Alexa helps clean up

Another one of Alexa's favorite things to do is "hulp" me around the house. Whenever I take out the broom, she wants in. It makes it hard for me to sweep, but it's so cute! As I was getting the house ready for our company last Sunday, she grabbed the broom and went to work. Do you think she'd like a toy broom or dust bin and brush?

Train! Fun! Water play!

Alexa had an action-packed Memorial Day holiday. Since it was forecast to be HOT, we headed to the Choo Choo Train early, hoping to get in a ride before the heat set in. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. It was packed! Luckily, we got seats and Alexa enjoyed the ride!

Back home, Alexa played with cousin Samantha, Grandma E and Pop before they left to catch their train home. She was pushing her shopping cart around and cracking up!

The day DID turn out to be super hot, so we decided to use the heat to our advantage. We took Alexa on a walk around the block in her trike, hoping the heat would wear her out and help us put her down for a nap. It worked! She slept 2+ hours!

When she woke up, we had a last-minute play date with Eli from down the street. We broke out the kiddie pool and stacks of cups and the kids dove in. They were dumping water and laughing so hard it was hilarious! At least we all cooled off!

Zoo! And then a BBQ!

We had a busy but fun day today! It started with a trip to the National Zoo. Silly me, I thought everyone left Washington, D.C., during holiday weekends. I was wrong. The Zoo was a zoo! It was also HOT! Still, we enjoyed walking around and seeing the animals. Alexa got to see elephants, pandas, lions, monkeys and donkeys. What could be better? She kept saying "Anna-molls"!

After the zoo, Daddy's friends from his hometown in NJ came over with their kids for a cook out. Alexa had a blast playing with all the older girls! They played bubbles with her and played catch with her soccer ball. And, of course, it all ended with ice cream! Alexa loved the ice cream part.

Park fun with Grandma E and Samantha

Alexa got a treat today -- a visit from her Grandma E, Pop and cousin Samantha! So was so excited that she wouldn't nap. So to tire her out, we took our little monster to the park! She had a blast on the swing and playing with a little toy kitchen. Turns out that cousin Samantha has the SAME kitchen back in New Jersey. If we have room in our car, we might try to bring it home! Do you think Alexa will like it as much if it's in our back yard and not the playground? Hmmmm. I hope so!

Alexa plays catch with her Daddy

One of Alexa's favorite new games to play is "catch." She loves to throw or roll a ball to you and then you throw or roll it back and she giggles as she runs to scoop it up. It's so cute! Daddy has been waiting to play catch with her for a while. He has been teaching her how to throw properly. She's a natural!

King Spring Fling

Every year, my co-worker has a cook-out. I remember years ago, when we lived in the city and didn't own a car, it was a pain to get to. Now, it's five minutes away. Daddy was away this past weekend, so Alexa and I went on our own. Here are some photos from last Saturday evening. She ate some food but mostly enjoyed playing ball and riding a little bus with the big kids. I was very proud of her for being a tough girl when she fell down and sharing the toys! Click here to see photos of last year's Spring Fling!

Photos from Saturday

On the way back home from the Strut your Mutt Parade, Alexa took her time walking. So I broke out my camera and took some pictures. I love the color and light, but I wish she wasn't sucking on her pacifier!

Sunday Fun Day with Kaitlyn

Another Sunday, another Sunday Fun Day! Today's book was "Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus." I had actually never heard of this book, but the activities created to go with it were fantastic! First, all the kids were given cardboard steering wheels to color. For some reason, Alexa was drawn to the color brown. She picked out ALL of the brown crayons! Next, we used hula hoops as "busses" and took the kids from room to room. In the first room, they got to "shop" for fake food. In the next, they dressed up with hats, beads and feather boas. Alexa had a blast! I think her friend Kaitlyn did too.

Strut Your Mutt Parade

Downtown Bethesda has festivals for just about everyone, and today it was the Strut Your Mutt Parade! Naturally, I figured this would be a good event to take Alexa to since she LOVES dogs. And, naturally, I was right. She loved it! We met Alexa's friend Brandon and strolled around looking at dogs and trying to find the booth giving out firemen hats. When we finally scored the coveted hats, Alexa only wore it for a second before moving on to something else. Oh well, look how cute she is!

Beach! Beach! Mama, beach!

Apparently, we aren't the only ones longing to be back in Hawaii. Tonight, Alexa was crying for the BEACH, so I gave her a picture of us at Lanikai. She looked at the picture and a huge smile spread over her face. She insisted on holding the picture during dinner and then took it to bed with her. I later saw her sitting up in bed looking at the picture, then holding it when she went back to sleep!

