Hello, Kitty

I think most people that know me are aware that I'm not a big fan of the animal kingdom, having been bitten by several dogs as a small child and living with one deranged cat (and later with a sweet pair of cats and a deranged roommate) in my 20s. I concede that all creatures great and small have the right to exist, but feel strongly they shouldn't do so under my roof. As such my children have had to resign themselves to a colony of ants as their only pets (though Garcon makes a decent surogate).

But then Mom Mom adopted little Desmond Morse (named after Nats players Ian Desmond and Michael Morse in a clear attempt to curry favor with Owen) and had to go away for a long weekend leaving the 7 week old kitten home alone. How could you say no to that face?

So we headed up to Mom Mom and Grandpa Dons on Friday night and spent the weekend entertaining Morse (and to a lesser extent, Georgie) inbetween all our comings and goings. Owen had a blast making Morse "fish;" Nora played a lot of "hide and seek" with him, searching for the elusive kitty under the furniture. For my part, I'll concede that Morse is very sweet and well behaved...and perfectly content at Mom Moms.

Fair Time

We weren't able to make the Montgomery County Fair last year with the Browns (breaking our three year streak), so this year we were all in. We met up for breakfast, caravaned out with Brad, Marlo, Mia and Ben (Brett, Lisa, Samantha and Austin met us there) and arrive at the fair about 10 minutes after it officially opened...and two hours before the rides and most of the other activities began. Still, we managed to keep the kids entertained for a very full three hours and visit the fire engine, livestock, the all important combine slide, and of course, the ferris wheel. Maybe next year we'll even get to partake in the Monster Truck Rally...

(To see all the fair pics, please click here.)

Rock in the Woods

Back in March we caught one of the kids' favorite bands, Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players, in Vienna, and when we saw they were going to play at Wolf Trap, we knew we couldn't miss it.  So on Saturday morning, we took a break from kitten sitting to go catch them play a concert at the Children's Theater in the Woods at Wolf Trap.  The venue was great, a little amphitheater tucked away in the woods of Wolf Trap, and the kids had a blast.  Owen tends to be a bit shy at concerts, but Nora couldn't be held back and demanded to join the dancing right up by the stage.  Eventually she got Owen to join her for some dancing together off in the wings.

It was a great morning in what turned out to be a very full weekend, and as an added bonus, thanks to our social media check-ins, we saw that Nabeel was in town nearby in McLean, so we popped over to the Hyatt's place after the concert for a nice lunch, a tour of Magida's latest paintings, and some quality playtime with Kaden and Liam (or at least with their toys ;).





(click here for all the pictures)

Iowa - Family Time

What's most impressive about our annual pilgrimage to the homeland -- aside from the mileage covered, corn consumed and jumps off the high dive -- is the number of friends and family members we're able to see in a very short period of time. While we traveled for ping pong fun with Aunt Katherine and Uncle L, to belatedly celebrate Ethel's 98th birthday in Des Moines and to check out the Mettenburgs' new Pittsburg digs, we also got a lot of people to come to us. Uncle Bernie, and Aunt Ellen and Uncle John drove down just to hang out for the afternoon, Aunt Kara, Aunt Becky, Uncle Steve, Erin, Olivia, Maura & Sam all came from the Chicago area for some much needed cousin/niece/nephew time. And even cousin Blaine managed to make a pit stop between St. Paul and Milwaukee (or more accurately, some suburbs of them) to play in a wagon, swim in the pond and roast marshmallows with us. Meanwhile, Grandma and Grandpa Z graciously played host for us (which involved a fair amount of cooking, and a lot of searching for errant baseballs).

Naturally, we had a lot of fun with the Fawcett side as well, and hopefully memories of Corn Fest, camping, boating and pajama playdates with Grace will tide us over until we're back in Iowa for Thanksgiving and can see everyone again.

Iowa - Mississippi Boating

As a little extra treat this Iowa trip, cousin Kent invited us out boating on the Mississippi.  Owen, Nora and I went with Grandpa Z and Uncle Ken to the river a little early and checked out the Buffalo Bill museum and the old Lone Star paddle boat in LeClaire.  Kent, Truman and Daniel joined us a little later and we all took a quick trip upriver and back.  Given our difficulties getting out sailing this year, it was great to have a little extra time out on the water this trip.

