Girls rule

 One of Lily's teachers sent me this picture of Lily and her friends during recess one day last week.

Saturday night we had our neighbor girls over for a sleepover. And lived to tell about it.

Weekend warriors

Yesterday we went out to The Plains, VA, about an hour west of DC, to attend a Memorial Day event benefiting Wounded Warriors.

This was the view from our parking spot. 

After walking what felt like a mile in 90-degree heat, we finally got to the gate. The girls immediately hit the giant octopus slide thing. 

The place had all sorts of kid-friendly activities, including a giant moon bounce. 

And free cotton candy and sno-cones. 

Andy splurged on cake pops. I'm still not sure exactly what they are.  

One of the vendors was giving away free sunglasses. I believe they're by the famous designer, Embrace Home Loans. 

One of the Wounded Warriors ran over and gave Amalia a softball after their game. 

Lily's violin teacher, Ms. Christine, was playing in the orchestra for the final concert of the day. That's her with perfect posture in the gray and purple dress. 

Following in their mother's groupie footsteps, Lily and Amalia went up for a visit before the performance started. 

Some old planes did a few fly bys during God Bless America. 

Amalia got comfy during the show. We'd been there for about 4 hours at this point and had a couple more hours to go. 

Some sort of shenanigans on the long walk back to the car. 

Along the way, the girls also felt the need to pick up all the empty water bottles strewn about so we could recycle them at home, which made Andy's eco-heart burst with pride. When the girls could carry no more, we reassured them that volunteers would also be coming through to make sure the bottles weren't just left there or thrown in the trash. Because the Wounded Warriors wouldn't want that. 

Weekend update

Here's a roundup of recent goings on. 

Andy bought the girls matching H&M butterfly dresses. 

Grandma Carol sent the girls coordinating fashionable outfits. 

Lily attended a birthday party at the American Girl store, which I'd previously told her didn't exist (only delaying the inevitable). So overwhelmingly consumery was the environment, I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of anything in the store, but I did find these handy doll hangers in the bathroom stalls. 

Andy took this picture with his cell phone. 

Meanwhile, Amalia got to take a train ride at the mall. 

Today, we went out to Clemyjontri park, which included a ride on the carousel. 

Friday night, I participated in a corporate spelling bee fundraiser for the Academy of Hope, a local adult education organization. 

And we won! Here we are posing with the gong, which our team never had to hear (they would hit it when you got a word wrong). 

The guy on the left was our word pronouncer--the local NPR art critic. Now if only my brain could quit quizzing me on all the words (scrophulariaceous, rijsttafel, etc.). 

Punky Brewster lives!

Lily's friend Sophie invited her to join the teacher outing her parents won at the Stoddert Big Chili auction a couple of weeks ago. It was for a pizza dinner at Kavanagh's with Ms. Guaraldo (Lily's kindergarten teacher last year) and Ms. Gross (Sophie's first grade teacher). The outfit Lily has on above is not what she was wearing when I dropped her off at Sophie's house. Apparently she felt a need to change, went into Sophie's closet, and came out wearing this Jerry Garcia/Punky Brewster concoction.

The girls with Ms. Gross' dog, Vincenzo Sammich (Vinny for short).

Miller time in Charm City

We met up with our friends Ross and Cookie Miller yesterday in Baltimore to explore the Port Discovery children's museum, a giant hands-on playground/science experience. 

The girls had a blast. Here they are in the huge rope climbing structure in the center of the museum. It spans all three floors of the museum. We lost the girls in here a couple of times. We're excellent parents. 

Lily on the climbing wall. Made all the more challenging by her flowy skirt. 

Coming down the rope tunnel. Later in the day, Amalia traumatized Lily by jumping up and down in the tube. Aside from Lily's crying, it was pretty funny. 

We spent a lot of time in the play diner. 

Amalia preparing a meal (with her twin behind her). 

I was trying to take a picture of the girls, but the boy in the hat is the best part of this shot. 

What'll you have?

A four-layer egg and steak sandwich, apparently. 

 

Lily trying to do the stand-inside-a-bubble thing. 

Made more challenging by the bubble-poking younger sister. 

Creating a fountain. 

Girl at work. 

You knew Andy couldn't resist helping. 

Squeegee-er. 

Amalia helping Cookie check out. 

Lily and Cookie learning about nano particles. 

Lily taking Ross and Cookie's order back in the diner.

This machine was a shape version of that Ethel and Lucy chocolate episode. 

Opening day

We're so excited our local farmers' market is back! Yesterday was opening day. Andy mostly went for the lobster roll food truck. Though there's a new homemade pickle vendor this year, which is pretty exciting. 

Amalia and Lily went for the snacking and face painting. Here Amalia is drawing a picture while she awaits her turn. 

Still waiting. 

You'll never guess who we ran into--G-Dog! 

Lily and Gabe listening to live music and playing with hoops. 

A master hula hooper.

Her apprentice.