Tropical Storm Ernesto

Everyone,

One of the joys of living on the east coast is these great storms and hurricanes that occasionally go through our area. (You know I'm being sarcastic right? Good, we'll go on.) Right now I am looking out of our front room window and watching the rain come down. It's been a pretty steady rain since last night, as Tropical Storm Ernesto moves through.

Is it just me, or is everyone freaking out about this a little too much? I mean, they've talked about evacuating for this storm. Yes, evacuating us! For a tropical storm! Not even a hurricane! Can you tell I'm surprised! It seems crazy to evacuate when Ernesto came on land in South Carolina and came on land as a tropical storm. Yes, I know that this used to be a hurricane, but I wonder if everyone is just being really sensitive since Katrina. Katrina was a horrible thing, but it was also a category 5 hurricane.

We haven't done much to prepare. Juice's work sand bagged the front entrance because it's low lying. We are ready for any power outages we may have. We have plenty of food and water and ways to cook it should we be without power for days.

We're ready for you Ernesto! Rain on us all you want!

Safire

Games on the Internet

Everyone,

I saw this on Julia's blog and had to copy.

1. Figure the numerical values of the letters in your name:
Safire
3 1 20 8 5 18 9 14 5

2. Add all of the numbers together:83

3.Add the digits of that number together:11

4. Find the post of the first number (step 2) in your blog. If you don't have that many posts, add the digits together again. Keep doing so until the number is smaller than your pathetic number of posts:http://livinginmaryland.blogspot.com/2006/04/peak-season.html

5. Take the digit you noted in step 3, and count that many words into the post:"you"

6. Use the resulting word in a Google Image Search, and select a picture from the first page:

Who knew such an interesting picture could be searched and found? Thanks Julia! That was fun!

I promise I have a Hawaii update for everyone. Just give me a bit to write it all out first (and organize the pictures) and you will have a nice story to read.

Also, we went for Butterfly's 15 month old check up on Tuesday. She weighs 25 pounds, 2 oz and is 32 inches tall. Holy cow we have a long legged baby. She got 2 shots, cried for a second and then proceeded to run out the office smiling at everyone in the waiting room.

She is SUCH a BUSY baby. She is into everything. Over everything, poking it, pulling, pushing, standing on, etc. I feel like I can't keep up with her because it's just move move move all day long. That was great in Hawaii. She kept up. But now that we're home I'm having a hard time filling the day. I'm seriously looking forward to a park trip with my mom's group tomorrow. We need to get out of this house and do something with other toddlers!

Safire

ALOOOOHA!

Everyone,

We are back from Hawaii (and our short stay in The Land of Mexican Restaurants and Car Washes aka Utah) and we had a blast! No details right now. I'm really tired. But never fear readers. You will at least get a picture of our trip. Yes, one single solitary picture. Give me credit...I have over 500 pictures from the trip.

Safire

We're off!

Everyone,

Well, almost off. Hawaii is in 2 days, and we are packing up what seems like the whole house. I never knew how much stuff you would need on a 16 day trip with a toddler. I have to borrow a suitcase from a friend just so we can get all of the toys there and back. It's pathetic. Then I think, oh, I'll just leave some of these toys behind and I hyperventalate at the thought of 11 hour on a plane with a 15 month old and no toys. So I borrow the suitcase and hope that the airline/cruiseline/family don't hate me for how much stuff I'm bringing along. I've decided that I intend to use skycap at the airport. Seriously, I don't think we can haul Butterfly, her stroller, car seat, my bag, her bag, the toy bag and Juice's bag to the front desk. Not to mention the diaper bag, Juice's carry on and I'm sure a million other little things. I don't remember...does sky cap cost? At least my family will be there to help haul everything to the hotel. Hopefully luggage for 7 of us will fit in the rental car!!

I also have a million and one things to do at home. Things like call the shuttle and confirm that they are coming to get us before the sun rises on Thursday. I'd like to clean the house a little, so that it's not a complete wreck when Juice comes back. I need to do the laundry, and the sheets (which for some reason always takes me forever). I need to finish putting stuff on my brand new ipod. (okay, I don't NEED to finish that...I'd like to.) Soot needs a good outing before going into the kennel on Wednesday. Oh, and I need to look out her vaccination reports. I need to run to the bank. I need to make sure we have no milk left in the fridge. I could go on and on.