Iowa - Tipi

Sometimes the Pond is so much fun you just don't want to leave.  Saturday was one of those days: Cornfest in the morning, swimming all afternoon, and s'mores by the fire in the evening.  Fortunately, the solution to this problem lies just through the trees on the west end of the Pond, the tipi.  Owen and I have camped out in the tipi the last couple years, and this year Elaine and Nora joined us along with Thomas, Ethan and Simon.

The kids were all a little excited of course, so when we all settled in for bed, after a little time around the new tipi fire ring, there was quite a bit of laughter and giggles before the kids all drifted off to sleep.  For Thomas, sleep was a little more difficult to come by.  A mysterious rustling and digging sound kept him up, but despite some middle of the night exploration with the flashlight, he couldn't find the source of the strange noises.  In the morning we all went up to the cabin for some of Thomas' delicious pancakes, and when I went back to the tipi to pack up the tarp and air-mattresses, I found what had been keeping Thomas awake.  Some sort of rodent had burrowed under our beds, built a nest and given birth in the middle of the night.  Quite an eventful night indeed.

Iowa - Corn Fest

We try to coordinate our trip to Iowa each year with the Fawcett Family's Sweet Corn Festival which primarily consists of several branches of the Fawcett family descending on West Branch for several days, picking sweetcorn, cooking it, eating an absurd amount of it, and then cutting the corn off the remaining ears, placing it in ziploc bags and storing it in a pond freezer until said family members take some home with them to eat throughout the year (or if you're Allen, use it to make corn butter and then force your wife to drink a corn milkshake). While the yield this year was a bit lower due to the draught, the turnout was pretty impressive.

Aunt Kara (Uncle Dave was in Chicago at a Cubs game. No really), Steve, Becky and all the kids as well as Mom and Dad represented the Zimmerman side, and while we were the only attendees of the John Fawcett branch (John had been back the week before for his 50th reunion and Katherine had to work), the Ken, Martha, Nan, Dick, Jim, and Becky Fawcett off-shoots were all well represented.

The came. They ate (or in the case of Samuel's first birthday cake, devoured). They swam, took wagon rides, had some batting practice, retrieved a wayward ball from said batting practice, enjoyed the view from the new balcony, and had a lovely time in general.

But what was probably most impressive, was the sheer number of little Fawcetts running around, which (hopefully) means we have a lot more Corn Fests in our future.

Iowa - Hollywood

One of the best things about swimming in the Pond is Hollywood.  Our little man-made floating island gives swimmers a destination aside from the beach and the dock -- a spot to rest and play in the middle of the Pond.  In the last few years, we noticed that Hollywood was sitting lower and lower in the water, to the point that it could barely support the weight of more than one person.  Finally, after 20 some years, when one last attempt was made to take Hollywood out of the water for the Winter, it gave up the ghost and crumpled into a heap.  Well, this summer the big project during our visit was to build Hollywood II (or following the lead of Apple, just the New Hollywood, or even simply Hollywood).  Grandpa Z, Owen and I joined cousin Kent and Uncle Ken over at the machine shed on Wednesday morning to cut foam, stretch rubber, bend metal, and rout corners (and even get in some hitting practice).  Owen rode in the tractor with cousin Kent as we hauled Hollywood to the Pond, Uncle Ken Christened it with a Fat Tire, and the New Hollywood was launched into the Pond.  Sure, the actual launch resulted in the loss of my wedding ring as it sunk to the bottom of the pond after I dove in to give Hollywood a tow, but that seems a small price to pay (though Elaine doesn't entirely agree). With all the progress in Hollywood technology over the decades that has been incorporated into this new and improved design, hopefully we won't have to build Hollywood III for another 20 or 30 years.

It's not Heaven, it's Iowa

It's time for our annual summer vacation in Iowa.  Two weeks of summer fun, a long drive out, made a lot more pleasant with a stop to visit Aunt Katherine and Uncle L in Cleveland, followed by lots of swimming, sweet corn, and family fun.  Too much to fit in one blog post of course, so enjoy our next few posts about the homeland.

(To see all the Iowa photos, please click here.)

"Sailing"

Grandpa Don invited us for our first sail of the season on Sunday. We slathered on sunscreen, donned our life-jackets and boarded Innisfree for an afternoon of sailing. But after motoring by the slip for about 10 minutes Grandpa Don announced that we were heading back -- ironically our sail was being aborted due to a transmission failure.

