Spring is here again!

I love Spring because when I walk outside, I am immediately happy. It's not too hot, it's not too cool, it is juuuuuuuust right. I love Williamsburg in the Spring because there are flowers EVERYWHERE. There are even daffodils all along the freeway median. I first loved daffodils when we lived in England, and my mom said they were her favorite so they automatically became my favorite.
My friend Jenn gave me pink tulips this last week, and I have been enjoying them every morning while I am still trying to wake up while Clark eats his breakfast. I am very glad that Spring has finally arrived, because honestly, the best part of Winter for me is hot chocolate...and let's just face it, after 4-5 months of that, I am ready to move on. Hurray for Spring!

Lock and Key

Clark LOVES to go outside. Whenever he sees Tanner or I putting on our shoes, he goes and gets his and throws them at us. If I pick up the keys and he hears them jingle, he goes on autopilot and heads straight for the front door where he stomps his feet in excitement. Today, Clark found my keys and immediately headed straight for the front door. Tanner could hear him jingling the keys, but since he can't reach the doorknob yet, the chances of him escaping were slim. Suddenly, Tanner no longer heard the keys jingling, but then he heard Clark clapping. Eventually, Clark wandered back into the family room and began playing with his other toys. A few minutes later, Tanner got up to go to our bedroom, and as he glanced toward the front door on his way, he saw why Clark was so pleased with himself.

Pennsylvania: Day 3

Since we had done most everything we wanted to do on Day 2, we took it slow on Day 3. We stopped by Benjamin Franklin's grave and Clark threw a penny on it for good luck. We also stopped by a portrait museum and Tanner took a quick tour of the U.S. Mint while Clark and I waited outside since they don't allow cameras inside and they have no place to keep your stuff. I had been to the mint in Denver, so Clark and I practiced walking up and down stairs together for 20 minutes. We couldn't find his pacie and I decided we had lost it on the way to the Mint. Tanner and I were discussing this as we were walking away from the Mint and there lying in the middle of the sidewalk was Clark's red pacie. I guess Clark had decided to dump it on the way, but it was safely recovered! Clark is such a good traveler and we had a great time!

Pennsylvania: Day 2

The next day, we drove into Philadelphia. We decided to stop by Valley Forge National Park since it was on the way into the city. There were a lot of locals running and exercising in the park. It was a lot of fun, and we toured Washington's residence. The tour guide in the house said to make sure we have Clark touch the banister because it is the original banister that General Washington used. Clark thought it was cool!

After Valley Forge, we made our way into the city the scenic way. We drove along the river through Fairmount Park and we parked and walked up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We didn't actually spend any time in the museum, but we thought it was a cool building. I am not really a Rocky fan, but apparently there is a famous scene in Rocky that was filmed on the steps of the Museum. They even have a statue of him outside, and there was a line to get pictures taken in front of it! I thought it a little ridiculous, but we decided we needed to get a picture of my boys in front of it. Someone standing in line behind us said, as Tanner and Clark were walking up, "Which one is Rocky?" motioning to Clark versus the statue. I thought that was funny...after all, my child is quite the rock!

We were pleasantly surprised at how clean the city is and we loved the differences in the architecture of the buildings. We made our way over to Constitution Hall and the Liberty Bell and stopped on the way to grab Philly Cheesesteaks from a street vendor. They were yummy, but all Clark wanted to do was feed the birds.

Pennsylvania: Day 1

You may or may not recall that last year, my very first blog posts were from our Spring Break trip to Boston. I cannot believe it has been a year, but all I have to do is look at those pictures and see how small Clark used to be to know that a lot of time has passed.

This year, we decided to go up to Pennsylvania. We had visited Pittsburgh on our way to Virginia when we moved here, but had not seen the eastern half of the state. Our first day, we visited Hershey and then drove around Amish country near Lancaster. It was a beautiful day, and while our stop in Hershey was short, we breathed in the chocolate air as much as we could! We were so glad it was such a nice day because it meant the Amish were out and about town. I could not get enough of seeing the Amish children. They were adorable, especially the little Amish boys in their overalls and hats. I would seriously think about dressing Clark up like that except that I know he would hate me for it later. The little girls were out in the yard playing stick ball and giggling. We tried not to stare, but it was such beautiful countryside and beautiful people. They don't like their picture taken, so we respected that and only took a picture of the back of a buggy we saw on the road. My personal favorite was seeing a woman driving her buggy with her new baby sitting next to her in a brand new Graco carseat. They have no rubber wheels on their buggies, but she has a new Graco carseat! Love it.

Playing Around

Here are some fun pictures from this weekend!



Sometimes Clark doesn't like Tanner's form of playing, which I call torture.


We went to a couple of parks and Clark just loves climbing and running around!

My bear and My dog

For months Tanner has been trying to get Clark to love his bear. He would give him to Clark to sleep with, but whenever I saw Clark with bear, he didn't seem to like him. In fact, he would chuck him out of his crib when I would go get him up from naps. But finally one day, it clicked, and Clark LOVES his bear. One night Clark had an accident and bear got wet. I took it away to be washed, and Clark had to live without him for a few days. We substituted bear for doggy and he was okay with that. Once bear was nice and clean again, I gave him back and went to take away doggy, but Clark would have none of that. So now he sleeps with both, one in each arm. There really is something so cute about a little boy with stuffed animals.

15 Month Checkup

Clark is finally slowing down...and it seemed in one case going in the reverse direction! He only gained 8 oz. of weight and grew 1/4 inch in the last 3 months. They even have his head as being 1/2 cm smaller than it was in November. Go figure! Tanner and I have said quite frequently lately that he is starting to look like a little boy and no longer a baby. It's funny when you look back at baby pictures in comparison to now, how different they look, and in my opinion how much cuter they are now. I thought he was the cutest baby there ever was, but now when I look back at those pictures, I think "wow, he is a lot cuter now". I think it has a lot to do with the emerging personality coupled with individual physical features that begin to define themselves. Baby Clark was cute because he was a baby. Toddler Clark is cute because he IS Clark.