Pfun With The Pfeiffers

Some more pix of our recent vacation with Todd's family.

Three little Pfeiffers standing in a row! Henry, Aiden, and Slone Pfeiffer.

"Yeah, right Dad. There's no such thing as tree elves. That's just Henry." --Slone

Cousin scrub a dub time.

Say cheese please! Are they adorable or what?

Vanessa with Aiden (aka Brudder)

I think the horizontal stripes are slimming don't you?

Aiden trying to toss a little piece of driftwood into the lake.

Slone is on the hunt with her net...what will she find???

"I caught myself a Daddy!"

VACATIONING IN KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS

Last week, we took a trip down south with Todd's family to enjoy Kentucky in all her Autumn finery. We traveled two hours south of Louisville to vacation near Barren River Lake

State Park.

Doesn't look so barren, does it?

Here are the Pfabulous Pfeiffers. Sister-in-law Vanessa holding Aiden,

and Todd's brother Brett holding Slone.

The weather was glorious. Crisp, clear, and heavenly. We were a long way from Lamont Street.

I think it's safe to estimate that these two cousins threw approximately 9,000 rocks into Barren River Lake over the course of our stay. And they were delighted by each and every splash.

Gramma surveying the scene...

It's vacation, you're SUPPOSED to lounge around in PJs.

BIG BOY BED!!

With Humphrey on the way, it seemed like the perfect time to get Henry

out of his crib and into a BIG BOY BED! A lovely twin bed came into our lives courtesy of Kristen Fletcher and her family, and so a couple of weeks ago we decided it was go time!

Vacuuming first to ready the scene.

"I'm supposed to vaccum everything, right?"

Helping Papa make the new bed.

Men with a purpose...

All ready to sleep! (and jump)

DiPfeiffers Down on the Farm...

So yesterday we were lucky enought to visit Cibola Farms out in Culpeper, VA, about an hour and a half's drive from DC. This is the place we buy all our buffalo meat, pork and goat ribs from. They sell their wares every Saturday at the Farmer's Market at the top of our street and have always seemed like the nicest kind of folks. They invited us out to a farm open house and we made it into a road trip. Our friends Ben and Pete, and the Haas Family, Olivia, Peach and Quinn accompanied us for a gorgeous and fun day in the country.

We got to see goats, herds of buffalo, turkeys, and chickens. And Quinn and Henry got up close and personal with bunnies, horses, pigs, and cows.

Gooses honking at Henry.

A country boy at heart happy to be out of the big city.

Quinn: "Okay...the way I figger it, if you can distract our parents, I'll steal the tractor keys, and then we make a break for it."

Our family tree..

Thanks to Ben Shaw for all the great pix! You can see the whole series here www.benjaminshaw.com/images/cibola/cibola.html if you like.

CIBOLA FARMS CONTINUED...

Hay Ride fun...

Original Pig...

And for the grand finale, a down home good time provided by Puppets for Jesus.

Oh yes, my friends.

Practicing For When Humphrey Arrives.

Ernie was a good sport throughout, and fragrant to boot!

Here's Henry tearing into a luscious chocolate cupcake at his friend P.J.'s birthday party.

I get another one to eat, right?

CALIFORNIANS HIT CAP CITY!

Our good friend Annie Oberstar came to visit last week. She brought along her hip hubby Darren and their swell new baby Jonas, both of whom we neglected to photograph, but take my word for it....they're all three adorable! This was us hanging out at the Crafty Bastards Alternative Arts & Crafts Fair in Adams Morgan, Annie and Darren's

old stomping ground.

Be sure to visit Darren and Annie's Blog to see Jonas's exclamation poop. Very funny stuff.

http://www.darrenandannie.com

At last the truth comes out. Here is Henry's biological mother.

As has long been rumored, I am simply the nanny.

IN PRAISE OF ALL THINGS ITALIAN

In honor of Columbus Day, here's a photo of our family in front of a statue of the man himself; moments before Henry was arrested for tickling public property...

We were enjoying DC's Italian Festival, possibly the most anemic such festival I've ever witnessed.

I've seen more Italian food, Italian people, and Italian music at

DiFranco Family Sunday dinners.

Henry interacting with the queen of the jungle.

BUT WILL THEY MAKE MY ANKLES LOOK CHUBBY?

Posted for no other reason than to irk Uncle Richie...

DiFrancos Invade DC!

So I was lucky enough that not one but TWO siblings

came to visit Capital City recently.

Here's Richie and Tiny Danger, two chick magnets enjoying

the DC Bocce Finals.

This is later at the Season Afterparty. Once the Jaeger was busted out,

it wasn't long before the Sumo wrestling began again in earnest.

Then Estela and little baby Cora came to visit for a day or so.

Henry REALLY LOVES Cora. So much so that everytime the

poor thing fell asleep, he would break into her room, shake her crib

and yell "Cora! Cora!" The picture above shows maximum density

cheekage, genetic courtesy of Nonno.

Ron Price, who is like family, came to visit for a whole week!

He came to see us and to help out with the store.

All three of us were very sorry to see him go.

We didn't take any pictures of him while he was here, but

here's a reasonable fascimile.

Visiting The Butterfly Garden

Three little monkeys standing on a ledge.

Henry with his buds Porter and Miles Orvetti.

Hard to see here, but there were hundreds of gi-normous butterflies fluttering all around us, and sometimes landing on us. Here they've set out a plate of melons and tomatoes to attract the butterflies. Henry was thinking he'd discovered a tasty snack.

This will go down in history as the first (but certainly not last) fountain Henry jumps in. He went all the way under too. Got sopping wet. By some miracle of the parenting gods, I was carrying a FULL CHANGE OF CLOTHES for the child, and (believe it or not) a towel. Now normally I carry silly putty, stale crackers, and some Mentos covered in dryer lint. So it was quite a Mama-bear coup.

Henry in his new outfit, and me with my new and ever expanding belly. We had an Ultrasound last week, so we know Humphrey is healthy and thriving. Although we don't technically know if he's a Humphrey or Humphreyetta.

The Shaggies Get Shorn!

Hippy and Hippy, Jr.

Snip, snip

Snippity-snip...

Ten-hut!

Man, all that grooming can really take it out of a guy.