We were a bit bummed, particularly Owen who'd looked forward to hanging out on the bow and catching wakes, but a lovely picnic and the presence of "Molly," the boating club mascot and fetch-loving dog made for a fun alternative. Plus for once I didn't get seasick.

(click here for the pictures)

OBX 2012

After our adventures in air-conditioning repair we were certainly ready to get out of town.   And given that record-breaking heat was in the cards for DC the week of July 4th, it was the prefect time for a beach trip.  This year we visited South Nags Head with Katherine & Lee, the Brown's, and even Makayla joined us for a couple days at the end of the week.  We had a perfect little beach house, Three Gulls & a Buoy, that was one of the last houses before the beach turned into the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  We loved the set up and loved our stretch of beach, so we may just have to come back to this spot again sometime.

On Monday we drove down to Hatteras to visit Brad & Marlo's friend Katrina, and had a wonderful night out on the beach, roasting marshmallows, eating s'mores, and relaxing under the full moon.  Tuesday we climbed Jockey's Ridge, and visited Kitty Hawk Kites where I picked up a fancy new power kite.  Katherine & Lee weren't quite satisfied just pushing past us to see the oasis at Jockey's Ridge, and went all the way up to Corolla to find the wild horses.  Wednesday of course was Independence Day, so we broke out the fireworks and put on a little show.  Thursday Lee's family stopped by to visit for the afternoon, and Makayla came to stay the rest of the trip.  On Thursday, Elaine, Owen & I took the kayak out to the sand bar, and we watched all the kids on Friday while Brad & Marlo went SCUBA diving in the graveyard of the Atlantic.



Bringing back memories of some of my best beach trips in years past, we had a great sand bar in front of our house.  At low tide we could swim out 30 yards or so to a sand bar that was as shallow as two feet in places.  One day, Owen and I were out there body boarding together, and a couple of dolphins playfully swam up just 20 feet or so away from us.  I had a similar experience years ago when I was young, and it was really special to be able to share it this time with Owen.



The best part of the trip though was just swimming, boarding, playing relaxing on the beach, and spending time with such great people all week.

(click here for all the pictures)

Wipeout

On my birthday, Steve mentioned that he might be in town with Olivia for some school related outing this summer, but it wasn't a sure thing. Flash forward to Thursday night when an email arrived stating that they're leaving the following day and hope to get together this weekend. We had the air & heating people coming Saturday morning (as well as t-ball) and had already made plans to visit Allen's friend Chris and his daughter Hazel (who were visiting from LA) Saturday afternoon after which we needed to check back with the air & heating people. This left Sunday, and while Allen and Owen were off to Baltimore on for the Nationals-Orioles game with Mom Mom and Grandpa Don (the Nats lost), Caitlin, Nora and I could meet up with Steve, Olivia and their group at Ford's theater.

We had a great time at the exhibits (Nora was adorably drawn to Lincoln, and a little uncomfortable obsessed with a statue of Mary Surrat) and then lunch. Afterwards, they headed over to the Archives while Caitlin, Nora and I headed over to the Portrait Gallery so that Caitlin could continue her tour of free museums in DC and Nora could visit one of her brother's favorite stomping grounds.

Nora had a bit too good of a time (see below), which resulted in a lot of giggles and one very wet dress. After some debate, Nora convinced me she didn't need to wear her dress anymore, which made waiting for and riding the bus a bit awkward (nothing like hearing someone across the street point and say, "Hey, she's naked!" in reference to your child), but certainly was a conversation starter with the other passengers (and Nora's favorite part of the day).

It's getting hot in here...

It's been a rough first week of summer. First the AC went out in the car (it had actually gone out back in April when we returned from St. Louis, we had it serviced but they weren't able to find a leak in the cooling system, so they refilled the cooling fluid levels and wished us luck). Tuesday night we discovered the AC in the house wasn't working. Wednesday a heat wave hit DC, we weren't able to get anyone to come until the following day, and we lost power for 2 hours. Thursday the heat wave continued, and the heating and cooling guy informed up that while we needed to replace the AC and the furnace in order to get the system working properly, they wouldn't be able to do that until Saturday. It being our anniversary, we asked Molly and Caitlin to watch the kids so we could have dinner and they could hang out in our 87 degree home.

