Dog Days of Summer

Dave and I refer to 3 day weekends as marathons when it comes to caring for our 27 month old ball of energy.  We plan our weekend days to ensure there is some time for Winston to "run free" and wear himself out so that nap time and bed time aren't too traumatic.

Labor Day 2012 was no different.  In Miami, we would have been at the beach or pool every day.  Here in Dc, there are more options, but we definitely miss the ease of access to water!

Photos from this Weekend

On Saturday, we headed to National Harbor, a new entertainment/conference/hotel facility that was built across the chesapeake from Alexandria.  It is really cool...beautiful views of boats, a wonderful new hotel (the Gaylord), and the best of all there was a Beatles cover band concert going on, so we got to hear the bands playing great Beatles music.

The zoo is hands down Winston's favorite place to visit.  The national zoo is just awesome -- even the bird house was great fun.  The highlights for Winston are the "shower misters" that are available every 100 yards or so.  I think most kids run under them to cool down.  Winston is intent on sticking with it until the mist soaks him.  I swear he spent 10 minutes under the mister.  Anytime another child approached, he said "no, mine" and tried to push them back.  Thankfully after his initial selfish tendency he opens up and enjoys sharing the fun with others (especially cute girls).

The funniest part of our visit this past weekend is that when we asked what animals he saw, he said, "lions.  tigers. monkeys."  We actually didn't see any of those on this trip.  The child has a great imagination.

On Monday we made a quick trip to the the Natural History Museum.  It is just amazing to me that Winston is growing up in a city where these incredible museums are accessible and free!  I remember how much I enjoyed visiting the La Brea tar pits and expect that Winston will be dinosaur-obsessed in the next year or so.  Again, the big draw at the museum wasn't in the museum at all.  we took Winston down to the mall grassy area to play chase.  He immediately found puddles and began to splash in earnest.  This child seriously loves his water.

Because it was rainy, hot, humid and buggy, we didn't spend much time at the neighborhood park this past weekend.  Instead, we turned the basement into a soccer field, with a goal post and all.  We spent alot of time kicking the ball up and down the room and hallway and having kickoffs into the goal.  We're going to need to find a soccer team for this guy pretty quick.