Bowling with the Browns

It was rainy and cold last weekend (or at least it felt cold after the 80 degree temps we'd had for much of the week) and we didn't have anything officially on the docket, so we decided to call up our friends the Browns and invite ourselves over. The original plan was to take the kids duck pin bowling again, but a church social (and hanging out a bit too long on Mia & Ben's new swing-set) meant that we could only get about 20 minutes of actual bowling in. This proved to be a stroke of luck as 20 minutes was just enough to fulfill our promise of bowling, but not long enough for any of our off-spring to seriously injure themselves while climbing on the ball return (though Ben and Nora tried their darndest).

It also meant that we were able to go to a real pizza place with a wood burning oven rather than partake in bowling alley fare, which made for a much nicer evening for everyone (except possibly those patrons that would have preferred to dine at the bar without the presence of four children).

(click here for the pictures)

Spring?!?

I guess it is technically Spring already, but it still is a bit shocking that we can be outside playing in the sprinklers in March. #YearWithoutWinter.

Kindie Rock

A few years ago, I happened upon an article on parent-friendly kid acts that featured Justin Roberts. Intrigued, I ordered "Pop Fly" which was extremely well received by our baseball loving son and soon was a must-have for our road-trips. We brought it to Iowa for Christmas where Uncle Dave noticed it and remarked that he'd actually gone to school with Mr. Roberts, who'd been a huge hit at their 20th reunion (particularly with the THRS off-spring). We later picked up "Melt Down" and have been known to have Justin Robert dance parties among ourselves on the weekends.

So imagine our delight when we found out that he was coming to town (or to Vienna, VA which is semi-close to town). We ordered tickets ahead of time (which was good, since all three shows sold out) and drove to the 'burbs right after swim lessons where we grabbed some lunch at Jammin Java and settled down in the front row.

It really was a great show. I'd requested "Pop Fly" online and was delighted when they came on stage and announced they were starting their set with a special request from the Zimmerman family. Owen was pretty excited, but quickly turned shy and later complained that it was way too loud. Nora was completely freaked out at first, but eventually got into it and was even dancing in the mosh pit by the end (as well as lifting her shirt which hopefully won't become a habit at rock concerts...).

We're hoping to catch him again this summer when Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players take the stage at Wolf Trap... and that the outdoor stage will insure that Owen doesn't hurt his ears rocking out.

(click here for all the pictures)

Mark Dean

In honor of Black History Month, all the students in Owen's kindergarten class were assigned a famous Black American whom they researched, created a visual aid of, and then presented their person for "Museum Day." Owen had Mark Dean, co-inventor of the PC who ironically now uses a tablet. We think he did a pretty awesome job.

Interjections!

We didn't realize when Uncle Dave and Aunt Kara gave Owen the "School House Rock" DVD for Christmas, just how adorable learning parts of speech can be.



Awe, that's the end.

Fairy Godmother

Cousin Caitlin -- goddaughter to Elaine, godmother to Nora, and friend to all -- was in DC for a conference from Thursday 2/23 to Wednesday 2/29. At least we think she was. Caitlin's itinerary involving early morning meetings and late night networking happy hours was largely at odds with the kids' sleep schedules, social demands and Nora's fever and lingering crankiness. This meant that our actual interactions with her were severely limited, despite Caitlin staying at our place for a couple of nights. We managed to squeeze in a family brunch with Caitlin and Molly on Sunday, but still didn't get a good picture of god-mothers and daughters after a nasty fall from a too literal interpretation of London Bridges left Nora with a big bump on her forehead and emotionally overwrought. As a result, we had to settle for a post-bedtime pic before Caitlin left to meet up with her classmates in order to have some record of her visit with Nora.

But on a happier note, Caitlin, Molly and I had a lovely time over drinks and a light dinner Monday night, dishing on the family, catching up in general and trying to convince Caitlin that a summer internship in DC would be pretty awesome...

Don't I Look Cool?

We were getting ready for bed, and Owen decided to wrap a slinky around his waist as a belt, stand up on his bed, and strike a pose. "Daddy don't I look cool! Quick, take a picture!" It really was quite a pose, so how could I resist?

(click here for the whole photo shoot)

Katherine on Skis!

President's Day weekend here in DC turned out to be incredibly warm and beautiful out -- too warm, really, for winter sports -- but Owen and I wanted to get one more day of skiing in this winter, so we decided to brave the balmy weather and go to Whitetail.

Now this was no ordinary day skiing. Aunt Katherine was in town for a 10K on Saturday and didn't have to go back to Ohio until Tuesday, so we saw an opportunity. Katherine had never been on skis before, and thought she never would be, but Owen was very persuasive, and we talked her into joining us.

The lines were long, and the snow was slushy, but the weather was gorgeous and we all had a great time. Owen gave Katherine lots of pointers, and she caught on pretty quickly. Katherine even talked Uncle L into giving skiing a try sometime. Now we just have to get her on a real mountain with some real snow, and we may just have a convert.

7 Springs

We didn't have any big ski trips out West planned for 2012, but we couldn't let the winter go by without getting in some skiing. Once we saw that Owen had a four day weekend over my birthday, we decided it was the perfect opportunity for a little East coast ski adventure, so we rented a condo right on the slopes at Seven Springs in Western Pennsylvania.  This winter has been incredibly warm, and the week leading up to our ski trip was no exception as the temperatures in DC were pushing 70 -- not exactly prime skiing weather.  We weren't surprised when our first day on the mountain brought warm weather, and just a smattering of man made snow.  But this was plenty for the kids: Owen hit the lifts in ski camp, and Nora kicked off the day with her first ski lesson.  Nora was a bit nervous at first, but she had great balance on her skis, and she did an amazing job cruising down the little slope.  The speed scared her a little bit, but not so much that she didn't want to ride the magic carpet and do it all again!



After the warm weather on our first day, a storm rolled in and it snowed all day on my birthday. The snow was heavy and wet, so we were all a little soaked after a long day of skiing, but the storm brought about five inches of snow to the mountain, along with a healthy dose of winter beauty, and of course opening up a bunch of new trails.  Nora skied with us in the morning, showing off her new skills, and Owen spent the day in ski camp before skiing with Daddy at the end of the day.  Elaine and I took advantage of our time without the kids for a little skiing on our own, and a lovely birthday lunch at Helen's.



