Murray Staycation 2010 – Day 7

Today was a great day! We woke up bright and early (ok, 8:30) so that we could be in DC by 10:00. At 10:30 was a special presentation at the Planetarium at the National Air and Space Museum. “One World, One Sky,” which featured the one and only Big Bird and Elmo…and another character (Hu Hu Zhu) from Sesame Street in China. Elmo and Hu Hu Zhu even traveled to the moon! Very exciting stuff! The room was full of kids and the movie was great. They talked about the Big Dipper and the North Star, and even had all the kids count the stars in the Big Dipper, and sing Twinkle Twinkle. Ella loved it…as did all of the other kids in the room.

After the Planetarium we headed to the cafeteria, which happened to be the big yellow M. Could the day get any more perfect for Ella? After lunch and a short walk through the museum, we headed outside (since this is the first day on our staycation that was actually cool enough to walk outside) and walked through the sculpture garden, then headed over to the carousel for a ride. Ella rode twice, once on a horse with me standing next to her, and once on the bench with Joe. She was VERY excited!

Joe and I have learned that Ella loves getting out and doing things. Every day when we go out she has a great time wherever we are, then as soon as we start heading back to the car the tears start flowing. She spends the entire drive home crying that she wants her purple seat (her stroller) and that she doesn’t want to go home, she wants to go outside. Today we decided to take her to the park as a transition spot, so we got out and walked around the lake at the park, played at the playground, looked at the fish and the turtles, and got ice cream. At the end of all that Joe and I were very tired and ready to head home. Ella, on the other hand, was not. She still cried all the way home. The good thing is that when we get home we let her lay on her Elmo couch, or in the basement, and watch TV, and within just a few minutes she’s fine.

We wrapped up our afternoon by baking cookies. REAL cookies! Not the “home baked” kind that I usually make. I pre-measured everything so all Ella had to do was dump it in the bowl. Her apron and chef hat were a present from GiGi’s friend, Judy. Ella loves them and won’t wear the apron without the hat. Today she discovered that the cupcakes on her apron have sparkles. This was very exciting news!

I’m sad that Murray Staycation 2010 is almost over. It has really been a great week. We were reminded how fortunate we are to live here. We have so many activities and amazing things to see right out our front door. What a blessing to be able to experience it all.

Murray Staycation 2010 – Day 6

Today was a very exciting day in the Murray house! Today Ella, Metti, Joe and I all piled into the van and headed to Ella’s preschool where we had the privilege of meeting her new preschool teacher! It was a great meeting and Joe, Metti and I feel extremely confident that this is the right step. Ella is ready for preschool. She walked around the classroom and checked out all of the toys. She was cooking in the kitchen and took food to everyone. She even sang a song for her teacher…Frosty the Snowman. I think everyone was impressed that she knows all of the words and sang the right tune. This is going to be so great for Ella! Preschool begins September 13th, so if you all will please pray for Ella, Metti, Mrs. G, and all of the kids in Ella’s class.

After our “church school” (that’s what Ella called it) meeting, we dropped Metti off then headed to Hard Times Café for a yummy chili lunch, then to the pool store to pick up some pool salt for Ella’s bath (it helps the water not sting). Ella didn’t sleep very well last night, so after the pool store she told us that she wanted to go home and take a nap, so that’s exactly what we did. We came home and Joe and I worked on some family business while Ella laid in the basement and slept. Of course now she’s not tired.

Joe and I have really noticed that Ella is coming out of her shell. It’s such an answer to prayer! I’ve mentioned before that Ella’s shyness has, in many ways, been harder for us to deal with than her EB. We’re social. We like having dinner with friends. We like going out. We just like people. So to throw a shy child into the mix can really cramp our style! But just over the past couple of months we’ve really noticed that Ella isn’t as shy anymore. Sure, she’s timid at the beginning, but within minutes she’s talking to people without hesitation. Even today her teacher said, “You keep saying that she’s shy, but I don’t really see that.” At lunch she ordered for herself, “I want a hot dog.” And when the waitress asked her if she wanted French fries, applesauce or a fruit cup, Ella looked at her and said, “Applesauce.” After lunch we went to the Christian bookstore that’s next door to Hard Times, and Ella picked out a new book. She went to the register and when we told her that the lady needed to scan the book, Ella reached up and handed the book to her. Then when she was done scanning she asked Ella, “Do you want it in a bag, or would you like to just carry it out like this?” Ella looked and her and said, “I just want to carry it out like this.” She’s so fun to have around, and this staycation has been a great opportunity to get to hang out with her more.

