Fall is Here!

We know that it's been a little longer than usual since our last post, but our vacation marathon posting (see below) wore us right out!  Now that we've had a bit of a blog break, we're happy to be back!  

We've been busy getting settled in our new home over the last weeks (really, it's Mom and Dad who are busy, we're just busy distracting them and giggling about all of it!).  

Felicity: I'm pretty much crawling now.  It's some sort of crawl that I like to call the "army-inch worm-scoot myself all over-crawl"--it works for me.  I just love exploring my new home and getting into all kinds of mischief.  But shhhh...keep the mischief thing a secret.  I have my parents convinced of my innocence as you can see below:

Elyse: Sure Felicity, innocent.  I, of course, actually am quite sweet and never get into any mischief...there are the alleged pacifier stealing right out of my sister's mouth allegations, but we'll just brush that one under our new living room rug...

Here we are looking all grown up in our first official pairs of Gap Jeans (there was a jean incident early on, but they were baggy and didn't fit us, so we're going to call this our "first" jean wearing experience):

It's a bird!...it's a plane!...Nope, just our Mom's silly picture-taking antics!

We see right through you Mom, you can't trick us!

Elyse: Loving the flower embroidered detail on the jean legs.

Felicity: Are we done yet? We've got a busy schedule to keep today, Mom!  Today is our very first trip to the grocery store (yes, we've never been just with Mom before because Daddy always went, but now that he's some hot-shot attorney, we've got to brave the aisles ourselves! Yippee!!).  So that means, yes, you, Mom, that this photo op is officially over.  

Our First Family Vacation in Review

Well folks, we're back to life as usual in DC...but wait, we don't have a usual life yet in DC...but nonetheless we're back from vacation and have lots to share with you! The posts below are of our trip to San Diego.  Be sure to scroll down and read up!  There's lots to look at (as our Mom likes to "document" everything), so we hope you enjoy it.  We had a dazzling (that's fancy for good) time! 

Some final pictures

Elyse: This is Mommy and me at the second of the 3 Mexican dinners Mom and Dad ate.  In this picture, I was too busy watching the band to be concerned about smiling for the camera!

The view from our room:  Coronado and the bay

From the other side of the balcony you could see downtown San Diego (in this picture it looks a bit gloomy--that's called the Marine layer and it burned off everyday by about 10 am).

Coronado is right across the water:

The San Diego Zoo

Felicity: The zoo was one of the highlights of the trip.  If you haven't been there, take our word for it--it is HUGE. GIGANTIC. COLOSSAL. You get the idea.  Anyhow, it is big, so I had to help Daddy navigate through the park with this handy, dandy map.  And no, this picture was not staged, I held the map all on my own!

There are only 4 zoos in the U.S. that have pandas.  San Diego is one and DC is another.  We hope to see the pandas at the DC zoo very soon.  

We were very interested in the big fluffy bears and liked them so much that we got to take home cute stuffed pandas as a souvenir.  But ssshhhhhhh...you have to be quiet around pandas, they are very sensitive to loud noise (who knew?)!

Here we are on our very first sky ride!  Mommy and Daddy were very grateful to this ride at the end of the day.  It took us from the back of the zoo to the front--pushing us in our SUV stroller is quite the work-out!

Gorillas gone wild!

Zoo fashion: leopard skirt, tank with leopard detailing, wide-brimmed hat to protect from the sun's harmful UV rays, beach sweater with hood to keep warm and fit in with other hip beach babies, and pacifier (for obvious reasons).

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh My!

Felicity: I was so close to this pretty little bird in one of the aviaries.  I just watched and watched and watched him.  I think he liked me!

Did you know that the hippo is the most deadly and dangerous animal on the African continent?  Learn something new every day!

Chillin' in the OC

We had so much fun going to Balboa Island in Orange County to meet our new friend Campbell and her Mommy Jen.  This picture was taken at the end of the day, but shows all three of us together: (if you didn't notice, we are the two zonked out)

Campbell is one stylish California baby.  We look forward to many more trips to visit her! Hopefully next time we can all play in the sand together!

This is a picture of Mommy and Elyse at a Mexican restaurant after the beach day (we just wanted to get it on the blog as further proof that she was along for the vacation!):

Mommy and Campbell and Felicity.  Felicity helped herself to chewing on Campbell's pacifier holder...Mommy had to remind her that Campbell is not her sister, Elyse is, and well, other people might not appreciate her "sharing" in the ways us twins do :0)

Jen getting a taste of two babies at once! Campbell and Elyse both think it's hilarious!

Elyse: Campbell was simply marvelous.  Another fancy friend to add to our list.  But if I'm honest, I'd have to say I'm a bit jealous of her hair...seriously, can a girl get a little love in the hair department sometime soon? 

The family on Balboa Island (possible future home of our beach house)!

Beach Babies

Felicity: Well, what can we say about our day at the beach? It was an experience that Mom and Dad will never forget.  I had F-U-N playing in the sand.  I've been really missing out! Elyse did not share my enthusiasm and couldn't wait to leave because the sand was cramping her style.  But me? I loved it!

Felicity: I also liked the water even though it was pretty cold.  And yes, you guessed it! Elyse did NOT, under any circumstance, like the water.  Go figure.

Elyse: Mom, is the photo op done yet? I HATE this water.  It is cold and the sand is grimy.  Can we just go home now?

The best part of the beach trip for Mom and Dad: our naps! Here we are taking a snooze on the beach.  Beautiful little beach bums:

We did have a nifty little tent to keep the sun out of our eyes, but just didn't find it quite right as the wind kept blowing sand in our faces.

Felicity: Sand is so cool!

Felicity: I was mesmerized by the waves.  They sneak away, and then come right up and get you! I loved it!

Happy as a clam!

Sea World

We had a GREAT day at Sea World! There weren't any crowds and the weather wasn't too hot.  

This is at the manatee exhibit.  They are big, blubbery creatures, but we sure had fun watching them!

This was taken right before the stunning dolphin show:

Our favorite part of the day: watching Shamu and his buddies defy gravity!

Elyse: I was elated by the whales.  I just really couldn't stop watching them!  You can see how happy I was:

Elyse: Here's a family shot just after Shamu's big performance.  Felicity slept through the whole thing, but I couldn't believe all that the whales could do! I watched every move they made intently and really enjoyed the show.

Elyse: Here we are at the Clyde and Seamore sealion show.  Sometimes I make my voice sound like a sealion, so I felt right at home at this show!

Felicity: We also got to see the dolphins up close and personal at this exhibit.  Mommy got to touch one and we were happy to watch them swim so close to us:

Dolphin fun!

YIKES! The sharks were a little too close for comfort:

More pics from Day One of Vacation

We couldn't get enough of the sound of the water and watching all of the sights and sounds of the bay. 

Here Daddy is pondering retirement...sailing anyone?

Of course we couldn't miss the big Viking/Packer match up on Monday night football.  Felicity slept the WHOLE game, so Elyse had to do the work of wearing team gear for equal parts of the game: