Play, Art, Serve, Repeat!

I played hard this week - tons of playdates, a BBQ, my first art class, a service project - it was awesome. 

I had playdates every day - with Henry or Dru or Wally or Jackson or Tristan and Landon or Nolan or these guys.....

Here's the story on these guys - they're what we call, our "east coast family." This "family" began like 100 years ago when my mom moved to Washington, DC. She met four other people and they all moved into a big house in Georgetown. She lived in that house for seven years with a bunch of different roommates. This is my mom with two of her first housemates, Kate and Lori.

To this day, they're all still good friends, and these are some of the kids connected to that house in Georgetown. Kind of cool, huh. Anyway, I'm twelfth out of the thirteen in age - Jack is the oldest (11) and Xander is the youngest (17 months). Ten boys and three girls. When you get us all together it's pretty fun. Saturday we had a BBQ at the Keenans and there was a flag football game, capture the flag, and scooter riding. The adults hung out on the deck and laughed a lot - I'm not sure who was having more fun, us or them. I even got to hang out with Uncle M.O.

I went to my first art class this week. My mom guesstimated the teacher's age at about 103 years old - she's awesome, really funny. She gave us all mini painting aprons and had us sit on paint splotches on the floor. She then told us we were going to paint like Rembrandt. She showed us some Rembrandt pictures and told us Rembrandt painted pictures of his friends.

Then she told us to sit at the painting table and handed us some stencils and sponge squares with paint on them and said, "paint! paint! paint!" Here is my very first piece of hart - not bad if I do say so myself. I bet Rembrandt would be proud!

We topped off the week by helping sort produce at a local warehouse that distributes food to our neighbors in need. So what can a little guy like me do in such a big warehouse you ask? Well, they stuck me in the produce bins when they were nearing the end and I picked up the fruits and vegatables on the bottom and handed them to the bigger people - kind of cool. Even us little guys can do community service. It sure felt good. Here's a video of the day - I'm the short kid in the bin wearing an orange hat. It's a fast cameo, so don't blink.

Hut One, Hut Two,Hike!

Yes, I'm completely obsessed with football, but the title implies more than just football. But while we're on the topic, my mom caught some of my football energy on video - check it out.

One of my uncles came to town (get it, hut "one") for a quick business trip and I got to hang out with him for the evening. Uncle Nick is awesome. He chases me around the yard, helps me look for rocks, and reads to me. I'm pretty lucky to have him as my uncle.

I had a playdate with my buddy Abigail this week at the Building Zone in the Building Museum (get it, "hut" two). The place is HUGE so regardless of the weather outside, you have a gigantic place to run and run and run. In the Building Zone you can build stuff with different materials and dress up like different people involved in building. As always, I chose to wear safety equipment (I think I might be giving my parents a complex!)

And finally, last night we went camping. Yes, my dad's memory has faded a bit about our camping experience last year when I only slept 90 minutes the entire night. (see post http://piantanidafamily.blogspot.com/2010/09/smore-please.html )

My dad was amazing. He totally embraced camping this time. He pitched the tent, helped with food, sang songs around the campfire - he was a total pro. And as for our tent...have you seen the Taj Mahal? Our tent - for three of us, and I really only count as a half - was 17'x9' in size. There was seven feet of empty space between my pack n' play and my parents when we went to bed. I'm pretty sure my dad's attitude change towards camping might have something to do with his sleeping accommodations increasing by 4x's the space! Oh, and speaking of sleeping, I did a lot of it this time, so there will be MUCH more camping in our future.

Our camping food was 4 star. We - and by we I don't mean me - cooked everything in the campfire. First sauteed asparagus and marinated mushrooms. I ate ten pieces of asparagus; yes, I loved it. Our main course was foil dinners of ground turkey, carrots, onions and seasoning. Mmm! After dinner we sang around the campfire, looked at stars and then headed to bed.

This morning we got the day started with a hike up Sugarloaf Mountain (get it, "hike"). It was a steep climb with lots of big rocks and logs along the way. Lucky for me my dad is a super hero and charged to the top so we could check out this view.

Perfect...almost

This really was a perfect week. It started with a visit to my cardi-ologist. Not only did I get to watch Thomas the Train and enjoy a lollipop while the doc looked at my heart, he said, "Bodie had a perfect repair and his heart is doing excellent." I don't need to see him for 18 months. Yahoo!!! This comment is better than ice cream; better than a long nap; better than the start of football season....well, okay, maybe it's just as good as the start of football season.

I did mention it was a perfect week, right. Well, football season started and I haven't stopped running around the house yelling "football, football!" and throwing my football at everyone and everything near me. My dad even let me stay up for the first quarter of the season opener on Thursday. And Sunday I got to eat my first nacho and watch my mom's 49ers crush the Seattle Seahawks.

Now for the "almost" part of my perfect weekend. Monday my dad and I had dinner on the couch - this never happens - and cheered on the Miami Dolphins. Unfortunately my dad's team didn't have the outcome we'd hope for. But don't worry dad, I will proudly wear my Dolphins gear again next week - Go Fins!

An All American Week

This week was pretty average for us, but after last week (earthquake, hurricane, flood), we're grateful for average. My mom has decided I'm old enough to start helping in the kitchen - I'll be two in a few months you know. This week I helped make homemade chocolate chip cookies, waffle batter, and homemade pizza. My mom had to cut extra toppings for the pizza because I would put one topping on the pizza and one in my mouth - yum!

And speaking of pizza, I played in one this week! My buddy Tristan and I went to the national zoo and jumped all over the pizza park. It's a giant foam-like pizza with huge mushrooms, tomatoes, peperoni, and an olive to climb through - it's awesome. I'm getting better at my animal sitings and don't call everything a "dog" anymore. But you've got to admit, a lot of stuff looks like a horse and I've decided every animal says "ROAR!" because that's the funnest animal sound to make.

Saturday morning we went for a 20 mile bike ride, down to the Potomac, and past the airport. It was perfect weather - except for the momentary thundershower. Then I took a nap while my parents headed to the golf course for a few quick round of nine.

Sunday morning we parked at the monuments and went for a jog around the tidal basin. My parents told me about Dr. Martin Luther King and we visited the new monument that just opened in his honor on the tidal basin. It's 28 feet tall and is equidistant between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials - very neat symbolism.

Monday we were thankful for the laborers who have worked so hard that my parents got the day off in honor of Labor Day. They snuck out before 7am for an ealy tee time while I played with my babysitter Jordan. In the afternoon we headed to my cousins' house in Potomac Falls to play.

Like I said, a pretty average week and I loved every minute of it.