Williamsburg in Summer

Williamsburg in Summer

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Happy Birthday, Josh!

Today is my husband's 38th birthday! Whew...he's' getting old! (Just kidding, babe.) I'll let him post and tell you how he spent his special day, but feel free to leave a birthday wish in the comments for Josh to read!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Turtles and Butterflies

We've had several days of rain here in Maryland, but today it mostly stopped raining. Pretty much this means that it is just muggy, with high humidity that just feels like it should still be raining. Despite the humidity, I had a nice surprise this afternoon when I stepped outside to see a customer out the door: I found a wee-sized baby turtle. With the ground wet and steaming, it seems that turtles like to come out of their hiding places to wander around to find things to eat.
Now, most of you know that I already have three box turtles in the back yard (well, there are at least two anyway (Otis and Emily)--I haven't seen Amos for about 6 weeks), but this little guy was a baby water turtle. I think that his species is called a 'slider' turtle, probably an 'eastern painted slider.' His markings were brilliant orange on the bottom, and very detailed greens and yellows on the top and body.
I found this baby turtle right on my doorstep, trying to hide in a corner. My first thought was that I wanted to keep him, but I just don't have the right set-up of a terrarium in the house. I also remember having a water turtle when I was much younger and how if you don't change the water regularly, it begins to stink. Another thought was that he was so cute at this size (slightly larger than a quarter), but he'll grow to possibly 10 or more inches across the shell. I made the decision that all I would do to him was take some pictures and then walk him over to the ponds nearby and let him go. When Kim and I walk the paths around the ponds, we regularly see many turtles sunning themselves and sticking their heads out of the water. I have a feeling that someday, I'll see this little guy again sunning himself on a log in one of the ponds.

Now, I'll let Kim tell of her butterfly adventures this afternoon:

At a park by our house (Black Hills Regional Park) there is a nature center. Annually, they release monarch butterflies to make an annual migration to Mexico. My mom and dad took Kate and I to see the big event. Every ten minutes they tagged the wings of a monarch and let a child hold the butterfly and release it. The Universtiy of Kansas then tracks their migration to Mexico.

Kate fell asleep before we reached the park, so she missed most of the releases. However, she woke up briefly just in time to see one more fly away (and get her picture taken in the funny butterfly frame). It was a fun afternoon for all of us.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Kate's 1st Trip to the Library

It was a rainy Thursday afternoon in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. A housebound mom and a cranky toddler set out to go somewhere - anywhere-- to change the scenery. After a brief trip to the grocery store, a moment of inspiration fell. We'll go to the library!


Kate LOVES books. She wants to read them all the time. Of course in order to hold her attention for more than one minute, they have to be books with only a few words and really bright big pictures. So our options are sometimes limited. Kate has her favorites in our home collection. And frankly, I do get tired of reading Panda Bear, Panda Bear over and over. I thought Kate would love the library and the kids' room filled with books. And she did love the library but just for different reasons. I don't think she stopped long enough to look at a single book. All she wanted to do was walk along the book shelves and the bins of books on the floor and the little kids couches. She had ample places to grab hold of to support her walking efforts. She did pause for a brief moment to play with a puzzle, but it was a short break before she was off running again.

We did check out a few books, which made me happy. Now we're just reading Row Row Row Your Boat and Fly Little Bird over and over again! I'm glad my little girl loves books so much.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

A Few More Pictures from the Beach

Debbie sent me her photos this week. Here are a few more shots of the family from our time at the Outer Banks.


Collin and Debbie ~ Shaun and Brenden


Brenden ~ Collin

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Back from the Beach

We just returned from a week at the Outer Banks with the Gallagher clan: Shaun and Deb, Brenden and Collin, Gigi and Papa, Grammy and Nana Linda too! It was a full house...but then again, it was a very large house too. Shaun was able to secure the oceanfront beach house through a special work "bonus" of sorts. We would have never been able to afford a place like this without his generosity. (THANKS, SHAUN!!)


The beach was literally right out of our back door. Kate pointed at everything! She is so curious about everything. I love that spark of adventure in her little personality. (She gets that from her Daddy.) We really enjoyed introducing her to the beach for the first time.



