daddy?

Addy found this card in Doug's stash, pointed at it and said, "Daddy?"

In her defense, Doug has the same exact hat. But besides that, I'm afraid she doesn't know what her father looks like.

tasteless

When my allergies peaked during the Spring a few months ago, I started dealing with almost permanent congestion. I'd clear up every once in a while, but mostly I was dealing with no smell. At first, it had its perks: I could face dirty diapers without flinching and cleaning out the scary leftovers in the fridge wasn't as tortuous.

But then, I started losing my taste.

Not my fashion taste (but have I ever had that?), but my taste for food. It started slow, but now, a few months down the road, it's faded significantly. I can only taste things if they're super salty or super sweet. I often eat food without tasting any of it, and I usually just eat stuff because I know I normally like it. Talk about sucking the fun out of eating!

And then I started realizing how rough it is to not smell things. For example, I was cooking one evening and all of the sudden the smoke alarm was going off. Turns out something was burning in the oven and I had no idea. Then I started wondering what would happen if I was home alone with Addy and I couldn't smell a fire. Yikes!

So while I've always appreciated my ability to see, hear, and touch, I hope these past few months will teach me to never forget the awesomeness of smell and taste, the underdogs of the 5 senses.

And while I'm at it, I'm going to try and appreciate my 6th sense too, just in case I eventually develop it (although I do NOT know why I'd like seeing dead people).

for her father

For father's day this year, Addy got her father movie tickets, artichokes, and some baseball cleats wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper.

Oh, and a customized tie.

A happy father's day indeed!

you know your parents live in alabama...

...when they send you this picture of some visitors they found in their yard.

el templo

Last Saturday we went up to D.C. to hit up the temple. We caravanned with the Furniss fam so we could watch each other's kids.

The kids were so patient, and endured many long hours playing in the visitor's center. True champs!

We ate lunch/dinner together, and then debated whether or not we should just go home (it'd been a looong day). But we'd driven all the way up there, we decided to go into the district and at least see one thing we hadn't seen before.

And what little thing did we see? Oh, just the Constitution of the United States. Yeah, the real document. Plus the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Maybe you've heard of them? I can't believe we'd never done that. We loved going through the National Archives... the building itself is impressive.

We then walked behind the building to see the Navy memorial. Doug's dad and grandpa were Navy men, so we liked checking it out.

Addy was fascinated by all the fountains, and kept trying to dive in. I guess it's the Navy in her blood?

I also want to mention that we got the world's (THE WORLD'S) best parking spot. No time limit, no paying, right next to where we wanted to go, and we found it immediately. I hated to leave it.

D.C., I'm loving you more and more (even your parking).

she's climbing

So now what's the plan?

dads

Where would we be without dads? Who'd kill spiders? Who'd teach us to ride our bikes? Who'd hide underneath the stairs just so they can scare us?

Doug, Addy, and I have all been given wonderful dads. We're counting our many blessings that our dads have helped us, mentored us, laughed with us, and tortured us (it builds character) for so many years.

We sure do love you!

Happy Father's Day to our dads and father-like men everywhere.

what doug's been up to

He's started his 4th year rotations, working in free clinics in rural parts of Virginia,

he's paintballing,

he's healing from paintballing (yikes),

he's making mega-cookies (and delicious ones, at that),

and he's PASSING HIS BOARD EXAMS! Woo hoo!

auntie linda

My Aunt Linda is from Richmond originally, so she paid us a visit while she was in town seeing her family.

It was great to see her! She and my Uncle Lee just got home from a mission in the Canary Islands. Sounds dreamy, but it was a tough place to work. They're champs and I'm certain they did a fabulous job.

a turtle's tale

...or "the weekend we terrorized a turtle named Marty."

On Saturday Doug and Addy were playing on a jungle gym in the greenway behind our apartment. Addy crawled underneath and stooped down to pick something up... a turtle!

Doug checked it out and thought it didn't look so good. It was a super hot day, there's no water nearby, and between the kids running around and the lawn care team, that little guy was not in a good place.

He was clearly a box turtle, so we wondered if he was somebody's pet that had "walked" away (hey, it happens... ask my sister). We posted a few signs, asked around a bit, and brought him inside. We gave him water, lettuce, and named him Marty, short for Martín.

We let him play outside and he was a hit with the neighbors. But while we really enjoyed Marty, he didn't seem to be enjoying us. He looked scared out of his friggin mind. I did some research, and wild and petstore box turtles look the same. We started to wonder if Marty had somehow crawled 300 feet from a small creek behind our complex all the way to the jungle gym.

So after unintentionally terrorizing Marty for a weekend, we ceremoniously released him into the wild. I made a speech, Addy said her goodbyes, and Doug let him loose into the creek.

He took off swimming, and is now probably telling his turtle comrades about his recent kidnapping.

This may be one of the only pets we ever have, so thanks, Marty, for 48 hours of bliss. But we do apologize if it was 48 hours of torture for you.

meadow farm

A park near us backs up to the Meadow Farm Museum, one of those farms maintained to look old-school with people dressed up working the farm. We hit it up a few weeks ago, and enjoyed convincing Addy that it was cool.

Why must we always find snakes?

...and why must we always get them so close to Addy? WHY?!

What sheep?

It was a fun, relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

the false security of sunscreen

Today I went to a dermatologist for a long-overdue checkup of my skin. My family has a history of melanoma (ugh), so I wanted to make sure all was well.

The doctor gave me the thumbs up for now, but did say I should avoid the sun as much as possible, especially from 10 am to 3 pm. He said don't be weird about it, but the more sun the greater risk all of us have of getting skin cancer. And if a kid gets burnt (such as wee Addy), it doubles their chance of getting cancer later in life.

"Oh, and no more happiness."

And he mentioned that the majority of sunscreens don't really work. They might prevent you from getting red, but they don't stop the deadliest UV rays. So much for those healthy tans. This article sums it up really well.

Talk about a party pooper...