Spring is Flinged!

We took full advantage of the gorgeous weather this weekend by spending 80% of it outside.  Whether at the playground, at a BBQ or a Spring Fling, we fully embraced the warmth and luckily, the over-abundance of pollen in the air did not affect any of us (yet).

Saturday morning started out with a quick trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house where James played with Lucy and Ella in the back yard.  You may not believe it, but our Lucy is not always a fan of other puppies - especially when they take the attention of Grandpa away from her, so we have slowly been socializing these two lovely ladies.  After 3 successful puppy play dates, we are in the clear. The girls had a blast playing and running and James had an even better time watching them.

Later that day, after a much-needed nap, we headed to the annual Little Rocky Run Spring Fling.  Apparently, this event happens every year at the rec center just down the road from us. 

Never noticed it.  

So sad, but luckily, our neighbors clued us in and we had the chance to bring our little man.  We took it one step further and invited his buddy Rafa to join in on the fun. 

I have to tell you, it was a pretty awesome Fling!  There were pony rides and a small petting zoo, a moon bounce, face painting, an Easter egg hunt AND a real live bunny ready to pose for pictures.  Who needs to go to the mall and pay when you can do it at the Fling!  Of course James was petrified of the oversized bunny, but that didn't stop him from stalking the poor thing...at a safe distance of course.  Rafa does not suffer from the same bunny-phobia that James apparently does.

The boys also participated in the popular Easter egg hunt.  I'm not so sure the boys knew why they were gathering eggs off the ground, but they both seemed to enjoy doing it!

Since the Fling took place at the rec center, the boys also had the chance to play on the playground and James NEVER passes up the chance to go down the slide. 

All in all, it was a great Fling and a great way to kick off Spring.  Later that day, we headed over to the Newlands to break in their new deck with a BBQ.  James was so cute trying to keep up with the older boys - especially Conner.  They both thought is was hilarious to tackle me and use me as a trampoline.

Happy Spring!

Being Kolb

This weekend we took a break from Being Mangiaracina and took a shot at Being Kolb. Adriana and John came down for a visit and we had a GREAT time (hopefully they agree!). This was their first time visiting our new place...visiting DC in fact and we had all kinds of plans to keep us busy.

After a 12 am arrival on Friday night ~ and a quick trip to Burger King for a late night snack ~ we all crashed and woke up on Saturday to a gorgeous day. The plan was simple ~ hit the pool for some summer sun. I think one of big reasons we were able to lure Adriana down to DC from life in NY was the promise of some pool time. And thank God the weather cooperated! The sun was hot and the water was cool ~ a perfect combination. After a good 2 hours, we all looked a bit burnt, but we were all smiles.

Next up, some lunch at Glory Days and a quick trip to the outlets in Leesburg. John was a happy camper with his Coronas and Adriana was in her element with the shopping.


The night finished BIG with a late night dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. Ed and I had gone to this place a while back and had a great dinner, so we thought we'd take the Kolb's since they are big fans of crab legs. We were seated on the back porch at a picnic table and had the entire place to ourselves. It was a lovely night and the roar of the Fairfax County Parkway delivered some white noise resembling the ocean. Well...maybe not, but we pretended it did! :)


John was a little skeptical of the place ~ we are much more inland than they are used to (being from Long Island and all) and Joe's can be a bit kitschy with their decor, but I think he was pleasantly surprised. We each got our own Crab Daddy Feast filled with Snow, Dungeness and King crab legs and did not hesitate diving right in when the steam pots were delivered. Paired with many a cold beer (and a Twisted Cherry Limeade for Adriana), it was the best meal we have had in a long time. Seriously...YUM!


This fabulous meal put us into immediate food coma's upon returning to the house. Time for bed! After an awesome visit on the first day, one might think it would have been hard to top it.

WRONG!

Sunday's plan was chock full of fun and it all started with a trip into the city for our Segway Tour. Now, I've been a DC girl for quite a while. Sure, there was that blip when I moved back to NY (and met my husband, thus making me a Mangiaracina and making this blog possible!), but let's be honest ~ DC is my town. My family has lived here for 21 years and in those 21 years I have seen what this city has to offer. With that said, there are only so many times one can see the Washington Monument without feeling a yawn coming on. That is, until I saw it on a Segway.


We arrived at City Segway Tours at around 10:45 am and after filling out some forms and watching a brief "What Not To Do" video, it was time to hop on and figure out how these things worked. Our tour guide Mike gave us the low-down on the basic functionality and had us each give it a try. It's pretty strange and awkward when you first get on, but after a while, you get the hang of it.


After our practice runs, it was time to get going. We were each assigned a Segway and they each had their own names which I thought was adorable. I had FDR, John had Beantown, Adriana had Jimmy and Ed had Big Red.


The tour guide led us out onto the street and we headed to the National Mall where we saw sites like the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument, and all of the Smithsonian museums. The Segways definitely drew a lot of attention, and why shouldn't they ~ they ROCK! We were all having a good time on them ~ especially John. So much so that I won't mention that he almost took a spill worthy of a weekend gag reel. What's even funnier is that the tour guide to ask if he was "hot dogging"! AWESOME!


Next, we headed down to the Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials where we were given some time to walk around (and it was a good thing ~ our feet were starting to go numb!). We had just enough time to visit Honest Abe and find the name of John's Uncle Tommy on the Vietnam Wall. So touching to see that, by the way.



We hopped back on for the final leg of the tour which included Constitution Gardens, the Eisenhower Executive Office, the Blair House and the White House. We even got to see the slightly nutso woman that has been protesting in front of the White House since 1981.


It really was a lot of fun to see DC on the Segway and is something that I think we would definitely do again in the future. After our tour ended (sad), we headed to Chinatown and hit up Potbelly for some lunch. Since we don't have NY-style deli's down here, we thought Potbelly was the next best thing. :)


The remainder of the day was spent at the house where we had a BBQ with Mom and Dad Q and cousin Michael Quartuccio who came for a visit from Baltimore where he is a big shot Doctor (so proud!!). It was a lovely evening filled with cold drinks, good food and great company. And it was the first time we had visitors over to use the new patio furniture. I'd say that it was an A+ kind of night!


We had such a good time with Adriana and John and really can't wait for them to come back for another visit. Being Kolb was not too bad! :)