Oh Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Saturday was the D.C. Kite Festival on the National Mall.  We headed to the event around 10:30am and parked at Arlington Cemetery in order to ride the metro downtown.  William was fired up as he always loves a good ride on the metro trains.  

The crowds were pretty thick, but we managed to board the first train that came by. Because of all the people, William lost track of Dan on the metro train and for a second he began to panic and tell me in a crying  voice "Mom Mom we forgot Dada!"  I didn't think much of it and quickly explained that Dada was on our train but he was not standing by us because of the crowds.  I then pointed him out and William made a mad dash to grab Dan's hand and pull him over towards the door.  He was very concerned that one of us would not make it off the train!  This situation made more of an impression than I thought because on our return ride he would not let go of our hands and today at church he would not get on the elevator until Dan and I were both standing by him and holding his hands.

Anyways, back to the festival.  We got off at the Smithsonian station and walked towards the kites which were mostly between the Washington Monument and World War II memorials.  There were tons of kids and lots of people flying kites they brought with them.  We didn't bring a kite because we were not sure how the whole event worked and how cumbersome it might be to tote it on the metro......but, never fear the Easter Bunny is indeed bringing an airplane kite to William next week!  We did bring a picnic and ate our lunch by the Washington Monument.  William got a kick out of running around and kept telling us, "isn't this so fun!"

We saw tons of very cool kites in all sizes.  William loved the space ship kite, the fighter jet kite, the soccer ball kite and the huge dragon kite.  There were also tents set up with various activities for older children as well as a few kite flying contests and bands playing.  We took in the action and then played among some of the cherry blossom trees before calling it a day.  

We had a great time and being downtown just reminded me of how cool it is to live in Washington, D.C.  The fact that we can  play on the National Mall and visit the historic monuments anytime we want are just two thrilling experiences that I will never take for granted!  I am so glad we are a family who takes advantage of every moment.

Fake Smiles

My pack on my back!

William: "DAAADAAA! You ready to go on a nature hike?"

Dada: "Well sure buddy!  Let me get my backpack."

Sunday afternoon William invited Dada on a boys only nature hike.  He was fired up to find some treasures for his "treasure box" which is actually the flower pot on the front porch.  It's just overflowing with William's prized possessions (sticks, rocks, leaves, dirt, etc.) that he finds on all our outings.

Before they headed out, William told me specifically what to put in his backpack.  Here's the inventory:

UPS airplane

British Airways airplane

1 fighter jet 

water bottle

goldfish crackers

fruit bar

2 "pick me ups" which are Oreos

wipes

They had a grand ol' time on their hike and brought back many a "treasure" for the flower pot. 

Nothing Better

What could be better than hearing your child say this to you first thing in the morning?

"Mom Mom, you are my best girl in the whole world. Hold you Mom Mom"

ZOOper Dooper Wednesday!

William doesn't have school on Wednesdays or Fridays so those are usually our "great adventure" days out on the town.  Wednesday was gorgeous so we invited William's buddy from school, Caroline, and her mom to the D.C. National Zoo.  

We loaded up and arrived around 11am.  We parked right by the elephant house so that was the first exhibit we hit.  The baby elephant was outside performing tricks with her trainer and the kids thought his performance was just fabulous.  They both cracked up when the elephant stood on 2 feet and then raised his right front foot and blew his trunk.  William and Caroline also stood on one foot to show the elephant who was boss.

Then William was insistent that we go directly to the snakes.  I didn't know my boy loves snakes but at least they were behind glass!  He was running around checking out all the reptiles, but the kids stopped to watch the crocodile the longest.  They were sleeping with their mouths open and William and Caroline thought that was amazing.  

As we headed down the path we looked up to find the monkeys flying across their ropes course that weaves throughout the zoo.  That was very cool.  There they were up in the air criss-crossing over the ropes and TOTALLY doing tricks for the audience below.  We all stopped to watch the monkeys for a long time.  We'd clap with the crowd and the monkeys would get excited and repeat their show for us.   It was great! 

Next up were the prairie dogs and the children's zoo.  Inside the children's zoo they have miniature ponies, a cow, sheep, ducks, and sheep.  The kids liked this part quite a bit and William asked me if it would be ok for him to play on the "playground" a.k.a the climbing toys for the goats.  YIKES!  Alas there was a kids playground near by and before lunch we let the duo run their hearts out.

Then it was time to pack up and go! 

Notes from the cockpit

William: "Mom Mom, can you bring me some coffee when I fly the airplanes?  I am going to drink my coffee when I am a pilot when I grow up."

The "Wright" stuff

William:  "Hey Mom Mom!  I need youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!

Mom Mom:  "Yes, what is it?"

William:  "This plane is called a space ship and it takes off from the launch pad and goes into space and the rocket boosters fall off.  This plane is really cool.  It's D for Dauntless.  I also have a C for Chinook helicopter and a G for the Gooney Bird."

Mom Mom:  "Wow, that is so awesome William.  You sure have some really neat planes!"

William:  "Mom Mom, we need to go right now to the library and get a book about Orville Wright and his first airplane."

Mom Mom:  "Ok, let's do it!"

Hitchin' a ride!

