Hot Town, Summer in the City

It's been a hot summer so far! Plenty of days, like Stephen Strasburg fastballs, pushing the upper 90's.

Juliet's enjoying them though, coming home from "school" and playing on the bed. Even though she's been teething quite a bit the last few weeks (tooth number 6 is breaking through now!), she's in really good spirits and really enjoys testing out her new abilities to rock forward and scoot around.

Here are a few pictures from Sunday evening, playing on the bed. The first few show off her eyes - she's got quite a range of facial expressions! The next set show her noticing I'm taking pictures and lunging forward. Then, the classic look of frustration as she gets tired of having her picture taken just one too many times.

The entire set is viewable here.



And, finally, a video of her showing her prized treasure map to the Velveteen Rabbit:

Rocking forward!

Juliet's testing out her arms and legs and getting ready to crawl! She likes to lunge forward, rock back and forth, and then fall back into place, talking the whole time.

Here are a few clips from this morning of her testing out her wings!

Laid back...

So after a weekend of fever and teething and intermittent sleep, Juliet was feeling much better today! After two hours of playing variations on "stand-up / sit-down" and reading (chewing on) every board book in sight, she decided to kick her feet up in her high chair and watch Mom and Dad go all out in an epic three-game Uno tournament (K won, 2 games to 1).

A complete set of pictures is up here.

Let's drum!

It's amazing how things that I tried with her a few weeks ago with limited results, she can do so easily now! After watching her hit her toys together and on the ground this afternoon I thought it might be time to try giving her a pan and a stick and see if she could do some drumming.. and sure enough! It's a bit wild, but a lot of fun.

Morning playtime!

Here's a little taste of Juliet in the morning! 6am is a perfect time to play!

Sloth Bears and Heat

Even in the humidity, a trip to the National Zoo is always special and fun. We were on the hunt for Zebras, but it turns out that the zoo transferred Mr. Zebra not long ago to their Virginia facility. We did get a chance to see the elusive Sloth Bear and the Cheetah. We also saw the three lions together in their area having a frisky afternoon. And of course, took some snapshots.

The full set of photos from today are available here.




And now, a bonus video!

Hashawha Hiking..

On Monday morning we got up _early_ and headed out to Westminster Maryland to do a little hiking and have a picnic! The park was a small-ish county regional park, not crowded at all, and just perfect for us!

The drive up was easy, and once we got there we set up a blanket and had some delicious sandwiches and cookies. After lunch we set out on a hike, with Juliet in the shoulder carrier. The trail was pretty easy, a nice 3 mile loop through piney woods, along a stream, past an old cabin, and then back through a prairie. One highlight was the Raptor center - where they rehabilitate injured birds of prey. We got to see a Red Tailed Hawk, Barred Owls, Screech Owls, Great Horned Owls, a Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture, and a raven!

And nothing says "busy weekend" quite like a sink full of toys!

As promised, a full collection of photos from the weekend are available here.

Playing on the floor with a new toy..

We had a busy, relaxing, and very fun Memorial Day weekend!

On Saturday we got moving early - hitting a few garage sales and ending up in Bethesda where we walked around and found a toy store (imagine that).. So we came back in the afternoon and just relaxed..