It is Pow Wow season on the East Coast and this Saturday there was a festival at Chesapeake City Park. This is Brooke’s 3rd Pow Wow and she had lots of fun eating fry bread, watching the hoop dance, dancing to the music, walking around the park, earning her feather (Chief Cutie Pie), and surveying the goods.
Oma and Opa came to visit with us and Brooke after their trip to the Panama Canal. We loved having them to visit and Brooke especially liked playing with them. Thank you for taking pictures of us all!
We had a fun week! Story time at the library followed by a trip to the zoo on Thursday. Brooke has three giraffe toys and must of recognized them because she tried to crawl the fence to get into their enclosure Friday we all had to some fun at the amazing playground at Chesapeake City Park and went strawberry picking in the afternoon. May is the month for strawberries in Virginia and Brooke did a great job picking them, putting them in the basket, and occasionally sneaking one for herself! Saturday morning we went on a misty hike of Stumpy Lake in the morning and out to the oceanfront in the afternoon. The 40mph winds didn’t keep Brooke from running up and down the stairs (her new favorite) and walking on the boardwalk. Of course she loves wind. Sunday it stopped raining just enough for Opa to ride alongside Brooke and Mom around the neighborhood and some playtime in the garden. We were lucky and the rain skipped us again on Monday so we could all go to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and see the Azaleas in bloom and look at the many (30 total) glass statues up for the 75th anniversary of the NBG. It was a wonderful and fun trip!
Brooke and her good friend Mattie went to the beach with us Thursday. We all had a great time and the babies did great! They played on a blanket, ate snacks, walked in the ocean, and on the pier. Brooke particularly loved running into the surf with me holding her fingers. For obvious safety reasons there are no photos of this. Hopefully AJ can join us in the future and we can get more pictures.
Today it started to feel like spring for a fleeting moment in Virginia. Tomorrow it will be cold, but today it was 70 degrees and sunny so we had a family afternoon at our favorite spot – the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. We had fun introducing Brooke to all the interactive parts of the garden. She got to climb a sand hill, fire a cannon (of sand), and practice her stand up paddling in a canoe. We got to see all the beautiful different species of cherry tree in bloom. Also the dogwood trees and daffodils. Then we had fun in the children’s garden and Brooke had her first encounter with their famous fountains. On the next warm day we are going there in swim suits! As AJ was getting Brooke back in the stroller for us to look at the Camellias in bloom a friend decided he really liked the color of AJ’s polo and landed on him and stayed for at least 5 minutes! It was an amazing afternoon of fun!
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Yesterday there was an art festival in Norfolk across from the hospital that we went to in the morning after AJs shift. He has been working so much lately it was nice for him to have some daddy/daughter time if only for an hour and a half. Turned leaves were falling and it was a beautiful morning of family time.
