Customer in training.

Tyler Says the Darndest Things

Tyler asked me for a carrot sandwich the other day.

Get Well Ms. Angie

Today at preschool we learned that Ms. Angie, Tyler's teacher, has to go in the hospital to take care of a "boo boo". She will be on sick leave for the next 6 weeks. Though she said that like most preschoolers, she doesn't like to sit still long, so she hopes to make several visits back to see her class. When we got home, Tyler and I thought it would be nice to make Ms. Angie a get well soon card, tomorrow is her last day. We hope this will cheer her up some as she will be greatly missed by her students, especially Tyler.

Go Green

Steve suggested that today we go check out the Green Expo held at the Jefferson Patterson Park. So after we got groceries and came home to put them away, we headed to the expo. This was the first year the park held the environmental exhibit. We arrived a little bit late as things were starting to wind down for the day, but it was still great to see all the vendors and hear about how to keep our planet clean. After our walk through the different exhibits, we decided to take full advantage of our visit to the park by taking a nice hike through the several trails. Previously we had driven through the park one day a few years ago during the winter, so it was quite nice to take a leisurely stroll this afternoon. The trails were quite scenic with corn and soy bean fields, a beautiful beach area, as well as archeological sites and museum buildings. In conclusion, we not only learned new ways to keep our environment clean, but appreciated it by enjoying the great outdoors.

California Dreamin'

This afternoon we took a little trip to California...California, Maryland, that is! After we ran a few errands, we ate dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Have you ever heard of fried pickles? Neither did we, until today! Steve ordered them for an appetizer and our little Pickle Monster approved! Overall, a great day in California! ;)

Cupcake Baking & Decorating

Today was the day we made the cupcakes Tyler wanted. We had to stick around the house and wait for the alarm inspector and the window company to give us an estimate (Steve accidentally broke our kitchen window). As usual Tyler was a terrific little helper. He poured all the ingredients out for me in the mixing bowl. Usually I cracked the eggs because it is a little tricky, but today I decided to allow Tyler to try. I gave him a separate bowl in case he got egg shell into the mixture. However he did a marvelous job; only two little pieces of shell fell in. After the cupcakes baked and cooled down, I smoothed on the double fudge frosting. Then came the part Tyler had been excitedly waiting for, the sprinkle application. Tyler was made in charge of applying the sprinkles. Well, actually he only got to put sprinkles on one because he wanted to trade his job of Sprinkle Applier to Taste Tester. He took his time devouring his taste buds while I finished the job. And happily the finished product was approved by Mr. Taste Tester.

Smokin'

Tonight we went for a drive and came upon this cool tobacco field that is in the process of being harvested. As you can see below, some of the tobacco is in the process of drying out in the barn. Tobacco farming in our county dates back to 1634 where it was the dominant cash crop. Of course, things have changed since then.

Tyler Says the Darndest Things

Mommy: What would you like to make, cupcakes or cookies? Tyler: Cupcakes! (pause) With cookies on top!

Tyler Doing the Thomas Dance

Happy Birthday Mom!!! We love you very much!!! Talk to you when you return from Newfoundland. Sending you lots of hugs and kisses.

Surprise

Last night, Daddy came home with a surprise for Tyler. It was even a surprise for me as well because I had no idea. LOL The surprise was a Thomas the Tank Engine train set! Of course, Tyler was ecstatic when he saw all the boxes filled with Thomas stuff. Daddy and Steve had a blast setting up the tracks and when it was all put together, I don't know who had more fun Daddy or Tyler. LOL Daddy even bought a cool bridge to go along with it and Tyler was so excited about owning his own bridge. LOL Daddy said he decided to give a surprise to Tyler for doing so well in preschool. All night long, Tyler kept saying thank you to Daddy and how much he loved his new train set. He also kept saying "I love you, Daddy" and hugging him. He was so happy! The set comes with a remote control stick which also plays the Thomas theme song. Tyler kept putting it up to his ear listening to it and then before long he started dancing along to the song. I took some video, which I hope to post soon on here. Tonight Daddy even came home with more tracks and another set of cars. Overall, there is one very happy little boy at our house. :)

Rest in Peace

It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Heather's cousin, Sandy. He was killed in a car accident today while driving home to Newfoundland from Alberta with his father. Thank God, her Uncle Lyn, who was in the vehicle was unharmed. We are in complete shock and disbelief. Those who knew Sandy knew that he was a good person and loved his family. He leaves behind his wife, two daughters, his parents, and his sister and her family. Prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Partying with his buddies.

Bed Head

Morning hair this morning.

