Egg Hunt 2010

Today the whole family went to the Columbia SportsPark for an egg hunt. I should have known it would be trouble by the official name: Searching for Spring Egg Hunt. Why can't they call it what it is, an Easter egg hunt? I understand the desire to be inclusive, but lots of people pretend to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day so they can march in parades and drink green beer. People dress up as monsters, ghouls and (most horrifying) celebrities for Halloween. Why can't people pretend to be Christian for an Easter egg hunt?

Anyway, a bunch of tables with crafts were set up outside with activities like face painting, making refrigerator magnets, coloring, etc. The only craft Jacob actually did was putting stickers on bookmarks. He even enjoyed it. Though not as much as he enjoyed the playground. He did a lot of climbing and sliding. Also, he rode on the decorative lawn alligator nearby. The alligator did not move but Jacob sure pretended that it did. By the time the organizers were ready to start the egg hunt, we were at the back of the line to get in.

The actual egg hunt seemed pretty organized. Different areas of the park were designated for different age groups, e.g. 2-4 year old, 5-6 year old, etc. The posted signs said 4 eggs per child. Most of the areas were on the miniature golf course, though the area for the oldest children was on a flat grassy area. People lined up and filed in to the areas quite nicely. Since we were at the back of the line, by the time we got in it was hard to find eggs. The difficulty was partly due to unsupervised children who picked up as many eggs as they could, which was annoying to the responsible adults. The 2-4 year olds didn't particularly mind.

The second annoying thing for the adults was that the 2-4 year old area seemed to be the hilliest part of the mini-golf course and also had an artificial stream running through it. I didn't see any children fall or jump into the water but I did see several attempts (intentional and not). Why weren't the littlest children on the big, flat field of grass?

Jacob had a good time anyway. That is, until we went to leave. Angie had mentioned that we'd probably see the Easter bunny there. Jacob never said anything about the bunny while we were there. As we walked out, he became really agitated and wouldn't walk and was shouting about how he didn't want to leave yet. We felt bad for him, so we said we'd go to Dunkin Donuts for a treat (it's important to sacrifice for your children). This calmed him.

In the car on the way to the donut shop, Jacob asked, "Where the heck is the Easter bunny?" That got a laugh from us, though I am ashamed to admit that he probably picked up the swear word from me. We told Jacob that the Easter bunny was probably resting up from last weekend, though on further reflection, I think he was probably ashamed to show up at a Searching for Spring Egg Hunt.

Lucy's next milestone

Last week we met up with our friend Carlos and his three daughters to hang out. We went to a park to take advantage of the fabulous spring weather. While there, Lucy let me put her in a swing for her first ride. Here are the cell phone pictures of the happy day:

Belated Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jacob had the cutest outfit ever for St. Patrick's Day. Check it out:



Thanks, Grandmama, for buying the outfit at that St. Patrick's Dinner all those years ago!

Hopefully I will start blogging some more this week. Jacob and Lucy have been working on the Zombification project and thereby curtailing blogging time. I have lots of ideas for blogs but no time to write.

Latest Obsessions

On our previously mentioned trip to the library, Jacob found a book that he fell in love with, so we brought it home with us. The book is My First Things That Go, which features a multitude of transportation options from toy cars to aircraft carriers and hot air balloons, as you might guess from the cover:

It seemed like a harmless enough book in the library. Now that it is home, it is practically the only book he wants to read. In fact, he likes to read it again as soon as he finishes it. Angie accused me of sabotaging her by getting the book on a Friday and having Jacob read it with her all weekend long. All I can say is I'm also having to read it again and again, so I won't be renewing this one. Good thing we didn't find it in a book store!

Jacob's other big obsession right now is a YouTube video which he watches repeatedly if he can get away with it. He calls it the "funny video" and it is pretty funny. In fact, it has a lot more replayability than the book has rereadability. Here's the video:



I do enjoy this video. Like any great work, it does reward multiple viewings. On the next (dozen or so) viewings, I plan to look for where they hid the camera's tracks or how they moved it around the extensive set. One sign of overexposure is that I am beginning to sing the song to myself. I'm not burning out on this video because Jacob watches another video of the same song with the Notre Dame marching band, which he naturally calls, "Marching band!" This video is also entertaining but not as rewatchable. If you must see it, I'm sad to report that the embed link on YouTube says
"Embedding disabled by request." Click here to see it on YouTube. If you watch, clearly one of the things that attracts Jacob is the prominence of the drums.

