Thankful Thursday

This Thursday, I'm thankful to/for/about:

• Neil Diamond for excellent timing for his concert in DC...
• Rikki & Doug for their hospitality! What a great home they have!!! Elizabeth is especially thankful for Doug sharing his "cereal crunch" (Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
• The good ol' US of A - for having such a great national institution - the Smithsonian Institution - with its National Zoo! We had a great day at the National Zoo with Elizabeth! The weather was great, most of the animals cooperated - she is still talking about what she saw at the zoo!
• Facebook - for putting me back in contact with some long lost friends...
• Papa - for taking such good care of my Sweet Baby Girl, Kennedy, while we were away...she didn't take too many beatings...
• Elizabeth - for "show you my moves" on the elliptical machine at Rikki & Doug's - worth a good laugh...she tickles me so!
• The Container Store - for having some of the stuff that I need to organize my scrapbook space
• My Sweetness - for getting me stuff to cure what ails me...including ice cream
  

E's Trip to the National Zoo

Elizabeth, Reid, Nana, Rikki, and I went to the National Zoo yesterday. Elizabeth (well, and the rest of us) had a great time. At first we were concerned that it was going to be a bit of a bust as several exhibits were temporarily closed...and even Elizabeth was satisfied with watching the Giant Pandas sleep. She said they were soft. The Gorillas were fun, as were the Lions. We were there for just under three hours, perfect amount of time for a two-year-old. Here are a few of my favorite pics from our big day:

Weekend - Virginia Beach

Labor Day weekend (yes, I'm behind on my postings, get over it!) Reid, Elizabeth, & I went to Virginia Beach - stayed with Steve, Jessica, & Grace. We had a FABOO time!!! Steve & Jess were soooo good to us...and I must still get the recipe (still working on the Morton Family Cookbook) for the cheesy potatoes that Jess made - delish! (I have been able to successfully replicate the shrimp with cheese tortellini recipe - E loved it again! She didn't inhale 3 servings of mine like she did Jess's, but liked it a lot!)

Here are a few pictures from just a few of the funny moments:

Elizabeth found Grace's Barbie collection...and borrowed a chair. She thought she could sit in it...and we all nearly lost it! Too funny!!!
Grace has this great Barbie battery operated car. (No worries, Elizabeth still isn't that interested in Barbie - maybe I can avoid this completely!) Anyway, Grace was so good to give Elizabeth a ride around the street. I think E could have spent half the day in there...but good for Grace that she didn't expect to be driven around all afternoon. Reid & I took Grace & Elizabeth to the beach. Grace is really swimming quite well! Naturally, this was Elizabeth's first trip to the beach. She enjoyed it - despite not having taken a nap. She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the sand. I think she would have spent all day just digging in the sand if we would have been game for that. She liked the tide washing up on her feet, but certainly did not like her feet getting buried. Although she loves the pool (even pointed to the ocean and said, "pool", she wasn't really wanting to go out into God's pool. Maybe this was lack of sleep, maybe this was just good enough judgement on her part that she can't swim well enough to swim with the fishes.) Elizabeth had her first summer fling with a cute boy - younger than her, just like she likes them!

We can't wait to get back to the beach...and to see Steve, Jess, & Grace again.

Thanks for the great time!!!