Spring days - mega recap!

Well, posting pictures hasn't exactly been a priority these days.  Certainly between hanging with our little guy and carrying around #2, its been a bit busy!

The Cherry blossoms came pretty late this year.  Its always crazy packed in DC by the tidal basin during the Cherry Blossom Festival, but we decided to brave the crowds and check it out.  Austin has really enjoyed riding the metro these days, so a trip into DC is a little more fun and a little less stressful!  We found a spot with plenty of space to run around under the canopy of trees!

We stayed in town for Easter and finally made it to the neighborhood easter egg hunt this year.  Years past its been cold or rainy or we've had other plans.  There weren't too many kids this year, which made it better for the little ones.  Austin met the easter bunny - he wasn't so sure about him!

He immediately seemed to get the idea of gathering the eggs, although wasn't so good at remembering to put them in the basket.  He didn't have a clue there was anything inside, so he just ran around collecting whatever he could find!

Until finally discovering candy.  His first taste of a twix, he was pretty psyched!  For the next few days all we heard around the house was 'more eggs?'

Austin's buddy Boston was there too - at the end, they checked out each other's loot!  Thankfully alot of parents also stuffed eggs with stamps and stickers so there wasn't too much candy...yet.

The following weekend was actually Easter, so Saturday we had Boston and his family over for an egg hunt at our house.  This time they found raisens, cheddar bunnies and stickers inside their eggs.  They definitely took their time taking in the view and eating their snacks as they searched for eggs!

The candy fest continued into Easter sunday.  We went to cousin Andy's for Easter lunch, where the family did another egg hunt for Austin.  This time he knew that there was candy in the eggs, so he took his jolly time opening each one as he found it.  Good thing there was no competition - he was the only kid there!

The Easter bunny brought him a Cars themed basket: PJs, bubbles, and a new sippy cup.  The bubbles were definitely a hit!

Another perk of spring?  Flowers.  Pratima has tons of fresh flowers planted along their front sidewalk.  Every day Austin and the other kids love stopping to smell the flowers.  Its super cute.  He'll point out all the colors and sniff them and tell you that they smell good.  Sometimes the only way I can get him to leave is if I tell him there's a bumble bee nearby.  I'm thinking we need to plant some of our own at home and have him help!

The kids have really been having a blast together at Pratima's house.  Its been really fun to see them grow up together and really start to play together.  And stall together.  They have become the experts in how to not go home at the end of the day - particularly if its sunny out and they're playing outside.  One of them will get the others to run up to the fence and they run down the yard screaming and smiling...over and over again.  Until finally we convince them to all walk out together to the cars.  Its actually really adorable.

And yes, thats Austin sporting a pony tail.   He insisted at daycare that he get a pony tail like the girls.  He wore it all day and after pick up while waiting for daddy he kept saying, 'Austin show daddy ponytail.'  It was quite ridiculous, but crazy cute so I let him run with it.  And of course took plenty of pictures so that I can embarrass him one day when he's in his 20s.


While Mike was away in St Louis a few weeks ago, I took Austin up to Pennsylvania to visit with friends.  It was remarkable how grown up he seemed being able to actually play a bit with a 3 and 5 year old!

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A friend from work got him a suitcase for a baby shower gift and I finally used it for this trip. Austin loved it - he carried it around their house throughout the weekend and when we got home insisted on going on a walk outside with it too.  Its fun that he can associate his suitcase with a trip now!  Although it was a bit of work convincing him not to take it to daycare the next day!

We've been frequenting playgrounds quite a bit now that the weather is finally warmer.  Its gotten so much more fun these days since he can play on some of the bigger kid equipment.  The downside is that its tiring b/c he insists that you climb and slide with him...but that's a small price to pay for this happy face!

After a long weekend away with friends and a long ride home, we went out to dinner and then hit up Rita's for some ice cream.  Austin's had ice cream before, but definitely not in a cone and definitely not in this quantity.  Needless to say, he was super psyched!  When we left he said 'bye bye Ice Cream House'.

This past weekend we went to a local 'Truck Touch' event.  I think maybe it was actually a bit overwhelming to see so many trucks, especially at this age.  Maybe next year it'll be a bigger hit.  But, the big school bus was definitely pretty exciting to get so close to.  He wasn't quite as sure about the huge bulldozer though!

We've certainly been busy this spring.  Here's a roundup of a few more pics.  Its definitely fun being two...and fun for us being parents of a 2 year old!