt is all green!...Are your ears green?

Amalia: Bo!

My theory is that it's OK to swap spit on popsicles since the frozen surface kills off any germs.

Pool envy

In yet another example of how dogs fall behind children in life's pecking order, the girls took over the pool that we'd originally gotten out to give Blue and Dana long-overdue baths.


The funny thing is that we'd just gotten back from about two hours at a real pool. Our new favorite hangout is an aquatic center that opened near our house a month or so ago. It's really quite spectacular. Below are the artist renderings:
My favorite feature is something you can't see in these pictures: the machine in the locker room that sounds like a jet engine and spins the water out of your bathing suit. (Not while you're still wearing it, of course--though I suppose that could be fun, too.) Andy's favorite thing is that the pool is free for D.C. residents.

And don't worry. The dogs are clean; we used the hose instead.

Trick or treat

I wonder how many ways Amalia will find to torment the dogs over the course of her childhood. (In case the photo is too small, that's a dog treat she has in her mouth.)

Lily's still going through withdrawal

My mother (aka Grandma Carol) visited for a few days, which of course meant Lily's birthday celebration just kept going, and going...

But we also fit in time to save money at Six Flags:

This is how city kids run through the sprinklers.

What the Looney Tunes show lacks in originality, it makes up for in volume.

I stifled my grup tendencies to let Amalia get her groove on.

Three generations. (Notice Amalia not taking her eyes off the costumed creatures. Oh wait, is that the sign for food? I'll bet I didn't notice Amalia was hungry what with all the music and crazy hijinks on stage...)

Can't keep my mother away from cars for long.