Bunnies and Bubbles

We went to an Easter party at John's work this morning. They had an Easter Bunny, hot dogs, cup cakes, and an easter egg hunt. How, really, could you go wrong?

Watching Dexter whiz around the cafeteria, checking things out, looking for Daddy, pointing to another strange man and calling him Daddy, JUMPING (like, really jumping! First time I've seen this. YAY!)... Anyway, watching all this as other kids just hung out in their parents' arms - it made me happy. Here's my shy kid, who isn't really talking to anyone, but at least he's comfortable enough to go running around a strange place. Maybe he's not so weird after all. Oh - we had a pretty good swim lesson this week, too. Not fantastic - there was still crying involved when he had to swim with Miss Kari. But we chatted before swimming - would you rather swim with Miss Kari or with nobody? He thought about it for a second and then answered that he'd like to swim with Miss Kari, thankyouverymuch. I think that helped. It was a good enough lesson (and Miss Kari is awesome and said he could drop back down to her class if need be) that we signed him up for the next level of swim lessons for next session. Where he swims with NO MAMA. Scary stuff...

The Easter Bunny seemed to only be ok with the over-five crowd at the party. Dex got near enough once to give him a high-five. But he was otherwise skeptical. It. Was. Hilarious.

Hmmmm. What's the deal with this big white thingy?

Please, Daddy, save me from the big scary bunny...

Maybe if I just sneak up behind him like this...

And crawl in, Ninja-style... Maybe he won't see me.

Outside for the easter egg hunt. As we were walking in, John commented that they sure didn't do a very good job of hiding the eggs...

Daddy shows Dex where to put the eggs (apparently "in my mouth" is not the correct answer)

Double fisting. We've taught this boy right!

Damn it! The big bunny thing keeps following me! Maybe if I just sneak around back here he won't see me...

DOH! Caught!

Pretend you don't see him, pretend you don't see him, pretend you don't...

GAHH! He got me! (This Easter bunny kicked ass. Tried getting Dex to come up to him the whole time we were there. Thanks, Easter bunny! Bawk Bawk!)

Cracking his eggs on the ground

Why does it feel like someone is looking at me...

Bunny! You're still there?

Dex takes his turn at blowing bubbles

But really it's way cooler when Daddy blows them

Happy Easter, every bunny! Now we're going to "get gas way home." And coffee. And beer. It's that kind of day...

Blossoms

The last time we went to DC in the spring for cherry blossoms, we were a little bit early. Flowers were blooming a little bit, and it was pretty, but a few days later would have been spectacular. Yesterday when we went we were a little bit late. And one day after a huge storm with ridiculous winds. So the whole way down I had a pit in my stomach - what if the blossoms were all gone? What if we went all the way down there for nothing? I worry too much, I know. Sure, we were a few days past peak. But it was still pretty. And Dexter didn't care one damn bit if there were blossoms on the trees or not. What mattered was that we were in DC having fun as a cute little family. Walking up monument steps as a cute little family. Chasing after a rotten child as a cute little family. Eating lunch on a blanket and watching airplanes fly by and tossing half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich off in the general direction of the birds (albeit about 300 feet short of them) as a cute little family. We had a nice day, and I won't really remember that a few days earlier would have been prettier.

I will remember, though, Dexter wheeling up to me in the stroller. Daddy saying "What were you going to say to Mama?" Dexter saying "I'm sorry." Me saying "Thank you, Dexter. That was very nice." Dexter saying "Mama HAPPY!" Me saying "Yes. Yes, that does make Mama happy. Thank you." Naughty child, running away from Mama. He'd damn well better be sorry.

Anyway - you can't go to DC without taking seventeen trillion pictures. So here's a sample:

There were still blossoms on trees right here, next to where we parked the car

One cracker for Dexter, one for the ducks. Repeat. John swears these ducks were stalking us at the end of the day as we walked back to the car. He got in the drivers seat, looked out the window, and there were two ducks, right outside the car, looking in the window. You could hear them thinking "Hey! People! You! With the crackers! FEED US!"

Running across a carpet of petals

Jefferson Memorial. Dexter likely being scolded - you DO NOT run away from Mama. That is very very BAD.

Picnic lunch. We looked out over the Tidal Basin, and behind us airplanes flew low, landing at Regan National Airport. It was a good spot.

Where's Daddy? Oh! There he is.

Sticks and monuments.

Thanks, nice random man walking by who offered to take a picture of all of us.

Thanks, nice husband who took lots of pictures of Mama and Dexter.

FDR Memorial. We got stuck here by the water for a long long time. Dex wanted to jump in.

We jumped off, instead.

We caught up with our friends, and Dex rode all three bikes. He pays zero attention to his own bike, but other kids' bikes are awesome.

Also fun to spin the wheels.

Child totally needs some sleep. No nap. Also, no sunscreen. Bad, bad mom.

Ended our day with yummy dinner at the Olive Tree in Aberdeen. I miss that place...

Dexter's new fave nursery rhyme, with his own twist. Grandma told him that Daddy's name was John, and it's been like this ever since:

Run

I ran today for the first time in, oh, three years. It fairly well sucked. I am not a fan of running. But I'm trying out the Primal Blueprint principals of exercise - do lots of moderate exercise (we walk 2 miles a day), run really fast every now and then, and lift heavy things some times. Which means that instead of sustained running, I get to run "sprint" intervals. For me, the "sprint" part is in quotes because my version of sprinting right now is kind of like a normal person's slow jog...

Anyway, today I ran with Buddy and Dexter, using our new jogging stroller. It's not really new - I picked it up at the consignment sale a few weeks ago. But it's new to us, and it's cool. Dex seems to like it - when given the choice between stroller and back pack, he chooses "oooh-eerh."

So I ran like six one minute intervals, and I TOTALLY left the dog in the dust. After dragging him along for two intervals I finally gave up and dropped the leash. A few looks over the shoulder saw him trotting along at his normal pace, right on the side of the road, keeping us in sight. When I walked he would catch up, and then we'd leave him in the dust again. It's not a perfect system - it all goes to pot if someone is walking, or if there's a dog in a yard. But it works ok.

I finished my intervals and walked the last five minutes home. Dex had been chatting to himself this whole time, but I was trying too hard to breathe to really pay much attention. So as we walked he kept repeating something. "Go" and then some word I couldn't make out. I stared the guessing game. John likens it to a game of toddler charades. Green mailbox? I ask. Is that what you said? No. Again, the "go" and the word I can't understand. Finally I guessed "go faster?" YES. Oh, dear lord, child. Sorry, hon. Mama can't go faster any more. Mama's legs fell off a while ago, and she is dragging her lungs behind her just like she dragged Buddy. But, glad you enjoyed the running!

We enjoyed a nice little taste of summer today. Here's a few pictures of the boys playing in the back yard. Oh - Buddy escaped through the fence yesterday - down the driveway to say hi to a dog in the road. So we cranked up the fence, made sure he got zapped, and it seems like we have a dog who will stay put again. For now. Rotten, slow creature. Good thing he's fantastic with children.

Climbing Buddy Mountain

You can hear Buddy saying "Psssst. I like sticks..."

I love that both boys like sticks. I love that they enjoy running all over the yard with sticks. I don't enjoy the fact that one day Buddy is going to accidentally bite Dexter's arm off. Not sure what to do about that...

On the to-do list? Mowing the lawn.

This one's actually from yesterday. But still cute.