Splish Splash in the backyard

Madeline and I have found all sorts of creative ways to pass the time.
And, while none of them hold a candle to the fun we had back home with all
of our friends, playgroups, little hands, classes and neighbors, here is a glimpse
of her enjoying the yard here: (sorry if the lack of swimsuit offends)





And here she is practicing to be Grandma Maury at her new easel. Thanks to some new art supplies from aunt margaret and a cool aprin a-la pearl paint!



and finally... playing rock and roll stars with daddy

vids from the aquarium

Playing with dad in the bubble lobby



grooving at the dolphin show

National Aquarium

http://www.aqua.org/

We had the best family day on Saturday!
Its funny, because this is really the hardest time in our family's short history- what with the virtual homelessness, totally displaced feeling and lack of a plan-
but we managed to also have the best family fun day yet!

We went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore and spent the whole day there (10-7) incuding a paddle boat ride, a trip to Ellicott City and a walking tour of every centimeter of the aquarium.

Highlights for Madeline were the Dolphin show. At which she could not keep still, dancing and clapping, the bubble machines in the lobby of the aquarium, and playing bumper boats in the Dragon ship we were paddling.

Here are some pics of the day and I will also get some videos up soon.


"tickle tickle" she kept saying as she tried to touch the fish's bellie's!




front row of the dolphin show- in the Splash Zone!


"no photos please paparazzi mommy"

xoxo

madeline's new career

thanks dad
xoxo

helping with breakfast

Madeline had a great time helping me make homemade biscuits the other day.
Don was horrified by the giant mess i let her make. She sat up at the counter with a big bowl, flour sifter and a measuring cup of water- paste!!
tasting it was by far the best part. I think the novelty is that it is essentially the same playdough i make for her but i let her eat it
read: "look at me mom- im eating this stuff and you arent stopping me!"


anyway. it was everywhere and i was able to bake without a toddler near the hot oven. miracle!

Then she spent more time with Grandma Rose "ma rose". They went on bike rides and carousel rides galore. I could not get a good one of the speedy carousel but you can get the drift ...


and here she is being a big girl with her new helmet (since all of our other stuff is still in storage).


In other news, we are close to choosing a midwife. But we wont have any official confirmation for another month or more. we really dont need to hear the professionals word on this- we think of ourselves as the experts on our pregnancy, but nevertheless, inquiring minds want to know.
We were targeting a 2 1/2 year age gap for our kids so this month was a great time to try. And, it seems we need only try once! (much to don's dismay ;)
Anyway, thats more than enough info for most of you.

more to come.
xoxo

July Update!

Need we say more?

Happy Fourth of July!

Here are a few pics from the first week of July!

Happy 4th with Grandma and daddy walking back from Italian red white and blue Gelati
in Rockville, Md near our (hopefully) new neighborhood.


Here is my Godson, Benjamin! His mommy sent us some great pics of him and his beautiful sister, eliana and I'm bootlegging it here too!

Here is Madeline and her cousin, Dimitri snuggling up and faking her smile




and here is Madeline and grandma rose!

what a great time they have had together this week!
and what a relief we have had to lean on grandma

Reston Zoo

This place is crazy
there are no rules!

I took madeline to this hole in the wall petting zoo- my first mistake.
There are no guidelines about which animals you can touch and what you can or cannot feed them- people give the kangaroos cheetos and pet the spitting camels!

Mdeline loved it, of course, and she especially enjoyed hanging out by the duck pond- something that we can do almost anywhere- she was way less interested in the zebras or spider monkeys than a duck and a cockatoo- but whatever!


And then... they take you on a wagon ride wherein the camels and ostrich help themselves to the snacks people bring on board! its crazy- literally an ostrich was pecking food out of a little cup the woman next to madeline was holding.
the birds the birds!!
the camel licked the 2 y/o next to us

and these Watusi cows from Africa with huge horns- i kid you not, 4 ft long, are clanging anlongside the wagoncar- I'm thinking- this can't be safe but we'll sure come back - its like a real safari with no insurance!


we're outta here!
san francisco zoo may have attack tigers but at least they have rules!

xoxo

helping mommy

madeline has become quite a helper in our corporate housing complex.
She loves to press the elevator buttons and help me get the mail
and this week she decided she likes to help me carry the groceries

here she is lugging a big bag of tp all the way down the hall!

good girl madeline!
xoxo

believe it or not she loves the rain

we lost power the other day and so we went outside to play in the rain
she was having a blast splashing and playing with her umbrella
and then when i wanted to capture it on video..
this is what i got



she looks like i dragged her out in the cold rain and made her sit on the chair
poor thing-

Happy Father's Day 08

Happy Father's Day Daddies!

We did not do a good job of celebrating our dads this father's day and we wanted to make a special page to tell you that we love you.

We went to DC today visit the Father of our country- George Washington!
Here we are, spending quality time with Madeline's number one guy.
Don, that is, not the Washington Monument. ;)
xoxo




ps: to all of our dad friends and relatives. we wish for you a wonderful and relaxing day. Wish we could give you all a big high five and thank you for doing such a great job at what you do!

i think that says it all...

