On the playground with Lily

Anastasia's friend Lily, who lives across the street, is going to be moving to Africa soon. We're sad to be losing such great neighbors and friends, but excited for the adventure that they're about to start on. We've started talking to Annie about the fact that Lily is moving far away, but I'm sure she won't get it until they're actually gone.

So, it was great to see Lily and her brother, Noah, at the playground today. The girls had a blast playing ring around the rosie, which evolved into an impromptu game of tag.



After chasing each other for a while, they noticed a drain, and became very interested in what was down in the bottom. Noah joined in the fun shouting down the hole and listening to the echo.



Before we left the playground, I asked the girls to sit next to each other for a nice picture. They opted to lay down instead. The result is a very cute picture of them at their silliest.



We'll miss them, that's for sure, but we'll be following their adventures online.

Says Anastasia

She's at the age when she starts to come out with some real jems. Just a couple examples:

Playing Doctor:
At the doctor's office, we were playing make-believe in the examination room while we waited. Anastasia took the role of doctor to Orlando's patient, and entered with:

"My name is Lipstick Sunglasses, but you can call me Lipstick."

True Love:
This week, Anastasia asked for two treats after dinner, and I said "Yes, you can have two tonight, because I love you." Last night, she asked for two treats and I said no, just one. Her response, "Oh, because you don't love me?" Ouch. So, I should carefully consider my reasoning for every decision.

Nicknames:
Yesterday, Anastasia and I were talking about nicknames: how her's is Annie, her friend Katherine's is Katie and so on. Then she says, "but I have two nick names, Annie and Annie Banann-y, right?" Of course, two nick names.

Where do lions live?
Lately, we've been working on pronunciation. For example, at night, I ask her what her favorite part of the day was, and she replies, "My favorite park was..." so I'm trying to get her to realize that the ending sounds are different and that makes them two different words. A few weeks ago, we went to the zoo, and it was there that we discovered what is possibly the most embarrasing mispronunciation in her repertoire. See for yourself:

Housebreaking Murphy

Murphy is settling in well. He's a very mellow dog, with a sweet, albeit curious temperament. Since all three have been getting along, we've been leaving Murphy out when we're only going to be away for a short while.



But, the puppy's not really getting the potty training thing. He does go outside, when he's told to, but if we're not completely on top of him, he'd prefer to use the floor in the dining room, or behind his crate in Myney's living room. Having mopped the floor twice today, I'm in favor of him figuring this out quickly.

So, this week, the easy treatment ends. Starting tomorrow, he goes in the crate when we're not here, no exceptions. And next weekend, all of his naps will happen in the crate. He's probably not going to like it, but hopefully, this will help him to understand that the house is off limits for his personal business. We've dealt with Chase's bladder issues long enough that the idea of having another dog that goes in the house is just too much to handle.

Basil has already happily welcomed him into the fold, happy to have a pair of ears to lick at all times. And, every morning, Chase seems to warm up to him a little more.

Our Newest Addition

For a couple weeks, now, we've been discussing bringing a new pup into the family. It's been more than a year since we lost Toute, and Orlando and I thought it was time to bring our doggy total back up to three. Myney tentaviely agreed, and we started looking at the umpteen rescue centers in the area.

We all agreed that we didn't want another beagle mix (Chase already fills the little howler role in our house) and not another pit bull mix, since Basil is all the rambunctious character we need for now.



So, that left a lot of options, but we were definitely looking for a larger dog, preferably with longer hair and definitely a puppy since Basil is both dominant and not the sharpest knife in the drawer.



Lots of searching led Orlando to find an ad in the Washington Post for two AKC papered Golden Retriever puppies. Myney has a soft spot in her heart for Goldens, so Orlando called and learned that the male puppy was still available.

Once we'd decided to head out, I placed a call to Abby and Nathalie for quick shopping trip to pick up some supplies (thanks again, ladies). An hour and half later, we met the newest member of our family. Lots of names were tossed out during the ride home. None stuck until we were 4 blocks from home and Myney suggested Murphy.



First thing this morning, Anastasia announce that he should be called Lollipop. I'm sure we'll get her to come around eventually, but for the moment, I think Lollipop Murphy will do just fine.

Springtime at the Zoo

It was unbelievably beautiful this weekend, with temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s and in the sky, nothing but sun. I decided that this would be the perfect weekend to take Anastasia to the zoo, and since Myney wanted to go, too, she was our designated photographer for the day. After a short Metro ride, we were ready to dive in.



First up, the relatively new Asian Trail, in which the otters, pandas, and lots of other cool animals live. Mei Xiang, the female panda is in seclusion while everyone in town keeps fingers crossed that she's actually pregnant. We did get to see Tian Tian, but couldn't get a good picture. The zoo is, however, full of wonderful animal sculptures, so after we ate lunch, we got this picture of Anastasia.



The large mammals' new environment is still under construction, so most of the large mammals are not currently at the zoo. No hippos, no giraffes, no rhinos right now. Still, the zoo's three elephants are a huge attraction. Can't wait till the new habitat is open (at least another year). Anastasia really liked watching the elephants, the largest of which seemed to spend a lot of time trying to unlock a massive gate.



When we got to the big cats enclosure, the tigers were sound asleep, but the lionesses were monitoring all that was happening in their area.



On our way to the children's zoo, where petting is allowed, if not always easy, we stopped by the groundhogs to say hi.



At the bottom of the hill, we got to pet a beautiful holstein, and watched the newly shorn llamas wandering around their pen.



The only downside to the National Zoo, it's a long uphill walk back to the street when you're done. After several hours, Anastasia was getting a little tired, so I carried her for most of the hill.



She was eager to get home, so she made careful observations regarding whether the train was coming.



And, as if a wonderful day at the zoo weren't enough, the sunscreen held out and none of us came home with burns. Now that's a great day.

The Easter Bunny

Of course, the Easter Bunny made a stop at our house to leave some things for Anastasia. As is her habit, she was most interested in the smallest of the toys.



Eventually, after I gave up shooting video, she did discover that there was candy and a new movie in the basket. Still, the things she's played with the most are the new pens, the walking egg, and the posable bunny rabbits. Guess the Easter Bunny knows what little girls want.

Easter Eggs and Easter Dinner

This year, our Easter brunch tradition had to be altered because Orlando had to work brunch at the restaurant. Not ones to be put off by a challenge, Myney and I planned a dinner party. On Saturday, in preparation for the Easter dinner party (not to mention the Easter Bunny's visit), Anastasia and I colored Easter eggs. Since deviled eggs were on the menu, I boiled 30, and Annie and I colored 18. She gave very specific instructions for what should be drawn on each egg, and to whom each egg would belong.



One of the eggs broke, so Annie and I shared that one as a snack.



After all our hard work, this is what we had left.



The ones with names became place settings for the dinner party. We were joined by Anastasia's favorite baby sitters (Abby, Ann, and Nathalie), Uncle Mark, and Rob (who used to work at Mark & Orlando's).



Our dinner of started with deviled eggs, bacon wrapped dates and apricots (aka bacon candy), steak tartar balls, and snow peas stuffed with St. Andre cheese. Anastasia entertained us during the early part of the evening.



She was very sad to miss the meal at the table, but it was well after her bedtime when we headed to the table for leg of lamb, asparagus and potatoes cooked in the lamb juices. This was the perfect excuse to open the giant bottle of wine that was a gift from Orlando's bosses. Mark did the honors for us.



Dinner ended with a very simple fruit tart for dessert, followed by a little Wii to help us at least pretend to work off some of the calories we'd just consumed.