Stroller pushing at the MNH

If you are going to crawl around for a few hours, I'd recommend the Museum of Natural History. Big wide open spaces and virtually everything glassed in for instant kid-proof protection.  (Change table is on the basement floor.  FYI).  One thing that we are absolutely loving about DC is that there are soooo many Smithsonians and they are all free!  It's sort of like mama-heaven if you are looking for indoor places to go during the winter with a wee-one. 

After stopping downtown for lunch with Jordan, we trekked it down to the National Mall to the Museum for the afternoon. Having just been to the zoo not too long ago, I am really sure that Gabriel is starting to make connections between the real live animals he's seen, the taxodermied animals at the museum and the animals we read about in his story books.  Gabriel literally vibrated with excitement when we say the gorillas and I made the gorilla sound. 

 

Highlights from our trip:

1) The elephant in the main lobby--REAL!  I mean, I should have known... but somehow it was so much cooler to see in real person. 
2) The giraffe with sprawled out legs bending down to drink water. 
3) The surprisingly small size of the polar bear and black bear
4) The surprisingly large size of the grizzly bear and the bison.  That bison is GINORMOUS!
5) The model of the right whale which is, of course, also colossal in size.
6) The dinosaur bones, my favorite of course the Triceratops, mostly because of the Land Before Time.  Which reminds me.... Note to self to show this to Gabriel some day. 
7) Watching Gabriel push his stroller around the Museum for an hour.  After looking at the host of incredible dead things.... All he really wants to do is play with wheels.  Oh boy.  He was zonked afterwards and slept in the stroller all the way back to the car.  

Cirque du Audette

It is so fun when little friends turn one.  And this will be happening one week after the other in this neighborhood. Our weekends for the next couple months seem to be chalk-a-block full of them!

Here are a few photos from our neighbors' party for their one year old little girl, Audette.  Unfortunately, they are actually moving.  Very sad for us since we feel like we've just met them, but such is life, especially when you are just outside of Washington.

The party was vibrant and had a bright "Cirque du Audette" theme complete with clown (mama), circus master (dad) and real LIVE pony circling the backyard of the complex!  There were a TON of people to cheer on Audette as if she were the in the ring while she stared at her little cake before slowly pulling it apart with her glowing, proud parents egging her on. 

 

We will miss this beautiful family in our neighborhood.  Thank you for making us feeling so welcome here.

Four Generations