Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter

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We feel like we have this Easter thing down. We get up Easter morning, find some eggs and presents from the Easter Bunny. Then we get dressed and go out for bagels before walking to mass. After mass we head up to Mom Mom's where an Easter egg hunt and delicious dinner awaits. Now if we could just learn how to better ration candy consumption...

(click here for all the pictures)

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Spring Break

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One of the challenges of Owen being in school is Owen not being in school -- daycare may have had a shut down week, but their holidays pale in comparison with all of the days that kids don't go to school. This past week was spring break for DC public schools, and since we didn't have any grand travel plans, we decided to have a week of Daddy and Owen time.

Our first big Spring Break outing was a trip to Nationals Park for a baseball game on Sunday. The game on Saturday was rained out, but the weather on Sunday was perfect, so we were treated to a double header. Owen showed his love for the game and stuck through all 18 innings. We watched the first game from the upper deck and moved down for the second game, eventually moving up to the front row behind third base where Owen flirted with Alexa, one of the young ladies from the Nat Pack. The Nats took both games from the Brewers, and we couldn't have asked for a better day of baseball (though I don't think we'll grant Owen's request to invite Alexa over for a play date ;-).

Owen had a dentist appointment on Monday, not the most exciting Spring Break activity, but we did manage to spend the afternoon riding Owen's new bike all over Capitol Hill. We spent Tuesday at the Smithsonian, first checking out the Einstein Planetarium presentation on that nights stars. Then we met up with Mommy for lunch at the Sculpture Garden, before going over to the Natural History museum to check out the dinosaurs.

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Wednesday was forecast to be a rainy day, so Owen went into DOL to visit all his old friends from daycare. Then on Thursday we had our most exciting adventure, Owen's first trip to Great Falls. Owen was reluctant to go at first, but once we got there and he started climbing over the rocks, he told me, "Daddy, I didn't think it would be fun, but this is phenomenal!" Since it was just us boys, we quickly left the overlooks and started exploring the rocks downstream along the Billy Goat Trail. Not surprisingly, Owen was fearless scrambling over the rocks, and he made it clear that we better get him on belay to do some real climbing before too long.

Friday was another rainy day, so we stayed in and did some experiments. We made oobleck, a non-Newtonian fluid that acts like a liquid when it's poured, but as a solid when you squeeze it. Pretty cool stuff, but it couldn't top the previous day's fun at Great Falls. All together it was a great Spring Break, and I'm really glad we had so much Daddy & Owen time.

(click here for all the pictures)

Monday, April 18, 2011

This Boy's Life

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When you're a kid, there are certain days in your life you expect to be great: your birthday; Christmas; the first day of summer vacation. Typically, April 17th is not one of those days (unless that happens to be your birthday or you're home schooled with a very non-traditional calendar). But on Sunday, Owen received his long awaited "big boy" bike (after the 20 month, largely failed experiment of the balance bike), rode to the park where he met up with a classmate, had a quick lunch and then headed off to Nationals Stadium where he watched 18 innings of baseball, ate an absurd amount of ballpark fare and befriended "Alexa" from the "Nat Pack" -- he's asked me to arrange a playdate with her. Not a bad way to start his first official Spring Break.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Grounded

IMG_0542 It was an odd year for the Blossom Kite Festival (formally known as the Smithsonian Kite Festival). Originally, it was supposed to be held on March 30th, but threats of snow resulted in its postponement until April 10th -- one day after the government was set to close. Fortunately the powers that be were able to come to some sort of accord allowing the Cherry Blossom Festival to continue (as well as our garbage to be collected and Allen & I to continue to earn livings), but they weren't able to do anything about the weather -- it was damp and there was a noticeable absence of wind. In our zeal to make the festival, we forgot a blanket to sit on (which made for some damp bottoms) and a part to one of the kites (which, along with the lack of breeze meant we weren't able to actually fly a kite). But while we weren't able to actively participate in the festival's main event, the kids still had a pretty good time trying. IMG_0523 (click here for all the pictures)

Saturday, April 09, 2011

Drummers

Ben had a rocking second birthday party on Saturday, and Nora and Owen were particularly taken with one of his birthday presents. They had a blast, but I think it'll be a tough sell for them to talk us into getting them a set of their own...

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Nora Ball

Monday, April 04, 2011

Baseball is Back!

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Spring is arriving here in DC in fits and starts -- we've had a few gorgeous days mixed in with lots of cold and rainy weather. Through it all, Owen has been on the hunt for signs of Spring, dutifully pointing out all the leaf buds and flowers he can find. Saturday brought Owen's first soccer practice of the year (which he actually participated in this time ;). Then on Sunday, Owen found one of the best signs of Spring yet: his first Nats game of the season! Josh and Teddy joined us to take in the rubber game of the Nat's first series of the season (and Jeff, Sommer, Brandon, Anneke and Assa came over to visit for a couple innings before going back to their sweet Washingtonian seats behind the Nats dugout). We finally had the painful conversation about how Josh Willingham and Adam Dunn were playing for new teams now, and Mike Morse and Adam LaRoche would be playing left field and first base this season, which Owen took surprisingly well. As for the game, the Nats new and improved defense forgot to show up, and they lost 11 - 2, but for Owen all that mattered was that we were at a baseball game together.

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