It's a Bird. It's a Plane. It's Uncle Dave!

Every so often, Uncle Dave has a business trip that takes him to the DC metro area that he will graciously extend so we can get some extra time with him. Dave was here for less than 48 hours, but we still managed to get in barbecue, a superhero wonk session, Good Stuff, picking up Nora's new viola, swinging by Nat's stadium (to pick up some beer steins with Natitude), dinner with Molly, a string duet care of Owen and Nora (complete with Nora's homage to Ferris Bueller at the behest of Uncle Dave) and a show at the Rock-n-Roll Hotel care of the Felice Brothers. Unfortunately, the kids ran short of time to demonstrate their new found magic skills courtesy of their birthday presents from Uncle Dave and Aunt Kara, but there's always Thanksgiving...

Party Redux (Owen's 10th)

Over the summer, we asked Owen what he'd like to do for his birthday and he responded without hesitation, "laser tag." I wasn't overly excited, but Owen had already planned everyone's position and Allen, who had taken Owen to several parties at the laser tag place, assured me that Ultrazone Laser Tag was really easy and as Owen's birthday is days before school starts and 12 days before Nora's, easy sounded good. So we booked it and sent out invites -- lots of invites as many people extend their vacations through the weekend before school starts and laser tag requires a lot of people in attendance. Once we finally had a quorum, we relaxed.

Until the night before the party. I wasn't feeling great so I let the answering machine pick up when a call came in at 6:30 pm. There was a bunch of mumbling, but when I heard "Ultrazone" I quickly grabbed the handset only to learn that owing to some issue with their lease, Ultrazone was unable to access their building which meant Owen couldn't have his party there the following morning. The manager offered to let us hold the party at another venue about an hour away, but we demurred and instead proceeded to call all fourteen of the intended attendees informing them that the party was cancelled but they'd be getting a new invite once we had a had a place, date and time.

Owen was great about the whole thing. No one is happy to have their party cancelled on the eve of their birthday, but he was pretty stoic about the whole thing. We started talking about possible venues and dates, and while we tried to find another laser tag place, Owen wasn't thrilled with the equipment at the alternative site. So we suggested trampoline parks and climbing gyms and rock walls, but Owen declined and expressed his preference to return to Sandy Springs Adventure Park.

We'd held Owen's eighth birthday party at Sandy Springs, and while lovely, it rained the entire time at which point I vowed to never have a party outside again. But Owen insisted, we needed to get something on the calendar, and he was being such a good sport about it, so we booked it for Labor Day and sent out invites (to both those that couldn't make the first party and those that did) and turned our attention to Nora's party (which we had scheduled early in order to avoid Labor Day weekend...).

Time passed. School started. Nora's birthday party went off without a hitch. Nora turned seven. 16 kids responded that they'd be attending (apparently Labor Day is less of a travel draw than the weekend before school starts). And then tropical storm Hermine started brewing...

Historically, the birthday party gods have not been kind to us. There was the tornado at Nora's 3rd. The double booking at Nora's 4th. The rainstorm at Owen's eighth. And the near cancelation at Owen's 9th owing to his ER trip earlier that week. Knowing our luck, I started panicking, because as much as I love Owen and as much as the 10th anniversary of his birth should be commemorated with style, I couldn't face the prospect of having to cancel another party and plan a third celebration, particularly as the Fall activity schedule was upon us.

There was much prayer and possibly drinking. But in the end, the weather gods were kind and Hermine skirted over the mid-Atlantic though the party gods did bench a few of Owen's friends at the last minute (two owing to some bug, the third failed to get his arm cast off in a timely manner). We had beautiful weather, Owen was in his element and the 13 kids and 5 adults had a pretty amazing time.

(To see all the pictures, click here.)

Seven!

Six started out rough. There was a new school filled with mean girls, a series of unfortunate accidents, lice, and a memory card not adequately backed up resulting in lost photographs and many tears. There were slammed doors and locked doors and sulking under the table because the universe is unfair. There were a lot of songs written with some very emo lyrics and evenings when we were not allowed so much as a good-night hug.

Nora eventually ignored the mean girls, asserted her personality because "why would you want to be like everyone else?" and still made new friends. Door slamming is banned, but door locking is permitted when one needs privacy, provided it's not overnight and the door is opened per Mommy's request (because she's short and can't reach the key on the frame and sometimes she legitimately needs to get into the bedroom). I still worry about the nature of her song lyrics, but she's assured Allen that the overall message is about female empowerment, she just hasn't completed them yet.

