I'll miss the architecture

Most of you know there's a pretty good chance that we'll be moving next year. Off to bigger and better things... Residency. Although there is a small chance we could stick around here for a year or the next four, I'm not taking any chances on missing out on anything our nation's capitol has to offer. So a couple of weeks ago Josh and Alyssa joined us to explore the National Building Museum. It was a hit. The kids loved the huge play/building room and the moms loved exploring the museum's art exhibits and taking in the beautiful architecture of the building.




Sophia found this giant cube and started taking it apart. She then decided to climb in and enjoyed her new found seat. She then called to Josh across the room to come join her. Their faces say it all.








Hugging her bff

I was actually calling to Sophia to come down and she wasn't listening. So I decided to photograph her instead.

Her she is on her way back down. She's pretending that she's going to jump from there. She always does that on every step and then doesn't actually jump until the last one.

Here it is the beautiful columns

Budding young artist

As much as we loved tumbling class we took a break from it this last session and did an Abrakadoodle art classes instead. I had never let Sophia paint before so that was the highlight of the class. That day she came home with red streaks in her hair. She also enjoyed gluing and using the scissors. She is creating a cuckoo clock in these photos. Now she thinks everything circular with dashes and a hand that goes around is a cuckoo clock. So that's what she calls her play blood pressure cuff now.

At the end of every class is gallery time. They show and talk about their art with the class. She enjoyed sitting on the teachers lap and then getting a stamp on her hand.

The county fair was good to me

At the last minute just for fun I entered two photos into the county fair. Having just been in Ca I choose two of Sophia on the beach. To my surprise I walked away with a 3rd place ribbon!



It was hot and humid the morning we attended and I promised Sophia she could ride on one ride. We walked around until we could find one she was tall enough to ride on her own. I didn't feel like spending an extra $3 for me to accompany her. Here she is handing her tickets to carny man and then enjoying the whale ride. I think he gave her an extra long ride because she was the only one on there and no one else was in line.

Loving her cousins

Sophia enjoyed every minute of having 2 of her cousins in town. She still asks for Christian at least once a day and they have been gone for almost a month now. I still have a long list of things to do and see before we leave next year and having Mike and Margie in town helped me check off 4 things. Of course they went and saw more that that. This was the first time that Karina and Christian had been here so they filled their days up.







Christian and Sophia with their "Money Balls". We bought these at the BEP (Bureau of Engraving and Printing) It was a lot of fun to see all of the bills being printed. Sophia would point and say "Money, Money". She had just had a birthday and had received cards with cash gifts so she knew what bills looked like.

One of our first stops was Ford's Theatre (where Lincoln was shot) and then we walked across the street to the Peterson House and saw the room where he died.

2 Candles!

This year we celebrated Sophia's birthday a day early. In the morning we made cupcakes from scratch (Bakerella has a most delicious recipe) and then headed to Toys 'R Us to pick out a couple of gifts and get her first balloon of the day. She ended up picking out a Dirt Devil Vacuum and a little people princess house. Next stop the party store. Sophia had been asking for balloons since her cousin Bree's party. I promised her she could have some on her birthday.
She was so excited to walk out of the store with a big bouquet of balloons. (I forgot to get a photo of her with her balloons.) She fell asleep on the way home and then finished her nap at home. While she slept I made frosting for the cupcakes. I tried to color it to match the toppers, but getting a specific color of green is a little harder than I thought. When she woke up her bff Joshy came knocking at the door with a gift. It was a cute little wooden train set. They played together with it for a little while and then it was time for the airport. Both Joshy and Sophia had family coming into town at the same time, from the same airport, on the same flight. Rob went to the airport to pick up his brother, Mike and his family. We were so excited to have family come to visit us and be here to celebrate Sophia's birthday with us. After dinner we sang and ate cupcakes and ice cream. She also opened several cards with gifts from grandparents and great grandparents who couldn't be there on her special day.

She wanted 2 cupcakes. I saw it fitting and gave her 2. We then put 2 candles in one of them and before we got them lit, she had already pulled one out and licked the frosting off of it. So we had to hurry and lite the one before she got to that one also.

Licking the second candle after the song.

Breakfast at LAX {CA}

Waiting to fly home

Last of the Beach {CA}

The night before we flew home I decided I wanted to visit a beach that had a lot of memories. I was hoping for some awesome sunset photos, but the fog was already rolling in before we left the house.
My sisters and I remember playing on this beach for hours while Dad went surfing. He'd always wave and have an eye on us. (you could do that 23 years ago) We were always perfectly safe; although, Mom disapproved even back then.

It was chilly that evening

On the pier