Where to Start

The Coming Back from An Amazing Vacation Blog posts always stump me. How can I sum up 5 days with friends without writing a travelog? So, where to start?

Addie and I flew (Virgin America is awesome) to Northern Virginia to celebrate my God Daughter Arden's baptism. I got to spend tons of time with Reid and her clan before Cap met up with us Saturday for the baptism itself. I forgot how beautiful and lush DC and Virginia are (didn't forget the humidity part though). I loved hanging out with old friends and my second family, seeing how much Sawyer has grown and getting to cuddle up with my little podling Arden. What sweet kids they are!

Addie got to play with rocks in the deck fountain with Sawyer, and she was so protective of Arden, especially when she had to get nebulized. "Medicine. Baby Arden."

Addie continued to be a word sponge learning new stuff all the time including being introduced to a microwave. I tried to give her cold leftover mac n cheese and she quickly informed me after one bite, "Cook it. Microwave." When we were driving around Adams Morgan in DC, Addie unfortunately learned the phrase, "Oh my God" which she repeated several times mimicking my exact cadence (Oh. My. Gaaawd). Oops.


Oh and note to self. Routines are important even on vacation with a 3 hour time change. Poor Addie skipped meals and naps willy nilly and we all paid the price. Poor girl. Despite some meltdowns, I think she had a great time. I know I did!


I've posted photos from our trip so check them out. I'm super exhausted. Do I sound exhausted? I think I'm repeating myself.

Always Winging It

"Hello? Addie. Yeah. Bye." - Addie P.

Cap bought Addie a Tinkerbell cell phone which she adores. You can press the buttons and it goes from beeps and bleeps to a few key fairy catch phrases like, "Sparkle Power" or "Always Winging It" which she repeats in the same sing-song manner. She loves her phone so much she wanted to make sure that her three friends in the painting have a chance to talk to Tinkerbell too. This painting hangs in our bathroom and was painted by Cap's aunt (or is it his second cousin), Gaye Hicks, in 1979. And that is seriously her name. Seriously. Well, her maiden name. This makes me giggle every time I think about it.

Addie has a special affinity for this pastoral piece of art. The three ladies and a little girl are dining al fresco on cake with sheep grazing in the background. "Cake." Addie brushes their teeth, polishes their smiling faces with her favorite toy - wipes. "Dirty" (pronounced Andrew Dice Clay style - dwooty). Apparantly now she also makes sure they have a direct connect to a special magical world where you never grow up.

Oh Addie, Sweets. I don't want you to grow up. Never ever.

CONSTRUCT!

90-something degrees outside today. Yikes. Yesterday we explored an Earth Day celebration at a local park and found refuge at the beach in the afternoon. Both activities were sans camera but not today! Jamie and I took the girls out for strawberry crepes at the Farmer's Market and then spend the rest of the morning in the air-conditioned Boone Gallery at the LA County Museum of Art. The exhibition called Construct, part of their celebration of the new addition, is all for kids - blocks, painting, crafts. And it's free. Can't get much better than that. Check out photos of our adventures here!


After tearing it up with the soft and hard blocks, they took to the easel. Addie and Clara are quite the budding artists. Their collaborative masterpiece is now taped above our bed. This was the first time Addie explored the world of paint. She loves the sidewalk chalk we bought her recently and often decorates our back door. When I took this she was saying "Circles Circles." I'm selfishly so thrilled she loves drawing and painting and can't wait for our gallery of her work to grow.

Feeling Remiss

I haven't taken the time to do a proper post all week so here are a series of portraits to ponder from last weekend before we kick off this weekend by strolling over to the Farmer's Market to drink beer and eat gumbo. I took these outside one of the artists' lofts at the Brewery Art Walk on Saturday afternoon.

Cheers to the artists that choose to Live Work.

Tickle Pickle

After cleaning out our fridge I realized I had 3 opened containers of cornichons. I wonder if I've had them since I was pregnant? Do pickles go bad? Oh well, I've combined them into one jar and a curious fridge door monitor named Addie has taken to them. Since Cap started his new job at MySpace, I've altered my schedule. I work 7:30-4:30 so that I can pick up Addie from daycare. I rather like this schedule as it gives me long evenings at home. If I'm running on-time in the a.m., I leave before Addie wakes up but most often than not I've snoozed my alarm at least twice and am rushing out the door when I hear, "Mama? Mama?" How can I resist seeing my little fuzzle-headed angel wake up in her robot pjs? She gives me giant smiles and giant hugs. "Mama hugs" she says and when I tell her I have to go to work she hugs me extra hard and says "Goodbye."

When we get home, I'll open the refridgerator and she'll go find "tickles" as she calls pickles. We eat them right out of the jar spearing them with a shared fork. Addie is all about doing everything herself these days. She says "Addie Helps" and means it. Back away Mama. So she stabs her cornichons and I stab mine. "Sour" she smiles and winces.

To Each Her Own

A few days ago I was tickling Addie on our bed.
I stopped, showed her my pointer finger and said, "Tickle Finger."
Addie showed me her pointer finger and said, "Booger Finger."

Double Dates

This weekend Addie got to hang out with two of her favorite daycare buds. I'm pretty sure that they are her best friends or maybe I just really like their parents. Saturday afternoon was spent at Clyde's house where they enjoyed dinner for two and the adults sipped organic belgium blonde ale.

Sunday morning we hopped over to Rya's house for bagels and coffee while the little lasses fed their baby dolls (and fought like sisters over all the toys). Thank goodness for Mickey AND Minnie, as well as a stroller AND a baby buggy or there would have been toddler warfare.

Last week, the triumvirate of power were playing after daycare, when Clyde, Rya and Addie joined hands and walked side by side down the sidewalk. Awwww. Then they ran up the stairs of a strangers house screaming their heads off.