Easter Weekend

So, so far behind. I remembered that we we didn't do REI on Friday, but instead we did it on Saturday. I remember this because for Saturday I had great plans to go to a garden center and then take a garden class but it poured down rain so we decided to go to REI instead.

So, on Friday after the commissary and refrigerator thing we had lunch and went for a walk around Mercer Lake. Usually Jakob and George head to this lake to ride and run. On this occasion we just took a long walk. BJ joined us and was super tired when we got home.

On the Saturday before Easter we made lots of food for the next day. It was fun to have both grandmas and Jakob to help me with the food prep. That afternoon we dyed eggs and set out carrots and milk for the Easter Bunny.

Sunday we found eggs and peeked into the Easter Basket before we left for church. I loved walking into church with our family and filling a pew in the front. It is always a blessing to have our visitors and to be able to share them with our church family is a joy. The service was beautiful and Jakob was entertained with 5 adults at his beck and call. Sunday dinner was fun with a spiral ham, lobster and shrimp kabobs, sweet potatoes, bread from Wegmans, green beans and asparagus. Our dessert was a delicious frozen key lime pie. Perfect.

George's parents headed home Sunday evening and we had one more day of Spring Break to have some fun. Now, what did we do?

Spring Break Day 5

I am sooooo behind. Oh well. On day 5 of Spring Break we had everyone in town and staying at our house. Okay, only my mom and George's parents. George was busy on this morning trying to get a refrigerator to the Pentagon. This is a crazy story all on its own. (I might tell it later if I ever catch up). My mom and I made a trip to the commissary (the grocery store on base, for those of you not familiar with military lingo) and Jakob stayed home with George's parents.
We all met up just before lunch and headed to REI. We have a membership there and Jakob has wanted to climb the rock in their store for awhile now and he got the chance to do so today. And with two parents and two grandmas no one had a camera to take pictures. Figures. He started of slow up the HUGE rock wall and the female belay was amazing with him. She encouraged him to keep trying and where to put his hands and feet and how to stay against the wall. After 15 minutes I was the one telling him he didn't have to go all the way to the top if he didn't want to. The belay was telling him he could do it and he was determined to make it to the top. Five minutes later and with much grunting and groaning from the parents and grandmas, Jakob reached the top. He was ecstatic. His hands were also sore the next day from clinging to a rock for 20+ minutes. It was awesome.
Next was lunch at Potbelly's. We love the sandwiches there and their oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are soooo good! After lunch was Wegman's and all the specialty items I couldn't get at the comm. They have the best bread there. They have over 20 varieties of rolls you can choose from. George and mys favorite is the olive oil and rosemary bread. Jakob loves the cheese bread. Yumm!
Home to prepare a few things for Easter and a wonderful dinner with a great family. Tomorrow? I hope I can remember.

Spring Break Day 4

I have no idea what we did on this day. George's parents were due in this evening sometime after 8 and I remember Jakob was asleep within 5 minutes of being in bed. He usually reads and listens to music while he is waiting for Grandma Betty and Papa, so we must have tired him out this day. It was a good day!
George's parents didn't get in until almost nine and we all sat around and had some cheese and crackers along with a few drinks and some good conversation. Friday would be a day of preparation for Easter.

Spring Break Day 3

I have found the problem with doing the documentation of events a week after the fact. I forget what we did. I think on this day we had our first, and only, sunny day of Spring Break. We headed to a nearby park and shot some hoops and played on the swings. BJ went with us and he had his first ride down the slide with me. I think he enjoyed it because he followed me up several more times and hopped on my lap for a few more rides. It could have been he was on a leash and had to do what I did. I'm going to believe that he enjoyed himself.

We headed out to lunch in Kingstowne. We ate outside in the courtyard and had Noodles & Co. It was sunny, but there was a cool breeze that had us keep our coats on. We saw a lady there with a Wheaten Terrier and we decided to go and meet the dog. Her owner was very impressed we knew the breed and proceeded to talk to us about her dog for 15 minutes. She said she wasn't married and had no children so she bought a very expensive dog. It was an interesting meeting.

Spring Break Day 2

Monday, April 6th, we finished getting the house ready for our guest. We picked up my mom from the Springfield Metro Station and off we went shopping. Our first stop was the Springfield Mall, not my favorite place, but they had the stores I was looking for. Next was lunch at Subway and then a trek down to Woodbridge to the Outlet Mall. We bought a ham at Harry & David's (best ham we've had) and Jakob and I each got a new pair of shoes. We finally brought my mom to the house to settle in for her 10 day stay.

Tuesday was a D.C. trip to see the cherry blossoms. It was sooooo cold. We headed up early to meet George at the Pentagon because I needed to renew my license and George knew there usually wasn't a line at the DMV in the Pentagon. And he was right, there was no line, however he forgot to tell me I needed a passport or birth certificate and a social security card. Ooops! We went to lunch at Potbelly's by the White House. Once we dropped George off at the White House we headed to the Mall to see the monuments and the cherry blossoms. Jakob loved the Lincoln Memorial and had lots of questions: Is it made from one stone? How old is it? Was Abraham Lincoln a good president or a bad one? On the way out of the Lincoln Memorial we are pretty sure we saw Sasha and Malia Obama along with their grandmother and 10 secret service agents. There was not a positive identification made, but we are pretty sure it was them. The tidal basin was beautiful even though most of the cherry trees were past their blossoming prime. Jakob took the picture of my mom and I. He's pretty good. We were very ready to get back on the metro to warm up and head home.

Spring Break

Jakob's Spring Break started Friday, April 3rd. His break went by so fast and we did so many things. I will tell a few each day until I am caught up. It's nice to be back on a normal and predictable schedule.

Our first day was spent cleaning and shopping for food. Jakob's Tutu (my mom) was coming on Monday, April 6th. The weather for the weekend was awesome. We planted our little vegetable garden on Saturday and Sunday. Jakob planted carrots, radishes, lettuce, yellow squash, zucchini, cilantro and wax beans. At the end of the driveway he also planted several different sunflowers. He is so proud of his garden and as of today the only sprouts we have are radishes, but I'm sure once the sun comes out there will be many more.

Basketball

Last Saturday was Jakob's first basketball practice. He will be learning the rules and techniques to use on the court. He only knew how to dribble and shoot. It was great fun to watch him do drills and scrimmage. He was impressed with himself that he could run backwards and not fall down. The coach seems good and has a great sense of humor with the kids. The kids range in age from 6-8. Jakob is not the tallest and fits right in with all the other kids. It was fun and we are looking forward to todays practice. Watching Jakob run drills brought pack bitter-sweet memories of the pain and exhillaration of playing a sport. Oh, those were the days.