Maryland/DC vacation

We returned yesterday from 12 days away from home.  We started in Dover, DE and spent one night at the glorious Red Roof Inn (at which Sula was welcome) then headed to Ocean City.  The first day we spent time with the Enrile family before they headed back home.  That night Miles and family arrived, followed by the Albanos on the 4th of July.  They spent the weekend and then the Durands from CT arrived for a few days.  After a week at the beach, we headed to Lolo and Lola's house and make a couple trips into DC and spent loads of time with the Dirksen cousins. She had kids around, from ages 6 mos.-17 yrs. every single day, and ate it right up.  I love that we're able to give her the experience of not being an only child  from time to time. Here are photos, out of order, of the summer fun:

at National Zoo, analyzing elephant dung:

we got to see baby panda Bao Bao, which was such a treat, and her mom pretty close up:

Beatrice adored the large birds!

Here's Bea and Linden (after haircut) in matching dresses for church bought by Lola:

The Dirksen's new dog Mato was a big hit!

Walking the zoo in the heat wore us out after a few short hours!

5 1/2 year old Miles, Tita Liza, Bea, and Tita Evelyn:

The Albano/Jackson/Foronda crew on the 4th:

Bea and Linden (pre-haircut)

Cousin Marco is one of  Bea's favorite people on the planet! Here we are out for ice cream at Dumser's Dairyland:

Told you the zoo wore us out:

We headed to Rehoboth for Funland and Bea of course wanted the carousel as always:

Lucy Durand and Bea at the OC Boardwalk:

Hanging out at the house:

and plotting where there swimming hole was to be dug:

Harry Durand, almost 14-years old, and the greatest hole digger ever!

Marco and Bea at the fireworks:

When we arrived at Lolo and Lola's house, Dan & Kathleen and the boys met us for an overnight on their way back home from North Carolina.  We headed into DC in the pouring rain and had dinner at the Kennedy Center:

Luckily the drops stopped long enough for these three to race around the terrace for a while:

and the highlight of the trip was getting an email from cousin Annabelle from France, whom we visited four summers ago, saying that she and her husband were traveling a bit earlier than expected to pick up their new son, Bastien Hoang Minh, from  the Thu Duc orphanage in Saigon, Vietnam.  14-months old and more-than-ready for a family, "a little cousin for Beatrice" as Annabelle referred to him,  he is so beautiful and I can't tell you the memories/emotions their photos brought back:

A near photo-less but awesome week

Our nephew Jaden graduated from 8th grade this month, so as a present we flew him up here for 6 days.  We all had a blast, visiting the Boston Science Museum, hiking Purgatory Chasm, heading to the KNIGHTS exhibit at the Worcester Art Museum, going to the dam, putting together loads of Legos here at the house,  and celebrating at my brother's 50th birthday party.  Hours after he left, Bea and I headed to the annual Asian Festival which ended with an incredible Lion Dance Competition! But nearly all of these awesome events were done without a camera.  I am in such a photography slump!  The weather was spectacular and I coulda-shoulda-woulda gotten awesome shots, but instead you'll have to settle for this one during tonight's bath time. She's taken to bathing with goggles:

and this one of Bea making of coat of arms at the Worcester museum,

and modeling it for one decent photo of her with her cousin!

and just one blurry one of her eating Vietnamese shave ice next to the big drums used for the lion dance:

Meanwhile, there are some big changes around here since I'm on vacation.  Since Anthony moved his studio to the attic, the former studio is now a playroom/guest bedroom, meaning 99% of the toys that used to be in our TV room are now gone, and the changing/storage table is finally gone from our bathroom.  Bea is finally, finally (fingers crossed) done with nighttime pull-ups and we're adultifying the house a bit all around. Maybe I'll get out of my slump and take some pictures before we head to Maryland in two days....

6.1 is tons of fun

Anthony and I have both remarked how awesome "six" is many times in the past month or more.  Beatrice had a strong end to the school year and has been so very happy, helpful, and just plain fun to be around. She has also been a real trooper despite being plagued with pretty bad spring allergies. She's on meds twice a day and has throat lozenges for the near constant throat clearing she's doing from time to time.  Fortunately, it seems to be improving, finally.  The big excitement in the house is Daddy's new studio, which is our finished attic space.  He painted one wall with dry erase marker, so he and Bea had great fun trying it out:

 

Her creative side seems to be expanding every day.  When left to her own devices this weekend, she all of a sudden showed us her new bathing suit, designed out of two Target bags:

She had a major milestone when she spent about six hours with newly retired "Uncle John" the other day.  He has tried for so long to "break in" with this girl, but of course the fact that he is a man and that he wants her to like him so badly are two major deterrents, but oh the fun they had!  They went to the park, gardened, drew, and had a picnic hot dog lunch:

 

This past weekend was her annual ballet/dance show.  They couldn't wear their costume to the show, nor were photos allowed, so the only pictures I have are from The Complex's Facebook page, which showed these from dress rehearsal and the final practice at the studio.  The show was just fantastic and Beatrice was in three different dances:

 

One of our sweetest moments ever happened when I was driving her to the show on the second night.  I asked her if she felt beautiful in her white tutu?  Yes I do, but not as beautiful as I always feel when I'm with you.  Speechless.

 

Here she is this morning, getting ready to go to the airport with Daddy (I have two more days of school) to pick up her cousin Jaden, newly graduated from 8th grade, and spending the week with us.

 

This girl is trying to hard to spell and read everything lately. On her last day of school, Anthony asked how her day was.  "I will spell it for you!  G-U-D!"

 

So the summer is off to a roaring start for her.  She's enjoying working on her first grade summer packet, participating in the library's summer reading challenge, and in between all that trashing the house with her building of tents and cities and putting on plays and puppet shows and writing in her secret diary, drawing, singing, and living loud and large every minute of the 14 or so hours that she's awake each day.

 

 

Happy Father's Day!

(asked in the midst of playing "monster" with Anthony) Beatrice, what do you love most about Daddy?  He's the best Daddy in the whole world. He never scares me, but he actually do....bye-bye.