And so despite a difficult beginning, six ended up pretty amazing: Nora learned to ride a bike (nine months after breaking her arm while on training wheels). She lost her first tooth, skied using lifts and shifted from bouldering to climbing. Nora built a birdhouse and a robot; designed necklaces and Halloween costumes. She made it all the way to letter X on the reading scale.

And she did it her way, because if you're Nora, why would you ever want to be like everyone else? Happy birthday, baby girl. We love you so much and can't wait to see what you do at seven.

1. "I am horrified but strangely excited."
2. Don't think of it as delousing, think of it as a spa day!
3. Despite Nora's assurances, people of New York, you should probably look elsewhere for driving instructors.
4. "Can I tell you something?"
5. Cool runnings isn't so much a movie as a lifestyle.
6. The world runs very differently in funny land.
7. On belay!
8. "Turn out the light, because I'm princess of the night!"
9. Ah, donuts.
10. And in the words of Nora, "If you think about it, anything is possible."

Party Madness

Nora's gotten really into science this year -- she and Allen regularly play with a chemistry kit she has, she loved the engineering class she took in aftercare and this summer she built a robot at Mad Science camp. So a birthday party devoted to experiments with 14 little girls seemed like a brilliant way to celebrate.

And in the end, it was -- a very loud, but brilliant, idea. There were fireballs and slime and explosions and color changes and dancing and screaming and even cotton candy. But mostly, there were 14 little girls that had an amazing time getting their STEM stuff on.

(To see all the birthday pictures, please click here.)

School Daze 2016

Today was Owen's first day of 5th grade (and last first day at SWS) and Nora's first day of 2nd grade. Unfortunately, Allen was too ill to join us for drop-off which meant that capturing this moment for posterity fell to me. Please rest assured that no children were harmed in the staging of this picture and Owen was far more excited for the day than it appears.

Decade

10 years. Double digits. An entire decade of watching Owen evolve from a jaundiced, sleep-renouncing newborn with a disproportionately large head, to a... kid. A kid who will quiz you on the Revolutionary War, Greek Mythology, Zoology, parts of the brain and Pokémon characters in a single afternoon. A kid who will tell a joke or interject a snarky comment, but will then tear up if he doesn't like how you laughed at it. A kid who hates Donald Trump, loves Elvis Costello and plays a mean OK Go on the cello. And while there are still moments when Owen's youthfulness is on full display -- when he sulks after being corrected or rides the tricycle across the living room, or just experiences the kind of unadulterated joy that adults can never seem to achieve -- a more mature side is emerging. Owen's becoming someone who listens to the news, asks pointed questions and has surprising insights. Someone who tries to cheer people up by finding a bright side. Someone who takes moral stands for causes he believes in. And someone who can beat me at corn hole without any handicaps.

I love all sides, very much. Happy birthday, Owen, it's been an amazing 3,653 days.

1. Ah, the suite life.
2. Some days, your amygdala just can't take it.
3. "I threw myself to the wolves, only to learn of the tenderness in their howl, and the loyalty in their blood." ~ Isra Al-Thibeh
4. Orchestra and Chorus are two very distinct things. Something you might want to clarify before agreeing to join the wrong one.
5. It's easier to be a good loser, when you steal home under the tag.
6. "Seriously?"
7. Rick Riordan was mistaken: Mount Olympus hasn't actually relocated to the top of the Empire State Building.
8. Two words: bone scythe.
9. It's not easy, being green.
10. Sometimes life comes down to a single moment, when all eyes are on you watching to see if you will succeed or fail. A lot of times in your life, you'll come up empty: drop the ball resulting in the game winning run; miss the tie-breaking question; flub a note during your solo. It happens to us all, and it's a disappointment that we all learn to cope with. But sometimes, you come through in the clutch. And those moments are glorious.

Iowa Summer 2016

After the tumultuous start to the trip things settled down a bit in Iowa.  The sweet corn was ready as soon as we arrived, so there was plenty of corn to harvest, cut and freeze well before cornfest. Katherine & Lee made their first trip out to Iowa since Nora's baptism, and of course Katherine made sure there were plenty of games and tournaments for everyone.

