Last week Thumper, Bambi and I ventured out to an amazing off-leash dog park in Shirlington, VA. Bambi had a good time, but Thumper had a GREAT time! The park is about a quarter mile long, running along a small creek, and Thumper walked and ran the entire way. He stuck his arms out like a T-rex and ran and giggled to his heart's content. He loved pointing at all of the dogs and saying, "Doh!" A few of them were even so kind as to let Thumper pet them. He's getting much better at understanding "gentle" and all of the K-9's were very appreciative. He also learned how to shake his hands off when he falls and gets them dirty. He grins wildly and scissors his hands back and forth knocking any debris off of them.
Another big adventure last week was a trip to Gymboree. I don't mean the store Gymboree; I mean the small segregated section of the world where children roam free to do as they please in a jungle of mats, toys, wedges, balls, slides, and many other obstacles which I can't even begin to name. Thumper crossed over the threshold into this magical land and his eyes instantly glossed over like a kid that had just consumed 4 gallons of soda. The T-rex arms shot up and he was off. I could see the constant struggle in his head whether to begin collecting toys or run for the slides, and then he saw it...a big bright colorful tunnel. He pounced on the ground and crawled like he's never crawled before. As he made it in one end, I ran to the other side to pop my head around with a smile and a giggle. When he saw me he laughed hysterically and struggled to recall how to move his arms and legs in unison. He managed to turn around in the tunnel and do something resembling a crawl in between his fits of body convulsing laughter.
Our class was about an hour long and we did some structured events like singing songs and pushing a giant inflatable log/tube across the floor with about 15 other 1-ish-year-olds. The kids went crazy and the parents did their best to prevent swan dives off of the top of the slides or fights over toys strewn about. All in all we had a great time, and I loved getting so see Thumper interact with other kids his own age. Hopefully in Hyderabad we'll get him enrolled in some kind of part time day care so that he can get some real play time on a regular basis. I know I'm fun and all, but I'm well aware that I'm no match for 15 kids his own age :-P
Time is flying by and we're getting ready for all of our visitors! Thumper and I go to Hawaii in a little over a week, and then it starts. After returning from Hawaii we'll have a constant stream of visitors until January with a few short breaks intermixed. We are so ready for a taste of home, and some babysitters! Ha ha. Legs and I already have a mental list of date night things to do when family arrives. We're doing great and we can't wait to see all of you that are coming to visit!
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Life Outside DC
We finally got out of town! Last weekend we went to a friend's family house on Smith Mountain Lake and enjoyed the water, sunshine (I swear there was sun), and quiet time. It was a long 5.5 hour drive from DC but it was well worth it. Poor Bambi got sent to the dog hotel but Pancho, Thumper, and I greatly enjoyed our time without dog responsibility.
We felt so welcome and are honored to have such wonderful friends in our lives. Paris Chica's family was so kind and it was good to catch up with her.
One of the highlights of this trip was seeing the house where What About Bob was filmed! One of our all-time favorite movies. The house has changed a little since 1991 but I still recognize the porch and the staircase out back from the movie!
We are relaxing this weekend and catching up on to-do items. Then for Labor Day weekend we are off to Amish Country! Thumper sure is getting some traveling in these days :-)
Legs
We felt so welcome and are honored to have such wonderful friends in our lives. Paris Chica's family was so kind and it was good to catch up with her.
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| Out on the boat! |
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| View from their house |
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| What About Bob house |
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| What About Bob house and dock |
Legs
Thursday, August 9, 2012
It's Official...I'm Running MCM2012
I won an entry in the Marine Corps Marathon in an essay contest that I entered through Arlington County Parks and Recreation! I'm so excited that I'll have the opportunity to participate in this race. It's one of the biggest marathons in the country. They cap the entrants at 30,000 and it sold out in 2 hours and 41 minutes!!! Although I've been training for a marathon in October for quite some time now, it brings a new sense of urgency to my runs. Now that I'm officially signed up for a race I really need to start logging the miles. I'm running a little over 30 miles per week now, and hope to get into the 50's before the race.
Thumper is still as active as ever. Sometimes I think he'd be better off entering the marathon! He's starting to make some animal sounds, like monkeys (ooh ooh ooh, AH AH!), and mice (squeak squeak squeak). He can also point at the ceiling, dog, ball, monkeys (little figurines we have from Costa Rica) when you ask him to. He is so rambunctious that it seems like every day he has a new bonk, scrape, or bruise from running into something, falling, or hitting himself with something. He loves to walk outside in his new shoes, and he regularly walks to the car with us. He absolutely loves his books. They are almost the only "toys" he brings out of his toy box now. He brings one over to you and kind of whines until you take it and then he gets really excited and tries to sit in your lap for you to read it to him. Thumper is also signing for 'more' and 'milk' very well these days.
