2 beach trips and a show

Rest stop break

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Boston. Well, not Boston but it's so much easier to say than listing the towns we went to in MA. Dave was playing a show and had to do some work. Elinor and I tagged along to meet up with some friends and go to the beach. I miss the beach a lot. I'm really a stay at the beach all day type of person. I think that's why I miss being so close. We would go to the beach sometimes for only a hour or 2 and it was so much fun and didn't take hours to get there.

We ended up making to the beach 2 days for a few hours each. It was so nice. Elinor made friends the first day. I didn't bring any toys so when we set our blanket next to a group of moms and their kids (and toys), I sent Elinor over to ask if she can play too. I know, I'm the worst but the kids ending up being so sweet. They all worked on digging a hole for 2 hours. I somehow forgot how rocky some northshore beaches are and I didn't pack her water shoes. I felt so bad. I had to carry her over the rocks to put her in the water.

We got to eat a ton of good food that you can reread over here and we also went to Dave's show. Since the venue was in the same town that Dorie and Henri live in, I was able to miss out on the beginning of the show to hang out with them and some other friends. I miss that area. Everything is so close and there are awesome playgrounds everywhere! Elinor and I made it back to the venue in time to see Daddy play. She was not into it this time. We were stuck on the stage as I held her from running away. We were both sweaty messes. After they played, we got ice cream and all was good. She was a maniac jumping on the couch behind the merch. I can't imagine what she thinks about the things she gets to do.

Hanging out with friends. Thanks Nancy and Stacy for coming to play too!

I always wonder if she will think that our music is so lame when she gets older or if she will think it's cool she got to travel so much. 

sleeping with one of her favorite puppy friends

bonus vine videos from the show 

my husbandfriend

Dave and I aren't married. When I refer to him and have to say "my boyfriend", I feel like I'm 16. Why?? We have been together for almost 7 years and have an amazing 2 year old. We both are completely happy and comfortable with our relationship.

Talking to a group of moms at the playground, they are all talking about their husbands and then I say my boyfriend... It seems like they stop taking me serious. Their relationships obviously are way more meaningful than mine.

I sometimes just say husband and then feel dumb because it isn't true and why should I care? I could say partner but I feel like I'm talking about someone I work with. Signifiant Other sounds like an online term. As soon as I say "my boyfriend" I want to add "OMG he is soooo cute". Because again I'm 16. My sister calls her fiance her husbandfriend. I might have to steal that.

Are you in a longterm relationship and not married? What do you call each other?

Happy Father's Day

Full weekends can be stressful but we had a good one. We celebrated Dave on Sunday and had so much fun. I wish my dad lived closer so we could've spent time with him too. Sometimes it is just so hard not being driving distance from my parents. Elinor learned how to facetime them herself. Randomly I will hear my mom's voice in the other room and get really confused. Elinor will be walking around the house showing them the ceiling and talking to them. I know she misses them too.

Elinor is a lucky girl. Her daddy will do anything for her. He loves taking her to mommy/daddy and me dance classes. He will get right in there and show her how it's done, while wearing a crown and holding a wand. Her daddy loves her so much and I couldn't have dreamed of a better father of my child.

We love you!

Happy Birthday Dave

Saturday was Dave's birthday. We woke up and I whispered to Elinor to tell him happy birthday. It was the sweetest little sleepy voice. We didn't have any set plans. I made him his favorite tofu egg sandwich and he had used his birthday gift of an ice coffee maker the night before so we could have cold brew coffee with breakfast. Dave is forever obsessed with finding cold brew coffee where ever we go. I found the Hario MCPN-14B Water Brew Coffee Pot on amazon. It was pretty basic and had good reviews. So far he has loved it.

We ran a few errands, went to the mall to check out UNIQLO again. This time we bought some things. It is going to be hard going to the mall now and not buying everything from there! So many cute clothes for all of us. It's like H&M and American Apparel but from Japan. If that makes any sense.

and we met Hello Kitty!

