Cory's Birthday

Yesterday was Cory's 34th birthday. We had a fun filled day and it was so nice that Grammy was here to celebrate with us. She has been here for the last 3 birthdays! Here are the links to the last two birthday celebrations 2012 2011

After work L and Grammy made a special birthday cake for Cory- yellow cake with chocolate icing. Then we headed out to eat at Fishnet. We'd heard good things and wanted to try out a new restaurant in College Park.

opening gifts 

 L waiting for dinner to arrive. We were all pretty excited about the new fish restaurant

 L and Grammy

 L got the camera and took some pictures!

 Cory's dinner-soft shell crab sandwich..

 We left the restaurant just in time to get out before the rain

 We headed home for cake

little stinker put her finger right in the middle of the cake

To the Farm with Grammy

On Sunday we headed out to the farmhouse for a day trip with Grammy. It was a long day in the car, but we all did well and we were so excited to show Grammy the farmhouse!

We stopped first in Berkeley Springs...

Cory and L checking out the little minnows 

 L got in the Springs

Cory and Grammy in front of the Washington's Bath

Then we headed out to the house and we showed Grammy the River!

L was pretty excited that there were butterflies down by the river

Cory and Grammy down by the river

 Cory, L and I floated down and Grammy came to pick us up at the swimming hole. This is a really popular spot..

It's Hot!

This week really started to heat up around DC so Grammy, L and took to the water/pools/anything cool.
We have a little water park in the park adjacent to our house. We've never been so we went to check it out on Friday...

pictures were not allowed, but we caught this one of her in the splash park before we got in trouble :)

On Saturday our babysitting co-op had a get together. They had a bounce house and big pool. L was in heaven!

in the bounce house

big pool- L loved swimming and splashing Mommy

Jeffy was at the pool party so then were off an into something...

Cory and I even managed to get out for a date.. We went on a boat trip on the Potomac and then out to dinner. We realized that it's been almost 10 months since we went out just us. It was nice and a huge thanks to Grammy for caring for L.  

view of the Lincoln and Monument

Grammy's back in town!

Grammy arrived last week and we've been up to all sorts of fun! We were so thrilled that she re-worked her schedule to make a trip to visit us. L found out a day before she came and still cannot contain her excitement. Cory, L and Grammy headed to the Zoo last Tuesday. Here are some shots from their visit to the National Zoo:

First thing on the to-do list- learning how to hookem horns!

Take 1

Take 2

3rd times the charm!

Sea lions!

 Lions are a must see at the Zoo and a favorite of L's.

Father's Day 2013

L got Cory some horseshoes for Father's Day. We've been talking about needing some and he was pretty excited to get them first thing this morning.  The big question is where will we get the most use out of them? Here or at the farmhouse?  L is one lucky little girl and she loved running around and telling Core, "Happy Father's Day!" It's a little wild that this is Cory's 3rd Father's Day. Check out the links here to the last two: 2012; 2011

had to include this shot

 Grammy sent L a present and we waited until Sunday morning to open it. It was a battery operated fish that swims. She had such a good time, trying to catch the fish with her magnetic worm.

She caught him!

Then we headed out to the Anacostia River to try our luck at Canoeing with L. She loved it. They gave her a special seat, but she wanted to be right with Cory. We were out on the river for about an hour or so.. 

After the trip down the river we came back and had a snack in a caboose.

view of the river from the caboose

snack time!

Blue

This last week we got Laurelea her first pet- a Goldfish! A neighbor was giving away goldfish from her pond. We anticipated that the fish would be larger than the average goldfish, but were so surprised when Blue (L named him) was almost 5 inches. After a night in a small bowl we invested in an aquarium. Our free fish got very expensive rather quickly but we all like him so he is worth it!

Blue's original bowl

might have lost some counter space for a fish :)

Tubing, Smores and Fishing

L is getting ready for the trip

This weekend we went out to the farmhouse. We tried not to work as much...

 We got L her own fishing pole, which she loves! It even has a rubber fish that you can attach so that they can learn how to cast. It is perfect as she got to fish, while we were fishing. We both caught a few small fish. L loves to pet them before we release them.

fishing with Daddy

 We were pretty excited that the tubes that we ordered came in time... We didn't get any pictures of us on the river, as I didn't want to bring my camera. L loved floating the river. It was completely relaxing. She floated most of the time with either me or Cory, but she did get into her little tube at one point. I don't think she liked it was it was cold, compared to our laps. We went on Sunday morning and saw a lot of wild life. We saw two deer drinking from the river, a bald eagle and of course the geese.

L ready to head down to the River

 On Saturday we made smores for the first time out at the Farmhouse!

L was a fan

On Sunday on our way out of town we stopped in Berkeley Springs. They were having an Art Festival so we checked it out along with the local farmer's market. 

 

checking out the fish in the little stream in Berkeley Springs