Day 95 | National Postal Museum

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The National Postal Museum is hands-down one of the best kept secrets in the District for entertaining kiddos.  Seems like it might be a bit dull for them, right?  Think again!  They did a great job of making the exhibits kid-friendly and yet interesting for adults.  You can even make your own e-stamp (see above).

Other highlights from Chase's perspective?
  • Driving in the semi-truck cab
  • Sorting packages
  • Scanning mail
  • Looking at historical stamps (they made it fun, I swear!)
Every time we've gone, it's been really quiet, even in the heat of tourist season.  It's also steps from the Metro (Union Station) unlike most of the other Smithsonian museums.

Have I sold you yet?  Go check it out.  You'll be happy you did...and so will your toddler!

Day 94 | Whole Wheat Pancakes

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Our delicious family tradition recently has been enjoying whole wheat pancakes on the weekends. 

I've been honing my pancake recipe for awhile now and finally stopped tweaking. My goal? Yummy whole wheat + sugar free pancakes. We serve with fruit instead of syrup. You won't miss the sugar at all!

Whole Wheat Pancakes

  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

  • 1 cup oatmeal

  • 4 tsp baking powder

  • Pinch of cinnamon

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 1/2 cups milk

  • 1/2 cup orange juice

  • 1 TBSP applesauce

Directions 

  • Sift together flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon.

  • Beat together eggs, milk, orange juice, and honey in a separate bowl. (I've successfully used only one bowl by mixing these wet ingredients first and then just adding the dry ingredients one at a time. Both options work.)

  • Preheat skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray.

  • Serve with mixed berries.

Day 93 | Turkey Thicket Playground

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Another beautiful day in the District and another super fun new park to visit. Life is good for our little toddler.

Today we drove down to Brookland (about 10 minutes away) to experience

Turkey Thicket Recreation Center

(Chase thinks the name "turkey thicket" is hysterical, by the way). I've heard great things about this playground and it totally lived up to the hype. A big train to climb on/through, tons of slide options, a rock climbing wall, cars to play in, and even a splash park (but we opted out of that activity). 

A quick stop at

&pizza

for lunch and then home in time for naps. Pretty close to a perfect morning if you ask me. 

Day 92 | One of My Greatest Accomplishments

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I finished my dresser DIY project!  I'm borderline obsessed with the finished product.  My dream for a storage piece for the living room was 1. drawers, 2. yellow.  I realized after far too much online research that this perfect piece didn't exist.  I kept an eye out for moving sales and found this gem (in a very different state) for $50.  

Multiple sandings, three coats of paint, two coats of varnish, and a super-fun contact paper for the drawers...and this is what I ended up with.  It was a labor of love but well worth the naptime and post-bedtime free time.

If you're interested in taking on a similar project of your own, I found this website really helpful through the process.

Day 91 | Fun with Miss Sarah

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What a crazy fun morning. Our friend, Miss Sarah, joined us for another jumping session at Sky Zone. The adult-to-child ratio of one-to-one is much better for this type of outing. Chase had so much fun with the focused attention and engagement. Makes me wish I could give him more of that on a daily basis. I guess we'll just take advantage of sweet friends to fill this void in the meantime.

I also got a special treat from Sarah this afternoon: she made me the delicious salad pictured above. Seriously...so yummy. It was so kind of her to host an impromptu lunch date with us. 

Day 88 | A Bold Endeavor

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I finally got brave enough to try a full-scale grocery trip solo with the two kiddos in tow. We've been stocking up on weekends when Chris or I can just pop out, but who wants to spend their precious weekend time doing that?

So here we are. One baby in a carrier. One toddler riding in the cart bribed with goldfish crackers. 

It was a highly successful trip, I'm happy to report. The toughest part was getting all the groceries into the house and put away with two babies stretched to their patience max. 

I'm pretty sure this will be our new Monday post-nap activity. I promise not to write about it every week, though. 

Day 86 | Playing Tourist

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Inspired by Chase's Clifford Goes to Washington book, we loaded up the car and headed down to the Tidal Basin to take in a few of Clifford's favorite spots.

The weather was lovely and the boys (ok, mostly just Chase) really enjoyed the outing. If you ask him, Jefferson was his favorite but from my perspective, Roosevelt's dog, Fala, was the real highlight. 

Day 85 | I'm So Vain

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If I have any choice in the matter, you will not see me without makeup. I know as a stay at home mom it probably doesn't make a ton of sense from a time management (it only takes me five minutes, I swear!) or financial perspective (makeup is expensive, after all, and there are some days I see practically no one). But it makes me feel better about myself. Is that vain? Probably.

