Where Are We Going?

'Where are we going?' Allie has started waking up and immediately asking this question. It fits. She's our all-or-nothing, girl. I remember my mom saying that she thought she was lucky snagging 'am' kindergarten for me, figuring she'd pick me up mid-day and get to spend a few hours of quite time before big brother came home, but I'd just come home and ask who was coming over for a playdate, and what was next.  Now, don't confuse wanting to do things with wanting to move quickly to get there. Allie's got spirit, but she often doesn't move through the steps of getting ready at a pace much quicker than the syrup we pour on our Mickey-pancakes. She finds a million things to stall her progress, especially, well, in the stall. In trying to give her more independence, I came in and found her ripping up toilet paper (to be fair, in total, she did only use a 'little bit' like I'd told her) into tiny pieces, tossing them in the air and shouting 'Hooray!!!'). And, if you try to pull her shorts up for her, she'll pull them back down so she can do it herself. All of this adds up to me being grateful for summer days where the only 'start-time' is usually self-imposed. It's not even been two weeks, but it's been glorious!

First, I checked out my picture downloads, and began to sense a theme for this summer...I'm sure you can figure this one out. I like to call it, 'portraits of a summer love' (a.k.a., pics of the most patient boxer ever).

This was probably following a not-so-gentle display of lovin' on Allie's part. 

But there's no furry pup that she'd rather be snuggling than her Abby dog.

Did I say 'snuggling?' I meant sitting on. This was her perch for an entire 'Mickey.'

Until she decided that this may be a bit more comfy..for her.

Caution, artist at work...

Double-caution, the artist's work-bench at work.

 But the easel paper isn't the only thing getting painted these days (and yes, as you may have guessed, Abby's fur ended up with a few highlights as well - hazards of the job). Allie has discovered the joys of nail polish thanks to her favorite neighbor, 'Ms. Kelly.'

Pink and blue. (Or green and yellow, depending on when you ask. Did I mention we're still working on colors?)

This was the calm before the storm that is trying to get a toddler to hold still long enough for her wet nails to dry.

Summer = Ponytails and hats for Suz, and Allie's never one to miss a fashion-theme.

We're hitting the farm circuit again this summer. Frying Pan Park is one of our favorites. Farm animals, ice cream, hayrides, and a merri-go-round. A tough-to-top-combo.

Next summer she may be top-rung-height.

But this ice cream is just the right size, apparently. 

The day after this merri-go-round, she wanted me to draw a picture of her on this horse going up and down...it definitely did not look like this.

And, the Mommy bonus if timed just right...the car-nap :o).

 We stocked up on arts and crafts supplies so the creativity (and washable marker-stains)could flow.

So serious...

'Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!'
(I'm totally encouraging the on-going celebration of this one. Some things are best left un-corrected.)

 Summer also means play-dates. How do you make a trip to the mall a legit 'field trip'? Add one of our favorite buddies (Brady), a train, another merri-go-round, a surprise concert from a kiddie-band, well-dressed-mannequins, and take your daughter to a toy-store with 'demonstration toys' and let her go to town at her snails pace. Mix in a Starbucks run for Mommy, and repeat.

Well-'trained'-toddlers.

Oh, I'm sorry, we figured since your mannequins were missing heads, we'd model your hatware.

Anatomy quality control, at your service. And yes, the Old Navy mannequins have fully-functioning belly-buttons .

Mall-date. (Don't tell the Daddies.)

 And, we have six sessions of Tot-and-parent-swim-lessons, otherwise known as Allie gets super-excited and yet clings like a barnacle the entire time. But, if you ask her, it's 'GREAT!' Below, please see a demonstration of her swimming abilities on-land prior to actually leaving for the pool.

And, just for comparison-sake, here's what our bathing beauty looked like about a year and change ago...

Insert parental nostalgic sigh here.

And, a few shots of the barnacle in action. Here, she's ignoring the frigid water temps (her Daddy definitely is not), and propelling them both to the wall for more jumping while maintaining a vice-grip around his neck.

Showing off her kicking skills...and her grip.

Thaaat's better. Stay close.

Wrapped up in some beach-towel-snuggles from her Aunt Jules.

Not too Crabby...

It's almost here...one more day of work for Suz until sweet Summer! We decided to pretend like Summer was already here and enjoyed a weekend of seafood (plated and swimming) with a crab dinner and a trip to the Baltimore National Aquarium to celebrate Father's Day and a (very) belated birthday celebration for Chris. Pictures of this and a couple delightfully-un-scheduled Saturdays to follow...

This fashion technique is called 'Princess Apparel Stacking.'

And this is called the 'lick-dodge.' Think, The Matrix, and then add a tiara and a feather boa.