I wonder what Jacob's next obsession will be...

Best Kept Secret at the Library

Starting this month, our local branch of the Howard County Public Library is giving away a free cookie and a cup of coffee on the first Friday of the month if you take out at least three items. The only trick is that they are doing this from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., so you have to go during the day. Jacob, Lucy and I went yesterday morning to check out some items and check out some cookies too.

We went through our usual routine for visiting the library: we returned some items at the front desk. I looked around to see where the set up for the goodies was but did not spot a coffee pot or a plate of cookies. No worries, I thought, as we headed off to the children's section. They've got a little "log cabin" area where toddlers and infants can hang out, play with toys and be a little noisier. Jacob and I picked out a new puzzle and some books, while Lucy stared at anyone she could see from her stroller. We read some other books too. Finally it was time to go.

We went back to the front desk to check out our books. Encouraged by the fact that five or six different flyers were posted on the check out desk, I asked about the cookies. The librarian behind the desk blinked and didn't know what to say. When I pointed out the signs, she said yes that is today but they hadn't been told anything about it. She went to the information desk to find out more.

Another librarian at the front desk told me that one of the volunteers sometimes brings in baked treats for the staff. That was encouraging news, because I was worried it might be vanilla wafers and yesterday's leftover coffee. She was surprised that no one had told them about it. I was surprised that I was the first to ask about it since it was already 11:45. The first librarian returned to report that we could get our treats at the information desk. We went and took only the cookie, since neither Jacob, Lucy or I drink coffee. The cookie was a home-made, crisp and delicious chocolate chip cookie. Jacob and I enjoyed it. Lucy will have to produce some more teeth if she wants to join in the fun next month.

And I certainly hope next month they tell the front desk workers that there are free cookies for library patrons!

Blob's Park Weekend

Our good friends Carlos and Mary wanted to pay us back for babysitting their three lovely daughters a couple of weeks ago. So this past Friday, Angie and I were able to go to the swing dance night at Blob's Park in Jessup, Maryland, while the children stayed home. The last Friday of the month Bay Side Big Band plays swing songs and occasional cha-chas, waltzes and polkas. We had a fun time dancing and hanging out with our friends BJ and Amy.

Being a Friday in Lent, we didn't go for dinner, since the menu is a Germanic delight including lots of beef and pork but almost no fish. A customer needs to look to the "American" items for some fish. Anyway, we had lovely desserts to go with the fun dancing and camaraderie.

On Sunday, we came in the afternoon for a dance lesson which started at 3 p.m. The kids were awake and came with us; also my sister Regina came. We enjoyed the cha-cha lesson. Even though we knew most of what they taught, it was a good refresher.

The band (The Continentals) came on at 4 and we had a good time dancing. Jacob and Lucy also got to go out on the dance floor more than once. Jacob danced with mom for a swing and a polka and with Aunt Regina for a swing. Lucy polkaed with daddy twice. We also all did the chicken dance and a new, fresh from Germany dance called the Flying Dance. It was similar to the chicken dance in that it had special choreography: you flapped your arms, you then made arm muscles, then reached for the ceiling, then wave your arms like a giraffe's neck, then a bunch of other stuff. I tried to find it on YouTube, but it was not this (though that does look cool). Looking on the band's web site, the song title in German is Fliegerleid, and I was able to find this video of Germans dancing to a live version in German:



Dancing it was fun, though Lucy may not have appreciated the jumping part. But she definitely had fun being there. Also, Jacob enjoyed seeing the band, especially the drummer. And we did get to eat a meaty dinner.

All in all, the weekend was an awesome dancing weekend. The next Sunday dance with a lesson is March 21, so we are definitely thinking of going again. A bunch of other families with little kids were there too, which made it extra nice.

Lucy's two-fer

Lucy has finally done it! It only took Jacob four months (which took us by surprise when it happened). Lucy has done it in just under eight months. Since she took twice the time, I suppose she wanted to show twice the results. I asked her if I could take a picture and she sort of accommodated me:


In case you don't see what I'm writing about, here's a close up:


I told Lucy she could put on a better show. She did not let her daddy down:


Again with the close up:


Lucy is now a two-fer toother. No wonder she's been waking up so many times in the past few days! Hopefully she will settle down again.