At least Nora and I have been able to escape the hear during the day, but Allen's had to stay home to meet with contractors and shuttle the car to its appointment and poor Owen is spending his days at baseball camp with only the occasional popsicle break and hosing down (plus some indoor breaks) to cool him down. Our thanks to the many family and friends that offered to let us crash at their places until the heat subsided and/or the AC was repaired, but we figured this was one of those character building moments (because clearly, what our children lack is character...) and that with enough popsicles and cold baths, we'd muddle through. I'm not sure the kids fully agreed.

Things are looking up. Friday brought clouds, rain and a cool front (a high of only 97!), the car got fixed (under warranty no less and hopefully this time for real) and Mom Mom invited us up for dinner (as well as sleeping, though we declined). Saturday the crew at Jiffy Heating & Cooling should be replacing our 30 year old furnace and nine year old condenser with the highly recommended Ruud system. Hopefully, Sunday will bring a return to artificial climate control and far more restful nights.

Father's Day (or there abouts)

I wasn't planning on writing a Father's Day post this year. Apparently, this is something of a tradition for me, for while I did write one in 2010 (although it was the second in a series and Allen wrote the first part), Allen has authored all other blog entries related to paternal commemorations (see 2007, 2008, and 2009).  Allen grew tired of this tradition (he has dutifully written a Mother's Day post every year) and as I was only passively celebrating it, I didn't notice that we didn't have a post for Father's Day 2011. As Father's Day 2012 past without any mention on this website, Allen grew annoyed. He grew hurt. He grew insistant.

And so because Allen is an amazing father and beloved by his children and we did celebrate this on June 17, 2012 by taking him and Grandpa Fawcett out for a lovely brunch at Smith Commons, giving him a Ryan Zimmerman jersey, and then letting him watch the Nats-Yankees game undisturbed (they lost, which made the fact that they were sold out by the time I looked into getting tickets less of a tragedy), I hereby do declare this to be his official Father's Day post. Even if it's a few days late.   

Summer Days

Owen's last day of school was a half day on Thursday, and baseball camp doesn't start until Monday, so I stayed home with Owen on Friday to kick off the Summer, and there's not much better way to do that than eating ice cream on the porch with Grandpa, and seeing the gigantic prehistoric snake titanoboa at the Natural History Museum :)

(click here for the pictures)

Last day at Peabody

Thursday was Owen's last day of Kindergarten. It doesn't seem that long ago when we got the last minute call that he was accepted for pre-K at Peabody.  And if feels like just yesterday when our little boy started Kindergarten, but it really is amazing how much he's grown.  Looking back at the picture from his first day you see a little boy excited about having ridden his bike to school  for the first time, but still a little nervous, and oh so young.  He was wearing the same shirt on his first and last day, but his confidence had clearly grown, arms outstretched, a big kid on the Peabody Campus.  On the first day of Kindergarten all the kids shared their goal for the year, and wrote them down on a poster in the classroom.  Owen's goal was, "to read big words," and we're proud to say he's accomplished that and so much more. Thank you Peabody, we'll miss you.

(click here for the pictures)

Owen's Kindergarten Graduation

It seems like Owen just started at Peabody (and given that Owen didn't get in until the day before school started for pre-K, he kind of did...). The past two school years have been a bit of a whirlwind, and while we're not entirely sure when it all happened, we know that it's produced a very inquisitive boy who loves to read, sing patriotic songs, draw, journal, and who's much more outgoing (and is far more knowledgeable about Ninjago) than the scared little guy we dropped off in the Fall of 2010.

So it was a bit bittersweet when we gathered with Mom Mom and Grandpa Fawcett (who we neglected to get a picture of with the graduate...) to see Owen and all his classmates graduate from kindergarten and Peabody (he'll start first grade at Watkins Elementary in the Fall). Fortunately, the adorableness of it all kept us from crying (at least much). Congratulations Peabody Class of 2012: Now go conquer the world (and wash your hands before you eat).

(Click here for all the pictures)

Crashing

It has become something of a rite of passage for my younger cousins to crash on our couch for a couple of months while pursuing their career goals. Having gotten a taste of DC when she visited for a conference last February, cousin Caitlin pursued and was awarded an internship at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Which means, among other things, two months of free babysitting for us...

