A visit from Grandma and Grandpa Black...

We had a great visit with Ben's parents this past weekend. Despite the heat, we had fun and toured around a bit.


A delicious dinner in Old Town...

and a stroll along the pier...


Amelia checks out the man playing the glasses...

and Elsa gives us some good frowny faces.

On Saturday we drove to Shenandoah National Park and checked out some caverns and then drove along the Skyline Drive, had a picnic, tossed the frisbee, and enjoyed some amazing views.









On Sunday night, we strolled around the WWII Memorial and cooled off in the fountains...

Blessing day.

Elsa received a beautiful baby blessing from Ben in church yesterday. Ben's parents were in town for the occasion which was really nice. My mom made the most amazing dress for Elsa. She was pretty tired of being photographed and fussed over by the end of it all.

Enthusiastically promoting the following:

1. Archer Farms (Target brand) Chocolate Chunk Hazelnut Biscotti Granola. So delicious. My favorite mid-morning snack right now is a vanilla yogurt parfait with this granola and some strawberries.

2. Trader Joes. It's small, cheap, delicious, and kid-friendly. I first learned of Trader Joes when we lived in Arizona many years ago and were fortunate enough to have one just a short walk from our house. The employees are always so helpful, there are free samples, mini shopping carts for Amelia, and she always leaves with a balloon and a sticker and a smile on her face (until her balloon pops on the way home). The Trader Joes in Old Town even has a stuffed animal named "Henry, the Old Town dog" which gets hidden somewhere in the store and if your child finds it, he gets a prize and gets to hide it for the next kid. Grocery shopping has never been so delightful (and tasty). Favorite purchase this week: Dark chocolate almonds.

3. Multigrain Tostitos. (Jill, I know you're with me on this one.) I realize that just because they are "multigrain" does not mean they are healthy. A chip is a chip. I wouldn't be surprised to see bottled water labeled multigrain these days. But these things are completely addictive.

4. XMU on XM Satellite radio. Great new music.

5. Phil and Teds strollers. No, I do not have one. Yes, I want one. It would solve all of my strolling needs. But would not help my budget.

Fireworks = Fun for All

We checked out more fireworks last night in Old Town Alexandria on the waterfront. It was a beautiful night and a lovely view of the fireworks above the water. The Alexandria Symphony provided the standard 1812 Overture, complete with cannons. The cannons caused a bit of a foul smell in the air, which did not go unnoticed by Amelia. She started to sniff her feet to see if she was the culprit.


Amelia was completely fascinated by Emma's clip-on princess earrings. Emma was kind enough to let Amelia wear one. Amelia also convinced us to buy her a glow-in-the-dark necklace (yes, Amelia is all-powerful).



Amelia's favorite thing is to climb on dad.

The Sharon Thomas Experience

Last night we went to a concert in the park at the National Zoo with some friends and enjoyed some jazz (The Sharon Thomas Experience) and a picnic of pitas, hummus, and falafel. Amelia busted out some awesome moves on the "dance floor" but wasn't sure about her Sharon Thomas Experience (see footage below).

Let's roll.

I put Amelia into the car yesterday but didn't get her buckled in and then I got distracted talking to a friend. When I turned around to buckle her in, I found her like this in the front seat.

Smiles.

Elsa has been giving us some great smiles for the last few weeks and I finally got around to capturing them on camera. It doesn't take much to get her to smile these days. I think she's just happy that someone is paying attention to her.

For the moms going mad...

I'm always looking for things to keep us busy. My cousin Brooke tipped me off to this great blog with lots of fun ideas for kids. Check it out.

July 4, D.C. style.

We have made it a tradition to attend the rehearsal for the big Capitol Fourth concert the night before the 4th of July. Some friends joined us and we had fun watching the girls run in circles and dance for over an hour straight, and enjoyed some really loud musical performances from singing greats like Jerry Lee Lewis and uh, Taylor Hicks? (How did he win American Idol?)





It has also become a tradition to enjoy the fireworks in the rain. Despite the weather, we still headed to the Iwo Jima Memorial to watch the fireworks from across the river. The view of the monuments from there is beautiful and lots of our friends showed up to keep us company. Amelia didn't seem to care that it was pouring rain at times and had fun playing with her friends (although she was not a fan of the port-a-potties).

Our view for the fireworks.


Elsa was asleep for most of the excitement.


The girls.



Loving the rain.


The Webbs. Who will soon be leaving us for bigger and better things.


Fun with umbrellas.



Hiding out under our blanket tent.


Who put that cloud there?