Richmond, VA: The Land of Natural Disasters

Busy week in RVA... first an earthquake!  It was a 5.8 one felt all along the East Coast.  Lucky for me with an office just 15 miles from the epicenter! I was in my office at the time and had no idea what was going on.  Apparently a childhood in California with earthquake drills twice a year didn't properly prepare me as I wandered into the hallway with everyone else at CarMax wondering what to do :)  It was a pretty good shake but there was no damage at all or actual fear of being hurt.  Pauline said Charlie slept through it.

Then came Miss Irene on Saturday!  James ran a half marathon in it in the morning like a crazy person then wind and rain whipped around our house knocking out power around noon.  We hunkered down for awhile then headed over to Jamie and Annie's to get a little light for dinner.  Charlie had his bath there too before we drove back home during a lull in all of the action.  Thank goodness, our house escaped just fine but others weren't quite as lucky.  We went walking around the neighborhood this morning and took several pictures of big tress down all over the roads, cars and houses.  While there were many, many trees down it looks like there was minimal damage.  Our power was back on when we came home from our walk which we are very thankful for... one day without power is quite enough for me!  I hear that most of Richmond is still without :( Below are some pictures from all the fun:

The only picture I took during the storm... nice lazy Saturday staying in jammies until noon.

Ready to check out the damage... in boots of course

We saw and heard plenty of these out and about much to Charlie's delight

Right around the corner at our little market

On Monument

Also on Monument

Also on Monument

See Stonewall Jackson behind the tree?

Posing like tourists... so inappropriate!

On Stuart

On Park... poor Carolina fans!

Back home and more interested than ever in his fire truck

Calling Grandma and Grandpa with our power back on! Weather Channel appropriately in the background.

We will rebuild!

2-year-old Stats

Weight: 29.3 lbs (50th%)
Height: 36.5 inches (90th%)
Head: 19.5 inches (75th%)

Boots and Puddles

I bought Charlie some boots last weekend because he has had so much fun wearing an old pair around Pauline's house.  We are super-excited when there was a big thunderstrom on Sunday and promptly headed outside to check out the puddles.  He had a great time and was so proud of his boots.  Everyone who walked by or was outside of their house, got an explanation from Charlie (as well as he can do) about his new boots and the puddles he was splashing in.  Needless to say, they were all very impressed :)  I couldn't resist running inside to get the camera.

Splash, splash (these puddles were a little lame)

"See my boots!"

"This is fun!"

"Serious fun"

Adventures on the Potty

We now keep a potty in our living room.  Classy.  We've been talking about it with Charlie but are waiting for him to take an interest in it prior to encouraging him too much to actually use it.  Upon "assuming the position" last weekend however, we suggested that he take off his diaper and use it.  He was open to it so we tried.  One log in the potty, two on the floor and a puddle of pee on the floor later, we claimed success! And got to work cleaning it all up.  I did not take a picture :)  I did however get another cute one of him sitting on it with his clothes on to mark the occasion...

A little choo-choo obsessed

For Charlie's birthday, he got a little wooden train track and some new trains.  Ever since then, it is the main thing he wants to do when we are home.  As soon as he gets up or when we come home in the afternoon, he bee-lines for them saying "Choo choo track, choo choo track" then dumps them out and goes to town.  I'm pretty sure he would then play for hours but we usually interrupt him with dinner or encouragement to go outside or do something else.  Even when we leave the house in the morning, he says "Bye-bye choo choo," instead of "Bye-bye doggie."  Poor Marl has taken a back seat to the train.

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

We checked out the Richmond Zoo this weekend.  It had a lot of animals.... everything you'd expect except for an elephant but with tons of monkeys and camels to make up for it.  It wasn't the nicest zoo.  The animal pens were kind of small and the animals all looked a little sad.  I'm glad we went this one time and Charlie seemed to enjoy it but I don't know that I want to give them my money a second time.  Charlie was not too outwardly excited about many of the animals but he was however very excited about riding the "train" which was a was a little truck painted to look like a train.  Charlie didn't seem to notice :)  Below are some pictures from our day...

Anxiously waiting for the train

Getting ready to ride (with his super-serious-intense face)

A friend we met on the train

Seeing some other friends

The "train"

Riding around the zoo

A sad looking camel

Highlight of the zoo... giraffes who eat from your hands.  We were a little scared to get in the mix but had fun watching the other people feed them.

Looking at some fish and turtles

"Mom, see these monkeys?"

Running to the next animal.

We even took a tiger home with us!

Kisses!

Another Trim

Charlie got his third haircut this weekend!  It seems to grow really fast these days.  Of course when he looked all cute and trimmed up, I can't resist taking a bunch of pictures :)

"Do I need a haircut"

"Maybe just on the sides?"

Much better

Practicing his smile

Back to Golf!

"Look at all of my clubs!"

Nice form

It is a little mohawk-y on the top

"Do I need a haircut"