Pictures at an Exhibition

On Saturday I was playing with Owen in his room when he started singing the Alphabet Song. He got to about "G" when he suddenly stopped, turned to me and said, "Go get the camera."

It's understandable that Owen would assume that we would want to capture his every adorable act, since in our quest to nail the perfect pic for our holiday card, we've been photographing him seemingly non-stop the past week. But despite all the footage, we still weren't satisfied with any family shots and so on Sunday we headed to the National Botanic Garden where we hoped to persuade some stranger to take a winning family portrait of us.

We hadn't realized how many other people would be of a similar mind, and so instead of posing amid the crowds in front of the Christmas trees, the plant replicas of Capitol Hill, or the "Windows to Wonderland," we opted for the Orchid Garden. Owen was appalled that we would leave the trains for someplace sorely lacking in locomotions and was less than a good sport about smiling for a very generous stranger. As a result, Owen got one more tour of the trains before nap time, and we'll be using a wide-shot from early November for our Christmas card.