Time to Get the Bagels

Ordinarily it is incredibly difficult to wake up Nora. It usually takes several rounds of, "go away daddy," "turn the lights off," and "I want to sleep a little longer," before she can finally be convinced to get out of bed. The one exception is Saturday morning when Nora and I wake up early before Mommy and Owen to go to the bagel place. At the first mention of bagels she wakes up with a smile ready to go.

Sisters

We've been trying to introduce Nora to Great Aunt Duronda (aka Nana) for a while now, but our trip kept getting delayed due to illnesses, school, work and the occassional wildfire. By the time we finally bought our tickets to Austin last fall, Duronda had sold her house and moved to Florida (though as she keeps reminding us, she's now much closer to Disneyworld).

But the stars finally alligned and Aunt Janis and Aunt Duraonda (along with Cousin Carrie and Aunt Katherine and Uncle L) gathered in Silver Spring to celebrate Katherine's birthday and life in general this past week. Museums were visited. Shopping was done. Drinks were imbibed. And Nora finally met Nana (which was well worth the wait).

Ring of Fire

Little Running Man

The Capitol Hill Classic has been the main fundraising event for Owen's school for 33 years and involves a 10k, a 3k and a Fun Run. So when they started sending home flyers in Owen's folder, we asked if he wanted to participate. Owen initially said, "no" since he didn't think he would be the fastest runner and didn't want to lose, but eventually we convinced him to do the "Fun Run" with his friends and he had a blast. So much so that after he got his medal and learned his friend Adam had done the 3k and the Fun Run, he announced that next year he and I would run the 3k together. Which means I should probably start training now...

The Big Day

Mother's day is always a big day, but this year called for some extra celebration of mothers in our family since it was also Elaine's birthday and my Mom's birthday.  That's a lot of reasons to celebrate, and a lot to live up to.  Last time Mother's Day fell on the 13th was a complete disaster, Owen was sick the day before, I caught whatever he had and ended up in the hospital on the big day, Elaine fell victim to the sickness trying to care for me and Owen, and then to top it all off Mom Mom caught our bug watching Owen while Elaine and I were recuperating.

Thankfully the big day went much more smoothly this year.  Grandpa Don and I waited a bit too long to get brunch reservations, but that just gave us the opportunity to make our own delicious meal.  I spent the weekend baking homemade brioche, poached eggs, and coffee cake from the Voltaggio brother's cookbook; Don brought fruit salad, mimosas and birthday cake; and we all had a lovely celebration of two beautiful and amazing mothers.

(click here for the pictures)

Field Trippin'

As the end of the school year approaches, Peabody is in a mad rush to get all their field trips in (the trip to Tudor Place a few weeks ago, this trip to the National Arboretum, next week's trip to the National Aquarium, the following week's trip to the Postal Museum...) and we're in a frenzy to fulfil our suggested parental volunteer commitments. Hence Allen and my sudden interest in chaperoning a bunch of kindergartners as they visit historical and educational points of interest in the greater Washington area, while they discuss nijas, decide who gets to hold whose hand, trade "Why did the..." jokes, compare and contrast lunches and various classmates progress in consuming them, and at least in this instance, figure out how may steps aways from dirt are some of their favorite foods.

After a series of rain-filled days, it was a surprisingly sunny (albeit windy) day at the Arboretum as I joined Ms. Doresey's class to taste spearamint and strawberries, go on a nature walk through Fern Valley where we stopped, spied with our painter's eyes, and drew all sorts of things before moving on to count frogs and eat lunch.

It was a pretty awesome way to spend a Thursday morning.

Random Anecdote

Friday night the boys went to yet another Nats game, leaving Nora and I to fend for ourselves. Nora decided to take her grocery cart outside and then asked me where her grocery store should be. I suggested "Ann's" as our neighbor 2 doors down has a more open space in front of her house. We walked over to Ann's house and upon arriving, Nora proceeded to bend over and stare intently at the ground. Every so often, she would stand up and ask me where her grocery store was, to which I responded, with a note of confusion, "It's Ann's house." Finally, after several minutes had passed, Nora stood triumphantly, pointed to an ant and shouted, "Oh, there's my grocery store!"

