Second Cousins

The beautiful thing about visiting Iowa is that both sides of our family have roots here which often results in a BOGO effect for the holidays. While the Zimmerman side didn't make it to the Iowa City metro area until Wednesday afternoon, the Fawcett cousins were there Tuesday night, which meant a yummy lasagna dinner at Aunt Helen and Uncle Kens and an impressive number of little ones playing hide and seek (preceded by a tractor ride with Grandpa Fawcett).

The following morning, we all gathered at the pond to help take down the tee-pee as well as Hollywood and the paddleboat, before heading back to Iowa City for the Zimmerman side invasion.

All I Want for Thanksgiving...

Amidst all the madness last week, I noticed that one of Owen's teeth appeared to be askew. When I asked him about it, it became clear that: 1) the tooth was indeed loose; 2) he was not happy about this; 3) Owen neither believes in the tooth fairy nor does he want her coming any where near his teeth; and 4) Owen wants to keep all his baby teeth, and requested a means to tighten the errant dendrite.

I briefed Allen on Owen's status, and we decided to not to intervene and let nature took its course (which was a big concession from the man who, along with his father and a door, assisted in the removal of his baby sister's teeth). Allen wisely packed the tooth box that Mom Mom had made for him, which was put to good use when Owen pulled his tooth out himself on Sunday morning, and thereafter since Owen refused to trade his tooth for a dollar (or a penny as per Allen's scheme to teach him about exponential growth by offering him $.01*2^(t-1) for each tooth).

Fortunately, Grandma Z decided that the mere act of pulling out his tooth deserved some sort of reward, and so Owen came out of the whole experience with a gap in his smile, a tooth in his box and $2 in his backpack.

Aunt Katherine's

We started stopping in Cleveland on our way to Iowa back when Owen was just a baby. It was a convenient (almost) midway point in the drive between DC and Iowa City, and Katherine & Lee have always know how to show their guests a good time.

But all good things must come to an end, as it looks like Katherine & Lee may be moving closer to the DC metro area -- which is great in terms of our getting to see them more frequently, but kind of sucks for our cross-country trip planning. For our last official visit, Aunt Katherine pulled out all the stops -- batting cages, arcade games, a rocketship, Star Wars Episode I, pulled pork sandwiches, a wine tasting as well as Nora's beloved cupcake time. And while we'll miss ping pong ball, indoor camping and archery, as well as their ready access to Christmas Ale, we're excited to have Katherine & Lee several hours closer.

Autumn at Watkins

It's been a bit of a stressful week here in DC -- being directed by the White House to be as boring as possible while discussing carbon taxes at AEI, taking the car in to be serviced for a series of repairs we didn't know it needed, finishing up projects at work in order to leave town for the holiday, all while putting together an offer for a house. Just hours after finding out we didn't get our dream house owing to an evil, last minute all-cash offer, and just hours before driving through rush hour traffic to Aunt Katherine's to begin our Thanksgiving vacation, we were treated to a concert by Owen and the Watkins first graders. It was a nice diversion from the bitter sting of losing the house and the dread of what turned into a seven hour drive to listen to a bunch of six and seven year olds sing about the wonders of autumn, what they're thankful for, and how much they love America. Made us remember what's important...and how good mashed potatoes are.

(Note: Owen is in the first row of standing kids, slightly stage left, in a bright yellow shirt.)

Blue Eyes Crying

Nora has always seemed on the verge of tears -- not because she's perpetually distraught over the state of the world, but because she was born with a blocked tear duct. We'd previously looked into unblocking it when she was about 15 months old (we'd been advised that if it didn't correct itself by one year, we'd need to have a procedure done), but she threw up the morning of the surgery which we took as a sign that we should postpone indefinitely.

Indefinitely turned out to be 3 years of age as our regular pediatrician (who's missed the appointment where we decided to go ahead with the surgery at 15 months and had been horrified that we'd considered it at such a tender age) gave her blessing to try again. Originally scheduled for election day, Hurricane Sandy threw off Kaiser's schedule and so it wasn't until November 8th that Nora finally underwent the knife (or a rather, a metal probe).

Nora's not the best waker-upper, so we were a little concerned how she would respond to being woken up at 7 in the morning without benefit of food or drink per her pre-surgery instructions, but apparently a little The Little Mermaid en route makes everything better. Nora sailed into the ambulatory surgery center telling jokes (such as "Why did the toys cross the road?" whose punchline involves a robot chicken though I was never entirely clear how or why) and being only slightly annoyed by the surgical gown and heart monitor. It wasn't until they started to put her under that she got upset with the morning's adventure (requiring the anesthesiologist, a nurse and myself to hold her down). She woke up equally annoyed about 20 minutes later, but some cuddling and a be-be (as well as the promise of more Little Mermaid when we left) seemed to console her.

We were home by 11 am, where we cuddled on the couch watching some Dora before finally eating some food and taking a long nap. She's back at daycare today and seems fine (although she's had a slight bloody nose and occassional bloody discharge out of her eye, which we were told to expect). We're hoping that this surgery will do the trick as the next one would involve a plastic surgeon and irrigation tubes not to mention a pretty big mommy freak-out session if she has to go through all that again.

(click here for the pictures)

Halloween

Our usual plan for Halloween is to head over to Grandpa Fawcett's house on E. Capitol street to briefly join the hoards of trick-or-treaters then retreat back to the house for some chili and hand out candy to thousands of kids.  This year we weren't sure if the usual plan would work.  Claudine passed away earlier in the month, and the Halloween gathering at 813 was always her show.  While family and friends were gathered out in Kansas City for her funeral though, Dad and I decided that it would be a nice way to honor her memory.  We couldn't quite pull of the Kansas City chili, but Elaine made a delicious pasta Bolognese, Owen dressed up as Captain America and Nora as a fairy, we tricked and we treated, and of course Owen kept the crowds in check handing out countless pieces of candy.  Happy Halloween.

(click here for all the Halloween pictures)

Frankenstorm

To be honest, the most recent storm of the century didn't actually effect us much. Sandy conveniently hit after baseball camp, dance class, Violet and Brady's respective birthday parties and the Brown's annual Halloween extravaganza were over. Allen had gone to the grocery store on Friday afternoon, so we were flush with provisions when they announced Sunday night that both the government and schools would be closed.

So for lack of a better word, we hunkered down. The kids and I watched a frightening amount of Netflix, played a few board games,  did the odd arts & crafts project, and dressed up for a tea party while Allen worked on a paper.  And though the storm got pretty bad, we maintained electricity and wifi without taking on any water (save what Allen collected for posterity), which is more than we could say for poor Aunt Katherine and Uncle L in Cleveland.

Hotter'n Hades 2012

Last year Brad & Marlo's annual Hotter'n Hades Halloween party and chili cook-off happend during an October snowstorm. This year things looked grim for the party as Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the area, but the storm held off until the day after the party, and the weather ended up being beautiful.  The street was closed, the bouncy castle was epic, and the chili was delicious (though Brad's chili was robbed in a case of questionable judging).

While the weather worked out for the party, our schedules weren't quite as cooperative.  Nora's best friend Violet had her 3rd birthday party the same day, and our neighbors Hunter & Joy were throwing a Halloween party of their own, so we divided and concurred this year.  Owen and I had a blast at the party, and hopefully next year we'll all be back in full force.  

Fall-ure

Every October we head out to Butler's Orchard, pick up some pumpkins (usually with Brad & Marlo and their offspring) and take some adorably staged pictures to herald in Fall. Except this year.

We meant to, really we did. Originally we planned on going with the Browns on October 7th, but inclimate weather and a Nationals' playoff game conspired to keep us inside and near a television with basic cable. Birthday parties, a block party, a school fundraiser and a funeral all conspired to insure that the only other possible day we could make it out to the orchard prior to Halloween was Sunday, October 21st. So after Sunday school, we fed the kids, packed our copy of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" for the car ride and headed out via the GW Parkway... only to discover en route that it was closed.

