Memorial Day Weekend

The past week has been all about visiting with old friends, and its been amazing. 

Last week, Marino and I went to dinner with my friend Joelle and her fiance, Maggie. Joelle lives in San Francisco and I haven't had a chance to see her in many years (10 maybe?). It was so great to catch up and meet Maggie. Marino fell in love with them right away. He wanted to sit on Maggie's lap, eat dinner with her, whisper in her ear, etc. He immediately decided he loved them and it was so sweet. 

By the way, we went to the Silver Diner and between all of us and our various food limitations: 1 vegan, 1 vegetarian, 1 egg-free, 1 gluten/dairy free, we all had plenty of menu options. They've really expanded their vegetarian options! 

Saturday morning we headed to New Jersey to spend some time with my bestie Sonia and her girls. As always, the kids immediately picked up where they left off and had a great time playing and performing musical numbers for us :) 

Baby Alana will be chasing after them very soon! 

Love this picture and these kids! 

Sunday afternoon, we all  headed to Adventure Aquarium in Camden. My friend Robyn and her family met us there. We've been once before, but they've added new attractions since then and it really is the best aquarium we've been to. Its very interactive and Marino loves it! 

Here's Matthew, Ryan and Marino with Mike the Alligator. 

Marino hamming it up outside...he decided there were so many seagulls around, there must be a "seagull party" and started dancing. 

Poor Alana was cutting all her molars and not a happy girl all weekend, but she's still adorable! 

Look at that sweet face! 

Marino and Ryan waiting to touch "Splashy" the stingray with two fingers. 

Here he is! 

Cat, Nena and Marino saying hi to the penguins. 

Sonia and I

After the aquarium, we went back to Robyn's house to play. The boys had a great time together. They are like puppies, constantly pouncing on each other and wrestling. They disappeared for a bit at one point and came back like this...

Gotta love the marching band! 

We had such a great time visiting with all our old friends! 

Nutcracker and Fun with Friends

On Saturday, Marino and I met Jen, Sydney, Justin and Noah at the Tiny Tots Puppet Show at Glen Echo park. The month of December the puppet show is always The Nutcracker. We hadn't been to a puppet show there for several months and it was amazing the difference in Marino's interest in the show. He LOVED it! He jumped up and down the whole show, danced, talked to strangers about the show, etc. And interestingly, he kept loving on Sydney, holding her hand to jump up and down, hugging her, giving her kisses. He is usually pretty aloof, but not this day! It was really sweet.

After the show, we headed over to the new Silver Diner in Rockville. They have lots of gluten-free options and it was delicious. Here's Noah checking the place out.
It was a really great start to our weekend! Unfortunately, I had to spend the rest of it finishing school work but only one more weekend until I graduate!!