Playing Catch-Up!

It's been forever since I last posted. I'm an ass!

So...Reid's high school reunion was a great time. Kudos to Andrea McElroy and others who planned the weekend! From the weekend in Fairmont we took off for DC (with Nana) to visit Rikki & Doug.

The week in DC was filled with activities -- 1 day at the Museum of Natural History (so E could see dinosaur bones and "The Hall of Apes"), 1 ridiculously full day that included 6 hours at the National Zoo + 3 hours at the Air & Space Museum (E insisted on seeing some "arrow planes"), 1 (albeit cranky for the most part) day at the American History Museum (my favorite!), 1 minor league baseball game, Reid & I got away for an evening in Baltimore to hang out with Jake and see his new place, and lots of fun!

If you haven't seen the American History Museum since the American Flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the National Anthem has been restored - it is a must! I visited the museum on several occasions while the flag was being restored, which was really neat to see...but now that it is restored -- it is simply breathtaking! (You can learn more about it here: http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&exkey=70)

Stories from the game that tickle my funny bone:

The minor league baseball game we went to was the Bowie Baysox (a Baltimore Orioles affiliate) vs. the Portland Sea Dogs (a Red Sox affiliate). We were happy to have Elisa Gladstone join us all for the game - it's always good to see Elisa! E was especially glad to have her friend, Elisa, join us as Reid & I were quickly ditched so she could hang out with Elisa. The Baysox mascot, Louie, was this big muppet-looking green "thing." Really cute, actually. When Elizabeth first saw him from a distance, she jumped from Elisa's lap onto Doug's.

Then E obsessed a bit (shocker!) and would tell us that after the game, and after the fireworks, and after she ran the bases, she would meet Louie. Reid, having played these reindeer games before, got Louie down to our section to meet Elizabeth. (Louie was quite a sport, too, I must add!) Needless to say, Elizabeth didn't want him at all near her. Doug tried to show E that Louie was a good guy and gave him a high 5. (Meanwhile, Louie is hugging & kissing on Reid's head...while Doug is sniffing his hand that he just high 5'd with Louie!) Doug later told us that Louie's hand was really wet, which made his (Doug's) smell like stinky feet. E never warmed to Louie...but she survived. Rikki & Doug (after a thorough scrubbing of his hand, I'm sure) bought Elizabeth a stuffed Louie. Upon receiving her Louie Baysox stuffed mascot, E observed, "Hey! His hand isn't wet!"

More obsessing -- here's a bit of my conversation with Elizabeth later that evening:
E: Is Louie tired, Mommy?
Me: Yes, Elizabeth. Louie worked hard tonight. I'm sure he is tired.
E: Am I tired, Mommy?

Reid nearly caught a foul tip. (To do so, min you, he would have had to have knocked down a 12-year-old kid...he's so not as competitive as I am!) Afterwards, Elizabeth came down next to Reid and said, "Next time I'm going to catch the ball, Daddy!" That's my girl!

After the fireworks, Reid tried for some time to get Elizabeth to run the bases. (Louie was blocking home plate so he could high 5 all of the base runners with his wet, stinky feet hand!) He even got E so far as getting her feet on the field to no avail. (At least there was no crying - as there is no crying in baseball!) Eventually, Reid & E headed back to join the rest of us. Fewer than 10 minutes later while on the way to the car, Elizabeth tells me, "Hey! I forgot to run the bases!"

We've had a great summer! Elizabeth is swimming a bit -- easily goes under water and can hold her breath for 10 seconds (no holding of the nose, either!). She's super-tanned...like the Coppertone baby. (I'm quite savage, too! Tanned enough that you can tell the difference between my skin and the white on my t-shirt!) We're making some progress on the potty training...although I'm ready to start looking to see if we can easily transition from pull-ups to Depends as it doesn't seem as if this is ever going to end!