Our last day on the slopes was Super Bowl Sunday, and the weather cleared up for a beautiful sunny day on the newly snowy mountain.  Owen spent the day skiing with us before having a private lesson in the afternoon.  He took on a few intermediate blue slopes, and started speculating about when he would be a better skier than Mommy ;-)

Hopefully we'll make it out West for a ski trip next winter, but this was a great little trip, and I have a feeling we'll be doing it again on our next 'off' year.

(click here for all the pictures)

Big Girl Bed

We've been talking about moving Nora into a "big girl bed" for a while. Unlike her brother at this age, Nora hadn't managed to climb in and out out of the crib and had shown little inclination to do so. However, having inherited her brother's drop-side crib (which itself was purchased "used" and is now banned by the Consumer Product Safety Division), we've been a bit anxious to move her into a berth with less of a body count.

So we measured and searched on-line to find the perfect bed that would fit in her room and provide some much needed storage. Alas, we discovered after Allen had fully assembled it on Friday that we'd been misled about the dimensions (and forgot about the headboard jutting out) resulting in the bed overlapping Nora's door frame and a 3 inch gap between Nora's bed and the wall.

We're working on some modifications to make the bed a little more room friendly, but in the meantime Nora is pretty excited to be sleeping unencumbered and informed me, while I was bemoaning my baby girl no longer being a baby, that "[She's] not sad."

In the immortal words of Nora Fawcett...

In January three years ago, we had a post of some of our favorite, "Owenisms" -- random things Owen had said that were adorable or phrases that had become a regular part of his vernacular. We had decided to do it as a "Year in Review" post and as such, had a running tally that we added to and refined over the course of several weeks.

We didn't do that with Nora.

Partly because Nora's been more verbal at an earlier age than Owen was, that by the time we started writing stuff down, it seemed pretty rote. Partly because Nora mimics her beloved older brother so much that a lot of her phrases are really Owen phrases. And partly because what makes Nora's comments so endearing isn't necessarily what she says so much as the way she says them (there's a lot of singing and exclamation points).

But for the sake of equality and posterity...

1. I LOVE Uncle Dave.
2. I’m Ladybug girl.
3. I don’t have any poopies.
4. I want mines!
5. Go away, Mommy! I want Daddy tuck me in.
6. I want snack!
7. It’s my birthday.
8. I got a lollipop!
9. Don’t go breakin’ my heart...
10. I’m the baby robot and you’re the Mommy robot.
11. I’m awake.
12. Baby, baby Crockett...
13. We’re going to outer space!
14. I have a little gas. Do you have gas?
15. Argh…Where are all the peoples?
16. Thanks for cooking, Mommy.
17. I have blue and Owen has blue eyes and Daddy has blue and Mommy has brown eyes.
18. I’m so pretty.
19. I need the happy face.
20. Can I have Baby Jesus?
21. I’m swimming!
22. Bon appetite!
23. I go to church.
24. Can I watch Dora?
25. Tickle me!
26. My favorite colors are purple and pink.
27. I want to fly.
28. I’m so big.
29. Waaa…I want a tissue.
30. You have cold hands.
31. I’m spinning!
32. I don’t know.
33. Silly, Nora.
34. I need a wipe.
35. I’m Wonder Woman and Owen’s Superman and Daddy’s Green Lantern and Mommy’s Batgirl.
36. Yee-Haw!
37. Thanks for setting the table, Owen.
38. I want to sleep a little longer.
39. Can I have my crocodile be-be?
40. I’m not sorry.
41. Want to see me do something cool?
42. See my cool cool tower.
    
43. I LOVE my big girl bed!

Hitting the Slopes

It's been an unusually warm winter this year, but we finally had enough of a cold stretch that the local ski resorts started making some snow, so Owen and I hit the slopes on Sunday. We went up to Ski Liberty, just over the border in PA, and Owen had a great time in his lesson and according to his instructor was, 'turning like a champ'. After his lesson we skied together, and Owen rode the chair lift for the first time. He looked great on the bunny hill, and he really liked going fast. We have a long ski weekend planned at Seven Springs over my birthday, so I have a feeling Owen will be skiing pretty well by the end of this season.

(click here for all the pictures)