So instead, we went south to Mount Vernon. It was a glorious day to explore the grounds of our first President's abode, and while there was a noticable paucity of pumpkins and haybales, the kids enjoyed themselves, we got plenty of adorable pictures, and we later picked up some pumpkins at Harris Teeter.

Home Runs and Heartbreak

Owen and I have been going to baseball games together since shortly after he was born.  Since he missed out on the dizzying excitement of rocketing up to first place by the All Star Break in their inaugural season (only to collapse back to .500 by the end of the year), we always focused on enjoying each individual game, without worrying about the standings on our way to six straight losing seasons.

That all changed with the 2012 Nationals.  You could feel from Spring training that this team was different.  Young, talented, and full of heart, the Nats started out hot and never cooled off on their way to the best record in baseball. Owen and I went to 25 games during the regular season, saw a lot of great baseball, and experienced the highs and lows of a pennant chase.

Of course we went to all three home playoff games. We soaked in the pre-game pomp at game 3, and the buzz surrounding the first playoff game in DC since the 1933 World Series, and waited for something to cheer for, only to sulk home after 8-0 drubbing that put the Nats on the verge of elimination.

Game 4 turned out to be the most exciting and joyous sporting event of our lives.  Detwiler and the bullpen were masterful, but the Cardinals matched them inning after inning sending a tense 1-1 game to the ninth inning.  Jayson Werth led off and started off 0 and 2, but battled for 12 pitches before tearing a hole in the sky with a shot over the left field wall.  Pandemonium, the game was ours, the series was tied, and momentum was on our side going to the deciding game five.

The last game couldn't have started any better.  A double, triple and homer for Werth, Harper and Zimmerman put the Nats up 3 to 0 before the first out, and it looked like we were on our way.  But the Cardinals kept chipping away, until Drew Storen had to come on the save a 7 to 5 game in the ninth.  With two outs, we rose to our feet and cheered on our Nats for 23 pitches (five with two strikes!) that could have given the Nats the win.  But it wasn't to be...

It really was a magical season, hopefully the heartbreak of game 5 will blossom into victory next year.

Things were looking mighty good for our beloved Nats;
Harper found his batting eye, Zimmerman his bat.
Can this be right, is it true, are we having too much fun?
We were leading three to zip, and it was only inning one.

The innings really rolled along, we could not believe our eyes;
For Morse the Beast and Harper, homers big boy size.
Oh God is great and so are we, we sing hip hip hoorah;
At the end of three the Nats are six, the Cardinal lads nada.

It was very close to freezing, but no one there was cold;
World Series fever kept them warm, if the truth be told.
With victory in the offing, tomorrow will be a glorious day;
Then the Cardinals being birds, began to peck away.

There first score in inning four, put no damper on our glee;
Shortly then they got two more, but we still led it six to three.
By inning nine it's seven five, we're comfortably ahead;
But suddenly these Cards, seem risen from the dead.

Our closer guy is throwing heat, but Cardinal bats got hot;
We don't know how or why, but leading now we're not.
We had ourselves believing, we were on our way to Heaven;
But dreams became reality, we lost it nine to seven.

In Casey's famous epitaph, the sun did still shine bright;
Bands still played children sang, somewhere hearts were light;
Skies were bluest blue, and somewhere bells were ringing;
But there was no joy in Mudville, when Casey went down swinging.

And so it was in Washington, on a cold and windy eve;
Yes baseball is our greatest game, that I still believe;
But know like love it brings a risk, and that's the other part;
If you take it seriously, it just may break your heart.

- Bob Shieffer  

Great Falls 2012

We like to honor Christopher Columbus by discovering already existing lands, and so decided to spend the federal holiday visiting Great Falls, VA -- home of the Mather Gorge and the preferred destination for Allen's high school skip days. The kids love bouldering there and despite the numerous posted "danger" signs, I don't actually get that nervous when we go -- though maybe that's because Allen reserves Owen's most adventurist climbs for when I'm off distracted with Nora.

