C & O Canal National Historic Park

Last year, on Memorial Day weekend, we Lusters were super-adventurous. We took on one of the steepest and rockiest trails on Sugarloaf Mountain, 1-month-old Julia riding in the front-body carrier. It was quite an experience. One that we have yet to do again, it was so harrowing.

This time around, Julia's nap schedule and the weather cooperated so we could go on another Memorial Day picnic and hiking adventure. However, today we decided to try something new - Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park. The Great Falls, Maryland site was only a 40-minute drive from our house, and Evelyn got a stamp in her National Parks passport book for visiting the park.

We found a picnic table next to the canal for our lunch. As you can see in the pictures, everyone enjoyed their fine dining experience in their own special way.

After lunch, we strapped Julia into the baby carrier, and off we went. We hiked a trail that took us onto Olmsted Island. There were several bridges along the way that provided amazing views of the waterfalls in the Potomac River.

I mean, can you believe this is the Potomac River? I never thought it would look like this. (Click on the picture to enlarge it to get the full effect.)

Our initial goal was to hike two different trails, but the sun and humidity really got to Julia, so we were only able to walk the island trail. The next time we visit this park, we plan to hike the Overlook Trail, which is just under one mile round-trip.

Back at the Pool

The pool opened today - something Evelyn has been anticipating for a long time. Our community pool is just a few blocks away from our house, and it only takes a quick, five minutes to walk there. We slathered sunscreen on the girls, got their swimming suits on and headed to the pool.

It was sunny and in the mid-80's, so the girls didn't seem to mind the frigid pool water. Evelyn played in both the really shallow part of the pool and the 3-feet area. She picked up right where she left off last year with swimming around, jumping in from the side and dunking her head under the water. Julia spent the first hour sitting in the 6-inch part of the pool, playing with toys. During the second hour, Julia crawled back and forth in the water. She also practiced standing while holding onto the side of the pool.

After spending two hours at the pool (and another hour, previously, at the park), it didn't take long for the girls to fall asleep tonight.

Three Teeth!

Julia has three teeth! Yippee! All the don't-want-to-go-to-sleep fussing and runny noses last week finally paid off. Her top left tooth broke through this morning. How long will it be before the top right tooth makes its appearance?

Baby Physical Therapy

At Julia's 9-month checkup, she was sitting. Any other gross motor movements? No, I told the doctor. Not to worry. Kids develop at their own pace.

Fast-forward to Julia's 12-month checkup last month. She sits. Any other gross motor movements? The answer was still no. This time the doctor was concerned, especially when Julia wouldn't put any weight on her legs at the appointment. He referred me to the county's infant and toddler program, which evaluates little ones in various areas of development. If there is a gap of more than 25%, the baby/toddler qualifies for assistance.

Julia's evaluation was last week. She tested at 15-16 months for all developmental areas except . . . gross motor skills. At the time of the evaluation, she was crawling. This, combined with a few other skills, put her at 8 months. Therefore, the little Sunshine qualified for the physical therapy program. More than likely, there are two reasons for Julia's delay in developing her gross motor skills: (1) She has low muscle tone; (2) She has a laid-back personality.

Today was Julia's first appointment. The therapist came to our house, and it's a free service (thanks to NCLB). Julia was such a good sport for her first session. She worked incredibly hard for about 50 minutes straight. The therapist assisted Julia with standing, pulling up to standing, lowering to sitting from standing and walking along furniture. The poor baby was so fatigued at the end of the session that her little legs were shaking from all the exercise.

You can tell that Julia is ready to learn all of these new skills. She was in a good mood, and she fully cooperated. It will be interesting to see how far she will progress by next week's appointment.

Evelyn on the Rings

One of Evelyn's favorite pieces of equipment at the Little Gym is the rings. About two weeks ago, Evelyn learned how to do a flip on the rings. However, the rings aren't available every week. Evelyn was in luck today because . . . the rings were out! Here is a video of Evelyn doing a backwards flip on the rings.

Return to Sugarloaf Mountain

We're baaaack! It's been awhile since we've hiked at Sugarloaf Mountain. Not because of the weather. It has been a rainy spring, but there have been nice weekends now and then. With my ankle surgery three months ago, it's been too risky for me to take on climbing a (small) mountain. But I finally felt up to par, and today's rain stayed away long enough for us to fit in a hike to the summit. Plus Kat and Ross were able to join us!

Julia has a new mode of transportation for hikes - the back carrier. Even though I felt up to hiking, I'm not quite ready to haul Julia. So Troy took over my job this time. Maybe I'll resume my role for the next hike.
Today's forecast for a 50% chance of rain kept the crowds away. Once we reached the top of the mountain, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was great hanging out at the top, checking out the view, having a family picture taken, just taking it easy.

Julia found a great little perch on a rock. She seemed to know that this wasn't exactly the best place to crawl around, so she was content to sit with me and check out the scenery.

Evelyn, meanwhile, was all about climbing rocks and looking for caterpillars. She just loves hiking and climbing and rocks and critters (and anything outdoors!), so she had a blast. Kat and Troy kept a watchful eye on her to make sure she didn't get too close to the edge of the mountain while exploring.

Like I said, Evelyn loves climbing on rocks. She found a more creative way to scale down the mountain, and it did not involve walking the trail. This time, Kat and Ross helped Evelyn navigate the steep descent.

Baby Robins

One of our neighbors has a robin's nest under their deck. Since the family knows about Evelyn's interest in all things nature, including birds, they invited us to come over and see the baby birds yesterday. The way the robins built the nest made for excellent viewing - we looked through the slats in the deck flooring for an overhead view of the nest and the babies.

It's a good thing we saw the baby birds when we did because they left the nest today. Also, while we were on our evening walk tonight, Evelyn found a robin's egg on the ground. Combine that with the bird book and birdwatching journal Evelyn received for her birthday, she is completely immersed in the world of birds right now.