So instead of boring you, here's a great picture of Juice and Butterfly. I think Juice is a little excited to go to the ren faire this year. What do you think?

Oh! And I am now one of the best blogs on the web, according to this sight here. Interesting!

Until next time (check back in 3 weeks!),
Safire

1826 Days

Everyone,

Juice and I have been married for 1826 days (5 years for those of you who don't want to do the math).

Juice says: "Yay us!"

Honestly I can't believe it's been 5 years. It seems like 2, maybe 3. This week also marks our anniversary of moving to the east coast. We have now been out here 3 years.

Marriage is fun. I recommend it. I love having someone I can tell EVERYTHING to, and who tells me everything in return (except for his work stuff since he has some sort of clearance and couldn't tell me if he wanted to). I love having someone who loves Butterfly as much as I do, and who randomly blurts out, "She is SOOOO cute!" as many times as I do. I love being so close to someone, and knowing that we will be this close forever. I also love finding out new things about him. I wondered when I was younger if I would ever get tired of the person I would marry. I never have. And I hope I never will.

Okay, enough with the sap. On to the presents! I got Juice a new white short sleeved shirt for church (so he can give away his old one...it is too small!), a new tie, and the soldering tool that you see on TV all the time, plus wire cutters/strippers. He teased me all morning that I got him a stripper for our anniversary. Ha ha.

My parents gave us another set of silverware. Yay! We really needed that, and it's convenient that the anniversary gift table states that this is a silverware year. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Juice's present was a big surprise, but a welcome one! I am now the proud owner of a sewing machine. I have been saying, "I could do that if I had a sewing machine" or "That doesn't look too hard to make. Too bad I don't have a sewing machine" for ages. I am so looking forward to using it! Now I have to remember how...

Butterfly's present to us was being a very easy baby today, and being cute and smiley when we went out to dinner.

It's been a great day.

Love,
Safire and Juice

Grandpa Visits!

Everyone,

This passed weekend my Dad was here to visit. Really, he was here because of work but we all know that he truly came to see us. Specifically Butterfly. She's so cute, who wouldn't want to see her?! :)

Anyway, we got to visit Grandpa at his hotel, push the elevator buttons, have Brie cheese (yes, this child has wild taste buds!) and go swimming. Grandpa then came to stay with us for a few days and taught us how to enjoy milk or water or whatever else we're drinking. "Cheers! *drink*lip smack* Ahhhhh!" We also went swimming at our ward's pool and had a BBQ where we ate watermelon for the first time. Yum yum! We then proceeded to play in the giant sandbox covered in watermelon juices. You guess how well that came out. Grandpa helped clean off Butterfly, watched her while Juice and I had an actual date, and came to church with us on Sunday. Monday, Grandpa helped me pick out a new iPod (it's beautiful! and no, I haven't used it yet...you try setting up a very expensive and small piece of shiny-ness with a toddler.) and some new toys for the cruise.

What cruise you ask? I suppose it's time I said. Next Thursday, we fly first class to Utah to pick up my family, and then fly first class to Oahu, Hawaii for 10 wonderful days in paradise. Including a 7 day cruise around the islands. We then send Juice home (for work, poor guy) and Butterfly and I spend about 5 days in Utah visiting new babies. Because there are a lot! I am SO excited.

I'm also fairly nervous about flying 11+ hours with a toddler. I am nervous about the deck of the cruise ship and my toddler. And the time change should be interesting. But I'm excited about swimming with dolphins, spending a day at the beach and going to a luau. Oh, and spending some quality time with my family! This trip has been in the works since Juice and I got engaged, almost 6 years ago. It has changed destinations (first New Zealand, then Japan, then Europe, then Alaska and now Hawaii) and we've added 2 more people since we first started talking about it (Angela, my sister-in-law, and Butterfly). Should be fun!

Until next time,
Safire

Our Little Druid

Everyone,

Did I ever say that Butterfly hates her baths? I'm not sure if it was common knowledge before. So, anyway, Butterfly used to scream through her baths. No amount of toys or me being there would help. Then all of a sudden, about 2 weeks ago, she decided this was a great thing! Now she tries to climb into the tub when it's not bath time to play. Which is fine, but she's learned to turn on the water. This kid is going to make me old one heart attack at a time.

Other dangerous things she likes to do: play in the toilet water (ew!), climb into the fridge, climb on the kitchen table, the counters, chairs, pretty much climb.

She has decided that it's time to shut all the doors in the house when she goes past them. She shuts herself in a lot.

