Family Night around our city

We took Taryn back to the Crystal City Water Park after our date a few weeks back for Family Night. 

We bought ice cream bars and sat beside the water

Found the ducks

Watched the train pass along on the tracks

And watched Taryn splash her hands and feet in the water. 

 An afternoon rain storm cleared away some of the mugginess and made for a very nice evening outside. 

*Would you believe that this was my 3rd outfit for the day? Hence the "I'm going comfortable" look.

We still love to play outside as long as I can come home and change my sweaty clothes. And Taryn is usually running around our house and napping in just a diaper. Anything to keep us cool.

The mouse in our house

On Friday night Tyson and I sat on the couch watching a movie. 

In the middle of it, I thought I saw something move around. We looked, but couldn't see a thing. Usually, it's a house centipede (oh how I despise those things.) Tyson and I make the best team for hunting centipedes.  We follow those fast buggers, trap it, and while one of us keeps an eye on it, the other grabs a shoe, and then we dispose of those yucky creatures. I can't even tell you how many we have seen. It just comes with living in a basement apartment, I guess. 

Well, turns out, this was no house centipede.

 Nope. 

About 15 minutes later I saw the little mouse scamper around the wall and then dart under the bed. 

 I whisper -yelled (Taryn was asleep) 

"TYSON! THERE IS A MOUSE RIGHT THERE!!!!!"

We jumped up and Tyson asked me over and over again, "Are you sure?" Oh boy was I sure. Those icky things that scamper and crawl and give you the willies. Yup. I was 300 % positive. 

So we spent a good 30 minutes trying to find it with a flash light. I mean, you can walk the length of our apartment with 5 big "Mother- may- I" steps. Where can he/she possible hide? 

No luck. So we kept one eye on the movie and another on the floor around us. I may have perched myself up on the couch so it wouldn't run up my leg, too. Yuck. 

We think the huge storm that night brought the mouse in, just as many storms in the past have brought in Sprikets (cross between a cricket and a spider) - and the grossest things ever-, house centipedes, slugs, and ants. 

Mark my word....we are never living in a basement apartment EVER again. 

We woke up the next morning to find little mouse presents all over our kitchen floor and bathroom. (Disgusted yet? We thought we were going to throw up for sure) 

So we spent hours on Saturday morning deep cleaning our entire apartment. And buying stuff to take care of that little guy. 

No luck yet. But I can tell you we have been vacuuming after every meal since and checking the traps over and over again. 

Tyson texted his brother and asked if we could borrow their family cat. Not a bad idea. 

PreSchool

These four kiddos are so much fun. And I had the privilege of teaching them through a PreSchool co-op. with some friends. When we moved here I knew something like this would be perfect for Taryn but I thought I would hold off until she was 3, plus- pretty much all the kids her age were already in a preschool group so I knew we would have to wait for some kind of opening. Well, where we live, we have families moving in and out of the area as part of the State Department or other agencies/businesses. Most are here for about 3-6 months for training in Washington D.C. (language or technical) before they are posted abroad/ state wide. So (lucky for me!) we had some new families move in, some kids become older, and other kids become available and we were set! 

My first preschool I taught was a lot harder than I had expected. It was fun, yes, but draining too. I gained a whole new respect for K-6 grade teachers. I don't know how they do it every day.  I turned to experienced family members and friends for advice, teaching tips, and teaching materials. I'm still learning a lot, especially from those awesome moms in the group who come up with the cute, creative, and smart ideas to teach these kiddos. 

Some pictures from their last PreSchool day together 

Oh, my! You kids are hilarious!

We love to ask Taryn questions about her day at preschool. Sometimes she tells us about songs they sang, snacks they ate, animals they learned about, or the letter of the day. 

Now Taryn points out objects and says "_________ starts with the letter ________ " 

Sometimes she gets it right but other times, I have to gently correct her. 

It's fun to see her learning, applying, and making great friends. 

On the first (official) day of Summer

Taryn attended her first informal dance class which I found just perfect! 

4 little girls ranging from 2-4 years old, with one of the moms as a teacher. 

Best part?
It's free.
And just down the street from where I live now.
 Perfect!
Taryn jumped right in and besides trying to climb up some couches & remove the cushions, she followed right along. I loved watching her look over her shoulders at me, giving me a big smile.

We played at the park and and spray park (of course.)

We had ice cream as a family after a dinner of BBQ Chicken sandwiches & "Cheesy Chips"
In order to be a Smith grandchild, Tyson knew he had to teach Taryn that Sour Cream & Cheddar chips -a new favorite of mine since our marriage- are called "cheesy chips" in Smith households thanks to Taryn's Great Grandmother Smith.

Before the night was done, these two magically became super heros after bath time thanks to the few dish towels that Tyson was using to dry some dishes.

Hey summer, you are off to a good start.

Going out on a Saturday night

How lucky were we that my sister & brother-in-law happened to volunteer to babysit for us the same day that we received some gift certificates? It must have meant that Tyson and I really really needed a night out. 

We chose a restaurant and enjoyed every minute of our time together. By the time we were done with dinner and walked outside, we realized that we had only been gone for one hour! 

What? 

So...we made our way to the Crystal City Water Park (not the kind that Taryn can play in) where the running water and beautiful flowers were the perfect setting for us to sit back and talk about our past and our future. 

It's amazing how rejuvenating a night out together can be. 

Some shots from a few weeks past

Air & Space Museum

Finding the ONLY puddle in D.C. in front of the Hirshhorn Museum. And then jumping in it, laying down in it, and becoming soaking wet. Hey, it was super hot outside....all I did was stand by, laugh, and take pictures. Can you blame a kid?

The beautiful Smithsonian Gardens

Those perfect summer nights

Saturday was one of those days I would put down as "practically perfect." 

Although things didn't go as originally planned, we still had a wonderful day.

Tyson had gone for a run in the neighborhood and spotted a yard sale- complete with a art stand (whiteboard/chalk board) at a great price- just calling Taryn's name. So we stopped by on our way to pick up our pizza--- funds going to help the youth of our church attend camps this summer.

After eating lunch ( Lil' T & B's favorite- yum-pizza!) Tyson headed to the library to work on his thesis (yeah for being almost done!) while Taryn napped and I caught up on house cleaning....and a nap too :)

With the heat/humidity rising, the spray park was once again calling our names. So we met Tyson (after the library closed at 5pm) at the spray park where we played for hours, ran into lots of friends (unplanned get-togethers can be some of the best!) and came home right before the sun started to set at 8pm.

We ate a quick late dinner of BLT's, chips, and grapes- the quintessential summer meal as Tyson called it-  and took a trip outside to see the fireflies dance above the grass and in the garden's flowers.

Little "Curly Sue"

(This & the one above- from a few days before, taken by me and Lynne)

 I hope we can have more of these productive & fun summer days. Maybe a little bit of ice cream thrown in next time too? :)