Rainbow Brite

Yesterday I had a very nasty migraine, so stayed in our pajamas and made the best of the day.  When we were at Borders the first week we were here, I found Rainbow Brite paper doll books--a total blast from the past.  Even though the girls had no idea what Rainbowland was, they were pretty excited because, well, I was pretty excited.  I saved the books for a rainy day, and while the weather was actually decent for the first time in a while, I was couch ridden and needed a quiet activity for us. The books had all the character names listed, so Lucy and Ella spent the day trying to remember the names of the Color Kids and Sprites.  The picture above is of Baby Brite, Rainbow Brite, Starlight, and the Color Castle.  Thanks to YouTube, we even got to watch a Rainbow Brite video, which was a total hit.  
For those of you who know Ella's obsession with Huck (a.k.a. Huckleberry Pie) from Strawberry Shortcake (the only boy in the series), it will come as no surprise when you hear that her immediate favorites were the only two boys in Rainbowland.  Here she is with Red Butler and Buddy Blue.  Ella insisted on being called Red Butler all day yesterday and woke up as Red again today.

For all you 80s kids, here's Murky Dismal, The Pits, and Lurky. 

Shown here:  Glee, Indigo, Canary Yellow, Twink, and Flirty

My migraine is gone today, although I never feel completely better until about 2 days later.   The girls and I ran errands today to get ready for my mom and dad's visit and will lay low tonight...I'm ready to get back on the couch!

Video Mania

We spent a lot of time last night watching videos on some of our friends' blogs, and then Lucy and Ella saw me post the video of Bob and Dee on our blog.  They insisted that they perform for us!  Right now Lucy and (especially) Ella have an obsession with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  They are constantly singing songs and acting out scenes from the movie.  Here is their rendition of "Oompa Loopma."

For Ella's solo, she chose, "Lullabye and Good Night," my personal favorite.

Lucy chose to do a tribute to our twinkle lights with "Twinkle, Twinkle."

Enjoy.

Mother's Day with El

Sunday morning we went out for brunch to celebrate Mother's Day with Ellen while she was here.  We went to Mrs. K's Toll House, a historical site and highly recommended restaurant in Silver Spring.  Brunch was great, but getting there ended up being an adventure in itself.  It was pouring rain, so we planned on driving.  When we got down to the parking garage, we found out the car battery was dead...a light was left on.  After getting back to the apartment and calling 10 different taxi companies, we finally got though to one that would send a cab.  Thankfully, Mrs. K's was nice enough to hold our table on a very busy morning and we were able to enjoy our meal!  AAA came and gave us a jump, so the car is working again.
Here are the girls saying goodbye to Oma and Opa (the orange and blue specks) as they walked to the Metro station to head to the airport.  The area that's under construction is going to be a new transportation station (bus, Metro, etc) in Silver Spring, and the station we use is just to the right of that area.  We had a wonderful time with Mark and Ellen and are so grateful they came to spend time with us!

Bob & Dee's Interview

Here's a video of the interview that my Uncle Bob and Auntie Dee did on Live This Morning, a morning news show in Washington, D.C.  

Miller Mail

Lucy and Ella want to thank Jordan and Maya Miller for the super fun package they sent.  Even the outside of the package was exciting, covered with tons of stickers.  The girls wanted to name every single one!  We really appreciate you thinking of us, and we can't wait to come and visit you!

DC Ducks

I LOVE this picture of Ella.  She's happy to be on Oma's shoulders, waiting for the subway and another adventure in DC.  The weather was crazy again--raining one minute and dry the next--so it was difficult to plan for the day.
We took the subway to Union Station to get tickets for a tour of DC on a Duck, like the ones in Wisconsin Dells.

The girls met the President on the way there.

Here we are at Union Station...a very cool place.  There are lots of shops, cafes, and restaurants to check out.
Once we got on the water, the captain let Lucy drive the boat...she was reluctant, and then once she was behind the wheel she let loose and was a crazy driver!

Of course, after seeing Lucy drive, Ella wanted a turn.

The Duck gave a good tour...we saw most of the big attractions in DC from land and water and got to hear some interesting facts along the way, all with a roof over our heads.

Friday Fun

On Friday, we started off at the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum.  We were happy to be indoors, as the weather was just ok....the rain was barely holding out.

Next was a yummy lunch at Capitol City Brewery.

On our walk to the National Museum of Natural History, Ella decided it was nap time.
We spent quite a bit of time in the Sant Aquarium, a newer exhibit at the museum.  This tank was a hit...it had both Nemo and Dory fish in it.

Lucy really wanted to show Oma and Opa the "big elephant."

This is the Hope Diamond...just one of the gifts Greg is considering for my 30th birthday.  If he goes with it, I told him it would be fine to make it a combined birthday/anniversary gift.
After leaving the museum, we found that the weather had improved, so we headed to the carousel on the National Mall for another ride.  This time both girls were brave enough to try an "up and down horse."  They had a blast.

Lucy decided she wanted to hold Opa's hand and be his girlfriend.

The only proper way to follow up a ride on the carousel is with ice cream!

Here we are making a mad dash for our subway...we caught it!

Lucy and Ella were really cute on the way home--they were in the best mood!  They were playing together and it was very sweet...


It ended up being a clear, beautiful evening, so we decided to finish up with an alfresco dinner.  Downtown Silver Spring has a lot of outdoor seating over looking the fountain--Eggspections was the chosen restaurant, which made Lucy very happy!
An after dinner walk lead us to Ben & Jerry's for some (more!) ice cream--the perfect ending to a very fun day!