Latest Happenings

This is how Calder chose to watch General Conference. I'm impressed how long he could sit and listen. Of course he did do some playing too but he was really into sitting on his stool right in front of the computer.

This is my new sweet ride. I love it and found it at the thrift store for $39! It was a total steal and works great. I also just purchased an iBert on Craigslist for $30 so Calder and I can go for rides together.

We had a great time at the zoo a while ago. Calder asked me on the way there if I wanted to meet HIS animals. He was implying that all the animals at the zoo are all his. 

This morning we had the funniest conversation. Here's how it went.

Calder: I want to mumble  (we couldn't figure out what he was saying)
Jason: You want to what?
Calder: I want to mumble
Jason: What?
Calder: I don't know what I'm talking about.

Ice Skating Again

 Ever since we went ice skating last time Calder has been asking if he can take his friends Simon and Jack with him next time. He was so excited that they got to come with us!

 Unfortunately Simon and Jack weren't as into ice skating as Calder is but I think in the end they still had a good time.

 The highlight was watching the zamboni clean up the ice after we skated. All three boys were giddy with excitement as they watched him circle around the ice. Calder asked about a brush on the front of the zamboni and why the guy didn't use it. I told him I didn't know but we would look it up at home. When we looked it up we couldn't find any pictures of a zamboni with a brush on the front but we did find diagrams with all the parts listed. He has been into learning the parts of a zamboni ever since. He also likes to watch you tube videos of zambonies circling the ice.

I know he doesn't look very happy in this picture but it's not because he's ice skating. It's really because he hates having his picture taken. He is his father's son.

Castellaw Family Visit

 My family came to visit this last week and we had a wonderful time! I had a hard time knowing what they would want to do, so we planned as much as we could into their week long visit. We started out seeing the National Mall and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. We stopped for lunch by the Washington Monument. You may be wondering why Calder isn't in the above picture.

 He was off doing this. The weather was amazing and he could run around in short sleeves. This hasn't been true since, but it was sure nice while it lasted.

 Then he did this. Thankfully Jayme was a good sport and didn't mind that Calder wanted to eat his lunch on top of him.

 We scheduled a Capitol tour for my parents and Jayme. Calder and I went to the Library of Congress while we waited for them. The Capitol is great but not something Calder wanted to do twice. He would rather run around and I had food in my bag that I didn't want to throw away. (The Capitol is the only place we've encountered where you are strictly prohibited from bringing food or water.)

 Calder and Jayme sitting on the Supreme Court steps waiting for Jason to come out.

 We ran daddy to lunch at Good Stuff. Oh and it is good stuff! I can't wait to go back and try the milkshakes! This is just a warning, if you come visit us I may drag you to Good Stuff. It is also nice that it's close enough that Jason can meet us for lunch and then go back to work.

 We went to the Air & Space Museum.

 Read a lot of books. Curious George (the complete set) still being a favorite.

 We celebrated my mom's birthday with mandarine orange cake. It was amazing.

 This is at the Kensington Antique Row. It was a fun place to look around.

And of course we went to the Building Museum. I think the security guards know us by name.

I am so glad my family could come and experience this great city and the nation's capitol. Calder was thrilled to have so many people willing to read to him and play with him. I wish they could have stayed longer and we could have done more, but I guess they'll just have to come back!

Private Firehouse Tour

The other day we stopped by the fire house to schedule a tour. You see, I have been trying to call them but they never answer the phone, so we thought we would stop in. Calder has been asking for a tour for a month or so. He was so excited when they asked if he wanted a tour right then. Fireman Jeff showed us around. The firehouse is brand new and very nice. Calder got to sit in the fire truck and turn on the lights and siren. He loved it. Don't let the pictures fool you, he was having a blast. 

Oh and I forgot to mention he wanted to dress up like Cowboy Woody that day.

#72 Washington Wizards Game

 I took the car in to get an oil change and some routine maintenance at the dealership on Wednesday and they happened to be giving out tickets for the Washington Wizard's game on Saturday. I took three in hopes that Jason could come. Thankfully he made it! We met at the Verizon Center and enjoyed a good chunk of the game. Our seats were higher up but not at the very top, so that was nice.

 Calder loved getting a giant pretzel and the mascot. He laughed every time the mascot came out.

 At first, Calder was a little scared because it was loud and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be watching. He caught on pretty quickly.

This was the first time I have taken Calder on the Metro without his stroller. He was so excited and felt like a big boy. Oh and we picked up this brand new backpack at the thrift store this week. He has wanted to take it everywhere.