San Francisco

I had another trip out to Palo Alto for an conference at Stanford this past week, and thanks to Elaine's willingness to hold down the fort while I was away, I took an extra day and a half over the weekend to visit friends in San Francisco.  As always, it was great to catch up with my oldest friend Brendan.  We took advantage of the lovely weather to relax in Dolores Park, climb up to see the view from the top of Bernal Heights Park, eat some delicious food truck pork belly buns, and of course topped it all off with a great sushi dinner.  I also made it over to Albany (just north of Berkley) to see Emilie, and get all the latest updates from Occupy Farm and the Albany Patch.  Then it was down to Stanford to present my latest and for a very productive two day workshop.

(click here for the pictures)

My Sunshine

Discovery!

The Shuttle program may be over, but Space Shuttle Discovery gave us one more aerial thrill on Tuesday as it flew on the back of a 747, buzzing the the National Mall at 1500 feet on it's way to the Smithsonian.  Owen's Kindergarten class walked down to the Capitol, Elaine climbed up to the Department of Labor rooftop, I hiked down to the Washington Monument, and we all enjoyed the amazing sight from our own vantage points.



(click here for all the shuttle pictures)

Emancipation Day

Every year on April 16th, DCPS closes to honor the end of slavery in the District. I had decided that Owen and I would mark 150 years of emancipation by finally visiting the MLK Memorial (by way of the Tidal Basin in order to get a little paddle-boating in).

This seemed like a fine plan, however, I had not considered:

1. Owen's love of the Botanic Gardens. We passed them after dropping Nora off at daycare en route to the metro. Owen wanted to stop immediately so we could visit the desert room (so he could instruct other visitors to not touch the cacti). I, knowing that the day was just going to get warmer and sunnier and that he had spent the previous Monday at the Botanic Garden, suggested we stick to my plan and then we could visit it on the way home. He agreed, but during every lull that day, Owen would restate his desire to be at the Botanic Garden.


2. Once you are at the MLK memorial, it takes a really long time to get back to a metro stop, especially if you're walking with a 5 1/2 year old.


3. That said 5 1/2 year should not be the one deciding whether an application of sunscreen was truly necessary.

In the end, we learned that:

1. Paddle-boating is fun; Forced marches across the mall are less so.


2. The greatest generation of Americans can also be the grumpiest if you use their water feature as a wading pool.


3. Shade breaks are key (though they're more enjoyable when Herman Cain isn't speaking nearby).


4. Never question Owen's love of foliage.


5. Days off with Mommy are a lot more fun once you're reflecting on them at home with a Popsicle.

(To see all the Emancipation Day pictures, click here.)

Baseball is Back

One of Owen's great joys in life is baseball, and with April finally here baseball is back.  Owen and I went to see the Nats play the Reds Thursday afternoon for Opening Day, and saw a great game as the first place Washington Nationals beat the Reds 3-2 on a walk-off wild pitch in the 10th inning.

Of course one baseball game just wouldn't be enough, so on Saturday after swimming lessons and t-ball in the morning, Owen and I took Grandpa Fawcett to a late afternoon game.  It was Stephen Strasburg bobblehead day, and while we didn't get there in time for our free bobbleheads, we did eventually find someone willing to give his to Owen (and we bought him dinner for his generosity).  The three generations of Fawcett men enjoyed another gem of a game, as Edwin Jackson threw a 92 pitch complete game to beat the Reds 4-1.

While two baseball games might have been enough for our first weekend of the season, Elaine and Nora hadn't been to a game yet, and Sunday was Peabody's Nats game fundraiser, so of course we had to bring the whole family out to the ballpark.  Owen was thrilled to see all his friends at the game, but things got off to an ominous start as three blown calls by the umpires led to a Cincinnati grand slam in the top of the first to put the Nats down 4-0.  The team showed their grit though and battled back to tie the Reds at five runs a piece and send the game to extra innings.  They couldn't quite pull off the comeback this time, and the Reds won the game in the 11th, but they certainly showed that the Nats are going to be fun to watch this year.

(click here for all the pictures)

Happy Easter

We've kind of gotten Easter down to a science. After realizing that we aren't 9 am mass kind of people (particularly if candy has to be searched for prior to attending) and 11 am puts us at Mom Mom's kind of late, we like to get up, search for eggs, have breakfast at the bagel place, go to St. Joseph's 10:30 am mass (instead of St. Peter's), cut out early (because to be honest, the kids and Allen aren't any kind of mass people at heart), head up to Mom Mom's, have another Easter egg hunt, and then have a lovely dinner before heading home.