Murray Staycation 2010 – Day 5

This morning was another relaxing morning. Joe went out and got us breakfast from Dunkin Donuts (don’t judge…it’s our staycation). We had a meeting at 12:30 in Old Town with the Eagles in Alexandria. We’ve mentioned the Eagles several times on this blog, and you all know how much we love this organization (specifically the Eagles of MD), so we decided to look into becoming members. We had a great meeting with 2 local members and they answered all of our questions. We now have the paperwork in hand to join, so we just need to fill it out.

After our meeting with the Eagles we took Ella to a special treat. We went to a place called “Paint This” and it’s a paint your own pottery store. We made the mistake of telling Ella that we were going to paint things, so all she talked about all morning was how she wanted to go paint a cup. We got there and she picked out a cup with the ABC’s on it. It’s pink on the outside and green on the inside. She actually did pretty well. Joe and I had to clean up some of the paint drops, but all in all it was evenly colored and looked great…for a 3 year old. She had a blast and probably would have stayed there all day if we had let her.

Tonight we headed up to MD to have dinner with our good friends, Russ and Jenni. Many of you remember Jenni as my maid of honor in our wedding, and as the one who made the CD when Ella was born. Since they live in MD we don’t get to see them (and their precious 2 year old daughter, Millie) nearly as much as we want to. So we figured Murray Staycation 2010 was the perfect opportunity to head up to MD for dinner. It was a great time hanging out. Millie is so sweet and was so great with Ella. She asked Ella to sit on her princess couch with her, and even offered to kiss her boo boos. Ella, of course, fell asleep in the car on the way home. She’s been sleeping great these past few nights. I think we’re just tiring her out so much during the day that she can’t help but sleep well.

It was another great day for the Murray staycation. We highly recommend taking one.

Murray Staycation 2010 – Day 4

I am not surprised in the least that Ella fell asleep within 5 minutes of us putting her to bed, and Joe wasn’t too far behind her. It was a busy day!

This morning started off nice and lazy. Ella slept from midnight until 9 am! That’s big news in our house! When she got up we had a nice relaxing breakfast as a family (sausage and eggs), then got ready to start our day. The air quality in DC was supposed to be really bad today (that basically means that with the heat mixed with the pollution, people shouldn’t really be outside actually breathing the air…ahhh, city life). So we explored all of our options and decided that we would spend the day downtown at the Museum of Natural History. Joe had never been and I hadn’t been since I first moved here, so it would be a great family outing.

It was hotter than ‘you know what’ outside, and the Lord was really watching out for us because we found a parking spot right on the mall RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the museum! If you’ve ever been to DC you know how amazing that is! We were so pumped! We headed inside and straight upstairs to the Butterfly Exhibit. Once again, the Lord was looking out for us because unbeknownst to us, Tuesdays the tickets to the butterfly exhibit are FREE! WOO HOO! Ella loved looking at all the butterflies. A couple of times they flew right past her and tickled her arm or face.

After the butterfly exhibit we toured the rest of the museum. Of course I had to see the Hope Diamond. And of course I had to get a picture of an Alexandrite (Katie Alexander…Alexandrite…get it?), which also happens to be Ella’s birth stone (coincidence? I think NOT).

We decided that since we were already downtown, we’d stroll next door to the Museum of American History and see what they had to offer. First stop…ice cream. Second stop…Julia Childs kitchen. We didn’t see every exhibit, but we hit a few of the highlights we thought Ella would enjoy. Her favorite, by far, was “America on the Move” which displayed several trains and cars. She loved each and every one of the trains. They even have an old subway that simulates a ride. Ella didn’t want to get off of that one. We also hit “Star Spangled Banner” where we sang the National Anthem while looking at the flag that actually inspired the writing of our National Anthem. It was amazing! We finished our trip with a stop at “Treasures of Pop Culture.” I thought there would be more things for Ella here, but unfortunately the only thing she recognized was this little guy.

Ella did NOT want to leave. She cried the whole way home and kept saying that she wanted to go to the store (apparently a museum is very similar to a store when you’re 3 years old) and she wanted to ride the train. Once we got home and turned on Dora she was fine. I’m confident that her little melt-down was because she was tired.

We finished up the day with dinner at our good friend, Beck’s house. Our other good friends, Jessica and Rob, and Beck’s friend Brian, joined us and we had a great time. Ella is really coming out of her shell! She wasn’t shy in the least at dinner. She happily sang for everyone and when we left she told each person goodbye. It was a great day!