gravelly point

While mommy was away.... it was airplanes on the brain at home!  Off to Gravelly Point went Papa and Abby and Nate one weekend morning.

Nate loves airplane spotting

It's a bird.. It's a plane...

Abby keeps an eye on little bro.

When will phone booths be considered antiques?

Sometimes it can be a little loud watching airplanes take off and land...

 

cherry blossoms 2012

Flashback to March 24 when we visited the cherry blossoms...they were just past peak.  For any climate change skeptics out there who might stumble across our blog.... let the record show that cherry blossom peak bloom time is accelerating in a hard core way!  Here we are in 2009 (and within that post a flashback to 2008) when peak bloom was a full 2.5 or 3 weeks later.  And last year ... 2011 blossoms peaking probably around April 9 or 10. 
This year, Nate was more interested in "car-cars" than he was in blossoms.

Nate makes sure we all see the car that has just driven past.

Yep. There it goes...

So many blossoms, so little time.

Hi Nate.

Hi blossoms.

Watch out for the sillies.

Abby in a beautiful tree.

 

birthday weekend

What a beautiful birthday weekend....so nice for mommy to be back home and done with far-away travels for a while!  It was a fun trip, but nothing is quite as nice as home sweet home.  We've had lots of outdoor adventures, starting on Friday when J&I both took the day off and we went to ride the choo-choo train and carousel for the first time this year.... fun times!

Nate was totally transfixed by this experience.

There is a huge new playground at the park...aimed at older kids, but Abigail had a good time checking it out.  Look at this weird cone mountain thing.....

Top of the hill!

Natester also ventured up the blue/green mountain.

Check. Out. These. Slides.  WOW. 
Abigail fearlessly flew down all of them. Nate went down the smallest one once.  Papa and Mama watched and could not imagine sliding down any of them.

This "baby playground" as Abigail describes it, feels more our speed...

Oh carousel!  Abigail loved you when she was one and two, and was scared of you at three. At four it is love once again.

Wheeeee!  Look how much Abigail has changed since she was 18 months old....just about current-Nate-age!

Nate enjoyed his first carousel rides...especially this zebra!

 

airplane

Mommy is off to the airport in a few minutes to get on an airplane to Kenya.  Oh boy!  Meetings in Nairobi for four days and then 2 days of safari-adventures.  Mommy is going to miss all three of these guys very much!  Hopefully there will be many  happy wheelbarrow rides and other fun moments at home and stories to tell when Mommy returns!

 

par-tay

When you are freshly four and suddenly find yourself the center of attention during your birthday party and everyone is singing to you and waiting for you to blow out the candles sometimes you just have to focus on your coloring.

You know, really really concentrate...

Happy Birthday Abby!  What a fun zoo celebration we had on Sunday!

After looking at this photo several times I just noticed that Nate is strapped to my back!  Hi Nate!  Thanks for coming to Abby's birthday party!

When a whole bunch of 4 year old pals come to your party, they bring their parents and some siblings along too..... estimates come in at about 40 people total at the zoo to celebrate Abby's big day.  Wooo hooooooo!  Let's all bounce around on the pizza playground after we eat our birthday cake!

Abby was sure about one thing on her bday party day: she would wear her purple princess dress over her regular clothes.

This was slightly out of character for Abby who is usually not into all-things-princess.  But it did lend a festive air to the occasion.  And one family of Japanese tourists did ask if they could take her picture (um..no).  Then they asked if they could feed the animals at the kids farm (um, no again!).

Abby & Sofia scoot around on some mushroom slices while Emma conquers Mt Olive.

Hey...was there a princess in that olive?

Nate found a new favorite activity during party cleanup time... pushing a plastic chair around the patio....makes a really loud scrapy sound that Nate just loved!

 

dear nate: sleep please

Let's talk about Nate.  Nate is going through a serious 18 month sleep regression.  Unlike when Abigail was this age we do not find ourselves with abundant time to consult baby sleep books, etc.  So we turn to our bloggy friends and family to complain (a little) and look for advice.  Let's take the last 24 hours, which were particularly unusual: Nate was awake and screaming from about midnight - 2:30am on and off (this is not the unusual part...this is the new normal).  If we go into his room he stops crying immediately and is quiet as a mouse and seems to be sound asleep...until you try to leave the room and return to your own bed.  In other words, it seems Nate would like some company in his room all night long.  This has led to one of us sleeping on the loveseat in his room some nights, to shush him every time he cries out.  It has also led us to try the old cry-it-out plan, which is painful for everyone.  After Nate's choppy choppy night he slept in until 11am (that is the unusual part of this story...Natester usually wakes up around 8:30am).  Woke up, chowed down, and was like "what's the big deal?"  He went down for his nap at 3pm (usually would be 1pm) and we had to wake him up for dinner at 5:15 (usually would wake up on his own at 3ish).  He was happy to see us, happy to eat a little dinner, and eager to play in the sandbox.  In an attempt to get back to normal sleep schedule, Jamie put him in bed around 7:30, and he is still in there wide awake and chatting to himself and talking about choo choos.  It's now 9pm.  What will the night be like? No one knows..... Send advice, please.  

little dancers

Last day of this session of ballet class and parents were invited in for the last 15 mins of class.  Who would have thought that Abigail would love dance class so much?  Not us!  But she does!

Oh to be Ms. Liz and be soooo adored by 9 little 4 year olds.

Abigail's love for ballet class is definitely related to having good buddies in class with her... Georgia and Emma, and today Sahana (who is usually there on a different day!)

Waiting for stickers at the end of class.

With buddies Emma and Sahana.

And then we went to Bella's birthday party!  WOW.  Abigail's buddies will meet up at the zoo tomorrow to celebrate her birthday!  Stay tuned....

 

summerish-spring

What a warm spring this year!  Looking forward to the trees growing some leaves so we have a little shade chez backyard again.... in the meantime, Nate seeks shelter in the little casa and leads us through the hand motions for "head, shoulders, knees, and toes"!

Abby is 4.  If you see her in person, she'll tell you that herself.

Sitting on the sandbox lid.

Getting cozy.

Nate's new favorite activity... don't try to offer him a hand.  If he could say "self, self" he certainly would.  Flashbacks to Abby at this age when "self, self, SELF!" was a very common phrase.

It was "N" week at school and they made noodle necklaces!  And one of Abby's preschool pals let her borrow this fancy pearly necklace for 2 days!

Courtesy of our neighbors across the backyard fence... a dumpster with "Get R Done" written on the side.  Melissa & Jason, this one is for you!

Joint effort: sprinkle sandbox sand everywhere!