May Activities

Daddy's little all-star, like his shirt says, having fun playing patty cake:

We went to the National Cryptologic Museum recently for their annual military festivities.  We toured some current and vintage military vehicles; the girls got to try on 'drunk' glasses and they enjoyed swaying around the room dizzily; Nate and I had our body fat measured with a fancy machine- and I found out I am about 24-25% fat.   

From WWII:

Derek is constantly messing with Snoopy's water bowl.  He puts stuff in it, conducting experiments.  He splashes in it, steps in it, pours it out, etc.  We almost always have Snoopy's water bowl up on the counter to keep Derek away.  One day, while the water bowl was on the kitchen counter above his head, Derek managed to grab it and pour it upside down, all over himself.  He was terrified of the water spilling all over his head:

Derek loves reading books, and Karina was nice enough to oblige him:

Happy baby:

In honor of Norway's Constitution Day, the girls put on their bunads (national  costumes).  I think Lydia's dress is actually a slightly larger size, but one dress is meant to be full length, and the other knee length.  

We signed up for Park Quest this year, a Maryland program where many different state parks have fun activities ('quests') for kids to complete.  We went to our first quest, at Seneca Creek State Park and we had to canoe around the lake and write down different types of birds and other animals listed at different stations around the lake.  We had the choice of a paddle boat or a canoe.  The girls chose a canoe, not understanding that a paddle boat would be much more steady.  In the beginning, Karina was positively terrified.  She was holding onto the bar in front of her and crying while I was walking around the lake with Derek since the canoe was supposedly too small to hold all of us.  

At the first station, Derek and I joined Nate and the girls at the front of the canoe.  Apparently, that made the canoe not sway so much, since the weight balanced better, and Karina calmed down, enjoying herself.   We saw a lot of turtles sunning themselves on logs and rocks, as well as a few fish swimming around and being caught by fishermen. We canoed around the lake (Nate rowed, while I kept Derek in the boat) until Derek was losing patience.  I thought the canoe ride was a blast, and I think everyone else did too.  Next time, we would choose a paddle boat though. 

The park had a playground with a zip line.  Lydia tried it first and then Karina did.  She wanted to do it over and over again, surprisingly. 

Speedster adventure baby going down the slide:

I made the mistake(?) of showing the girls how the cushions on the couch can be removed and now they are constantly removing them to build fortresses.  Derek is happy to destroy their hard work, or sometimes to just squeeze inside and participate.  

Lydia surprised me one day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  I had no idea she knew it.  Apparently, everyone at preschool has to recite it at the start of each school day. I'm sure she doesn't know what most of the words mean.  

Karina is diligent practicing piano.  Here she is playing one of the songs from one of her books: