Serious Jammin'

The Circus came to town!

It was a great show and we had a good time. I was really surprised at some of the stuff they did. My camera wasn't taking the best of pictures under the "big top" but here are some of the good ones. Charlie had a great time. He would clap and yell and have a good ol' time.

Seeing an elephant in real life was a little bit surprising to Charlie because they are so BIG!

Poor Dave, his eyes are all red from allergies.

These women were hanging by their hair!!

The music was sometimes too loud for Charlie.

The show ended with a man being shot out of a cannon!

Full circle

Dave and I spent our honeymoon in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, FL almost 3 years ago. Can you guess which pictures is from 3 years ago and which one is from last week?

(a)

(b)

Week in Daytona Beach

Dave had a business conference in Daytona Beach and since the hotel and car rental were already paid for, Charlie and I decided to buy a cheap ticket and spend a week down in sunny Florida. We stayed at the Hilton right on the beach. It was a different lifestyle than what I know but it was fun to try it out for a few days. It was in the "off-season" so there wasn't many people there. There were also a lot of empty arcades, souvenir shops, and tattoo parlors. We kind of had the place to ourselves and the locals. The weather was perfect! These pictures are in reverse order but you probably don't really care about the sequence of events.

Dave having fun with the go karts. He still considers himself a race car driver from his experience with the solar car race in Taiwan. I humor him. We stayed just down the street from the Daytona International Speedway where they have the famous Daytona 500 race. That place is HUGE!!

This one's for you, Ned! An excessively big truck parked in the valet parking driveway at our hotel. This picture almost doesn't do it justice.

This is at the top of an observation tower on our nature walk at the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet, FL. We look a little more freckled than usual.

Tickle attack!

We had a hard time prying Charlie away from the turtles.

Swimming at the very nice pool at our hotel.

We are just the typical tourists, doing the tourist thing.

Charlie, enjoying the high life.

A $1 merry-go-round ride at one of those deserted arcades.

Sometimes the slides were too hot to play on.

Isn't that just the cutest little Lycra butt you've ever seen?!

Charlie LOVED the ocean.

Reverse laugh

Having fun in mom's shoes...

Slippery

Splish Splash

Sakura Festival

My dear friend from my BYU days took the China town bus from Philadelphia to D.C. to meet us for the Cherry Blossom Festival. A day forecast to rain, actually turned out to be perfect! The blossoms awakened such an excitement in me. They were so beautiful. I was transported to Japan where I have witnessed 3 seasons of blooming Sakura trees. The crowds were many but it was still enjoyable. It was good to see such a dear friend again.

(I had my camera accidentally set on "nighttime" setting the whole time so my pictures have kind of an over-exposed look. But I like this picture.) This Japanese lantern is over 300 years old.

Trying to capture the "overflowing" blossoms of this group of branches.

Fun with the duckies. And a little close to the edge for comfort...

My friend, Jackie.

"Whoops!"

"There you go, duckies" I'm surprised that more things (or even people!) don't fall off the edge. There was not one rail around the whole Tidal Basin. It was a bit unnerving.

That's a nice shot of you, Jackie.

Charlie had a very patriotic day.

This is a quote found on the wall at the new WWII memorial. It was a really neat place.

This picture pretty much sums up the great day we had. Thanks Jackie!

Playing Pretend with Charlie

I didn't know playing pretend would start so young. He's only 14 months! All day he has been running around with the lid of my hair mousse, pretending it is a cup. He'll take sips from it regularly, smacking his lips after. This isn't just a bring-to-the-lips-and-make-a-sipping-noise kind of drink. He throws his head back, lifting the cup, and chugs it!
I get to drink from the cup too! He holds it up to my lips, I take a "sip", then smack my lips, and sign and say "Thank you".