Fun Family Weekends

We intended to write more last week, but things seem to be pretty busy. It isn't that a whole lot is really going on, but time continues to escape us as we struggle just to keep up with everyday stuff around the house. Part of the problem seems to be that we would rather get out as a family and enjoy the warm weather than stay in and do all of our chores. So we're really enjoying all of the quality time, but our house looks like a tornado hit it. Oh well. Last weekend seemed very memorable at the time, but now I'm having trouble piecing it together! Last Saturday Paul played volleyball downtown in the morning so Scarlett and I decided to head down with him and go for a walk. They play at the Lincoln courts -- only about a mile from Georgetown. We walked to Georgetown and all around waiting for the shops to open and then did a little shopping before heading back. We set up a campsite next to the volleyball courts -- the sportbrella that he got me for mother's day, a couple of blankets for Scarlett to play on and a chair for me. We had a great time outside. It was a really beautiful day and it was fun to watch Paul play for a little bit. Afterwards we decided to go to Taste of Lee Heights. It's sort of like Taste of Arlington or DC but with just the little row of shops and restaurants right by our house on Lee Highway. It was nice to attend a community event and we got a lot of comments about Scarlett as usual (including at the beer and wine tasting where she is a regular). That night we Paul made a nice dinner at home and we had a glass of wine after she went to bed. The next day we tried to get her 6 month pictures done again at Picture People, but we weren't very impressed with the photography this time. It was a different photographer who wasn't very interactive with her and the shots were very basic. There were a few cute ones, but we didn't even buy any out of principle. We're planning to use Paul's friend Julie Monticello again soon (she did our 1 month photos) and then try Ryan Hollaway for a few artsy pictures in July. We're hoping to get some cute ones before her teeth start coming in and we lose that gummy smile!

This week went to see Tracy and Dan at the hospital on Tuesday. Scarlett showed them her progress crawling and we brought them some pizza to give them a break from hospital food. Scarlett wasn't afraid of Dan's beard this time, so fun was had by all. We did the beer tasting at Arrow Wine again on Thursday. Friday we had dinner with Juli and Shannon at Spider Kelly's and then Paul and Scarlett took off so that I could have a ladies' night out. Saturday we did the volleyball/walking thing downtown again and then ran some errands. Sunday was a big day of firsts for Scarlett. We went to my first Working Mama's event, which was at Fort Ward playground in Alexandria. Most of the kids there were quite a bit older than Scarlett. The closest in age were a 4 month old (but she didn't do much yet) and a 10 month old (who just stayed in her mom's arms). Scarlett went on a swing for the first time and loved it -- the higher/faster it went, the more she laughed. She went on a slide for the first time with Paul, but she didn't really seem to notice that anything happened. She spent a lot of time playing with Emily (7) and April (3 1/2), a couple of adorable little girls whose mom frequently organizes the events. They were great with Scarlett; the older one held her on her lap for quite a while and they shared their toys with her and gave her lots of hugs. On our way back to the car Paul commented that it might not be so bad to have another girl. It was cool to watch Scarlett react to the other babies and kids. Very smiley and friendly. She crawled over to them and reached out to touch them. She was very interested in watching what they were doing. A lot of people have commented on how much she smiles at strangers. After the playgroup and a nap, we took her to Pennie's sister's house for Lea's 1st birthday party. There we tried to put her in a pool for the first time. She hated it! They had just filled it up with the hose, so it was very cold water. She wasn't having any of that. I guess we will try again sometime when the water is warm!

Today Scarlett and I went to the outlets while Paul is in San Fransisco. He will be gone today and tomorrow for a job interview. It's all good stuff, but we definitely miss having him here! In honor of his absence, I've uploaded a really short video of him holding Scarlett at the party yesterday. We have some great videos (e.g., of her swinging, saying da da, crawling) but most of the files are too big to upload here. We'll try to get another short one up soon!