Cornfest was a blast.  Katherine organized the 2016 Dam Cornhole Tournament, and she and Lee gave it their best shot in the second annual sweet corn eating contest.  They were no match for me though, as apparently speed sweet corn eating is my calling. I finished my four ears in a record 1 minute 49 seconds, while Lee came in second, 44 seconds behind me.



Our second week was full of farming and fun.  Ellen & John came for a visit, we saw Margret and Alex Hoover ahead of Hooverfest (Margret had plenty to say about the election of course;-), plus we took on our big Pond project for the year.  We used the pile of huge rocks that came from the foundation of an old barn to build a retaining wall along the South edge of the Pond between the dock and the damn, and built a fan ramp up to the dock.  The most exciting part of the project was putting in the giant fishing rock, which was almost too big to move with the tractor and excavator (Ken went up on three wheels briefly trying to move it with the tractor, and we had to carefully roll it into place with some special maneuvering to get the right side facing up).  Something was missing though when we finished, the gravel ramp just didn't quite look right next to the beautiful rock retaining wall, so Kent and I came up with a plan to pave it with limestone (which of course Kent just happened to have a pallet of), and with that the project was complete. Just another day of life on the farm.



(click here for all the pictures)

Iowa, Day One (a slight "bump" in the road)

We got to Iowa late Sunday night and after crashing at Grandma & Grandpa Z's house, we enjoyed a leisurely morning before heading out to the pond for some quality swimming and hanging out time with Kent, Leanna and a sundry of kids. Nora decided she was done swimming early, so she showered, changed and asked me to push her on the tree swing while Leanna hung with the rest of the kids at the pond, and Allen and Kent went on a keg run. It was lovely and Nora announced that she was having a lot of fun.

Which should have been the tip off that things were about to go horribly awry.

Shortly later, Grace and Owen joined us and I let the kids take turns swinging. Right about then, Kent's grandson, Daniel, announced that he wanted to go swimming in the deep end and since Leanna was hanging with Grant on the beach, needed a grownup. Thinking that a tree swing was a far safer spot to be unsupervised, I headed back to the pond with Daniel and was getting ready to take out the kayak with him when I heard a scream.

What actually happened is still somewhat murky. What we think transpired is that Grace was giving Owen an "under-dog" and Nora decided to follow behind, neglected to duck, and was hit with full force by Owen and the swing.

I ran over to see what happened and met Grace and Nora who was screaming in pain (Owen, oddly enough, continued to swing) and who's forehead had what appeared to be a tennis ball sticking out of it. We ran back to the cabin where, this being Iowa, I grabbed a bag of frozen corn for her head, texted Allen the situation, asked Leanna for her opinion of how bad this was, and called the Kaiser advice line.

While I was freaking out, Nora was calming down. As I spoke to the advice nurse Nora started interjecting and correcting me, and when asked about her pain level, she insisted it was a "5" or "6" even though I told her that it looked more like at least an "8" to me. Still, since it looked like she might have some bruising behind her ear (we couldn't tell with the light, and apparently it's a sign of a skull fracture), the advice nurse insisted we take Nora to the ER right around the time Allen and Kent arrived with the keg and Owen showed up (asking for a snack).

So Allen and I took Nora to Mercy Hospital's ER (which was coincidently a block from where Allen had picked up the beer) leaving Owen at the pond until Grandpa & Grandma Z could come get him. We were seen almost immediately (conveniently, Nora was already in the system from last year's bout of pneumonia), and while Kaiser had urged us to get a CAT scan, the administering physician said Nora didn't have a fracture or appear to have a concussion and that it wasn't worth the radiation to confirm. With that, they discharged us with nary a Tylenol for Nora to take, assuring us that she'd be fine though she'd probably look pretty rough for the next few weeks.

And that, my friends, is why there aren't a lot of pictures of Nora this trip. And why Owen might need to work on his empathy.

Summer in Snowmass

Every so often I manage to get invited to present at a work conference in Snowmass.  This year I went out to present my Science paper, the weather was beautiful, the morning hikes were amazing, and the conference was incredibly interesting.  The only trick was flying home on Saturday, and turning around to drive to Iowa 16 hours after I landed.

(click here for all the pictures)

Joe & Cate & Chris & Elise

We had planned on having the Mettenburgs down for a night out back in May, but in the ensuing months we learned that the Pearsons of LA were relocating to Pittsburgh (for Elise to attend medical school) via McClean, VA and that they would around that same weekend.