(To see all the Grat Falls 2012 pictures, please click here.)

The Mettenburgs

We're pretty excited that the Mettenburgs have returned to the east coast after what we like to call the "lost years" (also known as Joe's residency in St. Louis). We already made a stop in Pittsburg on our way back from Iowa this summer, and now they've returned the favor with a brief visit this past weekend.

Owen was glad to have a playmate that enjoys Legos and racing as much as he does; Nora was excited to see the former owner of her beloved, "Gigi dress" in person and to ask her for tips about coordinating tights. We were just happy to be able to take in the sights (and some bottles of wines) with some of our favorite people.

(To see all our pics from their visit (including our visit to the National Zoo's new "American Trail") please click here)

Food Prints

In the Spring of Owen's first year at Peabody, the Cluster Schools started a fundraising campaign to build a teaching kitchen at Watkins Elementary School. Knowing that Owen would be going there in a few years, we made some initial donations and then when it looked like they wouldn't make their $60,000 goal (in which case they would lose all the funds already pledged), we gave more. Fortunately, so did Chef Jose Andres and a bunch of his twitter followers, which put the campaign over the top.

Now that Owen is in first grade at Watkins, he's finally getting to take advantage of the community's largess.  On Wednesday I joined him for his second "Food Prints" session. Owen and his classmates planted kale in the Watkins garden, discussed plant anatomy, illustrated and labeled pepper plants, compared different varieties of kale, prepped kale for cooking, watched a demonstration and then ate the fruits (or rather the leaves) of their labors.

While Owen later claimed he didn't really like it, he certainly seemed to enjoy the "Lemon and Garlic Sauteed Kale" at the time, as did the rest of his class-- at least a third of whom cleaned their plates. An entire classroom of six year olds eating kale and enjoying themselves -- clearly money well spent.

(click here for all the pictures)

The Horsey Set

Now that Owen is in 1st grade, he doesn't see his old friends from daycare nearly as much, but thankfully he's still able to keep in touch with some of his oldest friends.  For his birthday, Leo, Brady and Sofia all joined us for a long and rainy Nats game; and this past weekend Sofia returned the favor and invited Owen to her 6th birthday party out at the Potomac Horse Center.  Sofia's parties are always a blast, and no doubt the horses would be a hit.  The kids all had a hay ride, searched for candy in a haystack, met a horse that has modeled for Ralph Lauren, and of course rode the ponies!  Happy birthday Sofia!

(click here for all the pictures)

Party Girl

When Owen was turning three, Nora was only a few weeks away from making an appearance. We worried that our little guy might be feeling a bit overlooked and so we decided to make a big deal about his birthday by inviting twelve of his closests friends (or at least those that were in town mid-August) to 90 minutes of awesomeness at the Little Gym. While Nora wasn't facing a similar familial disruption as she hit the big 0-3, we decided that in the interest of fairness (and proven sucess) we'd hold a similar celebration for Nora's third.

Having been born Labor Day weekend, we opted to hold Nora's party a week later, hoping that more of her friends would be able to attend. We didn't anticipant, however, the elements also making an appearance.

10 minutes before the party was set to start, the heavens opened and dumped a lot of water on the metro area. There were reports of tornadoes in the suburbs, the Beltway all but shut down, and when Nora's guests belatedly made their appearance, they were accompanied by some pretty freaked out parents.

Still, the kids all had a great time. Nora, who'd been anxiously anticipating her birthday party for weeks now, beamed through most of it, basking in the limelight until having blown out her candles and eaten her cupcakes handed Allen her party hat and informed us she was ready to go home.

(A special thanks to Owen, Mia, Ben, Miyako, Tadashi, Violet, Isabel, Luc, Oz, Eddie, Cora and Jojo for making Nora's day extra special. To see all the pictures, please click here).