Pretending to be serene...

Saturday morning limbo...

Allie-Style.

Hooray for summer and the return of the water-table!

Who gave this kid a hammer?

Fishing for new friends at the aquarium.

Hey, it's an 'anemanone, an amename, an...it's Nemo's house!'

The diver took a break from her feeding to grab a wave from our girl with her Grandpop.

Classic Allie Pouty-Face. Fortunately it only made a few cameo appearances during our field-trip.

If you're going to convince a kid that 'petting' a cockroach is 'cool,' before the age of three is the time to do it.

Clawed our way to a family photo.

Post-Hard Rock Cafe lunch with Grammy and Grandpop after the aquarium.

These girls rock.

This is mid 'DOLPHINS!!!'

Someone's attempt at being hard-core. I think there's a rule that if you have an ice cream cone on your shirt, you can never truly master this look...

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Fishing for smiles...found one!

Barns, Ballgames, and Bugs

I've said before how fortunate we feel to be a short 10-15 minutes from the country and a (sometimes not so-short) 10-15 minutes from the city. Loudoun County is a great location to enjoy the best of both worlds and these past two weeks, we did just that!

My parents came in for a visit and we kicked off their stay with dinner at an outdoor German Kielbasa restaurant in Leesburg (no pictures from that, we were all too busy with our pretzels, kielbasa, and German beverages). On Saturday, we headed out to Waterford for a strategically planned leg of the 2013 Loudoun County Farm Tour. The Farm Tour is a weekend when over 30 farms and maybe 20 wineries and breweries open up for visitors. The cousins hit the tour together (along with their parents and a very contented Grandmom and Grandpa Wintrode). First we visited a small local family farm with plenty of little animals to feed and pet and plenty of farm-hospitality as they grilled up hamburgers (made from their own beef) for all of their visitors.

Allie and Tim trying to wake-up 'Pig Pig,' the farm's 1,000lb pet pig.

The A-team (Allie and Alice) was glad to be together again.

Not exactly 'white as snow,' but you'll do quite nicely.

Little lambs at play.

If you look closely, you'll see a little bit of Suz and Jonathan in these struts.

Par for the course, Allie's jabbering about...something...and Alice is listening patiently before heading off to do something else.

Heeeerrreee, Pig Pig.

Don't worry, Daddy, I'm sure he'll fit in the Civic.

 We probably could have stayed there all morning and been content, but about 5 minutes away in another part of town, the Alpacas were waiting...

We checked out all kinds of Alpacas.

Wooley ones...

Baby ones...

And even alien ones.

Good thing this fence and my Grandpa's leg are here to protect me!

Alpaca some smiles in too while we're at it...:o).

Speaking of smiles, you can't see them, but I'm pretty sure these two grandparents were in Grandparent Heaven.

Last on the Farm Tour was a trip to a local Winery/Brewery. We started at the winery and lasted long enough to lose count of the number of breakable glasses and headed quickly over to the brewery to complete our tour with local brews, BBQ, cupcakes, and room for the cousins to run.

This is the only side of hops Grandmom's interested in, the side with her grandkids strolling alongside her.

Grandmom and her brood.

Unfortunately, only a few days later, a stomach bug decided to take its own tour of one, Allison Kathleen Eicholtz. As I post, our little patient is fast asleep in her bed, which she asked to climb into and where she fell immediately asleep...a sure sign that something is definitely 'off' with our little night-owl. I stayed home with her on Thursday and Chris was off on Friday for some Allie-Daddy bonding.

If you look closely, you'll see the princess dress she insisted on wearing during a spurt of energy before she crashed on the couch.

I'm pretty sure we saw this pose in the ultrasound. Some things never change.

 We thought we were in the clear the night before we had tickets with Grammy and Grandpop Shaiko to go to a Nats game on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, but the 72-hour virus (pegged by our doctor) seemed to be of the over-achieving sort and she was wiped out (or whiney) for most of the game. She did rally briefly throughout for a few snapshots and cheers, but mostly she was my little barnacle and slept through a nice outside dinner after the game. There are worse things :o). Hopefully this bug takes a hike so we can get back to normal and our girl can get some relief. All in all, though, it's been a great two weeks.

This will be a classic. Give that photographer a raise!

And another classic. I think she's mid-roar here.

Apparently the lion's tamed in this one.

'Ears to the Nationals!

Screech sighting! (Screech is the Nats' mascot, the friendly feathered eagle.)

Over there, Grandpop.

And apparently Screech has a smush-nose, because this was her impression of him.

Mustered up a quick cheer, but unfortunately...

That energy didn't last long. The Nats outfielders weren't the only ones catching flies that day.