Flying Paper

The last time we were in Rhode Island, Grandpa Smith showed Tyler a cool trick to remove the paper wrapper off of a straw by blowing it off. Ever since then, Tyler's favourite part of dining out is blowing the paper off his straw...LOL

Reunited with the Pascuas

When Steve and I were stationed in Italy, we made some awesome military friends. Maria, Arthur and their daughters, April and Mae-Mae, arrived in Sicily on the same day as us to start our new lives stationed overseas. We soon met and have been close friends ever since. However it had been over 4 years since we last saw one another and since then both of our families expanded. Us, of course having Tyler, and they welcomed their newest member of their family, Koa Kai. So it was definitely time to get together and catch up on each others' lives. The Pascuas are stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, however they are moving to Texas in a few days. Since we are only a few hours away now, we needed to make a reunion before they moved. So Steve and I gladly drove down to see them. We met at a mall where we had lunch, shopped, and let the kids play at a playland there. I couldn't believe how much April and Mae-Mae had grown since I last saw them. When we moved from Sicily one of the hardest things was knowing that I would miss seeing them growing up. I felt so attached to them when we lived there, I was so happy to finally get the chance see my girls again. After the mall, we decided to head over to the waterfront and do some sightseeing. We ended up going to the Naval Museum where we had 20 minutes before the exhibits closed. Maria loves to take photos like I do, so we had a blast taking tons of photos of each other, some of them really silly. Maria is always so much fun to be around. Soon the museum was closed and we were getting hungry again. Maria and Arthur suggested we all eat over on the waterfront where they have some fantastic restaurants. We picked to eat at Outback and they were so kind to treat us to dinner. Maria and I sat together and we really got a chance to catch up on everything. Sadly though, it was time to go our separate ways again. We had a long drive back and it was getting late. We hope to reunite again before too long, at least not let a whole 4 years go by. Maria is one of the most caring, warm-hearted people that I know. I am so thankful that she is a good friend of mine and I know that we will remain friends forever. It was absolutely wonderful seeing her and her beautiful family once again.

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Lyler & Cameron

Cameron calls Tyler, "Lyler". Charmaine and I thought it would be cute if we dressed "Lyler" and Cameron the same while they were here. We had a lot of fun with it! After about the third day we actually discovered that they had the exact same pair of jammies , shown in the first photo. Then the last photo is with shirts we bought to match. Some people thought they were actually brothers...LOL

Tyler's First Day of Preschool

Today was Tyler's big day, it was his very first day of preschool. We've been waiting for this day for awhile now. A teacher friend of mine raved about this particular preschool and how much her son learned by attending it after I made a comment about how intelligent her son appeared. She gave full credit to the school. So I soon checked it out and we were put on a waiting list. Turned out they called us with the news of an opening just two weeks before school started. Tyler and I attended an open house last week and while I was very impressed with the school, Tyler was very excited to start. As soon as we ate our breakfast and got dressed Tyler wanted to go to school right away. I had to explain to him that it was still too early to go and that we had to wait another few minutes. At least, he was excited to go. I was a little afraid he might be too shy after Steve and I explaining to him that we won't be there and that it will be just him and his classmates and the teacher. He is with me 24/7. When we first arrived to the preschool everyone was waiting in a small room. Every step I made, Tyler was right behind me holding on to my leg. I got a little worried at first, but then when the kids started to get in line he had no problem. He gave me a huge hug, which totally melted my heart, and then I gave him a kiss. He got in line and gave his cute smile, which set my mind at ease. I pretty much knew at that point that he was going to be OK. Before long he and his classmates were off to start their exciting first day. It was hard not to shed a tear watching him walk away. He looked so grown up this morning. I'm not sure what happened, but I think he grew over night! Coming home to the house, I felt very lonely. I didn't want to vacuum in case, the school was calling for something. Before long, it was time to pick him up. The first things he said were 1) they had a Canadian drink and Canadian snack (he said it was apple juice and he wasn't sure what the snack was called...LOL 2)there were 8 kids in his class 3) he played with 4 balls and 5)he has lots and lots and lots of friends now. Afterward, I asked where he wanted to go for lunch and he said he wanted to go to the "milkshake place", which is Chick-fil-A and then we went to Target to buy a special treat. He picked out Scooby Doo Matchbox Cars. On the way home, he fell asleep in the car. I carried him in to his bed, where he continued his nap for about an hour. Overall, a very good first day at preschool! My baby is getting sooo big!!!

Farewell

Early this morning we packed up the car and sadly headed off to the airport to say farewell to our good friends, Charmaine, Kelly, and Cameron. Our week together was filled with lots of sightseeing and fun activities. When we left the airport and arrived back home, Tyler was very sad that his buddy, Cameron, did not come back with us. He kept asking us why Cameron had to go back home. It was so nice having friends from back home visit and spend quality time with us. We hope it won't be too long before we see each other again. Thank you so much Charmaine, Kelly, and Cameron for coming to see us!!!

