Blackberries in the backyard

Today we spent whole day trying to catch up on some sleep and baby quilting activities. At the end of the day Mischa had to go out and so we ventured into the Southern humid afternoon... to find some berries about twenty yards away from our home.Sonia's delight and berry picking skills motivated me to run back home and grab a camera. I think there were about five berries hiding in the little chicks ;-)
First time picking berries all by herself! Blackberry bushes have huge thorns... I pricked my finger and it still hurts but that didn't stop Sonia even a little bit.
On Wednesday we explored water buoyancy at Tiny Friends. Raced around with cans of water. Researched things that float and sink.Sonia watched Audrey launch and race her little boat.

Jewels of Washington DC

What about going on American adventure? All is possible when you've got a friend ;-) Audrey is five and she is legally registered for Stories in Art at the National Gallery of Art. Well, Sonia is not but she can easily pass for a very short four-year-old, right?

Today we visited a farm... The Cornell Farm by Edward hicks. Sonia listened well and raised her little hand when questions were asked. She even said that cows and horses were right there (meaning on the foreground). We looked at the painting from different angles. The story of it took us all the way back to 1848. These cows, pigs, sheep and horses were prize-winning animals at the Agricultural Society fair. Hicks painted each animal with its unique features... it is a heard of individual portraits!

Then we read Sally Goes to the Farm by Stephen Huneck. What a fun place to come and there is so much to learn! The story telling was also top of a line.

Making a barn where animals live and drawing next to Audrey is the best of all worlds.
Sonia is not four yet... but with me as her mother she gets to do all sorts of stuff. We even got her a passport and her first animal stamp today. At the end we'll get a prize!!! We just need to make two more trips this summer... we are going on adventure ;-)

We also saw some cool five-hundred-year old armor and knight regalia including an armor for seven year old Philip III of Imperial Spain. We even got to try some things on... silly, silly Valerie ;-)

but nothing can hurt you with this kind of outfit!

Fish market in DC

Just a few blocks from the mall there is an old fish market, the Main Avenue Warf. Crabs, lobsters and fish are sold from floating barges. We got a feel of real DC; it is most definitely not a touristy spot.
Jeremy has been thinking about a crab feast for a while now and so we ventured out to find something good. We got a great deal at this stand... 15 crabs for $25. And they cook them for you right there too! I got some useful advise from a regular on girl crabs vs male crabs. We got some blue male crabs... since we don't eat crab eggs at this point ;-)
Plus some clam chowder and fresh oysters filled our tummies right on the spot. On the way home I had to fish Jeremy out of a trunk of our car; he disagrees but it looked like crabs would have been gone... he even had his hands inside the bag! He was just checking on the crabs ;-)
At home we had a real feast.Fresh crab is delicious; it's worth living on the East coast! Sonia ate crab as quickly as I could crack it for her. My little crab eater ate as much or even more than I. Last Friday papa joined us for a story time at the Alexandria city library. We love coming here, reading books, singing songs and learning new things each weak.

To eat or not to eat... is it a question?

At Tiny Friends Lindy found a crayfish.Kids were fascinated by it and it nicely blended into our theme of the day "Camping and painting rocks." We also made our own trail mix, Nummy! Then somehow or perhaps because we live next to Huntley Meadows, Lindy handed us this creature in the paper bag. Jeremy almost ate it right then thinking it was a bag of trail mix. It was half dead at that point.

When we came home, Jeremy remembered about him and I put poor creature in the bowl of cold water. Amazingly it came back to life.

Then we ran around Alexandria and found a huge mirror at Ross to hang above the fireplace. I love how all decorations turned out. Three little birds are Sonia's favorites.

We also put up all our pictures in the living room.

This picture is taken last Christmas. We just set up a tripod at Aspen Grove and took several shots with the mountains. The frames are from Aaron Brother's in LA, Ca. They have amazing sales twice a year.

Mom, I placed your birthday gift where it looks best with an oak stair case and you can easily see it going through our front door. Sonia always stops and looks at her great grandparents ;-)

After living in New York, I gain huge respect and appreciation for pot racks. They are space savers!!! It makes my kitchen so much more functional.

