Lady Gaga

Last weekend we had a very special visitor - our very own Lady Gaga, a.k.a. Fionn's maternal grandmother.  My wonderful mom arrived last Thursday night and spent a long weekend with us.  Mom's flight touched down right around the time Fionn entered Dreamland that night, so he had to wait until the following morning to see his special visitor.  As you can imagine, he was beyond thrilled to see his Gaga sitting at the breakfast table on Friday morning.  He was also pretty psyched about the pumpkin bread that was made on her behalf. 

We hit the ground running on our weekend o' fun.  Mom was quite the trooper as we had a full itinerary planned.  First stop?  The National Zoo which has become one of our favorite haunts in the past few months.  Fionn especially loves to see the monkeys and the lions.  Oh, and the spray zones that are located throughout the zoo are always a huge hit.  Fionn had a blast showing his Gaga around his hometown zoo.  This trip we were also particularly delighted to see the baby cheetahs (who are not such little babies anymore) and the elephants.  We also saw the poor mama panda bear, Mei Xiang, who recently lost her newborn cub.  It was heartbreaking to see Mei Xiang slumped over a tree branch, and Mom and I agreed that she appeared to be in despair.  I wish I had gotten a good picture of her as she was simply beautiful.  But then again, perhaps it was better to leave her alone in her grief. 

We did, however, get a couple of pics of The Boy and his Gaga with a panda statue.  So there you go.

 

We kicked off Saturday morning with a neighborhood parade which celebrated the 150 years that our little 'hood has been in existence.  Fionn was eager to throw his hat (helmet?) in the ring to show his support for our Brookland community.  He rode his trike with gusto.  Gusto, I tell you.  Of course, he still isn't using his pedals as you can see from the below picture.  But doesn't he look cute?  Pedals, schmedals.

When we got to our street, we had to peel off from the rest of the parade and head home.  We had a special lunch date with my mom's good friend, Robbie, who now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.  We met Robbie, her daughter, Shelby, and Shelby's adorable son, Dean, for a fun and slightly chaotic lunch in Downtown Silver Spring.  I didn't snap a picture, darn it, but it was good times. 

That night we had another special visitor -- our wonderful babysitter, Tina, who came over to sit with Fionny so that the adults could enjoy a delicious French dinner in the city.  The food was very yummy, and it's always nice to get out and enjoy some of the amazing restaurants that DC has to offer.

The following morning we turned our sights toward Northern Virginia where we attended the opening weekend of the Pumpkin Festival at Cox Farms.  We love Cox Farms, and we highly recommend their annual pumpkin festival.  It is unlike anything I have ever seen before.  It's like Disneyland meets Hee Haw.  You really can't believe it until you see it.  Fionn had such a blast last year, and we knew we just had to make it an annual event whenever possible.

Yes, we love Cox Farms.  However, going on opening weekend?  Yeah, not so much.  It was pure MADNESS, people!  It took us 10 minutes just to get into the parking lot and another 40 minutes to get through the front gate.  Once inside, the lines for the slides were NUTS!  We muddled through, but I think we'll let the die-hards have opening weekend for themselves next year.  But enough complaining.  Here's what we did once we got inside.

GOATS!  When I asked Fionn about his favorite part of the festival, his immediate response was, "Me feed goats."  He loved it.  Well, he didn't immediately love it, as the picture below captures.  I think our boy was pretty overwhelmed initially by the sheer enthusiasm of the goats who were quick to attack Fionn's ice cream cone full of goat feed.

 

But, as you can see from this second picture, he soon warmed up to the whole concept.  Well, sort of.  He still ended up throwing most of the food on the ground and running away helter-skelter instead of actually letting the goats nibble out of his hand. 

But now let's talk about a natural.  Our own Gaga was a true goat whisperer.  She seemed to get such a kick out of the whole experience, and she had a certain way with the goats.   Exhibit A.

 

It's a good thing we visited the goats when we did because as soon as we introduced Fionn to his first slide, it was all over.  He was hooked.  Oh, and he had to go down all by himself.  Obviously.  He's a big kid, folks.  No babies here.  He even tried his hand at some stomach sliding.

I would like to say that Fionn seemed to enjoy the slides more than any other kid at the festival, but I'm afraid I can't honestly stand by that statement.  Check out this Big Kid, and you be the judge. 

We had every intention of taking Mom on the water taxi from the National Harbor to Old Town Alexandria for dinner that night after the festival.  But once we got home, we all just crashed.  Well, not everyone.  Fionn decided that it was a good day to put a kibosh on the whole "nap" concept.  Thankfully, it was only a 24-hour strike.  But still...it was not awesome for a tired mommy.

All in all, we had a fabulous weekend with Gaga.  Fionn keeps talking about her, so I know she was a hit with him.  As for me, it is so much fun to watch my son's relationship with his grandmother develop and deepen over time.  We love you, Mom!  Already looking forward to our December visit!