When Brenda and Bug arrived on Tuesday night, it was already dark outside. Before we all went to bed, Brenda looked out the kitchen window at our dark backyard and mentioned how excited she was to see the autumn trees in the morning. Morning came, and she was not disappointed.

A couple of weeks ago I was worried that the fall color was peaking, that most of the leaves would be brown or gone before Brenda and Bug got here. Since they’re native Californians, they don’t usually get to see the kind of fall color we are blessed with in this part of the country, and I really wanted them to see it.

As it turned out, I was worrying needlessly. There are still plenty of bright red and yellow and orange trees around. When Brenda came upstairs yesterday morning and looked out over our deck, she was quite impressed at the view from our backyard. She even went outside on the deck in bare feet to admire it for a minute before she got too cold in the 45-degree weather and came inside. You can take the girl out of California…

But later that morning, after we ate some breakfast and drank some coffee, we walked to a park near our house to let Annalie and Bug climb and play for a while while we sat and admired the fall color.

On the way home we stopped to gather leaves from a neighbor’s yard, lots of red maple leaves and a few bright yellow ones, so we could press and preserve them by ironing them between wax paper. Brenda has big plans to make some greeting cards to send home to her friends and family.

Then we stopped to play in a giant leaf pile. Isn’t that what giant leaf piles are for?

Annalie and Bug have been having such a blast together. Brenda and I have been marveling at and being very thankful for how well they still play, despite them both being only children (for now) and both having such strong wills and personalities, and despite them only seeing each other a couple of times in the past eight months. I think because they have known each other so long and spent so much time together, they’ve learned how to work out their differences through compromise. Plus they are a lot alike. They both love to use their imaginations and will come up with elaborate make-believe games. Today alone I’ve overheard them hiding from ninjas, running away from home so the bad guys don’t catch them, granting a wish to the princess, and walking their puppies. Yesterday Annalie said to Bug, “I’m so glad you’re here. It’s nice to have my best friend around as a playmate.”

Then at the end of the day, we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner, at Annalie’s request, and made half a cake for Annalie’s half-birthday. She blew out her candle and then announced that her wish had already come true.

“It did?” I said. “That must have been a great wish. What was it, will you tell us?”

“Sure, since it already came true,” she replied. “I wished that I would have the best half-birthday ever!”

Are you wondering where the Halloween post is, with photos of Annalie in her cute bobby soxer costume? It’s coming soon, I promise. First I want to tell you about how we had a fun playdate with Carrie, Erik and baby Elsa…um, a week ago Friday. *Sigh.* I don’t seem to be able to blog about anything in a timely manner. I was going to say, “since I’ve been pregnant,” but that would be a lie because I don’t think I’ve ever been able to blog about stuff in a timely manner.

Anyway! We had a fun playdate. Carrie fed us lunch, mac & cheese with fruit and veggies for the kids, and delicious steak salad for the grown-ups, which I never think of making for myself so it was a treat. Annalie and Erik disappeared back downstairs to the playroom while Carrie attempted to feed Elsa. Elsa wasn’t much interested in nursing because not only was her grandma there, but a new person was there to smile at. So mostly we just chatted for a bit and let the kids play. Just like last time, they got along great. Don’t you love it when your kids and your friend’s kids play together well?

Then we piled in the minivan and went to a super cool park near Carrie’s house. I neglected to take a photo of the whole thing, so you’ll have to trust me on that. I kind of wished I weren’t pregnant so I could have run around and climbed on the big castle structure and the rock-climbing wall, too.

Annalie and Erik certainly enjoyed it, although there were a few moments of friction because Annalie would periodically go back to the swings, which Erik found boring. He’d stand there hollering, “AnnaLEAH, c’mon! Let’s go over to the pirate ship!” (He kept pronouncing it “AnnaLEAH” even though Carrie corrected him a time or two. I assured Carrie that if it bothered Annalie she would correct him herself. I don’t think she ever did though.) Annalie would tell him she’d be over in a minute, when she was done swinging. Then Erik would wander over to his mom and announce that Annalie wouldn’t play with him anymore.

It never deteriorated any further than that, though. Usually Carrie would tell Erik to be patient, and he would, and then after a bit Annalie would hop off the swings and come running over to Erik, ready to play again. Carrie said it was probably good for Erik to play with someone a little older than him like Annalie, because he’s got such a strong personality and he’s used to being the leader of the pack. I guess the same could be said of Annalie, for that matter! They definitely clashed a few times (they spent a couple of minutes arguing whether the creature in the photo above was a sea monster or a dragon) but never in a serious way. They always managed to work it out on their own.

Which was great, because it meant that Carrie and I were free to sit and gab and enjoy the gorgeous fall day. And make funny faces at Elsa, of course. Carrie has been saying on her blog for ages that she gets so frustrated trying to take photos of her daughter, because she has a beautiful smile but the second she sees that camera the smile disappears, and she gets a totally befuddled expression on her face. Now I know exactly what she means. Talk to Elsa, smile at Elsa, move into Elsa’s vision? Big grin, complete with dimples! Raise camera in front of Elsa? Immediate expression of serious concern.

