Tales from the Tulls

Monday, March 12, 2012

Tully Travels on the Metro In DC...

Thursday, February 16, 2012
Tully is 10 months old

This was our day to go and visit Mommy at work and say hello to her co-workers. Tully rode the Metro Train on his last trip to DC, but Grammy did not take any pictures, so thought I would catch a few pictures of what he experiences...

This is the way we roll to go see Mommy at her office in DC.

This elevator goes way way way under ground to the Metro train tunnel!

I asked a few people how deep underground this Train was and no one knew the answer, so I did some research and found that this particular station (Bethesda Metro Station) used to have the longest escalator at 475 feet, prior to the opening of the Wheaton Station! This is the escalator mommy rides when we meet her after work. But, we cannot take the stroller down the escalator so we ride the elevator pictured above when we want to ride the train. It seems that you go down forever in the elevator, and yes it does cross my mind -- what if the elevator gets stuck??? But it doesn't stop us from riding it. Too much fear will cause you to miss too many experiences in life. I try to use common sense... well, I use it most of the time ;-) I don't figure we would be stuck for long, since it is a popular elevator! Haha.

There is another elevator we sometimes ride and it is located in one of the nearby businesses; the elevator goes down to a tunnel that leads to the top of the long escalator which is where we wait for Mommy when we meet her after work; and it is also where Tully can watch the Metro buses zoom by at one of the bus stations located there! This bus station is one level under ground! ... and the train station is well below that!

The tunnel is where we met Ms. Virginia the homeless lady on our previous trip. On this trip, we did go to the tunnel to see if she was there to say hello, but she was not there that day. It seemed between nap time and Mommy working late we did not get to the tunnel very often this trip.

Anyway...

Once underground, we buy our ticket... so many choices of machines to use.

Mommy said take the red line to White Flint.

We figure out which way that train goes...
and it's only three stops away!

...and then we wait with rest of the people for the train to come.
This was not a busy time of day.

Tully loved watching the trains. He could see the lights
as each train headed towards us through the tunnel to the platform.

...but it was not always our train,
so we had time to take a picture of this one.

Tully loved watching the people get on and get off and scurry about.

Finally, our train came and we are on our way...
we managed a quick snack for Tully during our ride!

While I didn't get the best picture of him, he really was excited with every stop as people shuffled on and off. One young girl, probably 4-5 years old, got on with her mom and she had one of those animal pillows. They sat in the seat next to us by his stroller. Tully kept eyeing that Ladybug pillow she had and yes, the young girl offered for him to touch it... the thought of all the germs immediately ran through my head; but then I figured just being on the metro had it's share of germs! He has to build up some immunities somehow, right!?!

When we arrived at our stop, I was beginning to wonder if the little girl was going to be minus one Ladybug pillow, but Tully did reluctantly give up the thought of taking it and we made our way off the train and he began taking in new sights.

Once arriving at the right station...we had to take yet another elevator

White Flint Station-- this is Mommy's stop for work.

We had our visit with Mommy and her co-workers, but we could not take pictures in the Federal building. We then headed back to the hotel and at the end of our train ride we saw this train car pull up that they used for maintenance on the tracks. It was full of equipment!

Tully was very curious about it...
and the workers who got off were gracious to give him their howdy!

We then watched the train pull away, and
this was the last train Tully saw on this trip.

Other related links to this trip:
Tully's on the Plane Again
Valentine's Day in DC
The Monkey Climber
Fun in Bethesda
More of Bethesda
Play Area at Dallas Airport

Tully Shows Grammy How He Climbs...

Wed, Feb 15, 2012 (10 months old)

I was amazed at how this little toot climbed up and down in the stroller, and how fast he could do it. It's not like he had ever done it before arriving in DC! I watched him go over to the stroller this time so I asked him what he was doing...

He turned and looked at me as if to say, "I'm going to climb in this stroller"
and, "You take this foot"!

Once he started his climb, I never said another word to him, I just sat and watched and took pictures because the first time he was standing in the stroller I did not see him actually climb into it... I wasn't nearly as panicked this time.

He turned back around and proceded with his climb
...and you put this foot on this wheel.

Then you put the other foot on this strap...

then you put both feet on the strap!

Now you put one knee in the seat...

then the other knee...

...and then you stand up!
He turned and looked at me as if to say "That's how you do it!"

I'm thinking "Alrighty", now let's see you get down "smarty britches"!! I just watched him for a bit and pretty soon he started his decent... very cautiously, I might add.

He squats and turns to look...
I'm guessing so he knows how far his fall will be!

He then stands back up and then lowers one leg to the strap!

I was amazed to watch him get both feet to the strap...

And just like he knew what he was doing,
he stretched one leg to the ground...

...and then the other!

Without ever looking at me he sat down and begin to scope out the stroller.

By now I realize it is definitely okay if I decide to take a nap at any time, because he's got everything under control! But once I came to reality, I knew the remedy...

but, Tully had an opinion in the matter

He looked at me with that look,
"why did you lay the stroller over?"

Then he sat down and went right back to work!

Watching him the whole time, I'm thinking--Oh my gosh!
He doesn't quit exploring,
he pulls a plastic bag from the bottom basket.
You gotta love his curiosity,
but you can never take your eyes off of him!!
He makes me laugh :-D

Tully's Travels Continue on Valentine's Day...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 (Washington DC) Tully is 10 months old.

I walked into the kitchen to prepare breakfast and you know when you hear silence you better be looking to see what your child, or in my case "my grandchild", is doing. I turned to look and this is what I see... of course, I asked him "WHAT are you doing?"

...and he gave me those happy giggles!

He was so proud that he had climbed into that stroller, which by-the-way happened in a matter of seconds! I guess he was ready to go out for the day.

But in those same nano seconds
he went right back to his exploring
as if I wasn't going to get him down!

I took pictures to show Mommy the little
"Monkey Climber" she had!

We managed to eat breakfast and I got Tully bundled up and we went out for the morning!

We took a quick picture and sent Mommy and Daddy
Valentine Email Greetings,
and then on with our shopping!

We made our usual stop at "Fancy Cakes by Leslie" and bought Mommy a cookie. I didn't realize exactly how "fancy" this bakery really was... it just looks like a little mom & pop bakery, but I went to link the web-site to this blog and I saw where they baked Marc's cake that J-lo had ordered and they baked a cake for the Pope! Needless to say, you can imagine how good the cookies are that we buy! If they do mail order I highly recommend them! The coconut macaroon might just be my favorite.

This is the Valentine Card Tully picked out for his Mommy,
which seemed quite appropriate!
...and of course he had to test the cookie!

After strolling around Bethesda for the morning, we made our way back to the room

he found time for a quick game of "Peek a Boo" before his nap.

Tully loves "Peek a Boo" and plays quite often.

Again, I tell you... you can leave the toys at home!

Tully found his very own "remote" car!

...and he was very happy with his car,
even with one sock on and one sock off!

This footstool was on castors and rolled very easily,
he pushed it all over the room... the whole week.
We hit the jackpot with that new toy!

The footstool actually fit under this table...

but, Tully found a better use for the table!

He loved to crawl under there and hide.

And before the night was over, he managed to find Mommy's coat to play another round of "Peek a Boo"...

He just goes from one thing to another...

he's going to be another Columbus and discover something some day!

Tully is such a sweetheart... I love spending time with him!

Other related links for this trip:
Tully's on the Plane Again
The Monkey Climber
Tully's Metro Train Ride
Fun in Bethesda
More of Bethesda
Play Area at Dallas Airport

Tully's On The Plane Again...

Sunday, Feb 12, 2012

...and lands at Dulles International Airport.

Tully and Grammy travel to Washington DC again with Mommy; he is ten months old on this trip. And, once again, he was a good boy on the plane...

...especially if we time it just right for his nap!

...and if we get lucky - no one is in the seat in front of us!

He read everything in the seat pocket over and over again!

We had a really early flight, so we took Tully straight out of bed in his PJ's and was jet set! It sure was nice that we didn't have any lady sitting next to us this time ripping her velcro bag open and shut 50 times while Tully was trying to sleep during his nap.