2011 - The Year in Facebook

10 hours into 2011 nora masters the word, "no." ~ had a system breakdown whereby the "sell by jan 11" milk was consumed before the "sell by jan 4" milk was opened. god help us all... ~ went a little spanish inquisition on her kids during prayers tonight. ~ For the record, the mike & ikes just made my mouth sore; it was the carrot that gauged my gums. There's a moral there, kids. ~ my boss has suggested that my experimental approach to nora's recent serial hive outbreak might be not be the best plan of action. apparently, i'm in fact not that kind of doctor. ~ just received her very first phone call from school regarding her child's behavior -- apparently owen has turned to the dark side. ~ owen had his first ever happy meal this evening at the behest of andrew "artisan, free-range" stivers. it's always the foodies, isn't it... ~ my son keeps letting tinkerbell die. ~ i dearly love my children, but i miss staying out 'till 2. ~ i'm more of a tony the tiger kind of mom. ~ early dismissals are much more complicated once you have kids. ~ Owen woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Afterwards, he couldn't reach the sink to dry his hands, so he decided to wait until someone came to help. Allen found him asleep on the bathroom floor at 3:15 am. We might have over-stressed the hygiene thing. ~ Day 3 of owen literally having cabin fever. ~ 4 adults holding him down at the snowmass clinic couldn't get Tylenol on owen. We're now going the suppository route. ~ seriously, it's february. how am i already closed out of camps? ~ If your children are watching johnny cash clips, does that make it ok that they're watching him on Lawrence welk? ~ i wasn't particularly impressed by owen's new haircut. his response? "it was the best they could do." ~ nora watched the glee cover of justin beiber's, "baby" and then promptly puked on me. ~ fyi, according to owen, the sauropod of the day is saltosaurus. ~ wow, 18 months of nora. that went fast. ~ such a conundrum: it was owen's allosaurus's idea to be bad, but as its brain is only the size of a walnut, can it be blamed for poor choices? ~ my son just prayed to the father, son and holy spit. ~ is babysitting an allosaurus, a brachiosaurus and a triceratops today. ~ owen overheard glee last night and announced that he's a fan of "afternoon delight." so many things wrong w/ that sentence... ~ march 12, 2011: the day we finally introduced owen to star wars. ~ apparently we have a self-cleaning oven. information i could have used two hours ago. ~ dear oil of olay: making me break out is not the same as giving me younger looking skin. ~ we received an ad for capitol hill cemetery plots today -- "term limit: eternity." ~ nora has started referring to owen as "oh-no" and to herself as "no-no." ~ apparently it's "squirrel week" here in dc... maybe they should just shut us down. ~ so it's official: despite all my parent's reassurances to the contrary, i am in fact not "essential". ~ so we forgot a key piece to one of our kites and a blanket to sit on, and there wasn't any actual wind, but otherwise the kite festival was perfect. ~ My daughter is wearing a beer cozy as a bracelet this morning. awesome. ~ we sold the double stroller. i guess we're officially done. :( ~ i get that, having attended charlie sheen's "violent torpedo of truth" show last night, you have some issues you need to talk through w/ someone. i just don't think i'm the ideal candidate. ~ tip of the hat to single parents -- if i had to do this everyday i would be cowering in a corner sniffing glue. ~ based on today's behavior, nora is on team edward. ~ The deputy assistant secretary of defense got me a refill after I spilled wine all over myself. Clearly the country is secure and in capable hands. ~ We explained the designated hitter rule to owen at dinner. He cried. Stupid American league. ~ owen woke up at 6:15 this morning. stupid sun. ~ Owen is sleeping under his bed tonight, and apparently we're ok with this. ~ should it be at all concerning when your son's pre-K teacher spells "thanks," "thanx?" ~ My children celebrated their grandmother's retirement by running around barefoot ( as sanctioned by their father) thru the hallowed marbled halls of the national archives. Meanwhile, I turned to champagne to ease my mortification. ~ was woken by her son at 6:15 am to play catch and was too tired to not oblige him. ~ off to owen's first t-ball game. i apparently volunteered allen to coach. should make for an interesting blog post... ~ Turns out there's a reason I'm not usually in charge of getting owen's hair cut... ~ nora has decided it's "fun w/ feminine hygiene products" day. ~ how binding is the expiration date on a jello pudding cup? ~ it's seersucker thursday here in washington, dc -- which means we're cool only in the literal sense. ~ labor unrest at the department of labor: how meta. ~ email subject line from the moms on the hill listserve: "FREE random nipples." ~ saw two squirrels copulating across from the capitol on my walk in this morning. i'm pretty sure there's a metaphor there. ~ Raiding the parking meter stash to buy 2 hotdogs and an order of fries: $7.15 in change. Avoiding 2 meltdowns on the 15 minute drive back to Iowa City: priceless. ~ allen is camping with a very insistent owen in the tipi at the pond tonight despite the 100 degree heat index while nora and i are back at grandma & grandpa z's. sometimes, gender roles are our friends. ~ Owen just asked for a shoeshine kit, for his flip-flops. ~ katherine fawcett is a big old cheater and I am a bitter, drunk Chinese checker player. ~ I have decided to start fining the kids if they get up too early on the weekends. Surely market forces will be welfare improving. ~ Nora has joined "naked force" making me the sole, "force of the cloth" member of the Fawcett household. ~ nora's two today although she's telling people she's three and indicating via fingers that she's five. apparently she's laying the groundwork early for underage drinking. ~ My daughter is wearing a neck gator as a skirt. ~ nora's daycare teachers were really impressed when she counted to five in spanish. apparently her excessive dora watching is paying off. ~ owen shouted "what the heck?" and "dang it" twice this evening. i'm trying to figure out an appropriate response since these clearly aren't expletives, but seem like gateway words which will lead him down the slippery slope to profanity, hooliganism and ultimately, ruin. ~ owen and nora collectively lost $2,000 in their college accounts last month. for those at the justice department, that's roughly 125 muffins. ~ note to self: when trying to determine whether the kids have religious ed homework or not, their father is not a trustworthy source. ~ Owen just informed me that I turned out to be a better mom than he thought I would. I'm not sure when he made his initial assessment, but it's nice to be revised upward. ~ i would like to take this opportunity to thank the fertility gods for not blessing me with triplet boys. ~ fortunately, Brandon Gentry and Jeff Young left before the justin beiber singing portion of the evening routine began. ~ An hour and fifteen minutes into the PTA meeting with no end in sight. ~ nora got bit again. why must my children be so delicious? ~ i rode the elevator with a thirty-something man in a denim jacket with a large "Hogwarts" insignia on its back. apparently he, like so many before him, has confused DOL with the magic kingdom. ~ according to owen's homework his favorite word is "trust" -- because it helps [his] family know that [he] made a lowercase "r." ~ nora woke up at 3 am crying and shouting, "hand, hand." contrary to our initial concern, she was not hurt; she just wanted her handbag. ~ so my father-in-law just dropped off 10 lbs of candy for the "treats for troops" donation at daycare that ended on thursday. oh, and one of the 5 lb bags is open. this isn't going to end well... ~ i was singing beyonce's, "(girls) who run the world" to nora who responded, "boys." i am now going to cry. ~ nora is on a nap strike. i'm unclear as to what her demands are, but they probably involve better sleeping conditions and dora. ~ ethical dilemma: a large box just arrived at the house. the kind of box kids dream of. the kind of box that last time took 2+ months to get rid of. we are about to have an extended visitor and so are severely space challenged. no one else is home. do i remove all evidence of said box's existence or present it to owen and nora when they get home tonight? ~ owen's first words upon getting home tonight, "a big box! just what i wanted!" ~ nora woke up at 2:40 am crying and asking for a bagel and cream cheese. she didn't get it. ~ currently leading in the fawcett/zimmmerman "who ruined christmas" race: snapfish. ~ thanks to shutterfly, i finally have my christmas cards. you're dead to me, snapfish. ~ Allen broke a lightbulb resulting in our kitchen becoming a biohazard zone. ~ you know what would be awesome? if my 2 year old could refrain from pointing and shouting, "he's little!" every time we run into the little person working on my floor. ~ Back in the homeland with 'ner a meth head or hunter in sight. ~ uncle dave's xmas present to nora? the catch-phrase, "boo-yah." ~ the school house rock financial vignettes were not their finest work. ~ home.

Holiday Swap

We really stretched out Christmas this year, so much so that our 'Christmas' dinner at Mom Mom's house was actually on New Year's Eve, and much to Aunt Katherine's delight, we didn't actually open all our presents until New Year's day. This of course meant that we all spent the night at Mom Mom and Grandpa Don's to ring in the New Year. We had a Mexican feast inspired by the Fonda San Miguel cookbook (one of our favorite restaurants back in Austin), and Elaine and I whipped up some delicious flan the night we got back from Iowa to bring to the celebration. Katherine drove in from Ohio; Nancy, Danny and Christopher all joined us of course; and Aunt Jen bravely brought her boyfriend Aszur (sp?) to the party. We stayed up into the New Year playing a lively game of Cranium (don't worry, none of the videos will go online, particularly the Aunt Katherine and Aunt Jen's 'pin the tail on the donkey' puppet charade), and drinking more than a few Christmas Ales. New Year's day felt like Christmas morning, complete with stockings from Santa and lots of presents to open under the tree. All told, a great Christmas in Maryland.

