The Daily Nusz

Man o’ man, I have not posted in forever.  I am so busy these days!  In the summer, it felt like we were always traveling, but now that I am back to work I am busier than ever!   So, this is going to be a post filled with highlights . . .

September 10-13:  Trip to Washington, DC

Way back in September, we packed up the kids and drove to DC to visit with some friends.  For those of you who don’t know, this is where Kevin and I lived (in sin) before we were married.  At the time, Kevin was attending medical school and I was in graduate school.  We lived in an apartment in Silver Spring, MD for two years, then moved up to Baltimore to be closer to Kevin’s school.  Some of our closest friends from high school and college lived there too, so there’s always a piece of my heart back in DC. 

A highlight of the trip included visiting with Mer, Katie, and Rasmus.  At the time, Katie was about 100 weeks pregnant (okay, maybe 36), but she was a trooper the entire time (they now have a beautiful baby boy named Henrik).   On one nice afternoon, we went to a nearby park, took a walk, had a picnic, and tossed the frisbee around.

Katie and Rasmus with the kids

I have a really pitiful video of me gently tossing the frisbee to Decky and him catching it with his face, but I cannot figure out how to post it.

Another highlight of the trip was riding the Metro downtown to the Museum of Natural History and seeing the butterfly exhibit.  While Dec was less than impressed, Savannah loved it.  Here are some pictures of her after a butterfly landed on her.

See the butterfly on her side?

She examined the butterflies very closely.

Here’s a picture of Savannah hamming it up after getting off the metro and walking across the National Mall:

Dec may not have been impressed by the butterflies, but he was certainly impressed by the train at Tyson’s Corner:

A final highlight consisted of visiting with our friends Steve and Wendy (P.S.  Wendy was also about 100 weeks pregnant) and their son Ben.  We took a walk, ate some pizza, and the kids played so well together.  Sorry, Mer!

Savannah, Ben, and Declan

And somehow, despite the fact that Mer spent nearly every waking minute with us, we did not get a single picture of her.

October 1-4:  Myrtle Beach

We love going to the beach in early fall.  Since we’re so far south, the weather is typically still warm enough to play in the sand and get a little wet, the hotels are less expensive and less crowded, and the traffic is nil.   We stayed in a 3 bedroom condo right on the beach, and we had a great time.

Some highlights . . .

Looking at the morning sun over the water from the balcony

Playing in the sand

We also went to Ripley’s Aquarium . . . both kids loved it.

The “big” event of our trip to the beach was going to Medieval Times, the dinner theater place where the waitresses are all dressed as wenches, you eat traditional medieval fare (a huge chicken leg and potatoes), and they reinact a scene from medieval times, complete with horses and jousting.  It was loud.  It was dark.  It took about 45 minutes for the kids to stop clutching us with their sweaty little hands.  By the end, they were cheering with the rest of the crowd.  Once again, I didn’t get any pictures.

Finally, our trip culminated in a trip to Friendly’s, my favorite ice cream place.  Check out these faces!

The Swingset

I finally convinced Kevin that it would be a good idea if we got our very own playset.  Now, there is a very nice one in our neighborhood, but 1) it has no swings and 2) we have to walk there, and I can’t do things like make dinner or fold laundry while they are playing on it.  So, after HOURS of work (with the help of my parents-in-law, several of our neighbors and my sister-in-law babysitting), its together.  The kids LOVE it.  And on several occasions, Kevin and I have eaten dinner in peace while the kids screamed their guts out in glee on the playset.  We fully expect our next door neighbors to put their house up for sale soon.

Here’s the progression of its construction:

Believe it or not, this took us about 6 hours to do. And it fell on John at one point and Linda had to run to get the neighbor to help us lift it up.

This was about 9 pm. We were all very sweaty, and despite the huge spotlight that a neighbor gave us, we had to stop because it started to rain.

The next day, Kevin and I were on the final stretch (only about 3 hours more!) and the kids were trying out the picnic table.

I'm embarrassed to say after all of that, I didn't get an 'after' picture. Imagine there are swings, a cross bar (the one that is laying on the grass) and two little monkeys hanging on it.

Okay, that’s all for tonight.  Next post:  Dance class and Halloween 2009.  Stay tuned!