September 29, 2007 Oktoberfest

I know Octoberfest in September - whatever, it was a GREAT time! The cost was ONE WHOLE DOLLAR for the family, not even per person or kid. Can't beat that. The first stop was the moon bounce. Or in this case the castle and ocean bounce :o)

Maggie was VERY concerned when Max didn't come in with her.

Apparently Max prefers the fish to the castle. Needless to say Maggie followed her big brother.

Have you ever tried to get two 2 years to do anything, especially at a festival with all kinds of cool stuff? Yeah, let's just say leaving the jumpy was NOT on the top of their list. Luckily there was face painting! But first - on with the shoes!


After face painting we found the petting zoo. Maggie insisted on hand feeding EVERY animal, whether they liked it or not! Soooo funny, a couple tried turning their heads away but Mag's wasn't having it!

Lunch Time. Which means the kids played while we ate. Well, Maggie in true Maggie fashion wolfed down a hot dog in exactly 2.8 seconds! Max, in true Max form at oh... nothing! Okay, so I convinced him to eat some watermelon. How do they live, much less grow, on so little food! Oh, and the pinatas and balloons. That's right FREE!

Capitol Bikes built a really cool bicycle safety course for kids. They had cones to go around, a stop sign for you to stop at and a guy telling them "look left, right, now left again". How cool is that! They kids each got a certificate of course completion and, wait for it... those brand new Bell helmets they are wearing... FREE! Unbelievable!



What's Max up to? Yup, that's right, potty time! I couldn't resist this photo :o) And if anyone wants to know the potty is VERY tiny, folds up and has disposable liners you toss. All for $9.99 at Babies r Us. Totally worth every penny! Oh, it's called the "pottete".









Maggie striking a pose as we exit. Could she be any cuter?
Thanks for tuning in guys - see ya later!

Our first baseball game!

Our VERY good friends Petra and Gerry were so kind as to give us tickets to the last home game for the Nationals. And we live just a short walk from the stadium, maybe 7 blocks. It was a beautiful night and we were lucky enough to have an extra ticket for my nephew, Joshua.

On our way to the game we saw the police helicopter and the kids got a quick tour! Mike chatted with the officers for a bit and they offered us a "ride along" since Mike is a marine and they like to support the military. How cool is that?! Mike is gonna call this weekend to set something up.

Max IDOLIZES Josh. Look how cute they are together. Max is wearing Joshua's hat.

Balloon guy was fantastic!

Maggie waiting oh so patiently!

Max asked for a hammer and was swinging with lightning speed!

Another AMAZING day in D.C. Or should I say night... we left at the 6th inning and kids still didn't get to bed until 10!

The world goes round and round Part II

Later in the day, after our grad adventure to the WWII Memorial and our visit with the Park Police horses we went to my Aunt's house for a birthday party. My mom and her twin brother had a birthday last week and my Aunt's was a couple days before that. The kids had TONS of fun with all thier cousins!

Of course MY kids were first in line for cake!

Candle lighting time ALWAYS draws a crowd!

And in my family you don't sing "happy birthday" once... you sing the WHOLE song one time for each persons birthday. With 10 grandkids, 4 grandparents, and 10 aunts and uncles it can take a while. Luckily September is only a 3 birthday month!

Is it me or does Max look like he's gonna DIE if he doesn't get a peice of cake soon!

And last, but not least, Sabrina. I LOVE this photo! So pretty and so natural. Sabrina is Max and Maggie's cousin.

September 27, 2007 And the world goes round and round

Funny how fast time goes by... You would think having class just 2 days a week and the rest of my days "free" (okay not really free but you know what I mean) that I could get more done like say, keep up with this blog. But the truth of the matter is I'm always rushing! So here is the latest in the Flynn household:

Last Friday we took the kids to "feed the ducks", their version anyway. Mike and I went to the World War II Memorial. We weren't really all that impressed I'm sad to say. All the states are represented by the exact same pillar with the exact same wreath. The only difference is the state name on the wreath. There is, of course, water and an archway entrance but really nothing to express WWII. I don't know... kind of a let down. But still a great photo op of the kids feeding the ducks!

After the kids fed the ducks we went to the memorial for the signers of the declaration of independece as noted above.

Isn't it beautiful? You cross a bridge to a tiny island filled with geese!

And see this sign... if should read DO NOT ENTER (UNLESS YOUR NAME IS FLYNN).

This is the area that the park police hold the police horses in. There are a number of stalls, a ring to ride and hay to eat. How do I know this you ask? Because they let us in!!!!!

The horses BIG mouths were scary at first! But all the horses were really friendly and LOVED the attention. The kids were feeding them hay one piece at a time. Before we left the nice police woman that let us in gave each of the kids a horseshoe. That was a HUGE hit! I'm gonna hang them next to one of the photos of them feeding the horses in thier room.

This adventure was, of course, Papa's idea.

WE LOVE YOU PAPA!!!!!