At night we went to find our crayfish a home in the near by creek. Sonia was super concerned throughout the day because papa kept making remarks such as, "Why don't we just cook him!" On the way there we saw a huge turtle under a rock. The sun was setting; there was magic in the air. And then we let our prisoner out. He quickly found a home under a rock and felt much more safe than in my salad bowl.

My perfect day

No pictures and I will regret it to the last but here is the run down of our perfect day. It is impossible to keep everyone happy... but today was one of those perfect days I want to remember ;-)
1. Jeremy got a bike rack of craigslist. Hooray!! (this made him very happy) We can now load our bikes and go anywhere!!!
2. We went to a stake dance class and learned some country foxtrot and polka. Jeremy got some great leading tips from a good friends of mine at BYU, Jade (that made my day!)
3. Sonia had Audrey and Alyssa over. We went to Huntley Meadows and found four huge frogs and an old grumpy man.
4. Mischa got to run around a play ground and played with a boxer who was trying to "box" him with his paw.
All four of us super happy and tired!

Making ice cream at Tiny Friends

First we made some fun ice-cream art cones with pompoms. Sonia worked on the cone by herself and not everything went smoothly as you can see ;-)

Last week at the library someone thought that these girls were sisters and that I was expecting a third one ;-)

Then we put some ice and rock salt in the plastic bags and shook it for a long time... I guess that was sort of a pioneer way to make ice cream. Although pioneers were probably too busy or too cold to attempt it. Valerie and girls were already eating their precious little bites of ice when Sonia was wailing for ice cream and I was frantically still shaking our bag. She even fell of the bench... poor girl, her mom just couldn't make this work. Thank you, everyone for pitching in and for helping us out ;-) We were the last ones to create something that resembled frozen paste... Sonia loved it ;-) Sonia put tons of candy and Oreos in it.

There is something baking in the kitchen

Taking a little rest before going to church and playing hide and seek behind my chair ;-)

This week was the last week of volunteering for papa and on Sunday we surprised him with a small torte. Two cute cooks ;-)

Eating plain flower is so much fun.

Is there a rule against licking?

Half of our dessert was gone before the next morning... it was delicious ;-) Another half we shared with Valerie and the girls on Monday. We also went to look at the Huntley Meadows pond with frogs. All girls and the frog ;-)Audrey touched it and then Mischa jumped into the pond stirring dirt and scaring the frogs.

Many blessings; our new friends

We are lucky to be in the same ward with Valerie, Audrey and Alyssa. Alyssa is two years old and Audrey is five and Sonia loves playing with these girls. Last Wednesday we made a caterpillar at Tiny Friends while learning about healthy foods and snacks. On Friday we all went to a library for a story time and Sonia could play with the girls all day long ;-)
We also had to get Mischa a new leash at Petco last week. He ate his last one and I have to say leashes are so expensive! While there we asked to touch a ferret. Mischa went berserk over them. He stuck his muzzle into a cage and didn't want to leave

Choo Choo train at Burke Lake

When I was two years old, my mom and I rode a miniature train in Ekat Central Park. Even today I remember that train ride, conductor and the excitement of the day. There is no pictures but my memory preserved it better than a camera would have.

We had to go see the Burke Lake Park last Monday because they also have a train. The rail rode has been around for more than thirty years. It has a real train station not polished like Disney even with spider cobs. The engine has been replaces about four years ago and this one is new. Sonia had her snack and then we rode the train. It went really fast and she finished riding in my lap.

We walked around a lake on the five-mile fitness trail that reminded me of the same type of trails in Russian parks.

Then we enjoyed a ride on the carousel. Sonia rode a white stallion all by herself with just a little help of my finger.Second time Sonia rode a train with papa. She gave her ticket to the conductor. She was excited to see a tunnel one more time (tunnels are our big faves at the moment) and go over the bridge/ fridge, as Sonia calls it. On the way out a train engineer let us sit in his chair. He showed Sonia how to operate a train and let her touch the buttons. I hope Sonia remembers this outing like I do mine.