’bout Jack and Annie …

(two American kids, living outside D.C.)

Monday, July 19, 2010

weekend update

my oh my -- what a busy weekend we had. a flurry of activity left we social butterflies ready for monday and a chance to catch our breath!

saturday started off with an outing by jack and nana to adventure theater to see "if you give a pig a pancake"

**spoiler alert**
it doesn't stop with just a pancake! that pig's a .... well ... a pig!



after the play, jack also caught a ride on the old-fashioned carousel ...

the theater goers returned home for lunch .. and found annie had already dug in to black beans!


we enjoyed an evening celebration of the (count em!) 9th birthday of our friends the twins. it was 5 fewer kids than will be in our beach house come august, and yet it was already plenty chaotic!

sunday was hot and steamy ... so we cooled off in the pool!

first in our front yard ...




this game is called "sea horse"








"mad swimmer"
we also celebrated our friend lucy's birthday with a party at her swim club. jack has made a lot of progress and was dog paddling his way (with face in the water) between human buoys.
a wet and wild weekend indeed!

Friday, July 16, 2010

quaking in our boots


call the authorities!

3 out of 4 of us were shaken awake at 5:06 am by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake that rattled the washington, dc area -- the first one since 1974!

mommy thought the purple line of the metro had been built overnight -- under our house!

jack thought it was a plane crashing.

daddy claims he thought it was an earthquake all along -- though his claim was a little ex post facto ...

annie ... well, annie never made a peep. we think she slept through it!

and it wasn't only the authorities who needed calling this morning ... we also got backup daycare on the horn.

mamaxana is down with a non-earthquake induced illness and so the kids are off to the center for the day.

we'll have a full report next week!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

s.o.c. viii

peasant girl on a tool box -- what other caption could this have???

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

the a.m. routine

bless curious george and his ability to calm the wild things while mommy sips coffee and catches up on overnight email ...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

s.o.c. vii

in a dress mommy bought in mexico when she was just 6 months old ...


annie is mexicali cute!

Monday, July 12, 2010

weekend update

saturday morning began with a drizzle. a steady, much-needed, steam-producing drizzle. after a pancake breakfast, we faced our prospects for the day. and we decided there was only one thing to do ...

go to the movies.

that's right -- jack experienced his first in-cinema movie with a viewing of toy story 3. mommy prepped jack on the drive to the mall for what to expect -- the movie would be very loud and the theater would get very dark and we would have to speak quietly. and that all helped when it was showtime. after half a dozen (at least!) previews, we settled in with our popcorn and strawberry milk to watch woody, buzz lightning [sic] and all the gang.

although scared for a few parts, mommy reminded jack that he had been scared in "car movie" the first time he saw that too, and he seemed to relax. we had a great and very successful screening.

after the movie, we rode the "train" that runs through the mall, and enjoyed a sbarro pizza and strawberry frozen custard (kid loves him some strawberry!)


we emerged to find sunny skies had returned. "mission: rainy-day movie" had been a success and meanwhile daddy and annie were able to enjoy some q.t. together, playing at home.

since we vanquished the clouds, sunday started off as ... well ... a sun day.

so, jack, mommy and annie headed off to the farm while daddy took care of some projects around the house, including the great bird nest eviction of 2010 (aka aviary sunday, bloody sunday).

while we have visited a number of times, this was annie's first ex utero experience at homestead farm. and, as suspected, she had a great time!








annie is a great lover of animals ... and animal sounds. she likes to hear and repeat what various animals say. cock-a-doodle doo is a particular favorite. and she got to hear it live and straight from the rooster's mouth. she was tickled.

jack enjoyed trying to feed the animals grass, but was taken aback when a chicken errantly pecked him. there are no photos of our visiting the goats because mommy was trying to keep annie from being treated like a tin can, if ya catch the drift.

and, as with any trip to the farm in july, we bought a week's supply of peaches, blue berries (last of the season), blackberries, tomato and corn to bring home.

at least we thought it was a week's supply. until we downed a quart of blackberries in one sitting!










after a second day in a row of late, long naps, we wrapped up the weekend with a afternoon/evening trip to the pool where annie has become much steadier in the baby pool and jack stood up to the tweenagers who took the tether ball from him, eventually convincing them to play on the pirate ship jungle gym with him.

the moral of this weekend update? there are worse things than catching a flick when the rains come. there are worse things than having your kids eat too many berries. there are worse things than naps that run long and late. there are worse things than playing on the pirate ship when the tether ball gets taken.

and we fully enjoyed our weekend full of "less worse" things.

Friday, July 9, 2010

strike up the band

this was the welcome that greeted mommy upon her arrival home one night this week:


think of this as your welcome into the weekend.