We were lucky and got to see Kristen again on this trip. She is one of Mommy's friends who lives in the DC area and she always takes time to see our sweet Tully when we come to DC. Kristen makes our life easy and we had our usual stop at Whole Foods before heading to the hotel. While gathering some fresh fruits and veggies for the week Tully began his adventure of taking in the hustle bustle of the city life once again.

He sat in the grocery cart like such a good boy... Mommy says he doesn't do that at home, but there were so many people running around the produce area that Tully was fascinated with everyone... it looked like worker ants! No kidding! I commented to Ashley about the number of people and she said Whole Foods was always busy when she lived in the area. She is excited that they are building a new store close to where she lives now.

Anyway, after a yummy lunch and our grocery shopping spree, we made our way to the hotel. We carried our luggage into the room and while the door was open... Tully made a bee-line down the long hallway to begin his exploration of our home away from home for a week:

I watched him and thought he was going to help the cleaning staff
because he was headed straight for the cart!

Of course, I called to him and asked him what he was doing... he turned and looked at me and then went on his way! Oh no wait, he wasn't going for the cart, he was turning right into the first open door... but, I managed to swoop that little toot up just before he entered the room!

After we made our way back to our room he continued on his mission to see more...

He scurried in and about the livingroom area to see what was there.

Wow, things have changed since our last trip to DC in Sept 2011...

Tully was about 5 1/2 months old and could not even crawl on that trip!
He was trying though...

Anyway...

After exploring the livingroom, he counted the dining room chairs,
and wondered why there were only two!?!

He made his way into the kitchen and found a dish scrubber brush
along with the pots and pans!

No matter what he did, he held onto that brush...

He managed to get the lid off and
loved the noise those pans made on the tile floor!

...but, he soon decided that lid needed to be scrubbed.

Okay, he had hd enough with the pans,
and he ventured back towards the livingroom...

He found an avocado that I had dropped while putting the groceries away.
It had rolled just off the kitchen tile into the livingroom.
Notice he still has that scrubber brush in his hand!

AHAA!! He finally laid it down and I snatched it up before he knew it was gone...
he was too busy picking the avocado up with both hands...
and he obviously wanted to take a CLOSER look at it!

with one toss -- I had that avocado back too!

After getting things settled into the kitchen and with our good timing, Mommy put Tully down for his 3:00 pm nap. While she did that, I put our clothes into the closet and dresser and things were finally organized for the week.

Feb 13 - Monday morning

Mommy scuttled off to work and Tully continued on his exploration. He made his way into the bedroom...

He wanted to know why that door squeaked!
He told me a little WD-40 would do the trick!

I gave him some books to look at while I was getting dressed...

He loved his "touch and feel" book

and was quite content for a bit...

...but, he was soon distracted with the extra hangers on the floor.

He was trying to figure out what to do with them?!?
I think he has a little "engineering" brain!

One thing I have figured out-- there is no need to EVER buy TOYS!!! Just buy useful things like scrubber brushes, pots and pans, and hangers or such... kids find those more interesting anyway! And it sure makes traveling easier... actually, most of those things are already wherever you might be going!

Tully was soon distracted from the hangers with the curtains and windows...

he has to touch and feel everything!

and in a flash he found the opening

He made his way to the 2nd window and he stretched every inch that he could,
but to no avail could he see out!

He then turned to Grammy with those big blue eyes...

and yes, Tully and Grammy watched what seemed like millions of cars and trucks go by that window during the week! He looked forward to looking out every time he woke up from his nap... he would point to the window.

The window faces the busy Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street intersection

Tully watched the cars, big delivery trucks, firetrucks, bicycles, people walking everywhere, and he heard lots of noises and sirens. He made the "vroom" car sound as he watched. I so enjoy these little things with him!

We thought the weather was going to be cold, rainy and maybe even snow... Monday morning PawPaw Dennis sent this picture from home:

Whew, we left Oklahoma just in time... no white stuff in DC!
We had great weather all week :-D

For fear of weather being bad, we did bring his collapsible tunnel to play in along with a few books and a small stuffed dinosaur in the event we had to stay inside.