Saturday, July 31, 2010

Iowa - Part II - Nora's Baptism

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We planned Nora's baptism to dovetail with the Fawcett Sweet Corn Festival in order to maximize Fawcett attendance (to maximize Grady/Zimmerman attendance, we simply made them godparents or officiants). It was pretty effective. We had Fawcetts coming all the way from Alaska for Nora's big day and all but the oldest and youngest of the Grady siblings managed to make the event resulting in a total of 50 revelers our own mini Loaves and Fishes miracle moment.

Nora was a little apprehensive about it all. Still recovering from the long drive and a bit overwhelmed by the crowds, she wasn't too pleased when Uncle Bernie started anointing her with oil (he responded by telling her, "It gets worse"), but seemed to rally when he poised her over the baptismal bath and "assumed the position." By the time Uncle Bernie had her stand (or rather be held) behind the alter with her Godparents -- Uncle Dave and Cousin Caitlin -- her parents and big brother to announce her membership into the Christian community she was positively aglow.

After which we headed to the pond (which Owen informed us he prefers to church) for another sort of baptism...

(click here to see all the pictures)

Friday, July 30, 2010

Iowa - Part I

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For our big summer vacation this year, we're spending almost two weeks in Iowa for Nora's Baptism, the Fawcett Sweet Corn Festival, the 25th birthday party for Cold Spring Pond, and Hoover Days. We packed up our bags and left DC after lunch on Tuesday to drive to Aunt Katherine and Uncle L's house in Cleveland for the first leg of our journey, and the next morning, all of us left in a caravan for Iowa. The drive went reasonably well, Owen of course was endlessly entertained by the DVD player in the minivan, but Nora is still stuck in a rear facing carseat for another month, so she had a few stretches of inconsolable crying, but at least managed several good naps in the car.

On Thursday Leanna and Grace came over for a visit, and the family began to trickle in. We started preparations for Nora's baptism on Thursday (e.g. Owen, Grandpa Z, and I picked up the keg and brought it to the Pond, so we could start working on the CO2 levels in the kegerator ;) We did some exploring around the Pond, and Owen was very excited to see the Uncle Ken's new teepee back in the woods on the West side of the Pond.

That evening the Fawcetts and Zimmermans gathered for dinner at Agave in West Branch, and with over twenty of us, we pretty much took over the restaurant. After a huge dinner, we headed back to Iowa City to rest up for Nora's big day.

(click here to see all the pictures)

Monday, July 19, 2010

Pre-School

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Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer haven't been too lazy in the Fawcett household, as preparations for Owen's transition to the DC Public School System have begun in earnest. List serves have been joined. PTA meetings have been attended (ok, one meeting was attended; a subsequent committee meeting was skipped but I found out about it the day before and Allen didn't get home until 7 pm that night...). Fundraising ideas have been shared. And for the last two Sundays, we've attended a Ludlow-Taylor Early Education Playdate so that Owen can at least meet his new classmates before his first day.

We've had mixed experience with the playdates -- they've been primarily attended by children that will be in the three year old program. While Owen has enjoyed the actual activities (a splash day, chalk drawings), he hasn't interacted that much with the other kids. We have a few more playdates before school starts, so hopefully Owen will find a friend or two to ease the transition.

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Monday, July 12, 2010

All about the Cute

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Fireworks and Other Fun

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We had a very full Independence Day and the three day weekend this year. We started out the holiday weekend with Tadashi's 4th birthday party on Saturday. Owen had a great time with the trombone band that played the party, and Nora played contentedly with the other babies.

That was just the beginning of Owen's excitement for the day, because after coming home for a quick dinner Mom Mom and Grandpa Don came over to take Owen to the Kennedy Center to see Mary Poppins. The original plan was for Owen to spend the night at Mom Mom and Grandpa Don's house after the show, but the poor little guy was so exhausted by the end of the day that he broke down when he got to Silver Spring and desperately wanted to be in his own bed. Mom Mom kindly drove him back home, and by midnight he was back in his own bed sound asleep. After a good night's sleep and a 4th of July breakfast of chocolate pancakes Owen recounted how much he loved seeing Mary Poppins, especially Bert walking on the ceiling during Step in Time. Then he called Mom Mom to thank her for taking him to the show, and told her that he'd like to sleep over at her house another time when he hadn't had "such a big day" and when he wouldn't miss out on Daddy's chocolate pancakes;-)

On Sunday we tried to take it easy for most of the day to prepare for braving the crowds to see the fireworks on the Mall. Elaine was anticipating an unmitigated disaster, but we managed to find parking in our old neighborhood, and it was just a short walk to a lovely spot in the grass by the Botanic Gardens where we spread out our blanket to watch the fireworks. Owen wasn't overly fond of all the noise, particularly the cannons near us that went off during the 1812 Overture, but he enjoyed seeing the fireworks, and Nora wasn't phased by any of it. Certainly not an unmitigated disaster, and we might even try it again sometime.

On Monday we finally relaxed with an afternoon at Mom Mom and Grandpa Don's and a swim in Rose's pool. Katherine was in town, and Jen came over, and several people from the neighborhood joined us for a little 5th of July cookout. A nice way to end the long weekend.

(click here for all the pictures)

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