Catching some Zs

Grandpa & Grandma Z decided to celebrate Labor Day and Nora's birthday with us for their first visit to DC since Nora was born. In the hopes of motivating them to return more often, we scheduled a bevy of activities. Unfortunately, a race in downtown Baltimore thwarted a visit to the National Aquarium and an absence of wind hampered the boys' sailing trip. Still we managed to have a lot of fun at the Arboretum, enjoy some delicious cake and watch the Nats beat the Cubs. And aside from an unplanned tour of our urgent care center, it was a pretty nice trip. Hopefully, they'll repeat it before 2015...

(To see all the pictures from their trip, click here.)

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

Our kids like to climb things. Our kids like to jump off things. Our kids like to do things that "make Mommy nervous." And so it was probably inevitable that one day one of our kids would end up in urgent care getting stitches after cracking open their head. I just didn't think it would happen on the last night of Grandma & Grandpa Z's visit.

We'd gone to the Argonaut for dinner and were walking home after a lovely meal. Allen and the kids had run ahead while I lingered behind with Grandma & Grandpa Z.  About a block from the restaurant Owen climbed up on some cement Jersey barriers by a formerly vacant lot and soon-to-be gas station. This is not unusual for Owen. What was unusal is that typically one of us is closer when he does this so that we can help him jump down. We weren't. He fell. Tears ensued.

To be honest, we didn't initially realize the extent of the damage (it was dark and our kids cry a lot). Allen carried him for a couple of blocks and then we made him walk the last half block to the house. It was there when I took off his hat to put an ice pack on it that I noticed the blood (the benefits of being blonde) and upon closer inspection, the open wound in his head.

Grandpa Z, Owen and I headed to urgent care just after 8 pm. We were hoping that a six year old with a head wound would be fast-tracked, but the fact that Owen was laughing and playing "Stack the Countries" while holding a football didn't get him any triage points. We saw a nurse about 20 minutes after we arrived who cleaned him up as best she could and wrapped him up like a mummy and then waiting another 10 minutes or so for the doctor, who cleaned him up some more, trimmed his hair, numbed the area, gave him 4 stitches, and ordered and reviewed a CT scan before discharging him a little before 11 pm.

I have to say, Owen was incredibly brave and cooperative -- not crying despite the poking, prodding, cleaning, injections and stitching, and lying so still during it all that they didn't have to utilize the body restraints usually reserved for patients his size. And while I'm really proud of how brave he was in the face of it all, I'm hoping this isn't a skill set we have to regularly utilize.

(To see all the gory shots, taken by his incredibly insensitive mother, click here.)

Happy Birthday Nora!

Threesome

My baby girl turns three today, which seems so crazy as that's the age her brother was when she first graced us with her presence. It's all gone so quickly, and yet I think I've been more acutely aware of her twos than Owen's since I was largely distracted during his with morning sickness and some extreme belly kicks. It's hard not to be a little sad that she's growing up and becomming such an independent young lady, but it's pretty amazing (and at times pretty amusing) to watch the process. Happy birthday, baby girl, I love you so, so much.

1. Twirlability is a perfectly valid factor to consider when deciding what to wear each morning.
2. All I really need is a song in my heart.
3. Sometimes you feel like a hug; sometimes you don't.
4. When all else fails, use the silly face.
5. Dresses > Skirts > Pants of any sort.
6. Some people are just born to rock.
7. "Cool, cool tricks," should not just be watched but be supervised.
8. Navigating sibling relationships can be complicated.
9. It is important to establish early the requirements for dessert and their enforceability.
10. The beauty of being two is that the possibilities are endless.

Camp Mom Mom

The last week of August may have been the first week of school for Owen, but it wasn't the last week of 'camp' for the family.  It was shutdown week at daycare, so Nora had a special week at Camp Mom Mom!  Each morning, Mom Mom came down to sweep Nora away to a new adventure.  A trip to the American Girl store, playing at the Lego store, swimming, taking her own toy shopping cart to the grocery store, ice cream sundae's for lunch (the rules are always a little different when Mom Mom is in charge;-) Nora was worn out each night and excited for the day each morning. Thanks Mom Mom for giving Nora such a great week!