So, after enlisting Makayla (with Aunt Katherine, Uncle L and Grandpa as backup) to babysit, and hiring someone else to wait several hours in line, the six of us were able to enjoy a leisurely dinner (sharing literally their entire menu) at Rose's Luxury. We're hoping that this becomes a tradition.

Ms. Roboto

Nora went to Robot Camp this week and built a working robot. I went to work and made a spreadsheet. Nora wins.

OBX 2016

It was winter and cold and we were all sitting around Mom Mom's when someone mentioned the beach. Immediately, Allen, Katherine and Mom Mom started looking at rental houses that would accommodate all nine of us (Katherine & Lee, Sharon & Don, and John, Allen, Owen, Nora and myself) in comfort. They promptly found one, booked it and everyone forgot about it. 

Except, Katherine -- she started plotting. See, Katherine believes fun is at it's best when it's organized and that competitions involving points and trophies, are the best kind of fun to be had. So while the rest of us hunkered down for the winter, Katherine started making color coordinated tally boards and contemplating scoring mechanisms to optimize our fun at the outer banks.

We arrived (we arrived last, despite leaving first) to the beautiful Pelican's Perch on Sunday and after unpacking and enjoying a delicious meal of Pasta Bolognese, headed to the beach for an inaugural game of Bocce (5 points, Grandpa Don). We awoke on July 4th to a beautiful sunrise and headed to the beach for swimming/boogie boarding/reading/and a little imbibing before a night of burgers, board games (Taboo - 1 point per team member), Bocce (5 points Uncle L) and some fireworks.

For the rest of the week we alternated between beach time, pool time and game time. There was a side trip to play miniature golf (5 points Grandpa Don), Duck Donuts (no points, but come on, donuts!), a magic show, ladderball (1 point Nora), Pool Pong (1 point Uncle L), kite flying, Pass the Pig (1 point Mom Mom), boogie boarding, Head Bands (3 points Elaine), swimming, and a sundry of chores (1 point Grandpa Fawcett). At some point there was a coup and Owen & Nora declared themselves game masters, but this was strongly contested by Katherine so it was never clear at the end who was in charge.

But most importantly, there was Corn Hole (1 point per participant with a tournament at the end). Mom Mom and Grandpa Fawcett started off strong early on, but after a bad draw for Uncle L (he got partnered with Elaine) and perhaps heat exhaustion from the matriarch and patriarch, Owen, the young upstart, was able to come in under the radar, rise above a technical loss in an early round (no one bothered to tell him he needed to miss the surface in order to beat Mom Mom and Grandpa Don), Owen managed to make the game winning throw to win the tournament and secure for himself the Pelican's Cup.

It was the best beach vacation ever (nary a sick child anywhere) and we can't wait to get back. Though with more clarification about scoring early on...

 

 (Click here for all the pictures)

Climbing

We finally made it out climbing this summer!  We've been talking about going climbing with Gabriel and Mirabelle for a while now, so when Steve & Megan suggested climbing on Saturday afternoon, we couldn't pass up the chance, even if we did have to pack to leave for the beach the next day.  I tried to set up a relatively easy climb that Owen and I had done before, but somehow got a bit mixed up setting up the anchor, and we ended up with a much harder climb a few feet over.  I tried it out first (with Elaine belaying since Andrew and Luke couldn't make it), and barely made it past the crux of the climb 3/4's of the way up after telling Elaine I was going to fall.  Owen though powered through the hardest part of the climb like a champ, gliding over the nose of the outcrop like it was nothing! Everyone got a chance to try it out, and all had fun, but only Elaine could join us in kissing the 'biners at the top (and she looked much better than I did on the climb!)  Hopefully we'll make it out second time this summer!



(click here for all the pictures)

Super Yogi

This winter, I signed Nora and I up for a parent and child yoga class thinking that it would be the beginning of a long tradition -- that in college Nora would come home, we go to yoga, grab coffee and bare our souls. It was not. The class was a disaster: Nora had a decidedly non-zen approach to yoga and would incorporate the corpse pose at inappropriate times. We ended up dropping out.

But the problem wasn't yoga, it was taking yoga with me. Apparently, if you add superheroes to the mix, Nora completely gets her namaste 0n. So we'll just need to have our soul baring talks in tights and capes...


(To see all the pics, including selections from Nora's yoga journal, click here.)