#67 Visit the Audubon Naturalist Society

On Saturday we went to the Audubon Society for a hike. It was a lot of fun although, it was a rather quick trip. I think it will be much more beautiful in the Spring and Fall. We'll be going back for sure. Calder loved having the place to himself and hitting leaves with various sticks he found. We tried to find the turtles they told us to watch out for but couldn't seem to locate any of them. Maybe in a few months we will.

#51 Ice Skating

There is an indoor skating rink about 3 miles from our house and on Fridays they do toddler and parent time for $3.50! That includes skate rental for both of us. It was awesome. I haven't been ice skating in about 10 years and it was Calder's first time. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be much help but it was fine and Calder didn't really need much help anyway. 

Many of the other parents were surprised that he was so good and so little. They almost didn't believe it was his first time. He is dying to go back and keeps asking if we can take daddy or some friends next time.

He liked to chase the other kids around the rink. Some of them thought it was fun and some weren't too thrilled. As you'll see in the video below. 

#14 The Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Calder and I had an awesome tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on Monday. I honestly think this is one of the best things we've done in DC. It was short (30 minutes start to finish) and Calder loved it. He was fascinated the whole way through and wants to do it again. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures on the tour so this is the one picture we got in the lobby. The sign says One Million Dollars in ten dollar notes. During the tour we saw a sign in the printing area that said "How do you think I feel, I print my lifetime salary in just a few minutes".  I thought it was clever.

A few interesting facts, in case you don't get to take the tour yourself. 95% of the money printed is to replace worn out money. 4% of the money they print is a mistake and gets incinerated in the basement. And if you happen to have a bill with a star at the end of the serial number instead of a letter, it means there was a mistake while printing a sheet of bills and they had to substitute it with star notes.

To the Park WITH DADDY!

 It was so nice to have nice weather so we could go to the park but it was even better could go with us last weekend. Calder was especially thrilled that Jason rode the motorcycle while he was in the sidecar. I'm sure Jason will love that I posted this picture. If our blog goes private next week, you'll know why.

 We dug.

We climbed and we had so much fun!

Spending Fast Recap

This has been a good month. I didn't feel the stress I felt last year when I did this for the first time. I am already not buying anything new this whole year, so this wasn't all that different other than decreasing my grocery budget and not going to the thrift store. I am really happy I did it but I don't feel like it was as life altering as the first time I did it. Here are the things I've learned. 

• Jason LOVES Spending Fast month. Or at least he loves watching our bank account during the month. He recently said "Can you believe I looked at our Amex bill and there wasn't any charges" Uh, yeah, I can. 
• I can live without saran wrap and sandwich baggies, at least in the short term. I am doing better about using tupperware. I want to make reuseable sandwich baggies, but haven't done it yet. 
• I plan more fun outings when I don't shop.
• I sew more when I don't shop. 
• I re-focus my grocery priorities. I stuck with fresh fruits and veggies this time which meant I really had to skimp elsewhere. I'm glad I did though. I definitely prefer fresh over canned or frozen.  

I spent $44.84 at the grocery store this week, so I was successful in staying under $50 per week! Yay!

I did have a slight lapse in judgment on Thursday and went to a yarn shop and new thrift store. It was really fun to walk around Alexandria and the stores just sucked us in. I bought a skein of yarn for $6.00 and spent $5.00 at the thrift store. Thankfully LuAnn bought the skein of yarn from me when I found very similar yarn at the thrift store. So, yeah, I ended up only spending $5.00 but I still felt guilty about it. 

How did your month go?

#2 Visit Mt. Vernon

Calder and I went to Mt. Vernon last Monday. It was free in honor of President's day. I'm so glad we went. It was chilly but manageable. We saw the tomb, the museum and took the tour of the mansion. We couldn't take pictures of very many things so, here is what I got.

 This is a very large stained glass window inside the visitors center.

 This is how Calder spent the morning, when he wasn't on my shoulder so he could see the band or walking through the mansion.

 George Washington's Army. Calder LOVED watching them shoot their guns. He would laugh uncontrollably each time. As other kids would cry or cover their ears, Calder just laughed.

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON. Okay, not really but he was a good actor and did a good job pretending to be GW. Calder didn't get a chance to talk to him because the line was too long. When we were looking for a bathroom Calder suggested we ask GW where his bathroom is.

And this was the drum and fife band performing on the mansion lawn. Calder very much enjoyed this too. 

It was definitely a good day. I probably wouldn't pay for it but I'm glad we went.