All the Right Moves!

Charlotte dancing to the Electric Company at the White House Easter Egg Roll!

White House Easter Egg Roll

Chuck, Charlotte and I had the opportunity to take part in a great White House tradition....the annual White House Easter Egg Role! The Egg Role has taken place on the White House lawn for over 100 years. For the event the First Family invites children and their families to the White House lawn for some Easter fun (including rolling an Easter egg down the White House lawn). It is extremely hard to get tickets to this event. I was lucky enough to be asked to work at the Egg Role this year. The nonprofit I work for, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was asked to set up a booth to teach kids about the science of eggs. Through work I was able to get tickets for Chuck and Charlotte too.
It was really cool to be a part of this historic event....and very cool to be so close to the White House. The highlight was definitely seeing President Obama, Mrs. Obama and their girls. The First Family welcomed everyone and invited us all to "hang out and have fun!"
Charlotte had a great time watching all the kids, seeing the dressed up characters, and listening to the music. Chuck and I had a great time walking around the White House grounds and taking pictures. It was a great day that we'll always remember!

President Obama welcoming everyone!

First Lady Michelle Obama tells us all to "have fun!"

I arrived at the White House at 6:30am, way before the crowds at 9am.

Charlotte hanging out on the White House lawn!

Chuck and Charlotte....so close to the White House!

The family in front of the White House with the sign for my work's egg education booth behind us.

Charlotte meeting Winnie-the-Pooh....she "hugged" him, it was so cute!

Charlotte in the egg chair!
The theme of the 2009 Egg Role was "Let's Play", focusing on being active, exercising and eating right. They had basketball courts, soccer, and yoga. Here's Charlotte doing her best yoga move on the White House lawn!

The Cousins Visit, Part 5: Artwork!

Chuck had the great idea to have Anna and Mary Jane paint pictures for Charlotte's playroom. The girls loved the project and their paintings turned out awesome. Anna painted dogs for Charlotte and MJ painted flower and a house. The paintings are proudly hanging in Charlotte's playroom. When we are in there playing she points at them and says "get! get!". She wants to go over and touch them.

The Cousins Visit, Part 4: Washington, DC

Their visit happened to coincide with the blooming of the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, DC. We decided to fight the crowds on Sunday and headed in to DC (via Metro) and check out the blossoms and, of course, see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed it on the National Mall. It was quite a little adventure, and everyone enjoyed it. While we fought the crowds to view the blossoms Charlotte was totally relaxing and eating O's in her stroller (see pic below!).

Picnic on the National Mall

Charlotte checking out the books at the Kid's Discovery Center at the Natural History Museum

MJ catching a ride from Uncle Chuck.

Charlotte sprawled out in her stoller, relaxing!

The Cousins Visit, Part 3: Downtown Annapolis

One afternoon we ventured to downtown Annapolis for a little boat ride on the Severn River & the Bay. Everybody enjoyed getting out of the water (although it was SUPER windy!). After the boat ride we had lunch at a cute little diner and then ice cream! Charlotte just loved being one of the girls. She was happy as a clam to be hauled around to all the activities. What a great day!

MJ and the bunny boat!

A little cousins silliness!

A little cousin love!

The gang at lunch. (Charlotte watching the ceiling fan.)

The Cousins Visit, Part 2: The Beach

The beautiful weather also allowed us to walk to our community beach (twice!) to enjoy it and play in the sand. Anna and MJ loved building sand castles and even a little "pool" for Charlotte to dip her feet in. They are always thinking their little cousin, Char!

Charlotte in the gazebo at the park. We call it her "house" and she loves hanging out in it.

Aunt List & Charlotte...this was our morning walk that we took to the beach at about 8am! It was so pretty down there in the morning.

The Cousins Visit, Part 1: Playing in the Yard

Charlotte's Aunt Lisa (my sis!) brought her girls, Charlotte's cousins Anna and Mary Jane, to Annapolis for a long weekend visit. They arrived Friday night from Madison, WI and stayed til Tuesday. I really can't even begin to tell you all what an AWESOME time we had. The weather was perfect, so we did lots of outdoor actives with the girls. It was just so great to have the cousins together. Charlotte got a huge smile on her face every time Anna or MJ was around. Anna and MJ loved playing with Charlotte, helping her, and just being around her. They were actually sad when Charlotte had to take naps (although Charlotte would not take her afternoon nap the entire time they were here! She just didn't want to miss one minute with her cousins!)

We took lots of pictures, so the next FIVE posts are all cousin related! Enjoy!

We spent lots of time playing in our backyard. The girls loved playing with Amelia.

Charlotte can't get enough of pushing her cart! She says "cart! cart! cart!" every time she sees it. She'll push it all over the yard for an hour straight. It's just her thing at the moment!