Today is a very gloomy, rainy day in our nation's capital.  I hated to spend our entire Friday cooped up indoors, so I asked William if he'd like to ride the ART (Arlington Rapid Transit) bus around town.  He was totally fired up and couldn't get dressed fast enough!  

You might recall our previous bus riding experience (the Washington Metro Bus) noted on the blog, but this would be our first adventure riding ART.  Since we are less familiar with the ART bus routes, we decided to ride from our neighborhood bus hub, Shirlington and then stay on the bus for a round trip ride to Clarendon and then back to Shirlington.  Shirlington is only 2 minutes from our house so it was an easy destination to drive too in the pouring rain.

First off, William asked if he could buy a "pick me up" (a.k.a. special snack) for the road trip and being such a good mom mom, I stopped for a chocolate chip cookie.  Nothing like a 10am treat.   We then headed over to the Shirlington bus station where William browsed for various bits of Arlington transit literature and studied a few maps.  

Then, our bus arrived.  ART #77.  The ride was approximately 1 hour round trip.  William asked me what number we were going to ride and when I said, "number 77" he quickly replied, "oh, that is just like a 777 airplane."  Always got airplanes on the brain.

William wanted to sit at the very back of the bus on the upper deck so he'd have a bird's eye view of the journey.  We met the bus driver, snacked on our cookie, watched people board the bus, guessed if the bus was going to turn left or right, studied our map, and had a grand ol' time just kickin' it on the ART.

March Chalk Talk

 It's a glorious March day here at 2526A!  So, William and I set out to celebrate by reuniting with our sidewalk chalk.  We spent more than a hour outside and a hefty amount of time building our airport.  In case you can't relate to my artistic talents, here's a rundown of my mural:

We had everything from the moving walkway, baggage claim, hanger, cargo loading dock, 22 gates, Air Force One, American Airlines, a control tower, an airplane landing with wheels down on the red runway, a runway with lights, a rainbow for the pilots to see in the sky, Gold Bug reporting from Busytown, a kite "like preschool," a couple helicopter landing pads and the always popular - nighttime take off area for when the moon comes out. 

WBB's Family Shield

William has been working on the cutest project at preschool.  He's been working on a family shield and today he got to bring it home.  What a great surprise!

The left side has a fabulous scribble drawing of Dada, Mom Mom and William.  The right side has a collage of pictures that William selected as his "favorites."  These items include spagetti pasta, bananas, chicken, bread, and a bowl of something he's refering to as "salad and cheese."  For the record, salad has never touched his lips but he does like cheese.  Go figure.  Bananas are a new found interest, so I imagine that one was selected because it is a recent familiar food.

At the bottom of the shield is a family picture of us with our sled from the big Christmas blizzard in OKC.  

The best part is on the back of the shield.  Ms. Laurie and Ms. Grace asked the kids a series of questions and quoted their responses word for word.  William's interview is below.

• My name is WBB
• I am 3 years old
• I weigh 36 pounds
• I stand 3 feet, 3 inches tall
• The color of my eyes are brown
• The color of my hair is blonde
• I look like my mommy
• My favorite color is red and blue
• My favorite food is broccoli - (yea, right!)
•  My family is big
• My favorite thing to do with Daddy is to play airplanes!
• My favorite thing to do with Mommy is to put together puzzles
• My family goes to the airport
• I help my family by cleaning up my toys really fast!
• My family likes to go on trips.

Special Snack Day and Picture Day

Today was William's turn to bring the special snack for school. He immediately told me he wanted to make "chocolate marshmellows from Caroline's party." So, I called up Caroline's mom and got the full instructions. Here's our baker working on his masterpiece.


It was also class picture day. William really wanted to wear the airplane t-shirt from the mall but since he wore it to school on Monday and slept in it Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night, I convinced him that the airplanes needed to hit the wash down (aka the washing machine). He chose his "blue shirt with the horse."

Checking it twice.....no, make that everyday

This morning William woke up without a "Good Morning!" or "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM where are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?"

Instead, his eyes popped open and in a very serious voice he said, "I need to make sure Virgin Atlantic double decker is on my list for Santa Claus and I need to put a lear jet Lufhtansa on the list too because I have regular Lufhtansa but not the lear jet."

Live.Dream.Breathe.Airplanes.

William and I are sitting at the table having dinner while we wait for Dan to come home.

William: "Mom Mom, what you going to be when you grow up?"
Me: "Well, I think I will drive the mail truck with the bald eagle. How about you?"
William: "I am going to be the gate man and make sure all the passengers and kids get on the flight and load all the milk in the galley because it's heavy."
Me: "That is a great idea! You will be a smart and helpful gate man."
William: "I am going to be a Fedex Pilot too and deliver the packages to the kids and go over to Busytown and give everyone the mail and they say 'oh WOW! thank you Fedex Pilot! I always wanted that toy!'" And you bring the regular mail in the mail truck mom mom."
William: "When I grow up I am going to be a pilot and a postman and deliver all the packages on UPS. That's what I am going to be when I growed up."
Me: "I think that is so exciting William. You are the best Pilot I know. You can be whatever you want to be."
William: "Thanks Mom Mom. I can do it all by myself because I am a strong boy to do this." "First I will fly to get the kids and check my radar then read my maps for instructions and then tell air traffic control that I am all ready. Then I say "Welcome to Maryland!" All the passengers get off and I wait for the other pilots to come but they are busy."