The rock-climbing wall was a big hit, though more as a place to practice flips and as a “quiet place to sit and think” (according to Erik) than as a place to climb.

Eventually we had to leave, because of course we were trying to make it home before traffic got bad. That’s the thing with DC, though…the traffic can be inexplicably heavy at any time of day, any day of the week. It makes driving around here an exercise in patience.

Thanks again for the fun day, you guys! We look forward to the next time.

What the heck, I’ll end this post on a Halloweenish note. Have you ever been booed? I remember doing this with Erin when we were roommates our freshman year of college, only back then it just involved making little ghosts out of tissue-paper-covered lollipops. When we got booed this year, one of our neighbors left us a basket with oranges, a Halloween candle, and a little stuffed pumpkin whom Annalie promptly named ‘Punkin Pie.’ Annalie thought the whole concept was just the best thing ever, and was super excited to get a turn at booing two neighbors in return. We assembled goody bags filled with chocolate kisses, apples and little packets of caramel dip, a spinning flashlight toy, and a can of cat food in the one we were giving to a neighbor with a cat. Annalie had a blast decorating the bags (with some help from me) and thought walking with me and Troy around the neighborhood at night to leave the bags under cover of darkness was possibly the funnest thing she’d ever done. Kids are so awesome.

The night we did that, there happened to be a full moon. It looked very cool with the tree branches and leaves silhouetted against it, and I was able to get a couple of neat photos, even without a tripod.

We did dig out the tripod when we got back to our house, because when I looked through the viewfinder of my camera with it zoomed in at 200mm, I could actually see the craters on the moon, and I really wanted to try to get a picture of that. Unfortunately, in the three minutes it took us to find the tripod and get it set up, clouds had rolled in to cover the moon. We waited a few minutes, but they didn’t go away and we had to get an increasingly tired and therefore silly Annalie to bed.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween weekend, with just as much spookiness as you like!

p.s. New banner, one that’s appropriately toasty and warm. :-) Thanks, B!

The last time Troy’s mom and stepdad had the chance to visit us, we lived in Arizona and Annalie was still a baby. So we were all excited to hear that they were planning a visit to the East coast! Last week they drove from Texas to North Carolina to visit Troy’s sister and her family, and then last weekend they drove up here to see us.

Troy was still at work when Carol and Tom arrived, but Annalie stepped in and gave them the grand tour of our house, with special focus on the new tree swing in the backyard, the pumpkin dish full of candy corn in the entryway, and the fireplace that we’d just decorated for Halloween.

While we were all in the backyard, Annalie talked Grandma into playing catch with her for a little while. Notice Annalie’s outfit?

Aunt Dana had sent a Halloween shirt with Carol to give to Annalie as a gift. Annalie loved it and immediately created this whole outfit around it, right down to the socks.

After that, Annalie felt it was important that Grandpa Tom be introduced the wonders of Netflix Instant on our TV.

Tom was properly impressed. Half of James and the Giant Peach was watched. And then we met Troy for dinner at our favorite local steakhouse. After that, we decided to go see the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.

Tom and Carol had both been to Washington, D.C. before, but years ago. There are a bunch of big monuments here now that weren’t there on their previous visits, the 9/11 Memorial among them. When Joe visited us in April, Troy took him to see the Pentagon one evening, and they both said the Memorial there was really neat at night. They were right. We’d been there during the daytime, so I’d seen it before, but the Memorial is lovely at night with all the lights on.

I especially like this ghostly photo I got of Annalie lying on one of the benches. There is a bench for each of the victims of the crash, with their names inscribed on the ends. The name on the end of the bench Annalie is lying on is LCDR David L. Williams, USN. Because of the direction the bench is facing, I can tell you that he was in the Pentagon on 9/11. The benches facing the other direction honor the people who were on the plane.

The next day, over a delicious breakfast of sausage, Trader Joe’s Ready-to-Bake Mini Morning Buns, and Blackened Home-Fried Potatoes from Hell, we asked Carol and Tom if there was anything else in particular they wanted to see in DC. Tom said he’d like to see the Lincoln Memorial again, and Carol said she was up for whatever we wanted to see.

We decided we’d start with the Lincoln Memorial and work our way around to a couple more memorials. So after breakfast we headed downtown.

As we walked to the Lincoln Memorial, Troy was telling Annalie a little about President Lincoln and why he was such an important man in our country’s history. When we got there, he read the Gettysburg Address to her from where it’s inscribed on the wall. Then Carol impressed us all by being able to recite half of it from memory. I memorized it in 7th grade and I can only recite about the first two sentences from memory.

Of course Annalie’s favorite thing about walking around the Mall is seeing the ducks. “Aww, look at the cute little duck butts!” is what she said when we saw these guys.

We walked down to the other end of the reflecting pool where we could see another newish memorial, the World War II Memorial. It’s a big one, with tons of fountains. Fountains are always a big hit with Annalie.