(click here for the pictures)

The Seven Days of Iowa Christmas

Christmas tends to not be a discrete celebration for us, particularly when we go to Iowa. Our extensive extended family tends to have other familial obligations on the 25th and so the Yuletide is celebrated via a series of informal mini gatherings rather than one central feast. And while this wreaks havoc on poor Grandma Z's menu planning skills, it means that we get to see a lot of relatives in a relatively short amount of time.

Sure, Aunt Katherine shot Owen in the head with an arrow (a nerf arrow, mind you) and Nora got lost while wandering unsupervised through Aunt Helen and Uncle Ken's house. Yes, maybe it wasn't the best idea in the world for Grandpa Z to make Owen (and cousin Olivia) a real spear using Indian arrowheads (though at least Owen's new light saber distracted him). Ok, we probably shouldn't have bailed on Christmas Eve mass just because we couldn't actually see the mass. And yeah, it would have been nice for kids not to be innundated with caucus ads describing their hometown as a den of evil responsible for all that is wrong with the world.

But nobody lost an eye, we were able to meet three new baby cousins, Santa came, we played a lot of hide-and-go seek, ate a ton of goodies, stopped by the pond, and had a pretty amazing time.

And then we came back to DC and did the whole thing over again.

(Click here to see all the pics from our adventures in Iowa.)

Peabody for the Holidays

The weeks leading up to winter break are pretty packed with school related Holiday festivities. On Friday, I chaperoned Owen's class field trip to see the trains at the Botanic Gardens. We walked the mile from Owen's school to the Capitol, had a great time seeing all the trains and flowers, and hiked back with a stop at the Capitol Christmas Tree.

Wednesday was the last day of school, and also the day of Peabody Classroom 8's Holiday Program. Ms. Dorsey's class went above and beyond, and put on a program for all their parents and all the other Kindergarten classes to see, and hosted a delicious Holiday brunch. Owen had been working hard memorizing all the poems and songs, and the whole class did a great job. The video below has the entire show, but for those not up for the whole 8 minute program, click here to skip to the cute dance to 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town' (which also happens to be the part that would make me a felon and could put me behind bars for five years as a first time offender if SOPA passes, who knew Kindergarten, cameras and copyrighted music were such a dangerous combination.)

Nora's Daycare Holiday Program

It's been a couple years since we last went to a DOL daycare Holiday Program, so we were pretty excited to see Nora's first performance. She was a little upset that she couldn't find Mommy in the audience (not being able to find Daddy apparently didn't phase her), but Classroom 8's performance of 'We Wish You a Happy Holiday' and 'Light the Candle' was adorable none the less.

A Public Service Announcement

As the holidays are upon us and the season for online shopping and cross-country gift exchanges is here, you might find yourself suddenly overwhelmed with cardboard boxes. While ultimately these receptacles should be recycled or used for long-term storage, Owen and Nora have some more immediately gratifying uses that we thought we'd share. FYI, the spyglass has met with some technical difficulties and the jail/additional sleeping space might run you into trouble with protective services, but you really can't go wrong with the sword-shield combo or a puppet show stage. Enjoy!



(click here for all the box pictures)

The Latest Addition

Cousin Molly recently got a job as a staff assistant for Congressman Bruce Braley and moved to DC this past Sunday. The timing was rather impeccable, since the Occupy DC protesters had just built a barn in McPherson Square on Saturday. The prospect of meeting new people while living rent-free in the great outdoors was tempting, but as the police dismantled the structure Sunday evening, Molly decided to take us up on our offer to crash on our couch until she finds a place (in exchange for unlimited babysitting). Needless to say, we're pretty psyched she's here.

Great Falls & Natural History

The weekend after Thanksgiving turned out to be warm and beautiful here in DC, so we finally satisfied Owen's desire to go back to Great Falls. The kids decided that with all the rocks and rapids, they better be on the safe side and dress up as superheroes for the trip. We all had a lovely picnic lunch, and Owen and Nora scrambled around the rocks near the overlook together, before we hiked down the Billy Goat Trail, and Owen and I ventured off for some more challenging boldering off the beaten path (Mommy was happy she didn't see Owen climb the rock face in the picture above;-).

On Sunday we had a bit more of a low key outing to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, or the indoor zoo as the kids like to call it. We arrived right as the doors opened, and Owen sprinted to the Dinosaur hall to see the paleontologists working. He held up a rock he found in Texas, that looked like it might have a fossil in it, up to the window, and two of the paleontologists came out to talk with Owen and they all decided that it might be a tooth from the Cretaceous period. Pretty cool stuff for our little fossil hunter. Nora was much more enthralled with the Ocean hall, with the biggest hits being the deep sea sculptures in the back of the hall, and of course the fish tank with Nemo & Dory. Altogether a lovely post-Thanksgiving weekend.

(click here for pictures)

Thanksgiving Part II

While the Fawcett contingency loves going over to Nancy & Danny's for Thanksgiving each year, their one regret is that due to their role of "guest," they don't have full access to the leftovers the meal produced. So this year, they decided to do something about it and spent Black Friday cooking a turkey and all the fixings (sans the leftover pumpkin pie that Allen decided not to share).

I went into work while Allen went with the kids to pick out a Christmas tree and then headed up to Mom Mom's and Grandpa Don's for some extra Aunt Katherine bonding time (which involved Firetruck Park, a hike in the woods, and the re-purposing of a cardboard box. By the time I made it up for dinner, the crew was pretty exhausted and wondering whether Thanksgiving the sequel was worth it. However, based on the look of joy as Allen made a turkey-cranberry sandwich complete with his mother's homemade crescent rolls on Saturday, there was at least one convert.

Thanksgiving

It was our year to celebrate thanksgiving in the DC metro area, which meant we got to sleep in, have the traditional Thanksgiving pancakes and sausages, go to a park, take an early nap, and then head over to Nancy & Danny's in Old Town Alexandria, VA at three o'clock for some serious eating and the company of Grandpa Don & Mom Mom, Katherine, Adrienne and Christopher.

