Picture in an Exhibition

While getting Noa's painting, Sunrise Over Disturbed Waters, to Studio Gallery in time for it to be included in a student exhibit was more than a little stressful, going to see their work on display wasn't (well, if you don't count the fact that we initially went to the wrong gallery, which was locked, and immediately became confused and panicked – there are a lot of art galleries in Dupont Circle...). Mom Mom and Grandpa Don as well as Steve and Megan joined us for a tour as well as a dinner after to celebrate our artist in residence.

(To see all the pictures, click here.)

And so it begins...

To be honest, after the election we made a conscience decision to take a step back and let the electorate experience what they claimed they wanted without interference. And while I'm not sure my moral compass would ultimately allow that course of action entirely, it seemed like a good way to approach the new year. But when you have an LGBTQ+ child who falls under the trans umbrella and is facing an Executive Order that it will now be the U.S. policy to recognize only two biologically distinct sexes and said child says that they want to participate in a march defending their rights, you stand beside that kid and march. You even make an emergency CVS run to ensure they have appropriate colored paper for their sign.

So on a cold and raining Saturday morning in the waning hours of the Biden administration, we gathered with hundreds of others at Franklin Park to march in support LGBTQIA, gender justice and bodily autonomy issues (the groups focused on immigration, climate, Palestine, and DC related issues gathered in other parks and then we merged together). It was a smaller march then some of our previous ones – no one was being bussed in from other parts of the country. But it was really important one for Noa and one that we really needed to attend with them, both to demonstrate that we will always support them, and to show them that we will protect them in whatever they face over the next few years.

(To see all of our pictures, click here.)

Exploring the Occult

 

It's always exciting when there is a cool astronomical event you can see from the city. It was bitterly cold out but Noa and I were able to set up the telescope inside Owen's room and get a good view of the Moon and Mars. The iPhone pictures through the viewfinder didn't turn out amazing, but it was cool to watch Mars disappear occulted by the Moon.

Back to School

It was wonderful having Owen back home for winter break, but we had to send him back to SMCM today. Thank you Grandpa Don for driving him back to school! 

Snow, Snow Everywhere and not a Trail to Ski

Since Owen had a month off for Winter Break and the kids' Spring Breaks don't line up, we decided to buck tradition and plan our (semi) regular family ski trip over New Years this year. Allen lobbied for Whistlers or Colorado, which has more reliable snow in December; I argued for Salt Lake City since it has a direct flight and the travel gods haven't always been on our side. Allen capitulated, and while I generally prefer Deer Valley (no ski boarders), we couldn't find accommodations there, so we booked a condo and lift tickets next door at Park City.

Despite Allen's misgivings and the lack of early December snow in Utah, the snow forecast for our trip was great – 30 inches of snow right before our trip with more while we were there. What we hadn't anticipated, however, was that Vail Resorts would not have settled their contract negotiations with the Ski Patrollers Association (who were asking for a $2 increase in their hourly wages) before the busiest part of the ski seasons and that in response the patrollers would go on strike. As a result, only 12 percent of Park City's mountain was open and lift lines were up to 40 minutes or more (meanwhile, everything was running swimmingly at Deer Valley).

It made for an odd ski trip. In truth, we should have known that things were off when we arrived at the SLC airport Monday evening and discovered that someone had inadvertently taken our bag. After a conversation with the Delta attendant, a call to the traveler's mom (who's bag he had borrowed and left at the airport), Delta finally convinced the millennial to return our bag to the airport (even though it meant he would have to pay for parking) and exchange it for his. Then attendant sent us off to our condo in Park City and said that they would deliver our bag in 2-6 hours. It arrived at midnight (2 am EST).

Since it had been such a late night, we decided to have a leisurely Tuesday morning. I was contemplating waking up Noa around 10 am MST when I received a message from one of their teachers at Burke. Noa had been asked to submit some paintings for consideration for a student exhibit at a local gallery. When Noa hadn't heard back on December 20th, they assumed that they hadn't been accepted. Only apparently Noa sent the wrong email address and the curator had been trying to get ahold of them for the past week – their piece, Sunrise Over Disturbed Waters, was selected, but we needed to get it to the gallery for installation... by 3 pm EST today.

Enter multiple phone calls and text to Noa's teacher, the museum curator and Mom Mom, who dropped everything (and stopped baking the potato casserole intended for their New Year's celebration that night) in order to break into our home, grab the picture, and drive to Dupont Circle where Noa's work was safely delivered to Studio Gallery an hour before the deadline.

With that finally completed, we headed off to the slopes, to wait in a series of lift lines and ski mostly the same runs. It was frustrating that with so much beautiful snow, there were very few trails to enjoy, and so the few that were open were extremely crowded.

We still managed to have a good time. The kids invented new card games (in the spirit of Hearts and Spades, Noa created "Diamonds" while Owen invented "Clubs"). The boys watched (well, Allen re-watched) Season 2 of Rings of Power. We met up with Jen, Ahzer and the kids at not their usual dining place in Park City (since the High West Saloon had become a 21 and over club since they'd last dined there). We rode a mountain roller coaster. And yes, we did get in a few good ski runs. 

But mostly, we just enjoyed each others company. And oddly, a lot of Shark Tank.

We had an early morning departure on Saturday which involved a long drive through a snow storm (thank goodness for car services), a bit of a wait to get the captain on-board and then de-ice the plane, and then another wait to find an open arrival gate in DC due to inclement weather impacting lots of other flights. Still, we made it home before 7 pm and well before the big storms hit the East Coast...

(To see all of our pictures, click here.)