A Recipe For 2010 Family Dupree Fun The Winter snows of early 2010 are just a memory as Elizabeth, Henry and Teddy zoom their way into Summer! Yes, the return of warm temperatures means only one thing at the HQ of the Family Dupree, and that means it's time for the Little Pumpkin's birthday! Of course, the little Pumpkin isn't so little anymore, as she added another candle to the birthday cake on the right. One of the games she got was "Twister", which of course brought back great memories for Your Webmaster and the Fair Emily, especially as we tried to twist and contort and twist or own bodies to the delight of the kiddies! Soon after Elizabeth's Big Time Birthday celebration, it was time to zip across the Potomac River to go see the Greatest Show On Earth, which for some reason was minus it's Tigers, but that's another story. Each year, the clowns get less and less scary, as this year both kids seemed ready to jump into the middle ring and really have a fun time in front of the standing room only crowd. On the left, both kids give a great smile while mugging with the clown...and then on the right, Elizabeth got to spin a plate on the end of a wooden stick! (The best part was now I know how you do it! Chalk one up to a little "sleight of hand" circus magic.) Now, while a trip to the circus is a lot of fun, is it really more fun than having Mom take you and one of your cousins to get doughnuts? Or how about a doughnut shop where they also make the doughnuts - and you can watch! Yes, that was a fun early Spring destination for the Clan, thanks to the Fair Emily, as she also went over and grabbed Cousin Lily for the day. Something tells me the kids would love to make this trip about every weekend or so... As for the Tedster, he keeps bopping along with his big, infectious smile. Teddy is now completely on the move running around all over the place. Here he shows off his short-white-guy-posting-up-under-the-basket move. Over on the right at Bunnyland, it was all smiles from Teddy, as he got to play in a series of play train cars. I mean, how can you resist a smile like that?? Like any kid, Teddy loves to throw something on his head for laughs like this Spring Flower head gear on the left, which he was happy to wear again below right. Joining Papa Tay in his chair were Elizabeth the Easter Rabbit and Teddy the Flower, as Henry decided that he didn't need to be in wacky costume for this photo. The Warm Weather Fun began right away, thankfully, after a very cold and snowy winter as the kids enjoyed a visit from the Parker kids, who rumbled into DC from Beantown. As you can see, everyone was having a great time, as even the Tedster joined the big kids. Meanwhile, Elizabeth got to spend a little time fooling around with stuff in the closet, as the Fair Emily got out her Wedding Veil! As you can tell, the Little Pumpkin thoroughly enjoyed wearing that. Meanwhile, the three kids jointly decided that it was about time to do something different with their time, as they pooled their Piggy Bank Reserves and decided to see if they could find a farm in the outer DC suburbs to operate in the future. Here, Henry is gunning the engine on the old tractor, while Elizabeth tries to wrangle Teddy into the seat before they went out and test plowed the Back Forty. The kids also engineered a hay ride for us to tour the rest of the farm. As you can see, Your Webmaster is here with Teddy, with a photo taken by Elizabeth, who seems to like being behind the camera. On the right, the Little Pumpkin is jumping off the big tube slide at the farm. Nothing like a burlap sack and a big downhill to have a little more fun. Elizabeth also took the picture on the right with The Fair Emily and Teddy as they took an afternoon to go down to the Jefferson Memorial with some friends. Now, not all of her pictures are of the serious variety, as you can see on the right, Elizabeth took a picture of her feet! Henry also likes to take photos, but mainly just to take pictures of things, not of anyone specific. Speaking of Elizabeth, let's finish our update with her latest visit to Capitol Hill on Take Your Daughter to Work Day. Elizabeth had a great time once again this year, as we zipped around the Capitol one day in April. Elizabeth even managed to get front and center at a news conference with Speaker Pelosi, though said the Speaker was talking too fast and that it was too hard to write down everything that she was saying. Sounds like a future reporter? Hmmmm. Not so sure about that.