The kids' table was in its own room which allowed them to dine while viewing some classic Disney and Superman movies, as well as access to an unsupervised bowl of Chex Mix which Nora took full advantage of. Meanwhile, the adults enjoyed some delicious southwest influenced Thanksgiving standards, excellent wine, followed by an ambitious number of desserts.

Nora enjoyed her second trip to a park in one day, where we got some swing time in and called Grandma & Grandpa Z. Later, everyone else (save Grandpa Don who opted for a nap instead) took a lovely stroll to the riverfront to check out the lights (and work off some of the meal).

(click here for the Thanksgiving pictures)

DOL Thanksgiving

There wasn't a play or poem or even a song (though it was very loud), but Nora and Mommy still had a great time at her Thanksgiving luncheon on Tuesday (even though the traditional Thanksgiving cupcake necessitated an outfit change before nap time).

Peabody Thanksgiving

One of the joys of Kindergarten is putting on class shows for your parents. For the last couple of weeks, Owen has been learning songs and memorizing lines all in preparation for the Peabody Thanksgiving lunch, and we've learned a lot about 'Autumn's frosty art' and how the Indians taught the Pilgrims how to hunt and plant corn. Well yesterday was the big day, Daddy took the day off work, Mommy sneaked out over lunch, and Mom Mom came down for the show. Owen had a great time performing (though for some reason, the class decided not to utilize their costumes), and we had a lovely early Thanksgiving in Classroom 8.

Fall

Just a little Fall fun...

The Wedding Party

It's been a while since we've been to a wedding -- it seemed that most of our acquaintances that were able and inclined to be joined in holy matrimony have already done so. But then the state of Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriages and my cousin Mark met and fell in love with a doctor named Bryan. Suddenly we had a reason to go to Boston and I got to buy a new dress.

The nuptials were adults only (which is kind of shocking, knowing Mark's fondness for the "Chicken Dance"). This meant that the kids got to spend two glorious days with Mom Mom and Grandpa Don -- watching dolphins jump at the Baltimore Aquarium, eating homemade waffles, and playing some new robot/alien/giant game which apparently involves laundry baskets.

Meanwhile, we got to catch up with some local friends (though not as much as we'd hoped to as storms in Boston delayed our flight by a couple of hours and ruined our dinner plans), explore Harvard Square, see lots of relatives, drink a few too many cocktails, over-indulge in a photo-booth, and bask in the union of two people who love each other (as well as Mariah Carey lyrics).

Congratulations Mark and Bryan. We wish you a long and happy life together.

(To see all the pics from our Boston weekend, click here.)

Halloween 2011

For Halloween this year, Owen decided he wanted to wear the superman costume that he's been wearing to fight crime in the neighborhood for ages, and Nora went as an absolutely adorable ladybug girl.  Keeping with our Halloween tradition, we went over to Grandpa Fawcett's house to trick-or-treat on East Capitol St., and hand out candy to the thousands of kids that descend upon the neighborhood.  We did have a slight break from tradition, instead of Kansas City chili, this year Claudine made spaghetti with Kansas City meatballs, but it still was delicious. This was Nora's first year trick-or-treating, and she was pretty thrilled with the whole concept.  Owen had plenty of fun getting candy from strangers, but he really preferred giving candy to strangers.  He's become quite adept at managing the crowds, and strictly enforcing the one piece of candy rule, which given some of the hungry monsters coming to the door, was definitely a job for superman.

(click here for all the Halloween pictures)

Brady's 5th Birthday

Fresh off of his play-date with Brady and Leo last weekend, Owen saw Brady and a bunch of old DOL friends again this weekend at Brady's 5th birthday party. After the cold wintery mix of precipitation on Saturday, Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous (if somewhat muddy) day, quite fortunate since Brady's party was outside at Ticonderoga farms fall festival.  The kids all had a great time playing on the giant slides, bouncing on the awesome bouncy thing, going on the spooky hay ride, screaming in the haunted house, and roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

Meanwhile, back at home Nora had her very first play-date.  Her friend Violet, from DOL, lives one block over from us, and the two of them got together (with their moms of course) at the park and had a great time playing while the boys were off at the party.

(click here for all the pictures)

Hottern'Hades Halloween Party

There is a long and glorious history for our annual Halloween party, and this year Brad & Marlo planned to go big.  I can't to Brad's epic write-up of the party history and plans, so best just to quote it here:

A brief history for those new to this phenomenon: 1996: Kirsten A. throws the first ever UT Econ Halloween Party in her tiny apartment. Everyone dresses up and has fun. 1997: Kirsten gets a house and the party becomes a serious event. 1998: The Browns take over, add a trash can full of super spiked sangria & a keg - the event is now a happening. 2000: The Party moves to the “Cougar Den” - the atmosphere is more like a frat house (albeit a nerdy one) & less like a married couple’s house. 2003: The Founders are scattered all over the world, but there is critical mass in DC. Armed with infinitely more income than in grad school and a truly global guest list, the debauchery level reaches apex and the happening is now a cosmic force. 2007: We are old and have children. The parties start earlier and tend to end a little after dark. There are less f-bombs in songs on the playlist. There’s still plenty of good beer, lots of friends and neighbors, and great costumes. And we added the now famous chili cook-off.

2011: Looking to restore the old glory of this bacchanalia (in a way that hardly resembles the great monuments of the past, but… ), we are blowing the roof off and taking it to the streets. 100 yards of traffic free pavement, a moon bounce, a horse swing, pumpkin carving, bikes, trikes, and big wheels, frisbees and footballs, cornhole, pingpong, bocce, and other non-sports. Marshmallow roasting. Plus, the return of the Witches Brew, primo local micro brews on tap, and wine (and softdrinks). Music. Leaf piles. Candy. Grills moved to the front yards and fired up to feed the delicate tummies.

Alas, mother nature had other plans for this year's party, as Saturday brought us rain and the first October snow we've seen in DC in many years.  Unfazed, Brad and Marlo moved the party inside, set up a tent and a fire-pit on the deck for the kegs, and pushed on with the party.  The chili was delicious, the kids had a blast, and the party was salvaged. Sadly we had to head home around eight to get the kids to bed, but reports are that the party raged on until 2 am, so at least some of the party's old glory was restored.

(click here for all the Halloween pictures)

Three Amigos

Owen's been missing his daycare friends, Leo and Brady, so we squeezed in a playdate last Sunday. One forgets how silly five year old boys can be, and when you multiply that by three, well, you get a pack of little boys that decide to shove footballs up their shirts and pretend that they're pregnant.

