Another Zoo Day

So today was a fantastic day! We met our friends Sunny and Seth and their two little boys, Ethan and Dylan, at the Reston Zoo! The Reston Zoo is much different then the national zoo. First off, you have to pay to get it. Although children under two are free, it is $10 an adult--plus you have to pay for feed if you want to feed the animals. They have buckets of what looks like mice do do and bottles filled with goats milk. At one point though, I looked over and caught Dylan sucking on the goats milk bottle. Although now I'm thinking he could have gotten very sick, at the time the only thing I could do was pull it out of his mouth and then laugh because it was very funny. I mean, what is a almost two year old going to do with a bottle? Of course put it in his mouth!

Here is a picture of AJ and Dylan looking at an Alligator:

Another difference is you actually get to use that feed to feed the animals and touch them as well! This is a kids dream I guess. It wasn't, however, my dream. You may know by now how I have a slight (or if you ask John a HUGE) obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to cleanliness. The entire time I kept thinking in my head "we are going to catch some God awful disease while we are here'. The animals were covered in mud for the most part. At one point John turned to me and said, "you want to start cleaning them, don't you". Well, my husband sure knows me very well. It took a lot for me not to get in there and start giving those suckers a bath. If it wasn't for me being a little afraid of them attacking me, I would have dived right it. Oh, and they had pigs there. I actually don't know if I have ever seen a real live pig that close up before. Regardless, they are very ugly animals. Anyway, the entire time we were looking at those ugly creatures, I kept thinking "we are going to catch Swine Flu from these things". Luckily, they had hand sanitizer stations EVERYWHERE. I made sure John, AJ, and myself were all hand sanitizered out.

Here is a picture of John and AJ feeding some goats and sheep. These things are RELENTLESS. It really is survival of the fittest! They would kill for the food.

Here is AJ and I posing with the bulls behind us:

The Reston Zoo was a good little size. For it being a fairly small zoo, they had what seemed like more animals then the National Zoo in DC. They also had A LOT less people. I thought for sure it would be packed, but it wasn't--awesome for a Saturday afternoon.

Sunny said in the week leading up to our visit that the best part was the tractor ride. She was so right. We loaded up and quickly got on our way. On our first stop, the camels came right up to us looking for food. These camels, much like the sheep and the goats mentioned above, were RELENTLESS. They wanted food and they wanted it not. We had a Sunny sandwich going--two camels had their necks and heads hoovered over her in a search for something--even plastic. If you ever go on this ride--PROTECT your bags/cameras/everything because these camels will take it from you! A little girl behind me had her bag stolen from right under her nose by a sneaky camel. Seriously, I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. Sunny was so right when she said that ride was the greatest part of the entire zoo! Sadly, we didn't get any pictures as we were trying to protect ourselves from the animals! If I take AJ back, that is one thing I will make sure we get--lots of pictures of the camels attacking us! Here are some other pictures (ugh..try getting a 15 month old to smile when all he wants to do is run around!):

After the zoo, we all strolled over to our house for dinner. I must say, it was a great night. Ethan is 3 and Dylan is nearly 2. AJ doesn't get a lot of play time with other kids. He enjoyed himself. Although I love playing one on one with AJ, I didn't need to as he had two other boys to play with. We basically just let them go off and do their thing while we kept a distance eye on them. It was really good for AJ to get that exposure to other kids his age. It makes me happy with our decision to send him to school in the new year (I'll save that update for another post later!).

Something else hit me tonight--the desire to have another child. I know what you all are thinking, here comes baby number 2! I know in my mind that it's not the right time, but I can still want something! We truly are not ready to start expanding our family, but I still want to have another one so AJ will have a buddy to play with all of the time! In the meantime, we are just going to start having to have more play dates with Ethan and Dylan!

After the Hammerly family left for the evening, AJ and John helped me clean up! The boys all really made a great mess--but the toys are so easy to clean! I started to sweep, but AJ insisted on sweeping for me! I felt like a little princess with my boys cleaning for me! I must be doing something right--here is proof my little man will be a great husband like his daddy one day!

So how else to end a wonderful day then with a big glass of red wine? I'm going to go retire with said wine. Church and a visit with the Hall side of the family is tomorrow! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

IT'S A GIRL!

Lauren is having a girl! So excited! The link to the blog is posted to the side, click to see pictures!

John's Birthday Celebration

For the first time since AJ was born, we managed to escape a full night away! My mom graciously offered to babysit her first born grandson (didn't even have to twist her arm or anything!). AJ did very well with her. He slept perfectly for them, played a ton, ate a ton, and pooped a ton for them. Yes, I said he pooped a ton. Must have been my mom's amazing lasagna (which I'm so happy to have been able to take leftovers home the next day!).

John and I got a hotel in DC--a suite in the Omni Shoreham hotel. The hotel was very beautiful and the suite was as well. We checked in, changed, and worked out together in the hotel gym for the first time in two years! It was a great workout--I'm still sore! We went back, showered, relaxed, and ordered room service for dinner. A bunch of our friends met us at the hotel for the Redskins game. After the game was over, we hopped over to Adams Morgan for some fun at our old favorite place--Tom Tom's. The place was great and had some really great DJ's. The bathrooms didn't change--same old gross bathrooms. I was very thankful that DC is smoke free. I love it! Here are a few pictures from the night.

