Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Ready for Takeoff

Ever since we went up to Boston in February, Owen has been talking about wanting to see Kaden again. This past weekend the Hyatts were in town and Owen finally got his wish. On Saturday morning we drove out to McLean to Nabeel's parents house for a morning playdate and burgers on the grill for lunch. We had a great time seeing Nabeel, Megan, Kaden, and Liam (who is looking much bigger than he was back in February), and it's always fun catching up with Nabeel's parents. After heading home for naptime, the whole crew (minus Elaine and Megan who both wisely stayed home) gathered at the Air & Space museum. Kaden and Owen decided they owned the place and had way too much fun chasing each other around and pointing out all the airplanes and rockets. We finished up the day with a walk to Tortilla Coast for dinner (which in retrospect was a pretty long hike on a hot day with three kids and two grandparents, but oh well, the fajitas were tasty). I'd put up pictures, but I didn't manage to take any good ones, and I'm still waiting for Nabeel to post his ;-)

Owen and Kaden

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

It was the best of times...


We'd made plans to attend our niece Olivia's First Communion in Chicago a couple months ago. We didn't realize at the time that I would be horribly ill that weekend and that Allen would be under a White House imposed deadline. We made it to Chicago (though Allen arrived 9 hours later than Owen and I after missing the flight for a meeting with White House staff and flying stand-by) and we're able to attend the festivities (though Allen was working on the analysis throughout most of the day with only a slight reprieve for breakfast and the ceremony), but it was a bit of a haze for us all. In the end, Olivia looked beautiful and is now a Communicant, Owen had an amazing time with all of his cousins, the White House approved Allen's analysis of the Houses' latest climate change legislation,* and the only the losses were my voice and Owen's beloved baseball hat (which got left on the flight back).**


* For the wonky out there, the above link is to the executive summary, here's where you can find the rest of the analysis.
**Also possibly Panda, the Zimmerman kids' pet hamster who went MIA after the party. We're hoping he shows up soon.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Easter

We've been fighting with Owen about nap time -- we're all for it while he likes to fight it for 2 hours before ultimately surrendering which in turn messes up his bedtime. While we have no control during the week when he's at daycare, we decided that on the weekends we'd just skip a formal siesta and instead allow him to rest his eyes if the opportunity should arise. Unfortunately, we decided to implement this new regime change Easter weekend.

Saturday, after a fairly relaxing morning we headed out (with Owen napping en route) to meet the newest addition to the Brown family, Ben. While Allen and I were focused on observing the dynamics of balancing a newborn and a toddler, Owen was all about playing with Mia on the playground right outside their temporary digs. We intended to just stay an hour, but with the swings beckoning, it was a good 3 hours before we headed out to dinner with Mom Mom & Grandpa Don and Aunt Katherine, Uncle "L" and Makayla. We eventually carried one tuckered out little boy to his bed.

The lateness of the previous night and the required search for Easter Eggs in the morning, threw a wrench in our schedule and meant that we had to attend a later mass service. Despite that, as Owen pointed out, "Daddy doesn't want to go to church," and that "this is another church," it turned out to be serendipitous as the belated service allowed Owen to watch the pipe organ player conduct and even to briefly meet the Easter Bunny (which only sort of freaked him out).

From there we went directly to Mom Mom's where Owen participated in a much more elaborate Easter egg hunt with Makayla, who was gracious enough to help Owen search. After a lovely dinner and far more chocolate than was probably advisable, we headed home where the entire Fawcett clan ignored our previous directive and took a collective 2 hour nap.

Yeah!

(click here to see the Baby Ben pictures)
(click here to see all the Easter pictures)

Sunday, April 05, 2009

A Slight Change of Plans

Our plan for the weekend was to try to get together with Brad & Marlo before their new baby arrived, so Owen and Mia could give each other a little pep talk about being big siblings soon. Andrew & Claire and their son Luke were also joining us, and we all were planning on meeting for brunch Sunday morning followed by an outing to Wheaton Park. The weather was gorgeous, and we were about to head out the door when the phone rang. Brad was calling with a slight change of plans: James Benjamin Brown (Ben for short -- going by his middle name just like his daddy) was born a little after 6 Sunday morning and so the Browns would have to take a rain-check. We're extremely excited for the Brown family, and we can't wait to see the new baby. We'll put up a link to Dia de Mia (their now misnamed blog;-) as soon as there are pictures. Owen was disappointed we wouldn't be seeing Mia, but he was very excited that she is a big sister now -- though he's decided he's content to wait until after his birthday for big brotherdom. With Brad and Marlo otherwise occupied, we met up with Andrew, Claire and Luke at Woodside Deli for a lovely brunch, and then drove over to Wheaton Park, which turned out to be a little boy's paradise. There was a gigantic two story slide, that was part of a massive old-school wooden playground complex; a train that took us on a very scenic ride through the woods; and a carousel with a zebra for Owen to ride! Owen had a great time playing with Luke, and we'll have to be sure to go back to Wheaton Park sometime soon. Zebra Carousel