Later that day we met up with Pop pop,Cindy and Grandma (Cindy's mom. Elinor decided all on her own that it was grandma) for a birthday dinner at Harvest. We have never been there but heard they had veg options. It is always a struggle going out to eat with any of our family members and finding a place that has anything for us to eat besides a salad. Harvest was amazing. We all were able to get something different and even try a few appetizers. Dave had the spicy tofu stir fry, Elinor had the kids spaghetti and I had the pan seared beet steak. Everything was so good. Dave wasn't into the beet steak because he doesn't like beets but I thought it was delicious. The kids portions were huge! Elinor ate a ton and still had leftovers to bring home.

We went back to Pop pops for vegan cupcakes from Whole Foods. Then Dave and I went to see Godzilla. We both liked it even though Dave wanted to see more of Godzilla. We came back to collect a very sleepy Elinor and went home. It was such a great laid back day.

DC

I wish our trip to DC was a little longer. We tried to get an early start which of course didn't happen. We had roughly planned our day in our heads without looking anything up...bad idea. There was a lot of walking and looking for food when places didn't exist or were closed. Why are places closed on a Saturday afternoon?? Dave and I got a little hangry but finally found food and were back on track to have fun.
Our plans were to go to the National Zoo first. Then head to Corcoran Gallery while Elinor napped to see an exhibit we wanted to see. While looking for directions on the zoos website (when we were 20 min away) the first thing I read is to plan and come later in the day. We drove around for a long time looking for parking which was not happening. Change of plans, gallery first. We found great parking right away and went to the gallery. It happened to be free that day which was pretty perfect since we only wanted to see the "Pump Me Up" exhibit. It was about the 1980s subculture in DC. Elinor of course wasn't too into looking at anything. She ran around the cafe saying hi to everyone. She decided she needed milk so I put her in the ergo and was able to walk around and see what I wanted to see.

Conveniently the Gallery was located across the street from the White House and National Mall, so afterwards we went across the street to sight see. We pushed Elinor through a crowd to take her picture with the back of the White House. We walked around for a bit then realized we were starving. Dave used the Happy Cow app and saw the cafe at the Corcoran had vegan options. We walked all the way back and got there as it was closing. This is when the struggle to find food happened. 

After we ate we went back to see some sights. Elinor was so excited she could just run and say hi to all the people around. We made our way to the front of the White House with a then sleeping baby on my back.  
This weekend was also supposed to be the peak blooming time for the cherry blossoms in Washington, Dave even checked a few websites before we left and they all said this weekend was the time for 2013.   So we went to the Tidal Pool by the Jefferson Memorial where they are and there weren't any blooming yet!   There were only cherry blossoms in the little park right next to where we parked our car. We wanted to get more pictures of the cherry blossoms by the car but Elinor was asleep. I'm glad I took some earlier.

 look closely on the roof to the right. 

more about our trip tomorrow..

trees

 We go to the same lot of an ice cream store every year to get our tree. We went after work last week and let Elinor feel the trees and wonder around. She really liked the white pine tree which is always Dave's favorite. He has been wanting one every year but we never find a perfect one.

 Elinor found the perfect one! Dave was so excited. She kept walking passed it and petting it.

 We came home and decorated it right away. We fight with our tree topper every year. This year we didn't even bother with it. We are going to get a new one soon. I put softer ornaments near the bottom which Ellie has already torn off. She brings them back to the tree and hold it up like she is trying to put it back on.

With her being so interested in the tree, I made a felt tree on the back of the door. There are felt ornaments with velcro on the back so Elinor can decorate it herself. We used to make boards like this at the daycare all the time. I think I'm going to start keeping different boards up through out the year for her.

Her and Henri love it. Henri likes to pull them down, hid them and then put them back up. Elinor would only pull them all down for awhile. She now will start putting them up. While I was downloading these pictures, she came up behind me to see them. She walked away and when I looked up again she was at her tree moving ornaments around. What a smart baby!

Did you get a chance to read Elinor's 12 month update that Dave wrote yesterday? It was so sweet and I hope to get Dave to write more often on here. Read it here