With the exception of having a bit of a cold right now, I'm doing wonderful and so are Legs, Thumper, and Bambi. We are looking forward to a trip to Smith Mountain Lake this weekend to get out of the city.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Thumper is still as active as ever. Sometimes I think he'd be better off entering the marathon! He's starting to make some animal sounds, like monkeys (ooh ooh ooh, AH AH!), and mice (squeak squeak squeak). He can also point at the ceiling, dog, ball, monkeys (little figurines we have from Costa Rica) when you ask him to. He is so rambunctious that it seems like every day he has a new bonk, scrape, or bruise from running into something, falling, or hitting himself with something. He loves to walk outside in his new shoes, and he regularly walks to the car with us. He absolutely loves his books. They are almost the only "toys" he brings out of his toy box now. He brings one over to you and kind of whines until you take it and then he gets really excited and tries to sit in your lap for you to read it to him. Thumper is also signing for 'more' and 'milk' very well these days.
With the exception of having a bit of a cold right now, I'm doing wonderful and so are Legs, Thumper, and Bambi. We are looking forward to a trip to Smith Mountain Lake this weekend to get out of the city.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Halfway
Legs has reached the halfway point in language training and she passed her progressive test with flying colors. She is right on track to get to where she needs to be in November. She has put a lot of time and effort into learning Telugu and it is really beginning to show. She loves small-talking in Telugu with the shop-keepers at the local Indian grocery store we regularly visit. We have both come to enjoy watching Tollywood movies (the Telugu equivalent to Bollywood movies) that we get for free from the store.
Thumper is beginning to walk with us when we go out, instead of riding in the stroller. I finally got him a decent pair of shoes so that he can start trying to walk around the block when we take Bambi out. The shoes are a little big, and create a bit of a challenge...especially on carpet. He picks his feet up REALLY high with the shoes on. It's pretty funny to watch. He's still such a happy little person, and he literally waves at everyone. This morning, on my walk with him and Bambi, people on the bus started smiling and waving at me and then I noticed Thumper was grinning ear-to-ear and waving like he was on a parade float.
Not a very eventful week, but things are good.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Thumper is beginning to walk with us when we go out, instead of riding in the stroller. I finally got him a decent pair of shoes so that he can start trying to walk around the block when we take Bambi out. The shoes are a little big, and create a bit of a challenge...especially on carpet. He picks his feet up REALLY high with the shoes on. It's pretty funny to watch. He's still such a happy little person, and he literally waves at everyone. This morning, on my walk with him and Bambi, people on the bus started smiling and waving at me and then I noticed Thumper was grinning ear-to-ear and waving like he was on a parade float.
Not a very eventful week, but things are good.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Date Night and Baby Chasing
I'm going to be the best man in our friends' wedding! I'm so excited that Beaver asked me to be his best man. Unfortunately Legs won't be able to make the trip to Hawaii with Thumper and I. She would absolutely love to be there for Beaver and Nurse. We are very happy for them. I'm a bit nervous to be on a flight that long with Thumper alone :-/ He'll be flying as a lap-baby, so he won't even have his own seat. Yikes!
Things are feeling more and more like home here, as we become more comfortable with the DC area. Legs and I had another date night, and luckily there was no fire alarm to disturb us this time around. We went to a local jazz club called the Bohemian Caverns. The music was so-so, but we had a wonderful time just being out together. We're very excited for all of our visitors coming in the next few months, so that maybe we'll get a few more date nights! :-P
Thumper basically went from taking 4-5 steps at a time to running at an all-out sprint, and he is quickly stockpiling the bumps, scrapes, and bruises. He's fearless and has an unbelievably happy personality. He's constantly exploring, playing, and pointing at things, which keeps Bambi and me extremely busy! He loves to play with Bambi and laughs hysterically when they take toys from one other.
Legs and I are still running and going to the gym. I think Legs is really excited to participate in her Warrior Dash in September, and I'm hopeful that the Marine Corps Marathon (or the Monster Mash Marathon) will go much better than my last.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Things are feeling more and more like home here, as we become more comfortable with the DC area. Legs and I had another date night, and luckily there was no fire alarm to disturb us this time around. We went to a local jazz club called the Bohemian Caverns. The music was so-so, but we had a wonderful time just being out together. We're very excited for all of our visitors coming in the next few months, so that maybe we'll get a few more date nights! :-P
Thumper basically went from taking 4-5 steps at a time to running at an all-out sprint, and he is quickly stockpiling the bumps, scrapes, and bruises. He's fearless and has an unbelievably happy personality. He's constantly exploring, playing, and pointing at things, which keeps Bambi and me extremely busy! He loves to play with Bambi and laughs hysterically when they take toys from one other.