September 19, 2007 The blog about nothing

I'm so happy to see that many friends are finding my blog with very little, really no, advertising by me. Which is perfect at the moment because I am always running short on time. I don't know why... 2 toddlers, 2 dogs, learning a new language, remodeling a house and of course still leaving ample amounts of time for exploring DC with my kids. Gotta have priorities! Right now though my priority is to finish my spanish homework and GO TO BED! ( or as they say in spanish "necesito acostarse"). I think, Judy is that right? Like I said before, learning spanish is a slow steady process. No big deal for me because it's just a bonus of Mike's job but Mike HAS to learn for the job. Me thinks he has a bit more pressure! Geez the blog tonight is like Seinfeld - a blog about nothing! The only event I have to report today is a trip to the zoo which was FABULOUS! Amazingly I met a great new friend, Colleen, at the park a few weeks ago. She has 2 kids, Cub 4 and Maggie 2. Yes, a Maggie with blonde hair and green eyes - crazy huh. But wait - there is more. Colleen moved in the exact same day I did and is here for only one year. She lives 2 blocks west and one block south of me. We decided to do kid swaps every weekend so we can have date nights. Works great because we can hang during the day (you know, with each other :o) ) and with our hubbies on the weekends knowing our kids are safe. Okay so we went to the zoo today. Great fun which I wasn't expecting because the National Zoo is nothing next to the SD zoo. Now JL will love this part of the story. I found Max and Cub to be VERY similar. Remember the "key inicident" at Lorelai's birthday party JL? Well today Max says, "mom will you carry me". I say no you can walk or sit in the stroller. He exclaims "oh" in a most pitiful manner. A few minutes later he says, "mom can I have a hug" like I'm gonna say no! So I hug him and he says, "again"... then he tops it off with a "mom I need you to hug me while you walk". Clever ape! Much later in the day it's getting warm and Cub says to his mom. "I'm really hot. Boy I'm starting to sweat.... I think I need some ice cream to cool me down". See what I mean - peas in a pod! I think we may need to decrease contact between the 2 before they outsmart us!

Okay, I REALLY need to do my homework and go to bed! Sorry no photos tonight.

September 17, 2007 More sights

Where there is water, there is the Flynn kids. Papa is trying to trick Max into getting closer - Max is smarter than that!

Max climbed up "all by myself" and is very proud! Maggie is trying SO hard. I taught her to say, "I think I can, I think I can". The passersby thought is was cute :o)

The picture below was taken by Max. Not bad for a 3 year old huh?

Okay, a few more "catch-up" days and I'll be current. Most days are routine but we have done a few things definitely worth noting. Last Friday, as in the 14th, we went to the National Monument. Can you believe I was raised in the DC area and have never, to my knowledge/recollection, been to the top of the monument? Crazy huh. So - we went! The kids call it "the big crayon" and were excited to go up but once inside I think they found it a little boring. I loved it! Anyone ever been? You can see ALL of DC from up there AND they have pics of how it has changed. Pretty cool. I am attaching a photo that is a view of The Capitol and our house is just behind it about a mile. Cool huh. We live within walking distance of the capitol. The other photos are of the kids doing what - that's right, playing in yet more fountains. Oh, the day we went up in the monument was kinda overcast so the photo is a bit hazy but still cool. Our house is behind the capitol 12 blocks and to the left 3 blocks.

September 16, 2007 Catch up time!

Okay, I figured the best thing to do is skip the cross country trek (which was waaaaay cool) and get right to living in DC. The move was CRAZY and it is waaaaay too much for me to think about back tracking at this point. Anyway - living in DC is a total adventure in and of itself!

I will post photos of the house soon because we are planning a HUGE renovation and I want to record the before and after. Not to mention all the fun that will occur in between - NOT! But as they say, "no pain, no gain". The house is fine for us to live in right now but is seriously outdated - as you will one day see.

Currently our schedule is... Mike has class Mon - Fri from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. I take class on Tues and Thurs from 1 to 5 p.m. I could have gone 20 hrs a week like Mike but scheduling was difficult and in the end I just wasn't ready to put my babies in daycare. This way Mike has them 2 afternoons a week. So, when Mike finishes class on Tues and Thurs I drive up with the kids and he takes them to various monuments, parks etc with a picnic lunch then home for a nap. On Fridays we also go pick him up and the whole family has a picnic lunch and we explore some aspect of DC. The Friday thing just started 2 weeks ago. Now that we finally have the house in order. Our first family adventure was to the Air and Space Museum. We had lunch in a garden across from DOE and a block down from the museum. The garden was AWESOME! The kids, of course, played in the fountains and got soaked but - who cares it's only a bazillion degrees here!

The museum was tons of fun. The kids went nuts when they saw all the planes and rockets. We spent about an hour and a half on the first floor. Most of that time was in the "how do planes fly" area. That was really cool and Mike and I learned quite a bit about the physics of flight! The beauty of this day is that it was 100% free! I love S.D. but the museums could be quite pricey especially when you have kids who just cannot attend long enough to really get your moneys worth.

Okay, here are a few photos:

Well, I wanted photos here but apparently I can't do that... yet! I've gotta go put the kids to bed and do my spanish homework so I'm gonna have to play with this later.

Chau!

September 15, 2007

OMG!!!! Okay, so I started this blog and then life got crazy and well... here it has sat all alone. The thing is I didn't know A. anyone had the address and B. that anyone had read it - such as "it" is. I only put up the pic and a brief post to "test the waters" so to speak. Anywho, tonight a brief post and tomorrow I will start the real deal. BTW - these 2 original post will likely disappear as they were never supposed to be viewed in the first place! Judy and JL if you see these please disregard the HORRIBLE spelling, grammar etc as I have given absolutely no thought to this blog whatsoever.

BTW- we still REALLY miss all our SoCal pals but I must admit DC ROCKS!

Hasta manana... yes, I am learning spanish. Slow and steady just like the turtle. LOL