National Zoo

Jenna has been talking for weeks about going to see the animals, and Paul finally got a day off to go with us! We took the Metro into D.C. to see our National Zoo. Riding the metro is old news to Paul and me, but to Jenna it is quite the adventure! And that makes me happy! I think she entertained a few other passengers as well!

It was a beautiful day and the animals were all putting on a show!

First stop, the Zoo's pride and joy, Tian Tian the Giant Panda:

Everyone Ooo-ed and Aaw-ed while he lounged around eating bamboo

Paul wishes he could be a giant panda!

Then, on to the children's zoo:

I think this Meerkat was just as fascinated by Jenna! They danced along the glass together. It was a hoot!

And Jenna's requested animals:

Every time we saw a new animal: "Look! There it is! I found it!"

The baby elephant was playing with his toys. So cute!

I want a giant fish tank in my house!

Jenna took this picture. She waited all day to see the Alligator!

And the Grande Finale:

That's right! A triceratops!

 Jenna has a thing for dinosaurs right now, so she was so excited to see the "terratops"! It was the perfect end to a fun day!

Hide and Seek

She's not the best hider:

  

and just in case you missed the legs sticking out...

she's also giggling - loudly!

:)

But we love finding her!

Red Light, Green Light

When Jenna was younger, she really hated being in her car seat. To calm her down, I would often narrate (in a really excited voice) all the turns and stops we had left to make. I even sang the directions and tried making up games to distract her.
And now she is entertaining me by being a super helpful back seat driver!
When she sees a green light, she shouts, "The light is GREEN! Go, go! We're racing!"
And when she sees a red light, "The light is RED! Stop!"

Clever girl that she is, she has decided to apply this to home life as well.

Kali: Jenna, we can't do that right now
Jenna: The light is green!

Kali: Jenna, you may have a cupcake after you eat your dinner
Jenna: But, the light is GREEN!

Kali: It's time to get ready for bed, Jenna!
Jenna: ...the light is red!

Rays vs Orioles

Last night we got to see Paul's team, the Tampa Bay Rays, stomp all over the Orioles!
For the first couple of innings, Jenna was really in to it! She thought it was so fun to cheer and clap with the crowd (which, unfortunately, was usually for the Orioles since we're in Baltimore) and she LOVED when they blew the trumpet and yelled "Charge!". She did it every single time!

It rained for a few innings, but it was okay because Jenna loves umbrellas!
Here we are huddled under our little umbrella:

We had a blast! There's just something so fun about actually being at the game...
maybe it's because there's no commercials... more likely it's the people! :)

No Girls Allowed!

It's only about a 5 - 10 minute walk from our house to the park, but when you've got 2 kids and a single stroller it can take over 20 minutes to get there. So, when we arrived at the park and Kyle immediately announced that he had to go potty NOW, I knew we weren't going to make it home in time (and even if we could, what a waste of a trip, right?). The park is almost completely surrounded by a small wooded area, so I tell him to go ahead and pick a tree. That's what boys do, right? Don't worry, I made sure no one else was around. He took care of business, had fun, and we were ready to play!

15 minutes later, Jenna all of a sudden makes a bee line for that same tree and starts to pull down her pants! Aaaah! Jenna, NO! I stopped her in time, luckily! That could have been a fun mess!
My poor little girl was so confused, so I had to explain that only boys can potty on trees. I think she was a little disappointed...

Maryland Day

On my birthday, Paul had to work, so Jenna and I spent the day at the University of Maryland's Maryland Day that had a ton of free activities for kids and prospective students. We had a blast. Here's a look at just some of what we got to do:

Jenna spent a long time trying to get that sheep to eat the hay:

I was so surprised that she actually touched the pig!

Digging for fossils (shark teeth)

She said she was drawing herself. "It looks like me!"

While she was opening a marker to color her button, she pulled too hard and it wrote all across her face!

They had every instrument to try, but she only wanted the "guitar"

bubbles = kid heaven

Jenna was Juliet in a puppet show

looking at cows

This was the fistulated cow. I thought it was a plastic panel that you could see the cows' insides. But it's just a hole where they can get fluid samples and such. Not as cool.

As we were leaving we found this cute bridge and some "blow flowers" to play with!