To a hot and happy summer

Despite the fact that I am still working, Summer is here and I'm really looking forward to creating a fun-filled, low stress time for all of us. This morning we brainstormed a list of activities that we hope to do together in June, July, and August.

-Visit an aquarium
-Visit the pet store
-Visit the National Zoo (to see see the monkeys)
-Visit our cousins in NC (a solo, overnight, weekday trip!)
-Open air bus tour of DC or a trolley tour of Richmond
-Swim lessons
-Kidzville at King's Dominion
-See a movie at the theater
-Visit our former neighbors in our old 'hood (and maybe go to the pool!)
-Harvest from the garden
-Take a nature walk
-The Flying Circus Airshow
-The Flying Circus Hot Air Balloon Airshow
-Bowling
-Walk the Vita fitness course at Byrd park
-Body paint
-Fireworks
-Splash park at Stony Point
-Fly a kite
-Walk across the Nickel Bridge
-Feed ducks
-Homemade popsicles
-Outdoor Summer concert
-Paint with water
-Make ice cream in baggies
-Slumber party with friends in NOVA
-Rent a movie to watch together
-Roscoe gets to plan dinner
-Go out for breakfast
-Visit Grandma and Grandpa
-Meet up with our Bradley friends in NOVA
-Tubing the James River (Adults only!)
-Paint at the clay studio
-Collect river or beach pebbles and paint them
-Water balloons
-Ride public transit (metro or bus)
-Camp out, even if it's just in the backyard
-Children's Museum of Richmond
-Baby pool in the yard
-Picnic
-Butterflies Live at Lewis Ginter
-Week at the Beach
-Bike ride adventure
-S'mores
-Finger paint with pudding
-Rain walk
-Splash park at Lewis Ginter
-Dance party
-Pinata
-Visit Tippy and E
-Parade
-Meet V at her comunity pool
-Try a new playground
-Visit Jamestown Settlement
-Explore the river, find a swimming hole

I left a few spaces blank so that we can add more activities as we dream them up. I've already thought of five more since I snapped the photo above. Maybe we'll get to all of these, and maybe we won't, but we'll never be bored!

What do you have planned this Summer?  Care to share?  Maybe we can add some of your ideas to our list! (Especially if you are local.)

Counting down to the 25th

In addition to a more traditional chocolate and treats advent calendar, we decided this year to do an activity advent to build excitement for the season and to savor the joy that lies in every day that leads up to Christmas day.

I first read about the idea in the online magazine House of Fifty, which I am new to and love! We compiled a list of 25 things to do in the month of December and I wrote them out in one big long colorful list. (It proved to be a relaxing after-the-kids-go-to-sleep activity and it made me feel like a kid again to get creative with a box of crayons.) Then we hung it in a hallway that gets plenty of foot traffic so it is handy to reference and because it is fun to look at.

On our list we included events like the local christmas parade and a train show that's coming to town next weekend.  We also chose activities and crafts that we can enjoy doing together like making a bird feeder and decorating a gingerbread house. Some items are about us, and some are about others like baking a treat for a neighbor and contributing to a local cause that directly impacts children in our area.

On Thursday we decorated the kids' rooms with lights and a miniature christmas tree.  Last night we crossed two activities off our list when we attended the Grand Illumination, which counts down to the annual lighting of the city skyline, and then joined the masses after dark to check out the tacky lights tour.

Tonight, we're building our first fire of the season and reading bedtime stories fireside.

How do you count down to Christmas?

Day Zero update, 25 down!

Since January, I've been slowly ticking off items on my 101 list.

Did you create a 101 list? Link up if you want to share!!

The Day Zero Project

You may have heard of the Day Zero Project. The challenge is to identify and commit to completing 101 goals in 1001 days.

Loving lists as I do, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a massive one to inspire my next 1001 days. Given the less than 3 year time frame, it was surprisingly difficult to come up with 101 items--it took me all week!

I hate to say that my list is sort of a "mom's list", but knowing I'll be pregnant or postpartum the better part of the next 3 years limits my aspirations for certain things like travel, and doesn't leave room for many other physical feats. Eh, so it is!

I'll be updating as I go....

