Thursday, May 9, 2013

Seen and Heard

Seen: Caroline relishing the dirt after a short sprinkle of rain.
Heard: Oliver's conversation with a bird
Mr. Bird, can you tell me where my kitty went? Okay. Thank you.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Bluemont BBQ Festival

One of the many things Ricky and I have in common is our love of BBQ.  In fact, our third date involved dinner at Famous Dave's.  A few months ago we discovered the BBQ Pitmaster's series on Netflix.  When we found out that Great Country Farms would be hosting the Bluemont BBQ Festival and that Tuffy Stone, of BBQ Pitmaster's fame and owner of Cool Smoke BBQ, would be competing, we knew we had to get ourselves to this event. (We didn't stay for the judging but later read the Cool Smoke won 2nd place overall!)

Great Country Farms is about an hour west of D.C.  It seems that anytime we drive somewhere new around here we get lost.  In keeping with the natural order of things we missed the turn toward Bluemont and ended up taking the scenic route.  Thank goodness for GPS.  It was a longer drive, but it was beautiful and fun to drive through the rural parts of VA.  We even got to see some wild turkeys.  
 
To start things off we had a delicious brisket lunch.  We sat in the shade near the Cool Smoke station. 

We saw Tuffy from afar and later regretted not going over to talk to him.  It was miserably hot and humid.  We figured that after all that driving at least one person from our group should have a good time, so instead of walking around the smoky competitor's booths, we headed toward the kid activity area. 



It is safe to say that Oliver had a lot of fun. He loved feeding the goats and pig, watching the chickens and looking for eggs in their coop, riding the doodle bug, going down the really long slides, and playing in the corn pit.  Speaking of corn pits, I want one for our backyard.  Where to find bulk dried corn?  Hmmmm.


Our sweet Caroline is so tolerant.  She goes with the flow while we drag her hither and yon.   You might be able to see in the pictures what a sweaty day it was.  After about an hour of playing in the kids area, we headed for the car and more importantly the air conditioning.  Great Country Farm is an amazing place for kids to play.  If we were going to be here in the autumn I would definitely go back for the harvest festivals.

We hurried back to D.C. to meet Shaun and Melissa and the babysitter they brought up from Woodbridge, so we could visit the Amsterdam Falafel Shop.  It's a great place to get some good falafels.  We enjoyed our dinner then walked to Dupont Circle to catch the Metro back home.  On our walk we visited a cheese shop, oohed and aahed over the beautiful architecture, witnessed a fight in the park, picked up some Krispy Kremes, and walked in the rain.  When we got home, Caroline was miraculously asleep and the kids were alive and well.  All in all, a great day.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Sibling Love

There's always a little niggling in the back of my mind that I need to be blogging all the funny, cute, and wonderful things that are happening in our lives, but at the end of the day all I want to do is sleep.  So today while Caroline naps and Oliver watches Dragon Tales I present you with a random picture post to satisfy grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  News about our temporary home will come sometime later.

  Oliver wanted Caroline to sit next to him and learn how to play his puzzle game.  He really loves his sister so much. I'm so glad that he has never been aggressive or violent towards her.  It was something that I worried about before her birth. 
This morning while she was having breakfast, Oliver came up to us and randomly told me that "Caroline is a baby.  She is so cute!"  Then he petted her head, lifted his shirt, pointed to his chest and said he wanted to feed her.  He's always wanting to help.
 If I'm busy cooking or cleaning and Caroline starts fussing, all I have to do is ask Oliver to go talk to her and he's off like a rocket to tell her, "It's okay baby sister."  Usually he can calm her down till I am able to pick her up.  Sometimes this backfires when he thinks he can comfort her by picking her up.  Thankfully, he hasn't dropped her yet!  

I love this glamour shot and the outfit that Ricky's cousin Karen bought for Caroline. 
Too early for a real smile.

Oliver playing vikings and knights late one night.
Reading dad's textbook. 

Caroline the flapper

And that is all I have time for today.  The end.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A Boy and His Cat





The orange chair on our patio is a favorite resting spot for the cats and is covered in filth and fur, so I vehemently discourage Oliver from sitting on it.  But yesterday, I heard him softly ask Bill, "Can I sit next to you kitty?" How could I discourage him when he had been so polite and loving?  Oliver proceeded to express his affection by tweaking and pinching the cat's ears.  Bill is a very tolerant cat.