Easter Holiday

Today was totally amazing and totally exhausting. 

Blaze had his swimming lesson--I had to do a lot of bribing to even get him to go. And there were parts that were bad--he gave me a thumbs down at one point and descended into tears at another. But overall, the teacher worked with him and got him through it. He made some new friends, tried some new skills, and at the end was very happy and very proud of himself. What a lesson in sticking with something, but also being easier on yourself. I was so proud of him. 

After the swimming lesson, he got to play in this cool park (above) for a bit. 

We headed to the National Gallery for a drop-in activity where you can build and build. Blaze goes crazy for stuff like this--he jumps right in and focuses from the first moment to the last. He made a golden tent and an alligator puppet. 

 

Then one of the educators ran a program on decoding pictures. It was so so great--she took us into the picture, helping us pay attention, using our imagination--like what it would feel like to walk through a muddy path, as the kids pretended to do so. It was great. We looked at two pictures with her and one as a family. 

The funniest part is seeing my kids in a classroom-like setting--Blaze, the quiet child, puts his hand up and confidently answers every question; Q barely answers and answers in a whisper, even about Greek mythology, which he knows very well. 

The gold building workshop through the ceiling reflection

Then we tubed up to Q's tennis lesson--he really enjoys it; it's basically games with a bunch of kids in the neighborhood. Blaze played in the adjacent playground, and we ran into the grocery store nearby to pick up stuff for dinner and sale-priced Cadbury Easter eggs for dessert. 

Two tulips in our garden!

Already nostalgically thinking about how much we'll miss this neighborhood when we leave.