John and I in our suite before going out for the night:


The group of us. Some of the guys look really scary. Smile please!

Us girls! Suzanne, Clare, and myself. It's awesome to have such close friends who have significant others that are close as well! It makes for some really great nights!

Needless to say, Sunday was a recovery day for John. I happened to be just fine. I woke up really early as usual and immediately started to miss my little man. John, on the other hand, couldn't wake up for anything. I took the opportunity to relax that morning and watch some TV without any interruptions. We checked out and went to get our little boy. I missed him so much, I ran to the door of my parents house to get in to see him. I think he missed me too, although he had a blast. All in all, a great weekend!

It's time to announce...

...another baby is on the way! No, it's not another Hall baby. It's a FOLEY baby! If you know Clare Hanna Foley, you know how very Irish she is. She was not only born and partially raised in Ireland, but she is an amazing Irish dancer. St. Patrick's day is never lame with Clare. Well--ironic as it is, the baby is due on St. Patrick's day! Needless to say, if the baby is ontime, it will be the most awesome St. Patrick's Day ever! Here is a picture of us this weekend (out celebrating John's birthday). She is another who will be all belly--a beautiful pregnant woman! Oh and excuse the very crazy husband of mine in the background. The drink in Clare's hand happens to be some really cold ice water :).

Catching Up

We have had a busy few weeks. AJ got sick after we returned from the Poconos. It was scary for John and I because it's the first time AJ has ever been sick (except for teething issues of course). He refused to eat for 4 days and after that it took a few days for him to get back to normal. John proceeded by getting sick a few days later, followed soon after by me.


Here is my little one actually sitting still for more than 2 seconds. Poor thing only wanted to rest:

Our good friends John and Lindsey came by to visit. It was great to see them and catch up. They are due with a girl in November. Here is AJ and Lindsey. Notice how he is touching the belly in both pictures:

Here is AJ and Daddy playing video games together for the first time. Look at the concentration they both have. Even AJ is concentrating, and he has no idea what he is doing!

Finally, it was John's 32nd birthday on August 20th. I'll update later with some of the weekend activities, but his actual birthday was very fun. We all had breakfast together then we had to work. After work, I prepared 6 pounds of what John likes to call "crab legs on steroids". These things were huge. I also made crab stuffed mushrooms for an appitizer. We opened up gifts afterward--John got a portable propane tailgate grill to take to the Skins games with him. Here is John and AJ with the wrapped gift:

The Poconos

We are back from our long weekend in the Poconos. We had a great time and it was wonderful to see my family. Here is our family of 3:

Thursday we had a pretty low key day. We took our time getting there, went grocery shopping, ate dinner and then hung out with my family. Leah, my cousin Shannon's daughter, is getting so big!!! She started to crawl. Her and AJ were hugging the entire weekend!

Friday we went to a little town for some ice cream and walking. Then everyone came over to our house for some dinner.

Saturday everyone else went white water rafting while we went to the town of Jim Thorpe. I really loved this town. It was so cute and quaint! We did some shopping, got some lunch, and took their 1880's train for a ride. The train ride was a bit of a waste of money I think, but it was still kind of neat. Anyway, afterwards we all met at my Uncle George's house in Split Rock for a cook out. It was really nice! Ava, my cousin Jen's baby girl, is getting big as well! Leah and AJ took turns giving her kisses and hugs. 4 Nelson babies in the span of a year--and all of them are adorable!

So now it's Monday and we are back to the grind. A busy week for us.

Guess what though...John turns 32 next Thursday!

A quick update...

AJ popped his 9th tooth! I was tickling him on my lap and could see a white little tooth in the back--so I promptly put my finger in there and sure enough, it really was a tooth! He was a little cranky last week, I guess it was teething!

We are off to the Pocono Mountains today. My family has been up there all week having a blast. We are packing the car as we speak and will hopefully be out of here soon! Stay tuned for some pictures of our short little trip!

AJ's first Redskins Training Camp

John took AJ to his very first Redskins Training camp. John said that so many people were commenting on how cute he was. Look at our little monkey, learning to throw already!

As most of you know, I'm a huge Eagles fan. John is a huge Skins fan. I agreed to let our children be raised skin fans. As much as this hurts, it pains me when people in this area that have NEVER been to Dallas (or whatever city), much less born and raised there, are fans of that city's team. I don't get it. I guess if we moved to San Diego, John will still be a Skins fan and will raise AJ a skins fan...but still, there is some connection at least I guess! So, I did agree. And I hate to admit this, John is a WAAAYY bigger fan than I am. He even has a Redskins couch. He is die hard, through thick and thin. I'm a pretty cool wife for allowing that craptastic couch in my house to begin with...especially since it's in the room where my office is :).

Back to AJ..he gets SO excited over Redskins stuff. He LOVES LOVES LOVES the skins. He sees the logo and goes nuts. Walking into a Redskins store is crazy. He pumps his fist in the air and says "boom-boom-boom boom boom". I must say, for a skins fan...he is JUST TOO CUTE!