Daddy's Birthday (vegetarians and vegan alert *skip this post!)

Anthony celebrated his 42nd birthday yesterday with a pretty relaxing day at home and a much-anticipated trip to a Brazilian barbecue.  But before that, on Friday night, we had birthday cake with a few friends.  Beatrice was so proud of the carrot cake she helped to create!

She cranked out a wonderful version of Happy Birthday on the piano too.

The actual birthday morning started off with breakfast in bed, then a little Daddy-Bea time doing a science experiment involving growing seeds in eggshells under various conditions.

Beatrice was more about the artistic aspects of it, but she hung in there nonetheless. 

While Daddy was at band practice, she changed into her "fancy party dress:"

Here we are waiting to leave.  Anthony got  Bea this microscope for Christmas and they've been having a lot of fun examining dead bugs, dog fur and pretty much anything they can find!

Anthony's trying to create a little Marie Curie.  I think there's hope for a future scientist, as long as she can dance around her lab in a pink twirly coat.

    Then it was off to the Churrascaria...a carnivore's idea of heaven!  At $21.99 for the all-you-can-eat, they definitely lost money on this 42-year old. Meanwhile, Beatrice's meal was paid for "by the pound" so she ate her fill for around a dollar.  I am very sad to document, by the way, that some of my daughter's favorite foods at almost five years old, are chicken skin and anything made from pork.  She thought the sausages were the best things ever.

Don't say I didn't warn you vegetarians and vegans!  It wasn't pretty!

To use Beatrice's various adjectives used throughout the weekend, Daddy's birthday was "fantastic, marvelous, miraculous, super-terrific, perfect, glorious, satisfying and savory!"

Maryland long weekend

A wonderful time was had by all during Lola's birthday weekend in Maryland.  Here's Bea and her Lolo:

Beatrice at the Library of Congress the day before I arrived:

My sister-in-law Lucy and I cooking before the party:

     Lola loves cheesecakes, so I made two of them, which held seventy candles!

Most of the gang:

Fun was had with fake mustaches:

   And Bea and cousin Linden were nearly inseparable, doing lots of pretend and of course TV:

Sunday we headed to DC.  First stop was mass at the National Shrine with Lolo and Lola:

and then to the Hirschorn and National Gallery museums to see the Ai Weiwei and Ellsworth Kelly exhibits.  Here my little "Year of the Rat" girl:

We are sooooooo spoiled to get to go around DC by being chauffeured door to door everywhere we want to go! 

   I was a little sick Saturday night and was worn out on Sunday:

I took this shot outside the East Wing of the National Gallery.  We're still cute once in a while! 

She was convinced the sculpture outside was of "girls dancing" so she joined in:

                                                     Squatting down to ponder the crabs:

         

Big "B" and Little "B":

I swear I didn't dress her in black, red, and white on purpose!

My husband in his "church:"

It was a great trip.  As often happens, I'm amazed at how many moments we did NOT capture on film. I'm especially upset that we didn't take more of Beatrice with Lola.  She  had a great time with her grandparents, the best ever I think.  She cried the night before we left and this morning at the fact that she had to leave them.  She slept with them for two nights and can't wait to see them again.  It was great to see family and to celebrate Lola's special day all together.

And it was so special for Daddy to have some time alone in the city of his birth with his girl....

Happy Birthday Lola!

Anthony's mom turns 70 today and he and Bea are off to Maryland while I return to work after a lovely and relaxing 4-day weekend.  She was so excited to see her Lolo and Lola and has been counting down the days all week.  She was so grown up packing.  I couldn't believe what an experienced traveler she acts like! I will join them this weekend and we all return on Monday.  One thing Beatrice and her grandmother have in common is a love of books, so that is the theme she chose for her birthday card.  She cut out lots of little books, and then drew a picture of Lola reading her "Princess Pea" while I apparently am calling them away from their fun and telling them it is almost breakfast time.    Guess I'm a killjoy in my daughter's eyes!  :)  

Beatrice came up with the wording for this card and I edited nothing.  Her Buddhist influence is present!

 

Meanwhile, here she is at the airport awaiting departure.  I packed her a surprise in her backpack and Anthony snapped this picture of her enjoying it.  (When did Barnum's animal crackers start to cost $1.99 by the way? And when did they get politically correct and remove the cages from around the animals? That was a good move that I guess increases the value.)

I miss her already.  Guess I'll put my palms, in which she sweetly planted kisses this morning, against my cheeks as she instructed me to do when she was gone. She always remembers this from The Kissing Hand book that we read years ago and still take out now and again.

Valentine's Fire & Ice

Today was the first FIRE AND ICE festival downtown.  There were ice sculptures, beautifully lit ice luminaria, horse-drawn carriage rides, and winter/Valentine items in all the stores.  We only went down for a bit, but I was really proud of my little town, as I feel so often the past few years when they come up with these cool events.

On another Valentine's note, I witnessed Beatrice giving Sula a pretend Valentine the other morning, opening the envelope for her and reading it aloud.  It said:  "Dear Sula Goose, Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you will get lovin' every day, and if you find the most fantastic thing of all, then you will become the princess of Sula-land!"

Bringing Tet to Bea's School

We were up early this morning, slicing watermelon and steaming Bánh bò for Bea's class. I went and did a Tet presentation to 23 3-4 year olds,with 2 out of 3 staff members out for the day.  It was quite a challenge but, in the end, I think they all had a great time and Beatrice was beyond excited!  I showed photos of Tet from the internet, read the book "Ten Mice for Tet," told fortunes, played games, had a very modified dragon parade, and handed out li xi to each child.  I hope Bea will allow me to offer to do this each year, until she's old enough to do it herself.

They weren't as colorful as Anthony's iPhone makes them seem, but festive nonetheless:

I knew this double bamboo steamer would come in handy some day!

Bea donned her "cooking headband" to help in the kitchen.  Is licking the bowl just the best thing ever?