School Daze

Owen started first grade at Watkins today. He was feeling a little nervous this morning as we headed to his new classroom -- he went from being one of the big kids on campus and surrounded by his buddies, to being one of the youngest in a really big school with his best friends all in different classrooms. Fortunately, Owen's friend Hayden from t-ball also ended up in Ms. Bowers class. As we left for the parent meeting in the auditorium/cafeteria, Owen was reading books and laughing with Hayden and Bernard (who'd been in different classes at Peabody).

Owen wasn't particularly forthcoming about his day (they ate lunch in the classroom, played on the field because the 2nd graders were on the playground at recess, and "kindergarten was a lot more fun" was about all we got out of him), but he managed to take the bus from Watkins to Peabody so we could pick him up at aftercare without losing himself, his backpack or his metro card. On the basis of that alone, we're willing to call it a success.

Sixer

Five has been an interesting age. Owen is reflective and insightful, doling out compliments and words of wisdom, such as, "Your hair looks pretty, Mom." and "Nora! You don't eat food on the floor!" Then a moment later, he'll bursts into tears because Nora laughed too loudly at his joke or we thought he looked more like an Orioles player in his grey and orange plaid pajamas rather than a Nationals player in their visiting uniform.

But as much of a roller coaster as it's been, five has also been a pretty amazing year: watching Owen go from sounding out words to reading with confidence; seeing our shy little guy navigate social settings like a pro; watching our t-baller learn how to hit his dad's overhand fastball; and seeing his super hero obsessions graduate from Superman to X-Men.

And now he's turning six and starting first grade in a week. And while I find myself at times missing the baby he was, I'm extremely proud of the little man he's becoming. Happy Birthday, Owen.

1. School assemblies include a lot more musical numbers in a post-Glee world.
2. Video games can be extremely instructive and obsessive play can result in you correctly identifying & placing all 54 countries on a map of Africa (compared to your mother's six).
3. When you limit your favorite song to one which is played in a ballpark, you're going to make some interesting choices.
4. Always be prepared -- even if you're unconscious.
5. The Star Spangled Banner is a perfectly fine road-trip song -- if you want to drive your mother insane.
6. It's a lot easier to get out of bed when there's a condensed Nationals' game to watch.
7. Always wear pants (even if it's 104 degrees) -- you never know when you might need to slide.
8. The desserts don't always justify the meals.
9. "I forgot" is a legitimate (if not always successful) excuse.
10. I am Superman. I am also at various times Spiderman, Wolverine, Stephen Strasburg and Ian Desmond.

Delayed Gratification (aka Owen's Sixth Birthday Party)

Birthday parties stress me out, so we started planning Owen's in April. And we really planned: planned for the fact that a lot of Owen's friends would be out of town due to the August recess and their parent's vacation schedules; planned for the logistics involved in transporting five six-ish year olds (and thankfully a bunch of their parents) given car seats and parking restrictions and what not; and planned how to entertain all five kids with different interest levels in baseball for the 3 1/2 hours we anticipated the Nationals-Mets game would last.

We did not, however, plan for rain or the resulting 2 1/2 hour delay in play that the precipitation caused.

Fortunately, Allen was at least prescient enough to get seats under an overhang for the game, which meant that we stayed a lot drier than the field. And while Leo tried to convince everyone to leave and either catch a movie or have a freakishly large playdate at our house, we were able to divert the kids with food, goody-bags (and the baseball card trading session that immediately followed), and Presidents sightings to pass the time reasonably pleasantly until the Nats finally took the field.

We decided to head out during the seventh-inning stretch (or as I like to put it, SIX HOURS AFTER WE GOT THERE) with the Nats leading the Mets 5 to 2. We even managed to catch the end of the game (Nats win!) at home and open a few presents before heading out to dinner with Mom Mom, Grandpa Don and Nora.

All in all it was a pretty good (albeit protracted) birthday celebration -- we couldn't have planned it better.

(Special thanks to Brady, Leo, Ronan & Sofia (and Mike, Micah and Joe) for joining us and waiting it out. To see all the birthday party pics, please click here.)

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.