Until next time,
Safire

Not again.

Everyone,

What is it with this house and creepy crawlies?! Since we put our new front door in and new windows, it has cut down on the amount of ickies that get in. But we still get the odd alien looking cricket. But remember our worst creepy crawly? Well, ack spider take two!

Yes, people, we have had another sighting. Honestly I don't mind big spiders outside. That is where they are supposed to be. But one of these in my house? UGH!!!!!

This time we were smart and took pictures before we sucked it up with the shop vac. This spider almost didn't make it into the shop vac. It ran AWAY from the suction people. It was inches from it's body and it was able to skitter a few steps away. Then it turned to attack Juice and lost.

Ew ew ew ew!!!
Safire

*EDITED TO ADD* PS- Turns out this is a dark fishing spider. Not harmful but icky icky. It makes sense since we live so close to a few ponds and streams. Look here if you want more info.

Home Improvements

Everyone,

It seems like every time I sit down to write an entry, either Blogger or Butterfly conspire against me and it doesn't get done. I've got 3 or 4 entries in my head...Frequent updates ahead.

The oldest update is our home improvement projects. As you all know, we got new windows in March and our front door was long in coming. Big saga, the Big Orange Home Improvement Store sent the paperwork to the contractors, the contractors sent it back because it wasn't right, HD sent it back, contractors never got it, HD sent it again, again contractors never got it...it goes on and on. Needless to say, Juice spent 2 hours on the phone with a supervisor from each place trying to get it sorted out. We will never have HD put something in our house again. My friend Laura had similar woes with them and a door. NEVER AGAIN.

But it sure does look pretty!


The other home improvement is a new toilet. This is a big thing because our HOA paid for it, sent someone to install it and fix all of our leaks. Our HOA actually pays our water bill so I suppose it's in their best interest to keep things up to date. And this toilet needed to be replaced. It was the original commode (house was built in the early 1970s) and plastic. And rusty. I'm very happy about the new porcelain one. :) And they put in a new shower head for us which is really nice too! Ahh...new things.

16 more days till we leave for Hawaii!

Safire

So smart, So funny

Everyone,

Butterfly is so smart and so funny. Last week, Juice and I were sitting on the couch trying to talk each other into taking Soot for a walk. We were both exhausted and Soot was staring at us expectantly. Butterfly was just toddling around having a grand ol' time walking from the living room to the kitchen and back. Jokingly, Juice said, "Hey Butterfly! Why don't you take Soot for a walk and Mommy and I can stay here. Don't be gone too long." She immediately turned around and walked out of the room. We chuckled a little and were still trying to decide who was going out in the heat.

In walks Butterfly, carrying Soot's leash. "Walk?" She put the leash near Soot, and walked to the door. "Out!" Now how can you resist that? We all went.

This morning we went to the park to try and get some outside time before it turned 100 degrees and soupy. We met up with a few other moms in my group, and the other town's mom group. It was fun, but oh so hot. We were both sweating, and now my clothes are clamily stuck to me. Yuck. I also took Soot with because there is no way I'm taking her out in the evening with the heat how it is. She did very good with all the other kids, enjoyed the dog park and drank tons of water. It was a good morning but man, is it hot.

I want to say a big congrats to my old college roommates who just had babies! Tanya, my first college roommate, just had her 3rd baby, a boy named Joseph. And Julia, my second college roommate, just had her 1st baby, a girl named Audrey. Congrats to you both!!

Until next time,
Safire

Butterfly at 14 Months

4 of July 06 028
Originally uploaded by safirecat23.

Everyone,

Butterfly turned 14 months old yesterday. She is such a busy girl! She has decided that walking is great, and she must walk everywhere. Too bad she doesn't quiet have the walking thing down yet. She can take a few steps, fall down, get back up, take a few steps...you get the picture. It is completely adorable to see her trying to stand up with her cute little tushy waving in the air. When we go on our nightly walk with Soot, she absolutly must get out and wander around the field while we throw balls for Soot. And she must push her stroller when we are not throwing balls for Soot. And she must go down the slide at the park at least 100 times. She is a child of "MUST" lately.

She throws huge temper tantrums, flinging herself to the ground and sobbing like her heart is broken. She does these mostly if we are at the park and I don't want to climb through the incredibly small hole designed just for kids with her. Or if she is talking on the phone to the operator (because she now picks up the phone, hits the talk button and starts to dial) and I take the phone away from her. Or if I am on the computer and she wants books to be read. Mostly I ignore the tantrum but those tears are so big and sad! I wish I could give her everything but I don't want a little Empress on my hands. (So maybe I already do...don't pop my bubble.)