Painted by Grandma Mary aka "Maury", Built by PapaRon.

We are here
we are roasting our little tails off
we escaped a tornado by roughly 6 blocks a few days ago
Don has just gone back to work and is working like a maniac
he loves his new office. the ppl are very hardworking and he likes the idea
of really jumping into the fold but there is a lot on the schedule already

and meanwhile... we are househunting.
it wasnt the plan to buy but with the market the way it is, sometimes you have
to test it out, right?
and since when do we follow the logical chain of events?

So we are hunting. Im keeping one foot in the rental market while visiting amazing homes and applying for mortgages.
The dollar goes a lot farther here than in San Mateo but we wont be living the high life just yet. Definately a starter home and grandma rose had better get ready to help us fixer up! LOL
since we are the least handy people you know.

Madeline is having a hit or miss kind of time here. She is very gregarious normally but has been putting her head down saying "shy" now when we meet people. She asks for Elianna and Benjamin around the clock, refers to Nana, Papa, Tina and the cats as either "Lina" or "meow meow".
we are keeping her connected to friends with pictures and videos but i think she just misses what she remembers as her everyday life. The park, her friends, her school, playgroup.
I do too.

Well. We move to Silver Spring in a couple of weeks to a lovely, artsy, colorful, musical home for a summer sublet and then... who knows!

We hope to make or welcome some roadtrippers over the next few weeks and in the meantime we are getting to know our extended family here (Aunt Peggy, Rosey and Dimitri).

This has been a long one but we havent updated in a while.
I hope to get some of the house photos off the cam and some new pics of M up soon.

Im sorry if there are emails in cyberspace from you all that i have yet to return.
I will eventually, and i appreicate hearing from you all.
Missing CA and our life, holding on the promise of something more secure here on
the East Coast.
Love to all,
xoox
*ashia*

Talker

Just realzed we have not posted any talking vids in a while and madeline was telling us about her friend Eliana today so we thought we'd share.

baptism video

trying to get a video posted from sunday.
we wish you could have all been there
especially Godfather Shawn and grandparents/great grandparents but
we felt it was especially poignant to have her baptised at our church in
san mateo before we left and had to do it sort of last minute.
im sure you are all used to that from us by now!!

let me know if it works on your computers, ok?

long time coming

Its been too long but with traveling, the move and madeline's baptism, houseguests and rounds of illness, im sure you all understand..

i wont write much but just want to post a few pics from this month:

At the zoo with her boyfriend, Zygo (her godmother, Jill's husband of 3 years- congrats!)

Pretending she's a big girl- you cant fool me, you will always be our little baby!

Swimming last week at school, having a blast

Posing at church before her baptism with our surrogate family in California (nana and papa and tina, maria and her godparents minus Shawn of course)

Fun in SF with Grandma and Jason

My Mom found this awesome African drumming circle and she just could not wait to jump in and dance with them! it was so crazy. Check out the video of mom learning how to Caipoera!



Okay, well maybe it was Madeline who wanted to jump in to the frey. she was a boogie crazed little girl with her dad so we went over to see up close.
She was fascinated by the drums and the dancers and they thought she was a perfect fit.



She had some fun with Uncle Jason, we went to lunch in Hayes Valley and then we took this pic in the park on the way home.
Mom is so mad at me for posting it bc she forgot to smile- but we had to prove she was here after all!


We had a blast this week with Grandma Mary here. (Madeline calls her Maury, i think. It sounds like the Gaelic word for grandma but we still havent heard it officially pronounced.)
We went to the zoo, the city, shopping, the parks, out to dinner on the water- the works. Grandma got a few chances to babysitt and play with Madeline- they never even noticed i was gone. it was a great time. We are so glad we had this week together! (but we dont have many pics to show for it since mom wont let me post them!)

grandma mary is here

don is gone so mom flew in to keep us company!
she brought a dress up costume for madeline who promptly put it on
and kept saying "hood" and "walk".
so grandma had to take her for a walk to show off her spots!

they are having such fun together it is so exciting to see.

Here is a quick sneak peek since things are kinda chaotic
right now.
more eventually...

ergo contest

http://www.alongfortheride.biz/contest-s/49.htm

here's a link to a contest for an ergo baby carrier-
i get an extra entry just by posting it. yay
xoxo

Uncle Michael

So... about 2 years ago, my godfather, Uncle Michael, started asking us what
we were going to name the baby- and we weren't telling.
So he decided that this was because we were going to surprise him, and name the
baby after him.

he knew she was a girl.

but so he started calling her by this funny nickname and for xmas olga and mike gave us this outfit:



Baby Uncle Michael Mann

cherry blossoms

we just came back from a week in DC, during the height of cherry blossom season.
my mom went on and on about how we could not miss them and i was like "yeah yeah"
but okay, she was right. have a look!



this is the neighborhood at the end of the block from where our aunt peggy lives.
can you believe it?
and these houses cost about one quarter of what they'd be on Palm Ave in san mateo.
its insanity!

anyway, i know... the winters suck and the summers suck worse. but it is sure giving us a little bit to think about....