Unfortunately, the weather was VERY windy!! Too windy in fact to spend much time on the beach. But at least the wind made for great kite flying! (Well, until the wind breaks them that is!) It was a lot of fun watching Josh fly the kites...he's such a little boy inside! And that is a good thing (most of the time). :)



Debbie took a lot more pictures than we did. So hopefully I will be able to post more pictures from her selection in the coming days. We just wanted to share a little bit of our trip with you. Now, it's back to reality tomorrow...

Friday, September 12, 2008

Political Humor

Living is D.C. the hub of the political world keeps us in constant ear shot of the chatter, and lately all the people are talking about is Sarah Palin. I thought this comic was pretty funny, especially in light of the recent hurricanes. :)


Courtesy of Cartoonist Aislin (From The Montreal Gazette), 9/3/08

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Hurricane Hannah Spoils the Birthday Bash!

Well, it's been a few weeks since I've written a post. Sorry for letting the time slip by. Things have been so busy these past few weeks. We went from Kate's birthday to my birthday to the start of school and doctor's appointments...and lots of little things that just eat away the time.

But let me start by saying that Kate got some allergy testing done on Friday b/c of her eczema and diaper rashes. I am happy to say that she tested NEGATIVE to the five major food allergens and to rice. I am thrilled that we can move ahead with milk and dairy now. We may have to investigate some other allergens down the road if her skin doesn't clear up...but for now, we're hoping she'll outgrow it.

Okay...so Hurricane Hannah blew through our area and spoiled my wonderful birthday plans. I guess the story really begins a week ago. Josh announced that my birthday week would begin on Thursday (8/29). At 5 p.m. Josh gave me a pile of numbered envelopes that began our journey. We went out to a wonderful dinner in Bethesda, and walked around the city with Kate to work off our meal. We had a nice little drive that brought me back home where Josh surprisingly got out and proceeded to take Kate out of the car too. He told me to get back in the car and keep reading the clues. The rest of the clues brought me to BWI airport where my wonderful friend, Holly was waiting for me. She flew in from San Diego to surprise me! I was so happy to see her that I cried. It had been almost a year since her last visit, and I was particularly excited about seeing her pregnant belly and showing off Kate to her!
So the entire long weekend was spent doing girlie things and catching up on too much lost time. Going to our favorite restaurants and doing a lot of errands and typical stuff. But when you have a good friend in the passenger seat, you can do anything and have fun. Thanks for coming, Holly!
On my actual birthday (9/1), Josh surprised me with an incredible weekend getaway (scheduled for this weekend). He bought me tickets to go see Les Miserable, my favorite Broadway musical. It has been playing at Wolf Trap (a gorgeous outdoor amphitheater in Virginia) and I had been wanting to go see it. He also reserved a hotel room so we could have a weekend without the baby. His real gift to me was a full night's sleep!
BUT Hurricane Hannah blew through here and was just strong enough to rain on my parade! Forecasters were predicting 2 to 3 inches of rain an hour and a lot of flash flooding. We needed to make a decision about the hotel before 24 hours of Hannah's arrival in order to cancel our reservation. So, not wanting to use money on a weekend that might go bust, we cancelled. Good decision, because on top of the storm, Josh got really sick. He's coughing and sneezing and achy and cold. He's been in bed most of the day today. So even though Wolf Trap didn't cancel the performance (I guess actors and musicians don't mind performing in a deluge), I couldn't very well ask Josh to go sit under a covered amphitheater in a cold, wet, damp downpour while sick. So needless to say, we missed the show.
My parents did keep Kate overnight for us. So I am hoping to still get my full night's sleep. However, I'll be sleeping on the couch while Josh contaminates our bedroom with his sneezes.
Our weekend didn't work out as planned, but I love Josh for trying. The night out in Bethesda on Thursday, the clues around town, the surprise visit with Holly, and all his planning to make a special weekend happen means more to me than the weekend itself. Thank you, Josh for all your effort. I love you more than you realize.
Now, just get better please. We're running out of tissues.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Kate's 1st Boat Ride

In honor of Mommy's birthday today and the beautiful weather, Daddy suggested that we go on the paddle boats at the Rio. Mommy was a little hesitant to take me on the water, mainly because I wiggle and squirm a lot. But Daddy assured her that I would be safe and that there were life jackets in my size. (I'm glad Daddy can persuade Mommy to do fun things.) So off we went on our adventure! I got to chase ducks and geese around the pond and get really close to to big water fountains! It was a lot of fun. I hope we get to go again soon!