No judgement to folks that go natural, but to me there's nothing worse than feeling exhausted from a rough night and then being reminded of that exhaustion every time I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. At least if I've made an attempt to look decent (that's really all I'm aiming for these days), the face looking back at me semi-resembles the better-rested, higher-energy version of myself. 

So, two tips to share on the makeup front that took me far too long to learn:

1. Wear mascara. It immediately makes you look more refreshed. It's really amazing. 

2. Wear blush. This one was quite the epiphany to me recently. Taking five seconds to add color to your cheeks makes a world of difference. I wasn't sold on this forever but now I don't go a day without. 

There you have it. If you have two minutes (seriously, two minutes), add these two items to your morning routine. Or don't and continue embracing your natural beauty. Maybe I'll get there someday but not now. Now I'll take all the help I can get. 

Day 85 | Botanic Garden Redo

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We decided to give the US Botanic Garden another shot today after the semi-disaster of the last trip. I'm happy to report that today's trip was much more enjoyable with less reprimands (none, actually!) from the staff.  

Highlights this time around:
  • The catwalk over the jungle with our good friends Caia and John: It is pretty fantastic.
  • Getting soaking wet in the Children's Garden:You might remember Chase was devastated about getting his sleeve wet last time. This time he was drenched and perfectly fine with it.  Toddlers...you never know!
  • Smelling the aromatherapy corks: This time Chase enjoyed practicing saying the names of the scents (lemon verbena, patchouli, thyme, etc.)

Day 84 | New and Improved Mealtime

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After far too many hours, we have a new dining room table with six chairs (and a hidden leaf!). I was going to share a photo of the completed project but then I snapped this moment right before breakfast. It took place at the new table, at least.

In addition to the table, Chase's new chair came from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Paul. Robbe (true to little brother tendencies) got Chase's old chair (it's more suited for a baby) and Robbe loves it. Can you tell from the photo?!? 

Looking forward to all the memories we have ahead of us at the new table. 

Day 83 | Making it a Home

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After eight plus years of using lots of hand-me-downs and buying needed furniture on the cheap (thanks for the good memories, IKEA), we decided to splurge on a few real pieces of furniture for the new house. Be on the lookout for future posts about our new loveseats for the living room (6-8 weeks...urgh!) and the new built-in bookshelf for the basement (hopefully next week!).

Today, though, I'm excited to announce that our new dining room table has arrived! This was a big deal for us. We eat 95% of our meals together as a family...that's right, all four of us when Chris is home or me and the boys during weekday meals. I feel like it brings us together and teaches the boys the importance of manners during mealtimes. I know every family can't do this (we couldn't have when Chris was at his old job)...we recognize how lucky we are. 

So my plans during nap and post-bedtime? Unpacking these boxes and putting together our new table!! I can't wait. Finished product photo to come. 

Day 82 | Grateful for Friends

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We had another visit from friends today. Pearl is Chase's age and their family will soon be welcoming a new little guy Robbe's age. Laura and I met at the yoga studio in a past life and have managed to stay in touch through several moves. Shocking!

We're still in the process of meeting friends in our new neighborhood so we're incredibly grateful for our friends from our old neighborhoods who are willing to come visit (even super pregnant!) and see our new digs. 

Day 81 | National Harbor

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In all his trips to DC, Mike has never been to National Harbor (not really that surprising, for the record). We decided today was the perfect day to do something DC-y without being in the District.

They recently opened the Capitol Ferris Wheel at the Harbor and we had to check it out. It had less-than-impressive views of the city but was overall really enjoyable. Chase had a great first Ferris wheel ride and no one got queasy. Success!

Chase also rode the carousel three times (and not always on the lame bench shown above). We even made it home for nap without the baby falling asleep in the car seat. Overall a lovely outing. 

Day 80 | More Visitors!

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Uncle Mike came to check out our new house and spend lots of quality time with the boys (including his little brother). Aren't we lucky? And the weather couldn't be more perfect. I'm hoping we can convince him to uproot his family and move here. No luck so far but I'm optimistic!

So far Chase has learned how to eat bricks, how to estimate the number of monkeys he can fit in his bed, and the value of being able to run really fast. And that's just one day's worth!

Day 79 | A Purr-fect Afternoon Outing

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We took the boys to tour another one of our neighborhood treasures this afternoon.  The Washington Animal Rescue League is quite possibly the best animal shelter in the world (in my limited experience).  It's bright, clean (really...it doesn't even smell!), there's water running over the doggie dens (not cages), and the kitties are allowed to run around on the floor together.  Kitty and puppy paradise, that's for sure.

Chase loved frolicking among the animals and luckily didn't realize that he should ask to bring one home.  No way, sir!  For now we'll just enjoy visiting.

Added bonus? Chris surprised us by coming home early so we got to go as a family. Woohoo!