It was a warm day, and Annalie was hot from all our walking around, so she asked if she could put her hands in the pool of the big fountain. There are signs around the edge asking visitors to respect the memorial and not wade or throw coins in the water…but technically it says nothing about putting your hands and arms in.

Here is Troy taking a picture with his phone…

…this picture, in fact.

I handed the camera to Troy and asked him to take a picture of me and Annalie, because I realized I wasn’t going to be in any photos if I didn’t. As he got ready to take it, Annalie said, “Get a picture of me hugging my baby sister!” She also has conversations with my stomach and if I make the mistake of replying to something she’s said, she’ll look up at me and say, “I wasn’t talking to you, Mom. I was talking to my baby sister.”

That photo of Annalie and Tom cracks me up. Carol wanted to take a picture of them by the Texas pillar, since that’s where Tom and Carol live. Annalie was being pouty for some reason, Tom’s making a weird face and grabbing Annalie by the wrist…it’s just funny. Five seconds later we told Annalie pouting girls don’t get ice cream and she cheered right up and cooperated. The piggyback ride she got from Troy didn’t hurt her mood either.

As we were walking from the WWII Memorial over to the Vietnam Memorial, we stopped to rest on one of the many benches lining the path. I took the opportunity to take a picture for the photo wall, but Annalie wasn’t very smiley.

So I told her to think of the ice cream we would be buying for her in a few minutes, and that cheered her right up.

Annalie remembered the frozen lemonade I bought for her when we went sightseeing with Joe last spring, and immediately requested the same thing. Troy and I shared a bomb pop Liberty Rocket Pop.

Ice cream breaks are so refreshing.

Troy was confused about how exactly he was supposed to use his phone for money at this ancient “pay phone” we spotted along the pathway. And Annalie posed nicely for me in this spot looking towards Constitution Gardens and the Washington Monument. Troy noted that it was kind of a unique view, because there are no other buildings in sight. You can also just see the Capitol dome to Annalie’s left.

One of my favorite things about the Vietnam Wall it that it fairly begs to be touched. It’s counterintuitive; it’s a stark wall of black granite that seems like it should be forbidding. But somehow you can’t help but run your fingers over the names. And seeing what kinds of memorial offerings people leave is always interesting. On that day I saw several letters, roses, flags, and a military beret. This can of peaches with the fork rubber-banded to it struck me as particularly sad. It was such a specific thing, it told me the person who left it must have clear memories of the person he left it in honor of.

After we walked up from the Wall, we crossed this street where we had a not-usually-seen view of the Lincoln Memorial and headed back to the minivan since the time on our meter was about to run out of time. We had just enough time left to grab hot dogs from the vendor we were parked near.

When we first parked the car, while the adults spent a half-hour feeding $8.00 in change into the meter for our two hours of parking, Annalie wandered up the hill a little ways. When she came back down she announced that she’d seen a skeleton on the ground under the trees. We all sort of went, “Okay, uh-huh, let’s go see the sights!” Then when we went back to the car, she made a beeline for the skeleton and hollered for Troy to come look at it. He walked up to her, and I was surprised when I heard him say, “Huh. I guess it’s probably a squirrel skeleton.” Annalie thought it was totally cool and asked Troy to take a picture with his phone.

After our busy Saturday of sightseeing, we decided Sunday would be a good day for hanging out at home and relaxing. Carol and Annalie potted our recently-purchased mums for us, and then they did a little crafting. Carol usually has fun craft projects ready for Annalie to do when we visit them. This time she brought a project with her, a purse plus ribbons and rosettes for Annalie to decorate the purse with.

While they were doing that, I made eggs benedict for lunch because I find that kind of thing fun.

That afternoon, because I hadn’t gotten enough cooking in with the eggs benedict, I cooked the sugar pumpkin we’d bought the day before, then roasted the pumpkin seeds. When the pumpkin had cooled enough, I mashed it and Annalie and I made pumpkin spice cake. Annalie helped me grease and flour the pan, and then I showed her how to use her finger to gently draw pictures in the flour. I learned to do this from my piano teacher’s daughters when I was a kid. (It was at their house I also ate my first bagel, natural peanut butter, string cheese, and yogurt, before any of those foods were mainstream. They shopped at a food co-op long before it was trendy.)

While the cake was cooling, we killed some time at a nearby park. Well, really it’s the playground at a church, but it’s open to the public. Annalie calls it “the wooden park” because all the play structures are made out of wood.

Unfortunately, playing at the wooden park sometimes leads to the need for splinter removal. Annalie was very brave. The lollipop I gave her to suck on while Troy tweezed her splinters out helped, I’m sure.

After pizza for dinner and pumpkin cake for dessert, we headed to bed. Early the next morning, Tom and Carol loaded their stuff into the Durango. Troy, Annalie and I all got up early to see them off. We hugged them good-bye and took the traditional last-day photo with Annalie and her grandparents. It was a great visit. We hope they get to come visit again sometime, when there will be another grandchild in the picture!

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