Tomorrow night Gio and I fly back over the Atlantic on our way to Kiev. We will have to adjust to much colder temperatures but are ready to be home with Paolo, Enzo and our friends. In three weeks Gio will turn 3 and begin school. Hard to believe. Here are some photographs of Gio's last few days in Washington. I cannot take credit for a single image. Thank you, dear Hedvig, for these!
An advertisement for Magna-Tiles? Gio adores these magnetic blocks. Thanks, Marsha!
Barley doing his post-meal cleanup
The most popular activity at home? Burying Nonno in couch pillows.
Montose Park trees
Airplane sighting
Yes, Nonno is under there...somewhere.
Nonno is the best sport about this. Seriously, it probably happens 20 times a day.
We continue to enjoy our time here in DC. We return to Kiev next week, so we are trying our best to fit in as much as possible. The weather continues to be beautiful and quite warm. The Ukrainian cold will hit us hard. I am filling suitcase after suitcase with goodies (clothes, winter boots, canned pumpkin, candy, cocoa, 3rd birthday presents, etc..). I am already in fear of how much I will have to pay in extra luggage fees!
First, a video of stair surfing at Micki & Annie's house. Annie is one of Gio's all-time favorite big kids, and this video will demonstrate why he enjoys her so much. We were over for dinner with Marjorie, Tim & Jay. Such fun to have a reunion with our Georgetown gang...
Delivering Bisnonna's (Great-grandmother's) brand new computer. A perfect 95th birthday gift!
Would a visit to the USA be complete without a cupcake? Gio's favorite is the "Vanilla Vanilla" flavor at Baked & Wired.
Driving the firetruck at Rose Park
Trip #2 to the zoo- watching the orangutan climbing above our heads!
Nonno and Nonna's dog Barley who has monkey-napped one of Gio's stuffed toys.
Trip #3 to the zoo- a very bad picture of a very cute panda.
We have now been in Washington for two weeks, with one more to go. Gio and I miss Paolo and Enzo terribly, but we are enjoying being back in the USA. Gio is having so much fun playing with his nonno and nonna (Grandfather and Grandmother Zurn) and is spending his free time distributing the sand from his sandboxes all over the garden. He is eating lots of frozen waffles, edamame, Jello popsicles and 5 Guys hamburgers, all fine delicacies not available to us in Kiev! I cannot get enough of Starbucks, Target, ordering online, Ben & Jerry's ice cream and hearing English wherever I go.
Here is a glimpse of our last few days here in DC. We have been busy visiting the zoo, the Air & Space Museum and enjoying the beautiful warm (well, compared to Kiev!) weather.
First, a trip to the zoo with Nonna, Michelle and Gio's best DC friend, Caden. We were lucky the day we went as we got to see the elephant take a walk on his new exercise trail, the orangutans climb on ropes over our heads between their two enclosures, lots of huge snakes, bright blue frogs and even a male gorilla eating his own poo. Can you guess which was most intriguing to Gio?
Gio and Caden taking a cookie break while the orangutans climbed above their heads.
Nonna and Gio watching the gorillas.
Snakes! (I stayed far away)
After our zoo visit we decided the next day to hit the Air & Space Museum, this time with both Nonna AND Nonna. Good thing there were three adults as Gio was so excited that he ran all over the place at top speed. It was tough for us to keep track of him. He loved the rocket ships and going inside the SpaceLab. We are hoping to hit the Natural History Museum and the Aquarium next week! And the zoo again, of course, since we missed the pandas, the lions, tigers and flamingos (a particular favorite of Gio's).
I nabbed him just in time. Hate to think what damage he would have wrought. Gio vs. jet fighters? Yikes!
A surprise October snow storm! Weird that we saw snow in DC before we did in Kiev!
We have been back in Washington for one week now. Below are some photos taken by Gio's beloved nanny Hedvig on an outing to Montrose Park near our house.
Now back to my camera photos.... Here we are at Sunday brunch with "Bisnonna", aka Great-Grandmother Day. Gio, age 2.5, Mary Louise, age 94.5!
First pumpkin carving!
Our pumpkins ready to greet trick-or-treaters, and Barley very eager to get back inside!
Trick-or-treating in Georgetown. Gio, not a big fan of candy, was much more interested in the decorations, like this talking ghoul.
Gio as a one-eyed blue monster. He was a bit overwhelmed by the chaos, hence the thumb and the Big Toms!
The best trick-or-treating house in Georgetown- Dave & Nancy Roll's!
Post Halloween, a fun trip to Macomb Street park for playtime with best bud Caden.
