Yesterday was playgroup that was held at a friend's house in Dumfries. After playing and snacking for a little while, we all packed up our sippy cups (our children's, that is), put all our shoes back on and headed out the door to a place called Novaks. Hunter and I were new to Novaks and, boy, did I have no idea what we were in for. Novaks is a true Gymnastics gymnasium (rings, parallel bars, vault, etc.) that has times for toddlers to come in and romp around. All of us moms and our little ones had a blast! There was no whining, no crying, no "I'm bored," just everyone running around with big ol' smiles on their faces, enjoying the 45-minute period we had to run around!

Hunter loved crawling on the trampoline. I tried to get him to stand up and work on his jumping but he would have none of that. Our instructor tried to put him in a bear position on top of the parallel bars (assisted, of course), but my top-heavy, jello-armed boy would have none of that, either! However, his favorite part was running down the "runway" where you would run to jump on a vault. The "runway" is like a long, skinny trampoline. The kids would run and bounce and go back for more. At the end, there is a large "mattress" on which they could jump. Just beyond that, there is a pit of foam squares. These kids were in their own slice of Heaven!

Then came circle time. Our sweet instructor, Rachelle, called all the kiddos into a circle and to sit on mommy's lap. That's when "it" happened. I sat down and Hunter crawled into..... Rachelle's lap! You know the "crawl" about which I'm referring- the butt-first, bent-over approach. How funny! Poor girl. Nah, she didn't care but I sure thought it was funny. What a good day with our kids. I am so glad I quit working to stay home with my little guy!

For a change, we made some fun memories this weekend by actually getting out of the house and taking advantage of some fun in DC by visiting The Museum of Natural History. Yes, we were inspired to go after seeing The Night at the Museum a couple months ago. We were hoping to play catch with a T-Rex! (see the movie- it was so funny!)

So, Hunter was able to use some of his words: "feesh", "eh-phant" and learned "wyon". He learned a lion says "woar" because we were crazy enough to take him to a 3-D movie about Lions in the IMAX theater! Hunter was so incredibly good, especially because he only had a 30-minute nap on the way into DC at 11:00 and the movie was at 2pm.

He sat in his seat WITH his 3-D glasses on the entire 45 minutes. You think that's cute? The best part was at the beginning of the show when the lions roared for the first time and the 3-dimension made the lions look like they were coming to get us and poor, little Hunter jumped in his seat and proceeded to cry LOUDLY in the theater. Mark & I both had our arms around him, so we felt him jump! Not to worry- he crawled into his mama's lap and calmed down within seconds and I talked him through the rest of the film. He did great! I hope he doesn't have nightmares from the scare.

It was really nice to get out, visit the great things that surround us in our nation's capital and act like kids ourselves! We could have stayed at home working on a project or running errands but those will not be the days we remember so well. Making memories is something that has become extremely important to me. My new goal is to have at least 1 memory making event a month! What a great challenge to have.

The Museum even has a kid's Discovery Room where they can touch lots of things. Here's Mark teaching Hunter about the finer things in life.

So, I was gone on a Women's Retreat get away weekend this past weekend which left Hunter and Mark doing the Daddy-son thing. I discovered that some great male-bonding occurred. Let's start with Pizza Night with friends and their little boy the same age. Saturday entailed an excursion to see Tractor-palooza in Sterling. What was supposed to be a petting zoo, antique tractors, a play area and arts/crafts for kids turned out to be a bust. The "petting zoo" they boasted consisted of ceramic animals! The play area for kids was as big as my dining room table and only 1 antique tractor to view but NO TOUCHING! Who planned this thing? Later, they went to Harris Teeter's hot bar for dinner. Hee hee.

Sunday- the two of them couldn't get out the door in time for church (which starts at 11:00). I think Mark was just playing hookie so they could go to Chuck E. Cheese for Hunter's first time! Mark said he rode the mechanical train 3 times and sang "choo choo" the whole time. (That's my transportation boy.) I was so sad to have missed it.

Enter the brain washing: Sunday night when I got home, Mark had turned on a NASCAR race. After Mark stepped away and I turned to look at Hunter while I was on the phone, there sits Hunter in the floor on his pillow in a "you're getting sleepy" trance looking at the NASCAR race. How did Mark do it? Mark's not even a dedicated fan. Now, what must I do to reverse this? Suggestions? :)

The dance studio where I take ballet, held in a backroom, has Ballroom Dancing in the front room (located in Landmark Mall). After watching the dancers for several minutes, Hunter insisted on getting out. Hunter must be my child because he insisted on getting out to "walk" (apparently, he wanted to dance). He proceeded to walk around and turn in circles, his way of imitating ballroom dancing. How cute! Is one too early to start dance lessons? Maybe he will waltz with him Mama some day. Ahhh.


Here he is working on a pirouette turn!

It's been days since I have been inspired to post and it happened today! I met my friend, Sara, at the local mall today and we were brousing for potential Valentine's presents for our hubbies when, to my surprise, Hunter discovered a very fashionable Valentine's hat! Okay, okay, I know I am subjecting my poor child to thongs at Victoria's Secret! However, I was assured by my friend that he would not be able to recall any of this at his tender age. Plus, as a married woman, I have every right to be in VS searching for the right dental floss. Next stop? Hat store. Poor, confused child.