Through the eyes of my iPod

I mentioned in my birthday blogpost that I got an iPod Touch for my birthday. I never really knew what these things really did, but I sure have learned a lot about it over the past few weeks! And, it's really great!

I have the calendar set up with appointments and activities (with alerts since I constantly forget things!), I keep lists of what I need to do, what to buy at the store, what to pack for a trip. Whenever I think of something new, I pull it out of my pocket and add it to the list! I can check email, the weather, and Facebook quickly. I have ebooks that I can read if I have a moment. There are some great Catholic Apps, like the Rosary, which helps the younger kids focus and follow along (ok, the pictures help me, too!). We have the Liturgy of the Hours on there, so when we went to D.C. we didn't have to bring all of our big books with us.

Something else I love is the camera. If there's something I want to take a quick picture of, the iPod is easily accessible in my pocket. Of course, the quality of the photos isn't as great, so it doesn't replace our regular camera. But, as you can see below, it's great for some fun candid shots!

If I walk out the door in the morning and see a rainbow, I can take a picture easily!

Or sunrise...

Or, I can take of picture of Matteo learning to add and carry numbers for the first time and email it quickly to the grandparents.

Who can resist the cute baby-in-the-bath picture :)

Well, I made good use of my iPod in D.C. and even have some pics that we didn't get with the camera.

Like Elena helping me pack (or unpack early, rather)...

The kids ready to get in the van...

In the van...

Maria enjoy 4 uninterrupted hours to read!

Elena - the one minute she wasn't fussing or sleeping in the van. Thankfully, the sleeping last much longer than the fussing!

At the hotel...

Dany's not really asleep in this picture :)

at Air & Space... (I love the fake penguins in the back!)

Matteo next to one of the engine bells (I think that's what they're called) of the Saturn V rocket that propelled the Apollo missions into space.

Elena discovering ketchup for the first time...when she ran out of french fries, she figured just licking it out of the cup was just as good :)

Among the kids' favorite things we did on our trip was eating out, they said :)

Maria and Elena checking out a Lunar Excursion Module...

The only picture we got of the kids in front of the Washington Monument had Cati with a kind of sad look. Well, she's not sad here...just the typical Cati!

Who wants to miss out on a goofy Dany picture???

The WWII memorial...

Didn't get this on the regular camera...

Well, there's another look at our trip to Washington (among some other things).

Weekend in D.C.

Last weekend we went to Washington D.C. for my birthday trip. We had such a great weekend!

The main reason for the trip was to attend the Baptism of our friends' baby.

Here are the kids outside of the chapel after the Baptism.




Here is Maria with her Godbrother, Philip. His father, Andy, is Maria's Godfather, and both of his parents are Chiara's Godparents. Maria's always excited to hold a baby!

We were very grateful to also be invited to Andy's father's birthday dinner that evening. The kids had SOOOO much fun learning jokes from Andy's brother :)

Here is a picture of our families together after the dinner.

The next day, we went to Mass at St. Patrick's Church and to the Smithsonian in D.C. We were actually brave enough to drive into D.C. (from Bowie, MD where we stayed). It really was quite easy to drive there and find parking, but we weren't so great at finding our way out of the city at the end of the day :)

We brought a picnic lunch and ate in the butterfly garden outside the Natural History museum.

Then we went to visit the American History museum.

Ok, I'll admit, this wasn't the kids' favorite museum. They weren't too interested in the dresses of the presidents' wives. I heard comments like, "That dress only has ONE sleeve!" and "You mean they only wore these once and then gave them away!" LOL! What can I say??

Maria enjoyed parts of the museum and would've liked to have time to look more closely, but the little ones kept pushing us on.

Here are Matteo and Chiara in front of an exhibit showing how an American house changed over 2 centuries.

After a couple of hours, we left and had a snack outside...

Elena enjoyed napping in the sling and stroller. You won't see her in many pictures because she napped for several hours each afternoon.

What Matteo and Chiara wanted to see were the dinosaurs :) So, we were off to the Natural History Museum!

They said that this is the one that was dead...ummmmm, I tried to explain that they were all dead, but they just kept telling me about how this one on the ground was dead and that the dinosaur above it was the one who killed it :) :)

Another picture of Chiara studying the "dead" dinosaur.

Maria really enjoyed reading as much as she could at all the museums.

I know this has nothing to do with the kids, but I love crochet! This was an all-crocheted coral reef exhibit. Pretty impressive! But, it does look like a lot of work for something you can't wear :)

We all really enjoyed the insect exhibit.

Here were some bees that can come in from outside...

...and go into this hive. You could even tell which one was the queen.

Sunday was Halloween. In honor of the day, they had this lovely exhibit :) Eeeeww!

Somehow I took a picture of this, but not of the pretty butterfly cocoons displayed behind here. Unfortunately, none were emerging when we were there.

Then were we off to see the rocks, minerals, and gems.

There were several exhibits that said, "Please, touch" and Chiara took this as an order, touching all that she could.

Playing with paper clips on Magnetite...

The Hope Diamond...

On Monday, we were back in D.C. to enjoy the Air & Space Museum and the monuments on the Mall.

The Washington Monument, where Maria and Dany verified that there are 50 flags surrounding it :)

And, where Maria got to pet a horse.

If you look very closely, you can see the White House between Cati and Matteo's heads.

The World War II Memorial. This was the kids' favorite memorial with all the water and fountains.

Then we walked all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial. The kids' were impressed with how big this memorial was.

We had such a great trip! Dany and I commented this week about how refreshed we feel, even though it wasn't exactly a restful trip since we were constantly on the go and walked so much in D.C. Thanks so much, honey, for arranging this trip!!!

I do have some pictures that I took with my iPod that I may add in another post...you wouldn't want to miss the one where Elena tries ketchup for the first time :)