• Get a massage (1/10)
• Take a “knife skills” course (1/11)
• Read at least one book, book club style
• Complete a sprint triathlon
• Go to the shooting range
• Throw an all-out dinner party
• Read a series of books
• Join a CSA (2/10)
• Run a race--10k or better (11/10)
• Read the manual that came with my DSLR (2/10)
• Buy a keepsake baby book (1/10)
• Go to the movie theater with Andy (2/10)
• Listen to a book on tape (The Dance of Anger) (6/11)
• Throw Roscoe a grand first year birthday party (5/10)
• Work through a cookbook
• Close my myspace account (1/10)
• Perfect my boxing technique with personal training (4/10)
• Lose my baby weight, again
• Complete 36 push ups in one minute (6/10)
• Volunteer for my neighborhood (5/11)
• Attend a La Leche League meeting in Summer 2011 (7/11)
• Attend a La Leche League meeting in Winter 2010 (12/10)
• Attend a La Leche League meeting in Fall/Winter 2011 (2/11)
• Attend a La Leche League meeting in Spring 2011 (5/11)
• Shop at an Asian food market (8/12)
• Find and attend a local API meeting (5/11)
• Sew something (7/11)
• Get pregnant (7/10)
• Attend a sporting event as a family
• Take Roscoe to the baby pool (6/10)
• Go camping 
• Take a road trip to NC to visit family
• Take a tropical vacation (7/10)
• Research California towns to move to, and determine the location of our next big move  (10/11)
• Try out CrossFit (7/11)
• Go to the dentist and get on a schedule! (6/10)
• Read a book about photography (6/11)
• Bake a souffle
• Plan another home birth (10/10)
• Get a spa service at the Mandarin Oriental DC (6/10)
• Perfect Jacqueline’s Cupcake recipe, and give it a name
• Get tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll (tried in 2010, and 2011 but didn't make the lottery!)
• Bake a Jelly Roll Cakes (11/10)
• Invite Mel back for Roscoe’s one year photo shoot (5/10)
• Buy digital files from our photography sessions (1/11)
• Go to tea in DC (1/11)
• Decorate my office (3/12)
• Use the weber grill to make s’mores (5/10)
• Find a good resource on food photography
• Get my ring polished
• Find a “perfect” nursing bra (10/10)
• Update my PJ collection and throw out the oldies (7/10)
• Take Roscoe to see the monkeys at the zoo (8/10)
• Buy a post-baby wardrobe or a maternity wardrobe whichever makes the most sense! (9/10)
• Get a seat at a tasting table
• Celebrate something special with a dinner at I Ricci (2/11)
• Download an Add-in to Aperture and learn how to use them to edit my photos
• Renew our vows
• Bike the C&O canal
• Join the Library’s reading club for babies, or other organized toddler group (1/12)
• Nurse Roscoe until he’s at least one year old (5/10)
• Spend an entire day with Roscoe and my mom (1/11)
• Learn how to cook two traditional Filipino dishes (in progress, #1 Ginataang Mais, #2 Chicken Adobo)  (7/12)
• Design another nursery or a playroom (11/10)
• Commit to 7 days without consuming any “sweets” (1/10)
• Take Chloe to an open space so she can run and play (4/11)
• Identify a local (or not) park with a great playground (4/10)
• Buy a jogging stroller, and take it for a spin (7/10)
• Watch a boxing match on TV (1/10)
• Host March’s Bradley Babies Party (3/10) 
• Go to a music concert
• Dress up as my brother for Halloween
• Go to an indoor climbing gym
• Travel to a state I’ve never been to before (7/10)
• Eat at a celebrity’s restaurant (12/10)
• Go to Vegas for the weekend
• Introduce Roscoe (or Merritt) to Grampa Jack (11/12)
• Get brave and act on one of my entrepreneurial concepts (11/10)
• Visit one art gallery and one Richmond museum I've never before visited
• Attend a show in the city (8/10)
• Dress up for Halloween as a family (10/12)
• Spend a total of 24 hours purposefully experimenting with my camera (in progress 2/24)
• Grow cherry tomatoes in the backyard (4/11)
• Create something with felt (1/12)
• Order more fabric from purl soho (7/10)
• Organize a neighborhood potluck
• Go out to dinner with Andy (5/10)
• Play a new game (7/10) MAD GAB
• Go on a first date (since Roscoe was born) (2/10)
• Perfect two marshmallow recipes: vanilla and cinnamon (11/10)
• Shop at a new farmers market (11/12)
• Find a quality second hand store for children’s clothing (11/11)
• Transition Roscoe from The Swing to…somewhere else (8/10)
• See a movie in 3D (2/10)
• Find a second favorite alcoholic beverage to match my nuts and berries shooter (blueberry mojito) (4/12)
• Take Roscoe to check out his first book from the library (5/10)
• Grow out the last four inches of my hair and then cut. it. off. And promise myself never to dye or highlight my hair again! (1/11)
• Reset my engagement ring
• Write 5 important notes of thanks (1-NICU)
• Attend an ethnic festival (6/12)
• Replace all of our towels with fancy, fluffy, new ones
• Consider my options for pursuing a PhD, or other avenues of continuing education (4/12)