The day was beautiful so we headed over to Lincoln Park for some football, baseball and ghost in the graveyard before walking to Eastern Market for some donuts. All in all the boys walked over 2 miles, and yet still didn't seem tired when they left (thankfully, no one went into labor).

Austin

Last Friday was a professional development day for DC teachers and Monday was conferences, which meant that Owen had a four day weekend. We decided to run afoul of the DCPS attendance policy and make it a five day weekend in order to accommodate an overdue trip to Austin.

Which meant we had to pack a lot into five days.

There were three separate ice cream trips (at two locations), seven restaurants (including the site of our first official date) and three museums (only two of which involved dinosaurs). We saw the clock tower from a distance, saw my dissertation chair up close, and posed with an animatronic president.

Custom-made antelope, rabbit & pork sausage, huckleberry compote, sriracha aioli, cheddar sausages were consumed as well as taquerias and some serious Texas Bar-B-Que. Livestock was inspected (though none were harmed in our subsequent brunch). Longhorn paraphernalia was purchased and worn. Dinosaurs were sat upon and admired from a distance. Pools were swam in and naps were missed.

And there were cows. Lots and lots of cows.

But mostly we were able to catch up with some good friends and relatives that we haven't seen in a few years (or in the case of Brandon, Anneke and Asa, since May). Thanks to Bill, Katherine, Billy & Sarah who drove up from Houston; Shane and Laura who put off packing for a trip and playing with their new iPhone 4S to meet us for dinner; Brandon, Anneke & Asa; and Kelly, Channing, Calder & Wright who managed to not get sick. Finally, a special thanks to Uncle Truman & Aunt Janis, who let us crash at their place for a couple of nights, provided our kids with all sorts of diversions and got up at the crack of dawn to make us breakfast tacos before we headed out to the airport. We had an amazing time and we hope to see you all again soon.

(click here to see all the Austin pictures)

Fall

I gave Allen 1 week to recover from his India trip, after which I scheduled pretty much every second of his weekend. Saturday was baseball camp followed by the Red River Shootout/F Street Block Party. Traditionally Brad and Marlo have had everyone up to their place for the Texas-Oklahoma football game, but since it was the same day as our block party and there was a bouncy castle involved, we instead invited everyone to our place. Apparently, the gods didn't like this change in plans. Allen, Brad and Andrew gave up and joined the outside festivities after OU was up 34-10 at the half. Sadly, they couldn't escape our neighbors giving us updates. I suspect will be back in Silver Spring for the 2012 game.

Sunday we managed to make it out the door before 10 am in order to get to Brad and Marlo's for our annual pilgrimage to Butler's Orchard for the harvest festival. It was a balmy 78 degrees, prompting us to skip the hayride, but we still managed to partake in the corn maze, super slide, hay barn and play area. Sure, Owen was MIA for 10 minutes and the squirrels have already eaten our two pumpkins, but it was still a pretty great way to spend a Sunday.

Monday was Columbus Day which we celebrated by eating pancakes, a trip to the zoo and dinner at Mom Moms. Afterwards, we retired and started preparing for our trip to Austin...

India

Last week I went to India to speak at what I thought was the Enhancing Capacity for Low Emissions Development workshop, but after a long series of meetings and discussions at the U.S. Embassy and the Indian Planning Commission (about which I've probably already said too much) turned out to be the Joint Indo-US Workshop on Economy-Wide Analysis for Low Carbon Strategies.

I left DC on Friday afternoon, flew to Chicago, and then took a 15 hour flight over the North Pole to India.  The flight went smoothly, I managed to get some sleep and even got to see the scenic views over the desolate mountains of Afghanistan before landing in New Delhi on Saturday night.  The jet lag was a bit tough, I kept waking up in the middle of the night with my body convinced it was the middle of the afternoon.  The upside of this was that with three 24/7 cricket channels available, I learned a fair amount about limited overs, leg by wicket, silly mid on, and the third man.

I had the day free on Sunday, except for a prep meeting in the evening, so I hired a car and driver to take me to Agra for the day to see the Taj Mahal.  It was a long four hour drive to Agra, but it was certainly worth it.  The Taj was even more impressive in person than it appears in pictures, the white Indian marble gleams in the sunlight, and the beauty of the fine detailed relief carvings and endless designs of inlaid semi-precious stones show why it took 20,000 workers, 1,000 elephants and 20 years to complete.  In the words of the Emperor Shah Jahan himself:

The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.

After seeing the Taj Mahal, I explored Agra for a while and saw some of the beautiful carvings and inlaid marble work that is still done by the descendants of the artists who worked on the Taj itself.  The trip back to New Delhi took a couple extra hours due to an accident, and I learned that I never want to attempt driving myself in India.  The upside of this was that I missed our seemingly unnecessary Sunday night prep meeting.

The rest of the trip was all work, a read-in meeting at the U.S. Embassy with USAID, a meeting with the Indian Planning Commission (which judging from the reaction of the locals, was a bigger deal than I realized), two days of the actual workshop, and a day of follow-up meetings with the Indian modelers.  The most interesting part was the local transportation in Delhi, we rode around in tuk-tuks, little motorized rickshaws, that were terrifying to ride in (they seemingly obeyed no traffic law), but interestingly enough had all been retrofitted to run on compressed natural gas to improve the air quality in Delhi.

I'm glad I was able to add India to my list of world travels, but it was tough being away from the family all week.  Thankfully, technology has progressed since my last trip abroad, and I was able to use Facetime to see the kids and Elaine each day.  They'd call right before bedtime in DC, which was 6 am in India, and we'd end and start our respective days with smiles from halfway around the world.

The trip home was even longer than the trip there.  I left Delhi just after midnight on a 15.5 hour flight to Chicago (over the North Pole again) landing at 5 am, followed by a four hour layover, before finally getting back to DC around noon.  But the hugs and smiles from Owen, Nora and Elaine when I got home made all the weariness of the road melt away.

(click here for all the pictures)

Since You've Been Gone...

Allen left for India last Friday. It's been a loooooong week without him. We still managed to make baseball camp (10 minutes late), a bicycle/tricycle ride to Stanton Park (which took roughly 30 minutes each way with only a 20 minutes window of playing at the park due to ominous skies), Sunday school (5 minutes late), the Peabody-sponsored Nats game (1 inning late and we left after the 7th inning stretch which means we missed Michael Morse's two run homer in the eighth) and a library run (which resulted in dinner lapsing into the ridiculously fashionable hour). Homework has been completed each night (despite Owen's "homework buddy" being in Delhi) and Owen has not been tardy to school once.