Alexa changes her baby's diaper

Another one of Alexa's favorite things to do of late is change her baby's diaper! She gets out the changing mat and my tub of wipes and goes to town. Thankfully, she puts all the wipes that she pulls out back. It's not exactly the way I'd like it, but whatever, she's having fun. And baby has a lot of clean diapers!

Relaxing in Bethesda

One of our favorite things to do is walk into town. Today started out chilly but warmed up nicely! So we walked to the park, then on to the Italian store for a treat. Yum!

A Puppet show and new park to explore

A park near our house has a weekly puppet show for kids. I had been meeting to check it out, so with rain expected, off we went! We ran into a friend at the show: Christine and baby Kaitlyn! Alexa enjoyed the puppet show but had a hard time staying still. She enjoyed the play ground much more!

Alexa is 20 Months!

My goodness how time flies. Here is my little baby at 20 months! She's now been on the outside twice as long as she was in my tummy. Thanks to Daddy for cracking Alexa up for her photo shoot. There were so many cute photos, it was hard to choose!

And now, check out how much Alexa has grown!

Choo Choo! It's Mother's Day!

We had a lovely Mother's Day. My only request was to sleep in and RELAX! Done and done! Alexa, however, kept asking me about the beach. "Mama, walk beach? Beach?" Apparently, she missed Hawaii. I tried to explain that we couldn't go to the beach, but maybe we could go to a Choo Choo Train? She was sold. Apparently a Choo Choo Train is an acceptible Plan B when the Beach is unavailable. Good to know. So instead of the beach, we spent the day visiting a new park in the area that has a ton of cool play areas and, most importantly, a working Choo-Choo Train. Alexa LOVED it!

After the park, we grilled out in our backyard! Also, I showed Alexa how to blow dandelions and she was fascinated! She picks them every time we take a walk and calls them "blow flowers."

Bubbles! Yay, bubbles!

Another favorite thing of Alexa's right now is BUBBLES! She loves bubbles! At first, she was happy to just let me blow them. Then she wanted to blow them herself! And she did! And then she wanted to hold the bubbles and proceeded to pour it all out. Ooops! Guess we'd better stock up on bubbles. COSTCO?

Alexa has big shoes to fill!

One of Alexa's favorite things to do of late is put on our shoes! It's hilarious. She loves wearing my running shoes and walking around like a clown. She's also put on Daddy's work shoes! It's pretty funny...

Last day in Hawaii!

On our last day in Hawaii, we headed to Lanikai Beach one more time... And Alexa made a friend! Actually I think she just wanted the other girl's toys. They were cute playing together. Unfortunately, the beach was REALLY windy. We headed home for naptime, followed by some pool play.

Alexa decided immediately that she loved her new Roxy hoodie! "Purple!" she said. Yes, it is. Check out how cute she is! She was serving up "shots" of water in a bottle cap and giggling up a storm.

More Kauai vs. More Winward Mall

After a nice breakfast and walk around the grounds, Daddy and I enjoyed our last day on Kauai at the pool, relaxing and doing nothing. It was fabulous!

Meanwhile, back on Oahu, Alexa spent another morning playing on the Winward Mall waterfalls and toy cars. Looks like she had a blast!

We got home in the afternoon and took Alexa on a walk to Kailua Beach to see ... DOGS! It was windy, but she enjoyed playing in the sand and yelling "Hi!" at all the dogs she saw. So cute!

We sat outside for dinner and Alexa had another ice cream bar. Uh-oh, what have we started here?!

Na Pali Coast vs. Winward mall

On Kauai, Daddy and I took a boat trip to the Na Pali coast, where we saw herds of dolphins, turtles and even two whales that came up right next to the boat! It was amazing. Unfortunately, Daddy got a little sick on the way back. He joked that it was thanks to him that the whales came so close to our boat!

Meanwhile, back on Oahu, Alexa had a ball playing at this indoor play space at the Winward Mall. Who needs real waterfalls when rubber ones are so much fun!

Back on Kauai, Daddy and I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the pool, followed by a beautiful dinner at sunset. What a great mini-vacation!

Off to Kauai!

We had a nice morning at church seeing old friends. Look how cute Alexa was in her little purple dress!

After church, Daddy and I flew to Kauai for a couple days on our own. Alexa stayed with Grandma and Grandpa! We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, which my friend Blythe recommended. It was AMAZING!

Meanwhile, while we were enjoying the amazing pools at the Grand Hyatt... Alexa was playing pool games in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard. She also tried an ice cream sandwich -- and liked it! (duh!)