Legs and I are still running and going to the gym. I think Legs is really excited to participate in her Warrior Dash in September, and I'm hopeful that the Marine Corps Marathon (or the Monster Mash Marathon) will go much better than my last.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
We've Caught a Fitness Bug
For some reason Legs and I have both gotten the urge to exercise. I'm planning to run another marathon, either the Monster Mash Marathon in Dover, DE or the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC, in October, and Legs has registered for a Warrior Dash in VA. She, and two of her colleagues, will run a 5K race stacked full of obstacles which include crawling under barbwire, a river crossing, jumping through fire, and many more! We also joined a gym that has childcare, and it's like we get a workout-date-night every night of the week!
Thumper is getting more active and mobile every day. Perhaps we both decided to start exercising because we know it won't be long before we won't be able to keep up with Thumper. Something clicked the other night for him and he went from taking 5 or 6 steps at a time to running laps around the living room. He's also getting better at riding his Stryder bicycle. He still needs one of us to stabilize the handle bars for him, but he starts moving those little feet like there's no tomorrow! Maybe by the time we get to India he'll be riding by himself.
We're looking forward to seeing all who are coming to visit us in the coming months!
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Thumper is getting more active and mobile every day. Perhaps we both decided to start exercising because we know it won't be long before we won't be able to keep up with Thumper. Something clicked the other night for him and he went from taking 5 or 6 steps at a time to running laps around the living room. He's also getting better at riding his Stryder bicycle. He still needs one of us to stabilize the handle bars for him, but he starts moving those little feet like there's no tomorrow! Maybe by the time we get to India he'll be riding by himself.
We're looking forward to seeing all who are coming to visit us in the coming months!
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
We Survived the Teenager
It was sure sad to take Mop Top to the airport last night. The past two weeks was a whirlwind, but I had a great time showing him DC and New York City. I think he even had a little fun when he wasn't sleeping or melting in the sun! It's kind of funny that he just so happened to show up for our record-setting heat wave of more consecutive 100+ degree days than ever recorded and the day after he leaves it drops to the mid 80's.
Mop Top is turning in to such a great young man, and he has such a kind heart. He's just got the personality that draws people in. I thought about it as we took the metro to the airport and an older lady started talking to him like a grandmother would talk to her grandchild. Asking him where he was going and about his time in DC. Then again in the airport while he was in line to board the plane he quickly made friends with the lady behind him. Earlier in the week he informed me that he had a great time talking to the lady next to him on the flight out here from Seattle. She even bought him a cookie on the plane! Little did she know that his grandmother sent him on his way with roughly 8 pounds of food for the 6 hour flight, including a bag of over 2 dozen cookies!
I'd love to rattle off all of the things that we did while Mop Top was here, but the most enjoyable for me was simply getting to spend time with him. Things like wrestling on the living room floor, playing video games on our phones and showing one another the replays of cool or funny tricks, explaining to him how to meditate, teaching him how to read a metro map, watching him with Thumper, hearing about longboards and mountain bikes, and getting to reconnect with him after feeling so far away for so long. This was an absolutely wonderful experience for me, and I can only hope that he had a fraction of the fun.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
Mop Top is turning in to such a great young man, and he has such a kind heart. He's just got the personality that draws people in. I thought about it as we took the metro to the airport and an older lady started talking to him like a grandmother would talk to her grandchild. Asking him where he was going and about his time in DC. Then again in the airport while he was in line to board the plane he quickly made friends with the lady behind him. Earlier in the week he informed me that he had a great time talking to the lady next to him on the flight out here from Seattle. She even bought him a cookie on the plane! Little did she know that his grandmother sent him on his way with roughly 8 pounds of food for the 6 hour flight, including a bag of over 2 dozen cookies!
I'd love to rattle off all of the things that we did while Mop Top was here, but the most enjoyable for me was simply getting to spend time with him. Things like wrestling on the living room floor, playing video games on our phones and showing one another the replays of cool or funny tricks, explaining to him how to meditate, teaching him how to read a metro map, watching him with Thumper, hearing about longboards and mountain bikes, and getting to reconnect with him after feeling so far away for so long. This was an absolutely wonderful experience for me, and I can only hope that he had a fraction of the fun.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
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