What a Great Weekend!

We had so much fun this weekend! So much so, that even Ryan and I needed a nap each day.


Saturday was a particularly great day because it was the first day since Gracie has been born that we nearly effortlessly got out and about and had everything we needed throughout the day. We headed out at 8:30am to pick up some coffee and visit 5 countries...yep, I said countries. Well kind of, anyway. The embassies of the European Union were all having an open house. We had 27 embassies from which to choose.

We decided to start with Germany and France and planned to make it an early day. But after visiting the German and French embassies, we were having so much fun that we decided to keep going. We then visited the embassies of Austria, Slovakia, and Finland. The latter three didn't even compare to Germany in particular, but it was still fun to walk (miles and miles) around the most beautiful parts of DC. We all had a great day. We ended our outing at the Irish Inn in Glen Echo and were home before 5 or so.

Gracie enjoys her first pretzel in Germany

...can't say she never had an accordian lesson!

Gracie testing her crawling skills on some hills.

She enjoyed her independence in this open field!

CLOSE UP!!!

On Sunday, we took it easy in the morning. Gracie was extremely cranky, likely from such a long day on Saturday. But she seemed to be happier after her morning nap and a promise of going "bye-byes." Ryan made me a nice breakfast of egg-white omelets, waffles, and fruit. Then we headed to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna. It was an absolutely beautiful place to spend the afternoon. It is much larger than we expected. It took about three hours to explore the grounds. Of course we stopped several times to enjoy the well-manicured gardens, learn a little about the plants and trees, and visit the cutest area for kids. It was my inspiration for the new patio I suddenly decided we need ;-) (more on that after the plan is complete).

We ended the afternoon with a picnic lunch at the garden's picnic area, where we were attacked by caterpillars as they were blown from their perch in the tree above our blanket. There were a few embarrassing moments for me, jumping up and down, flailing about trying to get their sticky little legs off of me. Gracie thought it was quite amusing, as did the other 50 or so people there I'm sure. I'm still convinced this is a real fear I have of bugs. I think my heart is going to stop when one lands on me...I can't quite scream, and I can't get over it for several minutes. Needless to say, I don't enjoy this fear. It is quite the opposite. I'm pretty well humiliated by my own reaction to "bugs." But I still can't help but absolutely freak out. I really don't want Gracie to be afraid of creepy crawlies, so I am really considering some professional help with the issue ;-) But anyway, we moved our blanket out from under the tree and Ryan traded me places so we could enjoy the rest of our lunch with only a few more interruptions...but at least they landed on him and not on me.

Gracie and the totem pole...

Cheese!

Gracie loving the sand box at the Gardens.

..just lookin'

I'm so anxious for this summer to finally arrive. While I'm not too excited about the humidity and mosquitoes, if this past weekend was anything like life in the summer...I can't wait! We already got our swimming passes and have scheduled our vacations...so we're all set for a great summer.