Dinosaur Park

Another nice day = another trip to the park! This time we ventured a little farther out to Ashburn (Dinosaur) Park in, you guessed it, Ashburn! Julie and Brayden were also at the park with us. This park is rather large - 4 different play structures with various slides, climbing walls, tunnels and other activities. Plus, there were swings and other climbing and ride-on things.

When we first arrived at the park, a class full of students from the nearby elementary school were at the playground working on a project. Once they left it was a little quieter and easier for the little ones to walk around the playground and play on the structures safely. As most trips to the park end with these two little buddies, Charlotte and Brayden made a nice collection of sticks, acorns and mulch on the bench!



After we left the park, we headed to Brambleton so I could take a look at the specialty toy store there. It is called 'Go Bananas' and they have a lot of great stuff - crafts, educational toys and brands that you won't find at toys r us or target...our usual stops. Charlotte had fun playing with the train table they had set up, as well as the mini baby grand piano!



We managed to get the two kiddos out of the toy store without much fighting, then grabbed a quick lunch at California Tortilla. It was a close call, but we made it all the way home without Charlotte falling asleep and I was able to get her down for a good nap at home! It was a busy, productive and fun morning out with our friends!

Music, Friendly's and Backyard Fun

Wednesday mornings we go to music class with our friends Julie, Brayden, Dona and Patrick, plus several other kids and their moms too! Charlotte has been a bit cautious of the teacher over the first few classes, but is slowly warming up to him. On this particular day we had a substitute teacher, a female, whom Charlotte seemed to warm up to really quickly. She is the director of the local program and was really on the ball. Ok...so she was kinda weird. She had her young son with her, who I later found out was 2.5 years old (this will mean more later). When class started, her son was laying in her lap acting kinda whiny. The teacher proceeds to tell us that "he usually nurses throughout class." Um, what?! So, she lifts up her shirt and he goes to town. So that was a little weird. Even weirder...her doing clapping and other various hand motions to the music while this was happening. Weirder still...her PLAYING THE FLUTE while this was going on. Anyways, I have no problem with nursing obviously, but it was just really odd in this scenario.

Moving on to more normal and exciting activities! After music class, Patrick and Dona joined us for a stroll (and a few purchases) at Kohl's. Then, we headed over to Friendly's for lunch and the inevitable ice cream treat. We had a fun time at lunch, and the kids really enjoyed their ice cream!



We made it home without falling asleep, and Charlotte took a great nap. After she woke up we wandered into the backyard to play with the small slide we have.

Steve's Birthday

Steve turned the big 3-2 this year and we had a fun filled weekend of activities to celebrate! On Saturday night we had a fiesta and invited some of our friends over. Charlotte enjoyed playing outside while we hung out on the deck in the beautiful weather. She got to eat her dinner outside on the deck and really enjoyed that! Hopefully we'll be able to do that more often in the Spring and Summer.

Sunday afternoon we had yet another birthday get together. This time, we had our family over for a pizza party! Charlotte loved playing with her cousins Madeline and Gabriel. It was another nice day so we were able to get outside. The kids ate outdoors and played with bubbles on the deck.

It was a great weekend of celebration for Steve/Daddy!

Reston Zoo

It was supposed to be another beautiful day, so I decided to take Charlotte to the Reston Zoo - A great little mini-zoo about 20 minutes away from our house. Our friends Julie and Brayden met us at the zoo for some fun!

We spent almost 3 hours at the zoo wandering around and checking out all of the animals. Charlotte wasn't too keen on the petting zoo portion of the day - those sheep and goats were loud and aggressive! Her favorite animal...the porcupine...or as she called it, the "poo pee pine." We were also able to go on the tractor/wagon ride to visit with the larger animals - bison, ostriches, cattle, zebras and camels. They were all pretty friendly - sticking their heads into the wagon to say hi and to hopefully snag a few food pellets (that you could purchase at the gift shop to feed the animals). I knew Charlotte wouldn't be too into feeding things so we didn't buy any. She shared a bit of Brayden's food to feed some smaller animals while we were wandering around, and actually let a little goat eat it out of her hand, but then she was done with that! Overall it was a fun morning at the zoo. It's great to have this place so close by...right in the middle of a neighborhood. Can you imagine looking out your back window and seeing a zebra...how cool is that?!

St. Patrick's Day at the playground

Since it was Wednesday, we had lots of fun planned! First, our last art class of the semester, then music class. Plus, it was St. Patrick's Day (not that that really means a whole lot in our family, but we wore green nonetheless)! After our classes, Charlotte and I went to lunch at Jason's Deli. Best part about Jason's?! The free soft serve ice cream! Charlotte agrees...




After Charlotte's nap, I decided to set out on a search for another local playground to spend the afternoon. It was a beautiful day! We drove to a nearby park, but their playground was under construction, so I just made my way through the neighborhood and spotted a little park. It was a great little spot with a nice play structure and some swings. Charlotte had a great time playing on her own, but had an especially fun time when a set of 4 year old twins from the neighborhood showed up to play as well. She learned their names and was playing very nicely with them...sliding, swinging and playing make believe "restaurant" using mulch as ingredients! :) She was even inspired by the little boy to scale the climbing wall...which she ended up being able to do pretty easily.

I just love the picture in the middle of her peeking around the wall. Keeping tabs on her new friends no doubt!

Briar Patch Park with Friends

We've been searching for more parks to take the kids to now that the weather is getting better. A friend mentioned that she had been to a park near her house that was great for toddlers since they had a fenced in area as well as some toddler friendly structures and swings. We ventured out to Briar Patch Park and had a great time with our friends! As usual, Charlotte enjoyed the playground and other climbing activities, but ended up just playing in the mulch :)

Random Cute Pics

Not enough for a full blog post on each, but I had several cute pics of Charlotte over the weeks that I wanted to share!

Udvar-Hazy Center

The weekend after we had such a beautiful day at the park, it was a chilly and rainy Saturday. So, we had to think of an activity to do inside. Right down the road from our house is the Udvar-Hazy Center - Air and Space Museum. A few friends had taken their kids in the past and said they enjoyed it, so we thought we'd try it out with Charlotte.

It was a busy morning at the museum...turns out it was Girl Scout Day. Usually i'd be able to just let Charlotte roam, but since it was so busy, she had to hold hands or be carried, so it was a little tough for all involved. She didn't show too much interest in anything in the museum, but it was cool to see everything they have there, and amazing that it is so close to home.

We only ended up staying for about an hour, then headed to the mall to wander a bit and eat at Cheesecake Factory. Despite the rainy weather, it was a fun morning out as a family!



They had several exhibitors/vendors around the museum for Girl Scout Day. At one particular table, Charlotte got a sticker that said "I'm naturally radioactive and so are you" or something like that. It started on her tummy, ended up on her back, and eventually on the floor somewhere in the museum.

Trying to get her to look at one of the many large flying objects hanging in the air. Notice that she is not looking up. I'm guessing she isn't going to be an aviator.

This place is pretty cool...they have blue chairs! (this is what she showed the most interest in the whole time we were at the museum)

Clemyjontri Park

The first weekend in March was sunny and pleasant. We thought it would be a great idea to get Charlotte out of the house and head to the park. Steve had never seen Clemyjontri Park in McLean and we were excited to show him how cool it was! Steve and I decided it was warm enough to go without jackets...apparently we didn't understand the fact that the predicted high temperature happens at 3pm, not 10am, so we were a little chilly. Luckily, I had Charlotte's hat in the car so she would be nice and warm.

She had a great time exploring the park, climbing on the structures and of course swinging! I absolutely love this park!