However... we're really tired. I'm sure part of it is just general malaise what with not having the "fun" parent around to inject levity or to give the "non-fun" parent a break lest she become the "ridiculously grumpy, un-fun" parent. But mostly it's because of the the 10 1/2 hour time difference and our zeal to have the kids talk to Allen once a day before bed (because one can only watch your two year old yell into a broken cell phone, "Hi, Daddy," so often before you feel compelled to intervene). Allen set up face-time on the computer before he left and the kids have been chatting with him at 8:30 pm each night, right after homework, books, prayers, teeth and pajamas are all done. It's a nice way for Allen to start his mornings and a sweet way for the kids to end their day, but it does mean the kids aren't even being put down for bed until roughly nine o'clock at night and are falling asleep considerably later.

At least they're having happier dreams, though, having gotten to say, "good-night" to their beloved Daddy who will hopefully be joining us on Friday at which point the "ridiculously grumpy, non-fun" parent will transform into the "incandescently happy" one.

Sailing

With all our travel this summer, and the brutal heat, we hadn't had many opportunities to go sailing, so when it looked like there would be a window of decent weather and Mom Mom and Grandpa Don invited us out to the boat, we jumped at the chance. It was Elaine and Nora's first time out on the boat this season, and we had plenty of wind and a great day for sailing. Owen of course was excited to put on his life jacket and harness so he could ride the waves up on the bow, and make mommy exceedingly nervous. Too make sure mommy was really nervous, Nora got to go up on deck for the first time. She clipped in, and walked up to the front of the boat with daddy and Owen. Nora wasn't quite as adventurous as her brother, she preferred sitting with Daddy front to standing by the bow, but she loved riding up and down over the waves and wakes. We'll make sailors out of these kids yet.

(click here for all the pictures)

Nora's Party

Second birthday parties are my favorite. First birthdays are adorable, and watching your child's first experience with cake can be endlessly entertaining, but the concept of a birthday is still beyond a one-year-old's grasp. At three, birthday parties become all about the friends. Watching the amazing amount of energy they can expend running around on a sugar high is quite the sight, but it's not really a party designed for adults to enjoy. Second birthday's however are right in the sweet spot. All the adorableness of a newly minted two-year-old saying, "I'm two!" and "my BirthDay!" but the guest list can still be made up of our friends and family.

We threw a party for Nora's second birthday at our house on Saturday, with friends & family, and beer & burgers. Nora had a blast, and we had a great time too. What more can you ask for. Happy birthday baby girl!

(click here for the pictures)

(click here for the far more dysfunctional party edition of Happy Birthday)

Shutdown Week with Mom Mom

Daycare closes each year the week before Labor Day which has traditionally meant that either Allen or I (or sometimes both) need to stay home with at least one of our children. This year, however, I had used up all of my leave for vacations and the many school holidays DCPS celebrates, and Allen had a number of meetings that he really couldn't take at home while hanging out with Nora.

Enter Mom Mom.

The newly retired Sharon Fawcett has managed to fill most of her weekdays with volunteer work, consulting and acquiring the latest in Apple technology. However, she generously offered to set aside 4 full days this week (I stayed home on Friday to take Nora to her annual physical) to watch her youngest grandchild.

Nora had a blast.

There were long walks, pushing her "baby" in her stroller as well as some new accessories for said baby. There were trips to the park and the zoo. There was even a leaf/rock/acorn collection excursion via tricycle. Nora and her grandmother became "ladies who lunch" and who also share the occasional milkshake. And there was even a handy iPad to watch Dora on while Mom Mom got a manicure.

In short, Nora was a pretty bummed to see her week with Mom Mom end, and I think Mom Mom enjoyed herself too. I'm just not sure Sharon's up for Owen's suggestion that she watch Nora everyday...

(click here to see all the pictures)

Birthday Girl

Two. Wow. Our baby girl is no longer a baby by any stretch of the imagination. It's always amazing to me how one begins the second year of life barely walking and uttering a few intelligible words and ends it running everywhere and using complete sentences. Nora's grown into a beautiful little girl with strong opinions, a commanding presence, and the most devious giggle you've ever heard. Happy birthday, baby girl. We love you more than I can possibly say.

1. One can never have too much moisturizer.
2. Life is all about the accessories.
3. Not everyone feels compelled to pee in the potty. Some people prefer to use it for alternative seating.
   
4. Good-byes are always hard. Blues Clues makes them easier.
5. Some people are born to rock.
6. I don't want the world; I just want Owen's half.
7. You can toast using pretty much anything.
8. Hair extensions aren't necessary if you're resourceful.
9. Civilized people eat their bread with a fork. Fingers are just fine, however, for all meat products. And pasta.
   
10. Big brothers are always good for bumming rides off of.
    

Belly Zerberts

Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Oh My!

Owen's first week of Kindergarten certainly was an eventful one. Of course we had an Earthquake shake our Nation's Capital on Owen's first day of school, and then Hurricane Irene blew through over the weekend, dumping about six inches of rain at our house. The worst of the storm passed through during the night early Sunday morning, so Saturday afternoon we were able to go out in the rain and do a little puddle jumping before the wind really picked up. There were a few downed trees in the neighborhood the next day, but overall not too much damage (certainly not as much as after Isabel back in 2003). Owen enjoyed all the excitement, but he may have developed a distorted notion of the correlation between Kindergarten and natural disasters. Hopefully that will be fixed with a larger sample size...

Kindergartner!

Owen started kindergarten on Tuesday. We originally thought that it would be a fairly mundane first day -- same teacher, same classroom, same students as last year. But a couple of weeks ago we found out that Owen was getting a new teacher, Mrs. Dorsey, that he was moving to a new classroom, Room 8, and that a number of his classmates had either moved or changed schools meaning that there would be seven new students in his 20 person class.

Still, we didn't think it would be that dramatic of a day when Owen biked to Peabody Tuesday morning. The kids happily played on the playground, and we dutifully escorted Owen to his new classroom before saying goodbye.

A few hours later, the earth shook.

Owen found the earthquake experience hysterical -- akin to a ride at an amusement park. We found it a bit more frustrating, especially when they cancelled school the next day to insure that the building was structurally sound. Fortunately, it was and Owen's second of kindergarten on Thursday was far less eventful.

Though we're curious what this all portends for when he graduates from high school...