She eats everything and anything we give her. Lemon slices in our water at resturants, spicy nachoes, apple sauce, cheese, you name it, she eats it. Makes me wonder if she has taste buds sometimes because she eats stuff I won't touch. Juice thinks it's great she loves spicy. Her favorites are guacamole, black beans, honey dew melon, sugar free popcicles, chicken, cheese, and banannas. Basically she will eat anything that I am eating, and will eat A LOT. She can eat half a box of macaroni and cheese herself. For lunch today she had a yougert, half a chicken breast, a piece of string cheese, 3/4 of a plum, and 2 handfuls of cherrios. She has a serious empty leg problem. :) She besides breakfast, lunch, and dinner, she gets 2 snacks a day (mid morning and mid afternoon), and she is still nursing around 4 times a day.

Speaking of the nursing, I am making a serious push to wean her. I have dropped out 2 of her nursing sessions in the last 2 weeks, and replaced them with snacks or trips outside. I wonder if she nurses because she is bored, and not because she is hungry. Either way, it's on the way out and she is fighting it. Which is why we're still at 4 times a day...I'd like it to be around 2.

She is also talking up a storm, and will say Soot, duck, book, Mama, Dada, dog, woof woof, done, yes, no, up, ball and I believe she has said her first sentance. I have a book I read her every night that has pictures from Greg Olsen and talks about being a child of God. She was flipping through the pages fast so all I could get in was "I am a child of God" about 10 times. We finished the book, she looked up at me and said "I chil f God." No joke people. It was the sweetest thing. (And if you want to know, this is her favorite picture in the book.)

She is busy, messy, loud, fun, giggle, happy, and determined. She is just so darn cute!!!

Safire

Good time with friends on the Internet...

I died in the Dungeon of Ely Chan

I was killed in an abandoned chamber by Isauraoktobre the cockatrice, whilst carrying...

the Sword of Aishuu, a Figurine of Leggsrobbins, the Amulet of Babies, the Sceptre of Riah Chan and 23 gold pieces.

Score: 61

Explore the Dungeon of Ely Chan and try to beat this score,
or enter your username to generate and explore your own dungeon...

I want a dungeon too!!! ;)

Safire

Butterfly Wins!

Everyone,

On Friday morning, my favorite radio station was giving out free pancakes and prizes at the local diner. Free food! Of course we went! I had pecan pancakes (okay...not great), Juice had some buttermilk pancakes and Butterfly had blueberry pancakes. Besides not enough syrup, it was a great free breakfast. Butterfly also rolled some prize dice and won! They gave her a Lady and the Tramp 2 DVD, and she went wild over it. "Da! Da! Oof! Oof!" (dog dog woof woof) She wouldn't put it down and insisted on carrying it for over 2 hours at home. The radio people thought she was so funny they took her picture. I haven't seen them post the pictures on the website yet but when they do, I'll let you know.

In other news, Soot caught a RAT this morning. Yes, A RAT! It was on our deck and was wandering our front yard when we went to take Juice to work this morning. Soot pounced, shook, and no more rat. It was pretty icky, but I'm glad the dog took care of it and we didn't have to try and trap and kill it ourselves. Needless to say, we're putting our rodent traps back out. We can't have rats!!!!

And for your viewing pleasure: Butterfly walks!


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Safire

Steps!

Jeff Graduation May 06 022
Originally uploaded by safirecat23.

Everyone,

Butterfly took 6 steps in a row today. 6!!!! We have an L shaped couch and she was in the corner and went to run after the dog. She let go, lurched the 6 steps, looked at how far away she was from the couch and dropped down. I think she thought she was really holding on. But my Baby Girl is so big! (And asleep again but we're not going to mention that.)

And for your viewing pleasure, my darling hubby in his graduation get up. Love you darling!

Until next time,
Safire

Post Catch Up

Everyone,

I hate to mention it but Butterfly is napping. Alone. And has been for an hour. And she slept for 2 and a half hours this morning. Alone. This is big people. I have actually had time to do some basic stuff, like brush my teeth. Change out of my pjs. Send off almost 300 pictures to friends and family. You know, the important stuff. :)

So, since Baby Girl is sleeping hopefully peacefully, I thought I'd catch up on some important posts I've been promising you. (I almost typed y'all...I think I've lived in the south long enough!)