For the most part, all went well. Sure, Owen sat on Nora's bunny ears before we even made it out of the house. And the fact that Owen would only look for plastic eggs (as opposed to real eggs which don't contain candy) made the egg hunt take a bit longer than planned. And sure, in retrospect we probably should have restricted their sugar intake a bit more (and maybe avoided Owen jumping up naked on the couch and announcing he needed to put on a show while Nora ran to the kitchen and peed on the floor). But all in all, it was a lovely Easter Sunday and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

(To see all the pictures, click here.)

City Museum!

The blog post on our trip to St. Louis to visit the Mettenburgs had one major omission: our visit to the City Museum. The reason was of course that it was all too much for one post. When we told people we we're planning a visit to St. Louis for Spring Break, the one thing that kept coming up was the amazing City Museum. When Joe & Cate concurred, we knew we couldn't miss it, so on Monday morning we visited one of the most amazing museums we've ever been to. Museum probably isn't quite the right word for the place, it's nothing like the museum exhibits we're used to in the Smithsonian; instead, it's more like a giant playground.

Outside there are dragons and old planes in the sky that you are invited to explore via a series of ladders and tubes of rebar. Crawling through an archway five stories in the air you spy a giant ball pit with no clear entrance. What at first seem like architectural or decorative elements quickly become places to climb on and clamber over. Slide down a roof, find a secret spiral stair, jump into a giant ball pit.

As the day started to warm up (to an unseasonable mid 90's), we went inside to find slides, tree-houses, whale mouths, giant hamster wheels, magic shows, secret tunnels and caves. Owen's favorite part was entering into the mouth of the whale, which led to a complex series of indoor caverns. As Joe put it, this is the kind of place where you see a tiny hole in the floor, and you feel compelled to get down on your knees and crawl through it to see what's on the other side. In the case of the whale's mouth, the caves led to a central room with a large crystal formation in the middle and an opening above that revealed the remains of a spiral delivery system left over from the old shoe factory that previously occupied this space. Of course this needs to be investigated, and sure enough, climbing up through the caves to a series of stairs reveals the dirty and rusted spirals, and eventually you reach the top to find a 10 story spiral slide! The exhausting climb to the top was worth it, so much so, Owen and Gigi did it 3 times!

Eventually, Elaine and Cate took Nora home for a nap, and Joe and I stayed to explore some more with the big kids. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and thoroughly impressed with the City Museum.



(click here for all our City Museum pictures)

Meeting in St. Louis

It's been a few years since we visited our dear friends the Mettenburgs in St. Louis, and for months they've been urging us to visit them again. But first we needed to go to Iowa. And Austin. And a series of other locales which either used up our vacation, our travel budget, or both. But just after Christmas the stars aligned meaning that Owen's Spring Break coincided with Joe's vacation and meant that he'd be free to show us the sights in the "Show-Me" state's most populous city.

And then Joe went and got a job in Pittsburgh.

Happily for us, this means that Joe, Cate & Gigi will be moving to significantly closer to the DC area this June. Less happily, this meant that they needed to sell their house quickly, which in turn meant that it was going on the market the day after we arrived.

We briefly considered canceling the trip, but Joe & Cate assured us that we would be a welcome distraction, and since we've been there for most of their real-estate deals, we decided to forge ahead.

We were really glad we did. In the few days we were there we managed to hit the Sculpture Garden, the City Museum, the Arch, and play more Settlers of Catan than was probably necessary or healthy. Meanwhile Joe & Cate had an open house, a showing, and an offer on their house. The latter required some additional negotiation so Allen and I took Owen, Nora and a not 100% Gigi to the zoo followed by a picnic in the park while Joe & Cate signed offers and debated whether homemade drapes would convey (FYI: they will not). As it happened to be "Free Cone Day" at Ben & Jerry's, we took the non-fever ridden children out for ice cream followed by a stop at the neighborhood comic book store before heading back to the house. By the time nap time was over, there was a signed contract and babysitter arrangement so the adults could celebrate.

In the end, Owen decided he wanted to move to St. Louis (which would have been handy to know before Joe & Cate sold their house), Nora wanted to go to Gigi's new house (we told her she'd have to wait a while for that), and we were just glad that we got to hang out with some of our favorite people for a few beautiful days in one of their favorite places.

(click here for the pictures)

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)