Birthday Bash

We had a hard time picking a venue for Owen's birthday -- the Dinosaur Park doesn't do birthdays, the minor league teams were too far away, Nationals Park was ridiculously expensive, climbing walls are intended for the six and older crowd, and the only slot we could get at the Smithsonian Zoo was for 10:30 am on a Sunday. But then Brad & Marlo mentioned the College Park Aviation Museum and they had an opening for a Saturday afternoon party on Owen's actual birthday, so we booked it sight unseen and hoped for the best.

It didn't get off to a promising start. Nora woke up with a 103.5 fever which meant she couldn't attend the festivities and Mom Mom volunteered to watch her while Owen, Allen, Grandpa Don and I headed to the wrong venue before eventually making it to the museum. There we met up with 9 of Owen's friends from daycare, school, and our about town.

Despite the less than promising start to the day, the party at the Aviation Museum was a lot of fun. First the kids played in the party room, then they toured the museum, then they played in the "hands on" area and flight simulators, then they checked out the "pedal planes," put together Lego helicopters, sang "happy birthday" and had cake.

At which point the sugar kicked in.

With 15 minutes left to go, it was bedlam -- kids were running around everywhere. While the party technically ended at 4:00 pm, Owen, Leo, Brady, and Tadashi decided to close down the museum with an after-party that primarily involved throwing their good-bag "sticky-hands" over any surface they could find and running up and down the outside stairs. Everyone certainly had a good time, and the staff at the Museum were very nice and understanding about our gaggle of energetic five year olds.

By 5:00 pm we were finally able to convince Owen to head back to Mom Mom's to see Nora and go out for the french fries he specially requested for dinner. But when we went out for his birthday dinner, Owen barely touched his hamburger, fries, and the ice cream that Fire Station One brought over for him. That probably should have been the tip off. With neither child feeling great, we headed home and quickly put them both to bed and called it a night...until I went to check on Owen around 11 pm and found our poor little guy had thrown up (and fallen back asleep without a word). Apparently turning 5 is harder than you think (and donuts for breakfast and two pieces of cake in the afternoon are more than a five year old stomach can take). Thankfully by the morning Owen was on the mend. Afterall, he wouldn't want to be sick for his first week of Kindergarten...

Owen's a Handful

Five -- it just seems really old. To think that our baby boy has lived half a decade and is about to start kindergarten is a little frightening. "Mom" and "Dad" have started to supplant "Mommy" and "Daddy" and the occasional eye-roll and, "I know that," has become a not uncommon response to parental insights. For the last few days, as I tuck Owen onto the floor at night (he abandoned his bed a few months ago) I've just been overwhelmed with how quickly it's all gone. Fortunately, Owen informed me that just because he was turning five doesn't mean he's moving out. At least not yet.

1. The line between reading and reciting can be blurred.
2. Long underwear transcends seasonal variations.
3. Medicine may taste bad, but there are worse ways of taking it...
4. Beds are not your only sleeping option.
   
5. Cold lunch > hot lunch.
6. Oddly enough, birds evolved from the saurishian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs, not the ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs.
7. Riding a bike is easy. Stopping a bike is a whole other matter.
8. In a pinch, "banana pants" can be used as a substitute for most punch lines.
9. The first rule of batting: look around and make sure you don't hit anyone.
10. School is cool; but camp is awesome.
    

Riding Around the Neighborhood

After we were rained out of our fair plans, it looked like Sunday was going to be another washout, but after lunch there was a break in the clouds, and Owen decided it would be fun to ride his bike around the neighborhood while Nora took her nap. We rode over to Lovejoy park (well technically Owen rode and I chased behind him on foot), then Owen decided we should visit all the parks, so we rode on down to Lincoln Park. After five laps around Lincoln Park we were hungry and thirsty, but not ready to end our adventure, so we rode down to Eastern Market for some fresh donuts and some water. Feeling refreshed, we biked over to Grandpa Fawcett's house to show off Owen's riding skills, and then biked over to the Capitol (with Grandpa Fawcett joining us for part of the way). The Capitol proved to be a great place to ride around, and with the cumulonimbus clouds on the horizon, it was quite picturesque as well. Finally we turned towards home, and after a quick stop by Peabody and Stanton Park, we made it back safe and sound.

Duckpin

Our plan for Saturday was to go up to Mom Mom's house in the morning for a little swimming in Rose's pool, then head up to the Montgomery County Fair with the Brown's after nap time. For the past three years we've kept up our little tradition of visiting the fair, and the kids we're excited about riding the Ferris wheel this year, but the weather had other plans for us. As we were swimming in Rose's pool, the sky darkened, and by the time we were back inside the rain was washing away our plans for pony rides and funnel cakes.

Not wanting to let the day go to waste, we regrouped with Brad and Marlo after nap time to work out a new plan for the evening, a delicious Latin American dinner at Samantha's, and an evening of duckpin bowling with the kids. Dinner was delicious, and the kids went wild for bowling. It wasn't quite the fair, but it was a very fun evening none the less.

(click here for all the pictures)

Beach Trip 2011

It's been a few years since we've done a proper beach trip. We did a big beach trip with friends back in 2005 before Owen came along, in 2007 we went to the Outer Banks with Joe & Cate (where Owen showed his early interest in body boarding), and we did a quick weekend trip to Bethany beach in 2008. But our last big vacation with the Hyatt and Pearson clans was to the mountains instead of the beach, and it was long past time that we introduced Nora to the ocean, so we tagged along with Mom Mom and Grandpa Don on their biannual trip to Duck in the Outer Banks with Aunt Katherine and Uncle L.

I grew up going to the Outer Banks almost every summer with my family and with my best friend Brendan's family (our mom's were close friends from their days back at the University of Texas, and we'd been friends since birth), so it was nice to go back the beach with family.

Owen took to the beach like a fish to water -- he asked to use the boogie board the first day there, and fearlessly rode the waves (with just a well timed push from daddy to help catch them). Even being knocked over and rolled by crashing waves didn't dampen his enthusiasm -- and he even managed to pick up a few fans. Nora on the other hand, was a little more nervous about the water. The first few days, she was perfectly content to just play in the sand. After getting used to the place a bit, she decided it was alright to try swimming in the pool, and she would adorably yell, "I'm swimming" to whoever cared to listen. On our last day at the beach, she finally was lured out into the waves when Mommy and Owen were out playing in the ocean. She held on tight to Daddy the whole time, but had a smile on her face as we jumped to ride over each passing wave.

Given how much fun the kids had, we'll have to make sure we don't go so long without a beach trip again. I have a feeling we'll be back next summer.



(click here for all the pictures)