Butterfly First Birthday Party

Butterfly's first birthday party was a hit! Of course, on her actual birthday we gave her some cake and sang to her. But we waited to invite everyone over to celebrate with us until the grandparents were here. And boy did we celebrate! I had gotten 2 6 feet subs from Subway and we only ate one and a quarter. (Left over Subway was delish...ate it for a week!) Everyone was full, the food was excellent, and Butterfly put on a great show! She also fed most of her birthday cake to the dog who gobbled it up like it was manna from heaven. She then proceeded to run like a dog on speed for an hour or so after. Note to self: NEVER give Soot sugar AGAIN. Although it wasn't too bad because she had a bunch of Butterfly's second cousins to run around with. And there was frosting all over the house for weeks. On the walls, in Butterfly's room, on my pillow case. We even had the party outside. It's over a month past and I am still finding frosting in weird places. Like in the hall closet shelf...what the?!



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She also got a bunch of really great presents. She desperately needed some new toys which very kind people gave her. And Nana and Grandpa gave her a big slide which she loves. She also got a few new clothes which is good too. Everyone was so generous. Thanks! I hope everyone had a great time. I know I did!

Juice's Graduation

The day after we had Butterfly's party was Juice's graduation. We had to be downtown DC by 8:30am. Ugh...which meant we had to leave our house by like 7am. It was a very busy morning for us. We met up with Juice's parents, and dropped Juice off at his spot. We then proceeded to sit in the sun for about 2 hours before they started things up. Butterfly did a lot of crawling around, a lot of nursing and a lot of walking. But I suppose it was okay because when the ceremony did finally start, she fell asleep. I was able to watch all of President and Barbara Bush (the first Bush, not the current Bush) talk and that was good. They said some nice things, which I don't remember anymore. I do remember that they were trying to be funny and it came off as practiced. But, a nice ceremony. I really liked seeing Juice all dressed up in his cap and gown. So handsome! I would show you a picture but frankly, blogger isn't letting me post them. So maybe in a few days.

I better go check on Butterfly. Maybe she'll still be asleep!

Safire

I think Butterfly may run for office in a Spanish speaking country

Everyone,

Butterfly has discovered the TV. I think it helped that we got DVD's of her little video and I'll play it on our TV for her. However, now she LOVES to turn the TV on when I turn it off, and change the channel to either 7 or 5. Channel 5 is the Spanish speaking channel and she screatches when I change it. So I listen to a lot of melodrama that I don't understand. I wish they had a French channel I could get her hooked on because I might be able to at least understand something. Or maybe a German channel and I can learn German. Channel 7 is the public access channel with people debating things, talking about books, etc. Can we say BORING? Butterfly can't because she is enthralled. I suppose I should be happy that she's not into Spike TV or MTV or something. At least there is no swearing (that I notice...maybe on the Spanish channel) and it's relatively slow paced.

In other big news, Butterfly took her first step! It was on Monday (bad Mommy for not telling you sooner but I've been busy!) and it was just one step. She has repeated it a few times, and is also getting better at standing. She was standing and clapping yesterday at a tot concert we went to. Baby Girl is becoming Toddler Girl.

I'd love to say more but she has just locked herself in our kitchen with the dog's gate so I should go rescue her.

Safire

A post from Butterfly

uuuuhh u gkg hjnh h h g hjklf a;jf

hgnnm vcu.48ppp


Okay, Mommy's turn now. Butterfly has figured out her shape sorter and is busily trying to shove the circle through the square hole. She can get it sometimes, but others she ends up just taking off the top and putting in the shapes that way. What a smart girl we have!

In other news...well, there isn't a whole lot of news. We've been very busy this past week. Since our town was voted one of the most family friendly town in America, I decided to take advantage of all the cool things they do for kids out here. So we've been to 2 different tot concerts in addition to my mom's group, swimming, and hanging out with Juice. A busy busy week!

More to come!
Safire

So so tired...

Everyone,

Thanks for the well wishes when Juice was away! He had a good time except his flight got cancelled, he got food poisoning and had to actually find a tourist trap to bring me something back from SF. (A cute trolley car music box...Brownie points for Juice!) Anyway, he had a good time and Butterfly and I survived. We actually survived with some sleeping through the night the last night. It felt SO good.

