A busy first 2 weeks

The past 3 weeks have been wonderful with Brooke. She became quite the local traveler while my parents were in town. Since she was sleeping so well, and I was a little stir crazy, we made multiple day trips in the DC area before my parents left town on July 30th. Brooke's first day trip was to Great Falls (on the Potomac River) on Sunday July 22nd. It was a gorgeous day and she was quite a good traveler and slept most of the trip and only fussed once when she was hungry. Rusty and I were surprised to see the difference in water level between November and July, when we last visited the falls. It was amazing to see all the rocks that cause the treacherous falls that we saw in November.

November 2006

July 2007


Monday, we went to Mt. Vernon and toured through George Washington's home and drove through Washington D.C to see some of the sights. Since we got such a late start in the afternoon, we did not have a chance to go through the educational center and would have to go back another day. The rest of the evening we drove through D.C. and stopped off at the Marine Corps Memorial and the Air Force Memorial. The sunset over D.C. made for some great pictures at these memorials. It was a long evening in the car, but Brooke slept through it all. Rusty even found ways to "rock" Brooke back to sleep with the car while idling in a few parking lots.

Thursday we toured the Washington Zoo and spent lots of time watching the Giant Pandas. Actually, Brooke built in a pit stop when we got to the Giant Pandas and decided it was lunch time. Since it was a hot day and the indoor exhibit was "slightly" air conditioned, it made for a great pit stop. Luckily, it gave the pandas enough time to wake up from their naps and we were able to see the baby panda eating and rolling around on the rocks. We also spent a lot of time at the indoor bird exhibit. I think it was my Dad's favorite stop at the zoo. Overall, it was quite the experience for me, having to find all the elevators instead of using escalators to navigate the Metro subway system. I guess there is a first time for everything. At least my next journey on the Metro with Brooke will be a little less stressful having worked out some of the kinks already.


Friday, Brooke and I spent a day at home resting, and my parents went to the Pentagon for a tour from Rusty. Rusty gave them a wonderful tour and lots of great information that my mom will take back to share with the kids in her 2nd grade classroom.



Saturday we revisited Mt Vernon and the education center. Brooke even slept through loud canon firing sounds during a movie. I think Brooke can sleep through anything ... Rusty's band practice, dogs barking, the vacuum cleaner, and even canon shots.

Monday my parents left for Portland and Brooke and I were home alone for the first time all week. We spent most of the week sleeping and eating, with a few doctors appointments in between. Brooke now weighs 8 lbs 1 oz. and continues to eat and sleep lots. I am very happy that she is starting to get some kind of a schedule down and is sleeping better at night and is awake more during the day. Even Lance and Einstein enjoy watching her kick when she is laying on her activity mat.

We are having lots of fun watching Brooke grow and change and can't wait to have more family meet her in September.