Surprise!

A few weeks back, while I was in Dallas for work, Ed and James decided to surprise a special lady on her birthday.  Rather than spend the weekend alone with an active toddler, Ed thought, why not drive up to Long Island and surprise Grandma Mangiaracina on her birthday.  Since I wasn't there, I can't speak to the exact reaction, but I can tell you that she was probably the happiest lady in the world when she saw them with flowers and bagels in hand - even if she was still in her jammies!

They spent the day hanging out at the house and in Grandma's gorgeous yard and enjoyed a lovely birthday dinner where James didn't melt down until dessert!  The night ended with James chasing the cats and bonding with his Aunts and Uncles.  All in all, I think Grandma Mangiaracina had a wonderful birthday.

But the party didn't stop there. Day 2 of the birthday weekend was filled with sharks, jelly fish and monkeys.  Monkeys you ask?  Yes, monkeys.  :)  The Long Island Aquarium delivered all of the above and more including lots of great photos.

See... I told you. :)  Good times were had by all in New York with family.  I'm sorry that I missed it, but I'm so glad that Ed and James were able to make Grandma Mangiaracina so happy on her birthday this year.

Everybody Loves a Kid Fest

These days, we need to make sure that our weekend time is mapped out with fun activities to keep a certain someone occupied and happy.  This past weekend, we hit up Fall for Fairfax Kid Fest at the Fairfax County Government Center and even though it was a Fall event, the weather didn't get the message and served up hot temps for our day at the fair.

The main driver for our participation in this event was the petting zoo.  James is an animal lover so whenever there is an opportunity for him to get up close and personal, we take advantage.  The best part - the Petting Zoo was a free attraction so yippee for us!  The Llama Llamas in Pajamas scared him a little bit, but he was in love with the bunnies (as usual).  He even got to see some ducks and put the word "duck" in action - one of the many words on his ever growing list.

After we said bye-bye to all the animals, we made our way through the many vendor tents, and came upon another favorite - Firetrucks!! The local squad was there giving tours of the different rigs and letting the kiddos sit in the Fireman's seat.  Ever since a Fireman visited James' school, he has been a fan - what boy isn't!  We actually read a book about Firemen every night before bed.  James was very excited to see one up so close - but not excited enough to sit in it.  I have to give the Fireman credit for keeping his cool as he hoisted a screaming James into the seat. :)

The best part was watching the reaction on James' face when he was looking up at the ladder extended into the sky.  I'm pretty sure that was the first time he saw it which, as a parent, is always amazing to witness.

All in all, it was a fun couple of hours and served as some entertainment for the little man.  If you live in Northern VA and have kiddos, this festival is a great one.  There are a ton of carnival rides and games as well as bounce houses, craft areas, a scarecrow building competition and pony rides.  James was a little young to take advantage of everything, but we definitely head back when he is a little older.  

For those of you who don't have kiddos, Kid Fest is the best form of birth control out there.  :)

And the Winner is....

If you are my Facebook friend, you may remember that I was recently soliciting advice on SLR cameras.  I have been wanting one of these puppies for quite a while, but never had the extra cash to get me one. Well, after saving lots and lots of pennies, it was finally time to bite the bullet, do some research and figure out which of the thousands of models of cameras I should invest in.

I started the research with my Facebook friends and got some solid advice (thank you!!!).  I knew the price point I wanted to stay near and I knew the type of features that interested me.  After a few trips to Best Buy and some major Amazon stalking, I narrowed it down to 2 models - the Canon EOS Rebel SL1 and the Nikon D5200.  They are both very comparable from the specs right down to the price so what it ultimately came down to was how it felt when I was holding it.  The Nikon was great, but much bulkier than the Canon.  The Canon model is a new one and is one of the smallest SLR camera's out there.  It also has a touch screen which was a nice added bonus.  Between the feel and the great bulk deal that Best Buy was offering (300mm lens, case, 16GB SD card and lens cleaner), it was a no brainer.  Canon came out on top.

So here I am.  A novice at photography holding a mega-camera in my hands.  Luckily, Canon makes it very easy for a newbie like me to jump right in and take some awesome photos.  They have a variety of pre-set "modes" to capture just about anything from portraits to kids in motion to night scenes.  They also have a few modes that allow you to choose what you want.  Of course, I have no idea what I'm doing so I'm sticking with the pre-set modes for now.  With just a few clicks, I got some great shots.  What a difference!

It's amazing how crisper (word?) James looks with the new camera vs. the old.  And that was just a test shot.  Here are some more test shots taken while at Grandma and Grandpa's house last weekend:

The fact that I was able to get that action shot of Lucy licking James without any blur is amazing. Not to knock my old camera, but no way that would have have happened.   Now that I have this new amazing piece of equipment, the number of photos I take is going to increase ten fold - which is huge since I was already taking a ridiculous amount of pictures.  Thank God for the Apple Time Capsule and it's 2TB of memory!  

So thank you for all the great advice Facebook friends - so far very pleased with my choice!  

Mama's Takin' Us to the Zoo Tomorrow...We Can Play All Day!

If you are not a parent to a small child, you probably don't recognize the reference to the Raffi song and are absolved from pressing Play below.  Those of you who were bopping your head when you read the title, this is for you:

Why am I putting you through this torturous exciting musical experience?  Why, to tell you that we went to the zoo of course!  Last Saturday was one of the nicest days on record so we decided to pack up the car and head to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

One of the best things about this zoo is that it is free.  And typically you get what you pay for, but when it comes to the National Zoo, that is not the case.  This zoo is filled with all sorts of beautiful animals placed along different themed trails and walks.  The most popular section these days is the Asia Trail where the adorable pandas live.  A new cub was born a few weeks back and although she is not on display, you can get a peek at her on the Panda Cam!  There are actually all sorts of cameras set up on the zoo's website to view all the animals.

But we weren't at the zoo to watch them on camera. We were there to see them in the flesh - and boy did we!  With the weather being so nice, the animals were out and about ready to be photographed.  From small critters like the prairie dogs and turtles to big guys like lions and zebras, we saw it all!

The biggest hit of the day was over at the Think Tank with the lovable orangutans. There were 2 of them hanging around and the female decided to come on over to say hi to James and pose for some photos.  She was so close to the glass that James actually got a little spooked and started freaking out. He pulled it together though as soon as she started to walk away.

After a quick lunch (where James decided he would eat his fruit cup from the comforts of the ground), we made our way to the Elephant House where one of these cool guys entertained us with a dance.  James was all smiles watching the big guy boogie!

We eventually made our way to the Great Ape area and were surprised to see all of the gorillas outside playing.  There are a total of 6 gorillas at the National Zoo at this time - the youngest born in 2009.  James LOVED watching these guys in action and made lots and lots of monkey sounds while we were there.

All in all, we had a great time.  James even got to ride on a Merry-Go-Round for the first time and he absolutely loved it.  Thank goodness - I wasn't about to tuck and roll off of it with him in my arms if he had a melt down!