I also spent most days going to the post office. I had things to mail and I forgot them at least 3 times. But everything is mailed out and everyone got their mail. Drat, I just remembered that I have year old pictures of Butterfly to send to everyone. Who wants one? Oh and did you know that you can now buy a roll of first class stamps at the post office? I didn't. But now I do! Yay! NO more buying 2 cent stamps if they decide to raise stamp prices again.

Let's see, I also scheduled all of our excursions for when we go to Hawaii, ate a lot of food out, did a lot of walking with the dog, and visited this very cool park with Butterfly. I took pictures but of course, the camera is down stairs and I don't have the energy to go and get it.

Now that he is home, I feel like this big weight has been lifted from my shoulders. And I am TIRED. I slept in this morning until noon, and I never do that. I don't think I did that much as a teenager! And 8pm rolled around tonight and I had to fight myself to stay awake. Which is why I'm online right now. But now it's 9:30 ish and that's a perfectly respectable time to go to bed. Right?

Also, we've decided on a whim to go to Assatague Island in 2 weeks. I've always wanted to see the horses and as Juice put it, "I don't know how long we'll be here anymore so let's not put anything off." Cool...wild horses here we come!

Safire

PS- Butterfly is 13 months old today. No stats because I told myself I'd stop doing that every month when she hit a year. So we'll have stats and an update when she goes to the doctor at 15 months.

Miles apart

Everyone,

Juice is in San Francisco this week for a business conference. I miss him really bad. I know it may sound corny but we've never been apart except for Butterfly's birth. And that time I wasn't sleeping in the house alone. Besides, who will change poopy diapers and catch crickets for me this week?

To top that off, Butterfly is not sleeping. Does anyone know where I can get some elephant darts? She was screaming from 9pm to 3am last night. She's cried so hard her capillaries in her face have all broken. Poor girl. I don't know what her problem is...and I'm kind of at a loss of what to do. Maybe she has a tooth coming in. It better be 2 or 3 at once because she is a banshee!

Pray for me...if I don't get some sleep soon I may just have to run for Canada. (It's closer than Mexico.)

Safire

A busy 2 weeks!

Everyone,

Now that my company has all gone, and I've spent a few days recovering and not sleeping (another tooth...sigh...) I thought I'd update you on all of the fun we had with the grandparents.

My parents came just in time for Mother's Day and we were able to have a nice week. We drove to Gettysburg, which is about an hour away from here. We went in the day time because last time we were in Gettysburg, it was too dark to do the driving tour. Very cool place. TONS of monuments. But we got a few cute pictures.


We also went to Butterfly's year old appointment with her doctor. She's back down into the 97% for both height and weight. She also got 3 shots, one in each arm and one in her leg. And boy did she not like that. Plus she was a bear the next day, had a little fever and we were all generally miserable.

We were able to go to Annapolis as well, where Butterfly was determined to crawl out into the street. There is so much to see in the DC area that I haven't been able to go to the same things twice so it was neat to have been to Annapolis and know my way around. The only sucky thing about it was the free shuttle. If you're ever going to Annapolis and are thinking of taking the free Navy Blue shuttle, don't. Save yourself a lot of waiting and just park downtown. We also had lunch at a really great Irish Pub where we had things like bangers and mash, fish and chips, and a really great bread pudding. I highly recommend it!

We also got Butterfly's year old pictures done. They turned out beautifully and we got a really great deal on them too.

And then there was the big birthday party. I won't go into details here because I'd like that to be a separate entry. Also, Juice's graduation. Separate entry.

My parents left, and Juice's parents came to stay. We were able to go to the zoo with them. I really like our Zoo here. I feel like they have a good amount of animals, and that they allow enough room for them. This trip to the zoo brought out a new word in Butterfly: bird.

We were also able to go to the bureau of Engraving and Printing. Did you know that they actually print the paper money here in DC? I didn't! It was very cool. We got to go up the elevator and look at the workers from a gallery. The whole time we were there I was wondering what it must be like to work on display like that all the time. They walked us through the step by steps of printing money, let us smell the ink, and then ended up in the gift shop. I bought Vanessa a huge penny and a huge nickel because she really needed something to distract her on the ride home. She also fell asleep in the wierdest position; she was twisted around in her stroller trying to get me and one arm is way up. Very cute. I would post a picture but apparently I've hit a picture quota.

Now I'm just working on the thank you cards!

Safire