Fabulous Family Day

First of all, I am sorry for not blogging more regularly. Sometimes when I get to the point where I haven't posted in a month, I feel guilty and overwhelmed that I'm not doing a better job with this, and then I think "Ugh, I'm going to have to do a really long post to catch up," which then makes me feel more overwhelmed and then I put it off longer and longer. So, I have decided that I am not going to attempt to "catch up" on here. Those of you who read this are also all on Facebook with just one exception, I believe (ahem ROBIN THOMPSON!), so I know that you all know we have had a wonderful spring and a lovely trip to South Carolina last month. And now I will just proceed with today's topic... We had an amazingly wonderful family day today. It wasn't a particularly special day in the sense that we didn't have any major plans or special events going on, but it ended up being just pretty much perfect. You know, one of those days you wouldn't trade for any other day. We had a yummy breakfast, kinda played around a bit, and then headed out to Germantown's Mai Fest.

The first thing we did at Mai Fest was watch a kids German dance troupe do some dancing around the Maypole. Then we took Miri to meet some firefighters and look at fire trucks. Lately, Miri has been having a bit more stranger- and new situation-anxiety, so she stuck pretty close to Jason and me, but she was somewhat interested in the fire trucks.

A very nice firewoman even gave Miri a plastic fire chief hat to take home! Then we decided to have some lunch. Poor Jason had to take 4 different trips around the tent for various food/drink items while Miri and I held down some seats, but it was worth it, and we ultimately had a very yummy lunch. Miri was a HUGE fan of the hand-cut spiral potato chips with nacho cheese. I think she alone ate half the plate of them! The nacho cheese proved to be a bit messy, but the best foods always are!

After that, it was time to head home for Miri's nap. I even got to take a little nap myself during her nap-- what a wonderful treat! After Miri got up from her nap, we took a family bike ride. This is a very exciting thing for us, as Jason's bicycle and Miri's bike trailer are new acquisitions, and we hadn't tried out either yet. Miri was very good about wearing her helmet, and she really seemed to enjoy the bike ride in her trailer, although anytime I was out of her sight, she would call out worriedly "Mama? Mama?"

After that, Miri and I took a walk around the neighborhood (well, Miri actually rode in her "beep beep") and then played outside while Jason fixed dinner. For the last year, as a natural result of my part-time work schedule and Jason's more-than-40-hours/week work schedule, I have become the primary cook around here, and while I don't mind it... it's always really nice to have nights off sometimes that don't involve take-out or going out. While we were awaiting dinner, Miri and I were playing on the playset and she was (not too sneakily) spying on two little neighbor girls who were jumping on our next door neighbors' trampoline. The girls saw Miri watching them, and they came over to hang out in our yard a bit and ooh and aah over Miri (and Prescott). It always cracks me up when other kids talk about how cute Miriam is, being that they are kids themselves. At any rate, these little girls are in second and third grades, and they are super cute and sweet. They tried to play with Miri, but as I mentioned, she is in a shy stage, so she kinda just smiled shyly at them while hugging tightly to my leg. Perhaps they will be our babysitters in a few years! Once the food was all ready, we had a lovely dinner of burgers and corn on the cob out on the deck. We didn't grill an ear of corn for Miri because she is a slow teether, and I just didn't think she'd be able to do it without a full set of front teeth. But after her pointing insistently at my corn on the cob and saying "that! that!," I gave in and let her try my ear. She did great, and she loved it!

I had to bribe her with dip (oh my goodness, that girl loves dipping her food in condiments SO MUCH!) to get my corn back! It was so nice to eat outside. We have decided to forego getting a patio set this year, but we made it work by just pulling Miriam's highchair outside and Jason and I using our Adirondack chairs pulled up to the deck bench as a table. We Bashaws are resourceful. I hope we will do lots of al fresco dining this summer! After dinner, it was straight to bed for Miss Miriam. Now the kiddo is down, and Jason and I will probably settle down for a Netflix and some butter pecan. Perfect ending to a really wonderful day. I feel so lucky to have our little family and our house and just to be able to enjoy life together. Really, what more could a girl ask for?