Smith Island

Ever since we first moved here and noticed there was a Smith Island located in the Chesapeake Bay, we've been wanting to check it out. Last week, when we were down in Point Lookout, Steve picked up a brochure detailing the cruise information to get to the island. Since Charmaine, Kelly and Cameron were interested in visiting the island with us, we made it our last big adventure together during their visit with us. Early Saturday morning we drove down to Point Lookout where we hopped on the boat, 'Chelsea Lane Tyler' to go to the only inhabited island in Maryland. The island was named after the first land owner, Henry Smith, in 1686. The cruise took approximately a hour and a half to get there. However before arriving to the island, the captain said he had a surprise for us. The surprise was a 442 foot U.S. Navy WWII Liberty ship named the American Mariner. Although the ship was never used in the war, instead it served as a training ship for the Merchant Marine. Today it is still being used, but as a target ship. Upon arriving on the island, the first stop we made was at the restaurant located at the wharf. All of us ordered crab. Steve tried soft crab for the very first time. For those not familiar with soft crab, you eat the entire thing including the shell. Steve gave me a piece to try and we both liked it very much. Then for the most important part of the meal, we order dessert! Smith Island is known for their 10 layer cake called "Smith Island Cake". There was no way we were leaving the island without me trying a piece. Steve ordered banana and I ordered the original island flavour, chocolate. After finishing up our meal and purchasing some souvenirs, we went for a little walk around the main part of the island. We walked through the cemetery and noticed a lot of "Tylers", "Smiths", and "Marshalls" (Charmaine's maiden name). The mosquitoes were quite bad, so we didn't stay too long before venturing back to the main road and then back to the boat. In conclusion, we were very happy to have finally visit Smith Island and mark it off our list of places we wanted to see. Everyone had a great time and it was the perfect ending to our fun week with Charmaine, Kelly, & Cameron.

Visiting the Garden

While Kelly and Cameron stayed home, us girls and Tyler went to the Annemarie Garden. As we strolled through the trail, Charmaine kept pointing out different things throughout the woods that I never noticed before, so it was almost like it was my first time exploring the garden too. Once we completed our visit, we checked out the gift shop. This is the photo that Tyler took of Charmaine and I while we were there.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

One of the attractions that Charmaine wanted to see was the zoo in D.C., which was fine by us because we had never been there before. In fact, before her mentioning the zoo, I didn't even know there was one in D.C. So we loaded up the GPS with the directions of how to get there and headed off. Soon after getting there, we entered the zoo and made our way through. The pandas at the zoo are on loan from China at a cost of $10 million over 10 years expiring in 2010. Unfortunately, both pandas were sleeping when were there, but it was still cool to see them. There was no admission to get in the zoo, so we were thinking that it might not have as many exhibits. This was not the case. Because the zoo is classified as a national zoo, it was pretty big with lots of animals and different exhibits. We saw tigers, different birds, elephants, hippos (Cameron's favourite), different fish, a komodo dragon, seals, among several other animals. It was a day well spent. However one of the best attractions we saw wasn't one of the animals in the zoo, but this cool praying mantis we found on the railing of one of the exhibits.

16 Kilometers of Fun

Yesterday we drove to the base where we met up with Steve. Unfortunately because Steve is on duty this week, he couldn't join us to go downtown, however he did drive us there so we didn't have to take the subway. He even printed us off a special map and highlighted the areas he thought we should visit. Charmaine was in charge of the map and navigating us. She did a pretty good job getting us around the city. We stopped to view several of the memorials while on our way to the White House. Charmaine was sure to shop at every vendor we came upon and got some great deals on souvenirs to bring back home. At first the White House seemed smaller than we imagined, but then we found out that we were actually in the back instead of the front of it. LOL Finally we made our way to the National Museum of American History. Turns out the museum was closing early, so we only had an hour to see everything. As soon as we entered into the building and started to see the exhibits, it was clear that this was going to be one of our favourite attractions in the city. Tyler especially loved the transportation part where they had huge trains and cars. He would clapped at each exhibit in excitement. Then upstairs on the 3rd level, Charmaine and I were the ones to show our excitement. They had Kermit the Frog, Oscar the Grouch, the puffy shirt from Seinfeld, the chairs from All in the Family, Dorthy's ruby slippers, not to mention the other cool exhibits in the museum. We wished we had more time for the museum; we didn't even have to time see the second level exhibits. Overall we walked 16 kilometers in 4 hours! To say the least, we were all like zombies by the time we got home. We got Chinese food on the way home and it was 8:30 by the time we started eating. It was an exhausting day, but it was so worth it. We had an awesome day! Enjoy the photos below of some of the exhibits from the National Museum of American History.