zoo pictures 2

My mom's visit - zoo trip

So, it has been a very long while since I posted. There is so much to remember, I will do another "marathon posting." My mom came to visit last week and we had a terrific time. We picked her up from the airport late at night (I got the boys out of bed) so MJ fell asleep knewing she was there. When he woke up the next morning, instead of coming into our room to wake me up, he went downstairs to play with her. I know he had a great time with her all week. The first day she visited we went to the Reston Zoo. It's closer than the National Zoo, but you have to pay for admission. It seemed to even itself out in price but was a much different experience. At first it seemed more like a fancy petting zoo/farm. I was happy to see MJ was more excited about feeding the animals (he used to be so scared of that). I think the best part of the trip was the "zoofari" tractor and wagon ride we went on through one section of their zoo. You basically are on this wagon ride and llamas, camels, cows, zebra, ostrich, deer... all these animals are just right out there with you. It was pretty cool... except when the ostrich tried to eat my mom's shirt. I got to pet a camel...that was pretty neat.

ctd.

A few more pictures from the party.... sadly I don't have any pictures of Mario and I together on my birthday. He worked most of the day, as well as get all of this set for me. And thanks to those of you who helped Mario prepare for this. I really had such a fun birthday!

Friday night we went to the Kaza's to have dinner with Aunt Raquel (Tabitha has a much better picture of Aunt Raquel with the boys on the Suarez Family blog). Here is one of Joey while wrestling with Daddy and MJ. He's kind of cute when he's trying to be scary.

And here is probably the first of many pictures we will see of Joey like this. He learned how to take pictures Friday night. We got this camera 2 years ago when we were in Bangkok to replace one that broke. We got it for it's nice picture quality and appearant durabilty. We like it and all, but it is kind of big. So, we've been hoping that MJ would break it and we could get it replaced (we got the extended warranty). Well, it's survived 2 years of MJ bashing, and now it is Joey's turn. This thing is indestructible... so if you are into that, we have the camera for you.

It's true...

I am now 27 years old! I had an absolutely wonderful birthday... I think I can safely say it was the best birthday so far. Mario came home from work early (Wed night instead of Thursday) so he could be with me on my birthday. We started with a delicious pancake breakfast and then prepared to head out the door for our typical busy Thursday. I knew Mario had more in store as he said we'd have to be in the car and ready to go with the boys at 5:30 that night. (hmmmm...what could it be?) He totally played anything down and I LOVE being suprised so I wasn't going to ask, hint, or even think about what it could be. (Though possible theories included - dinner witht he boys or - dinner without the boys). As I left, I made sure to take a picture of myself with MJ and Joey before we got all messy from the 3 cakes I had that day.

I left the kitchen a mess b/c I was in too big of a hurry to get to our Rosary group. But as I left, I wondered if Mario (who was working from home) could possibly read my mind, and do one of the only things I'd really want to have done for me on my birthday.... clean the kitchen. The Rosary group had a party for me with unexpected and generous gifts, lovely balloons, and a delicious cake.

Later, I left the boys with Julie and went to 1st choice to volunteer. The director of the program was also celebrating her birthday, so of course we had a cake! Then I rushed home to get the boys ready in time to be out to door at....well, Mario changed the time to 5:10pm... but we were ready. OH! And the kitchen was cleaned!!! I was so happy... whether he actually read my mind or not did not matter... what a sweet guy!

He informed me it was a 45 min drive to our destination, MJ fell asleep, I began to theorize that we were certainly all going somewhere as a family as there were no friends 45 minutes away we could dump our kids on. But as we were driving I questioned what could possibly be all the way out in Tyson's corner that we couldn't find near our home? Mario said I would regret that comment later. I then figured we were probably picking up someone from the metro (probably Andrea and Andy) and then going to dinner with them. I was starving, so any solution with food coming soon was good for me.

Well, we did get Andrea, and Mario informed me this was the suprise. I was very happy to be with Andrea and he said we'd get to play Settlers with her and have pizza for dinner (which I was totally excited about). We talked the whole drive back, and even when I arrived at our home, it took me a second to realize that the house had more balloons in it and more people! I couldn't believe it...Mario actually through a surpise party for me! Here are a few pictures from the evening. More to come in the next post since I can't seem to put up more than 4 at a time.

Last weekend

Mario brought home a turtle he found around the lake across the street (no, not little Mario). But MJ was very excited about it. We released it shortly after we observed the little guy. We hope he's okay back in the wild.

We enjoyed the warm weather on Saturday and went on a rollerblade down the W&OD to the park. I'm gonna say it's 5 miles each way, but it's so much easier if you're not the one pushing or towing the kids.

MJ had a momentus swing breakthrough and actually was able to pump himself into swinging motion. We'll see if this skill sticks.

That night, we took our sweaty park boys to the Kazas to visit with Christian, Michelle and Natalie who were stopping through. Joey was interested in his little cousin.

This was a very tricky picture to get right before bedtime. I think Tabitha has the best one. Joey is actually 2 1/2 months younger than Catherine, though it looks like he's as big as Catherine and Natalie put together.

working hard at the computer

We were happy to have Francis, Patrick, and Raquel stay with us 2 weekends ago (my it's been awhile since I posted anything here). Here is Raquel working hard on her book about her first trip to the zoo. She called this a working lunch.

Mario really had a lot of work to do that day, hence all of the kids working near him on the computer. This is the computer we got Joey for his birthday. MJ actually knows how to play the games, but Joey enjoys the sounds it makes. And we aren't too worried about him breaking anything.

MJ has many games he plays on the computer. Joey likes to watch/help/cheer his brother on. I think we've mentioned how Joey is just an amazing climber. For example, he likes to climb up on these chairs.

Which is why I we've now learned that moving the keyboard back and tucking the mouse away aren't good enough to stop Joey from trying to get the computer. We now just have to move the chair.