The National Zoo

We spent some time at the National Zoo today.

The kids had a good time in the sprinklers.

This panda bear was excited about his lunch.

This fellow was deep in thought.

The girls made friends with the meerkats.

This character kept trying to tell us to eat breakfast cereal.

Dancing

Zoe and Annie.

Annie in her ballet outfit.

Zoe in her ballet outfit.

Zoe in her hip-hop outfit.

Zoe and Annie headed in on Friday night.

After Party

Annie and her teacher. Zoe had the same teacher a few years ago.

Kindergarten Graduation

This little guy did the introduction.


The kids signed 'what a wonderful world.'


Some paparazzi.


The kids did a song about going to first grade.


This gal did the closing.

Hail

We had a short hail storm a few day ago



.

Annie's Observation Day

Annie's gymnastics class ended this week, so we got a chance to watch the last day.

Here she is doing an assisted kickover.


Here she is on the beam:


Practicing her cast:


Another kid is crawling under her as they practice bridge.


And, she finally got her ribbon:

Run Amuck

The girls did the one-mile Kids' Run Amuck in Quantico, Virginia.

Here is the map:


Here they are at the rope climb:


After going through the fire hose:


The mud pit:


Victory:

Zoe's Observation Day

Zoe's gymnastics class ended this week, and we got to go watch it.

Zoe pondering while doing warm-ups.


Zoe doing a kickover.


Zoe in a bridge.


Zoe is getting a tip about this bar activity from her coach.


Zoe got a ribbon.

Field Day

Zoe and Annie had field day at school. They might have won, the score keeping system is not very clear.

Annie is running with an egg and a spoon. No scissors!

Zoe racing some kid.

Annie hanging around.

Annie practicing to be an emergency response plumber.

Tug of War. Zoe is not all that helpful in this situation.

Maryland Half Marathon

Here I am running in the Maryland Half Marathon with some excellent running companions.

And a bike ride

Wrapped up the fun outdoor activities with a bike ride. The girls rode a little over two miles, which is the farthest ever if you don't count 100 laps around the pool -- I have no idea how far that is.

Tadpoles

The girls spent some time observing the tadpoles we found in the drainage ditch near our house.

The parade

We went to the parade again this year, but the kids did not want to watch the parade itself, or get the candy from the people on the floats. So, we mostly played at the fair. Which is largely indistinguishable from playing at the school playground, except that there are a lot of places you can spend some money. Also, Annie got to let Flat Stanley get a picture with the Maryland State Police.

Good Plan?

The plan here was to two the kids in the wagon behind the four-wheeler. I am not so sure the exhaust alignment was ideal, but I hope it builds character.

Construction

Annie fell in the hole that Jen dug to move the butterfly bush in to. That butterfly bush had a habit of growing in to the pool. Zoe avoided the hole, but not the camera.