Cirque de l'Ete

Circus Camp has become a bit of a tradition for Nora, and this one was extra special since it was held at SWS. The week was spent designing mini-circuses, planning skits, making paper chains, breaking into new groups and starting over completely, creating choreography, and learning to juggle...sort of. It all made for quite a spectacular show and a great way to start the summer.

Lucky Thirteen

We celebrated our 13th anniversary at Pineapple and Pearls, an even more coveted reservation than its older sibling Rose's Luxury (and one which required Allen to use his work phone to monitor the atomic clock and his personal phone to request the reservation when the calendar opened all while sitting in a White House meeting on climate change. The things [he] does for love...). The menu contained a course for each year we've been married (fortunately, the pairings were less commemorative, though there was a wine from 2003). It was sort of a perfect evening, except for when I spilled the third pairing in my lap and had to spend the rest of the evening smelling of watermelon micro-brew, which is probably good-luck in some cultures, so a sincere Happy Anniversary to to us!

Father's Day (An unrecorded history)

Funny story, I did a lot of planning for Father's Day. I planned on an outing to the Arboretum (ok, technically Aunt Katherine planned that, but I agreed). I planned on getting a picture of the kids with their Grandpa (because I couldn't find one earlier for facebook). I planned a dinner of ribs and two kinds of pie (strawberry-rhubarb and cherry!). I even planned gifts from the kids (a new swimsuit) and from me (a searzall and blowtorch -- which probably should have been from the kids). But I neglected to plan one thing: a picture commemorating Father's Day of Allen (you know, the man that commemorates everything) with his offspring.

My bad. So while I'm sure I will be hearing about this for some time, let me intersperse the rest of this post with classic pictures of Allen and his kids from this past year, and Owen's tribute to his father that we found in his writing journal.



We love you, Allen Fawcett, every day (and I promise I'll be better next year!). And to see all the pictures that Allen took on Father's Day, click here.

Family

No real story here, just a nice family photo Basil took at Meeting on Sunday.

Sailing

It had been far too long since we last made it out sailing, almost exactly a year ago, and that time we didn't even have very good wind.  Well we finally made it back out, and what do you know we didn't have any wind this time either.  But it was a beautiful day out, so we made it out on the water to float for a bit with our sails flapping, and then motored back in for lunch at Pirate's Cove.  Hopefully we'll do a better job this summer of making it back out on the boat!

Last Day of School

Hard to believe they're finished with 1st & 4th grade!  Has it really been a year already?!?

Principal for the Day

Dear Parents,

This is what Nora & I did today because we where principal for a day. We started by doing the announcements that all kids can sit at any table they want during lunch. Another big announcement was that we would hang up the golden bike. We also announced that kids would get 10 extra minutes of recess because we got the golden bike back..

Other things we did today were:

• we helped Mr. Burst prepare the wall for hanging the golden bike;
• we checked on all the teachers and classes;
• we hung the golden bike on the wall in front of the school while Kgn, and 2nd grade students watch;
• we checked on water day; We decided we need ground rules for next time. 
• we helped push the wheelchairs of the students in the medical and educational supports classrooms, bringing them inside from recess; 
• we went to the 3rd grade's publishing party and listened to a few kids stories. 
• we took a stop by the library and read some books 
• we went to lunch at H & Pizza and dessert at Rita's At the end of the day we are meeting with the officers of the safety patrol including me (Owen), Patrick and Emma. 

Thanks mom and dad for getting this. It was a really fun experience.

Sincerely,
Principal Nora and Principal Owen

The Suite Life

It was all for charity, really! Owen, Mom Mom, Elaine and I spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon relaxing in the DC Council's Jefferson Suite at Nats Park taking in a great game between the Nats and the Phillies. One could get used to watching baseball games this way! It wasn't just a random splurge, we 'won' these tickets at the SWS auction this year, so it was all for the children. We couldn't have asked for a better game to watch from the suite. The Nats went up 3-0 early, the Phillies clawed their way back to tie the game in the 6th, and took the lead in the 9th. Things were looking bleak, but the Nats loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th, and Jayson Werth hit a walk off single to win the game, and the crowd went wild :-)

Acting Out

 

Allen was unable to attend Nora's final 2015-16 school year production, which meant that the responsibility of recording it for posterity fell on my shoulders, and subsequently included my fingers a few times. Nora has really enjoyed participating in the Sugar Foots acting program at school, and while the Spring play seemed a bit more experimental than the Winter one, a good time was had by all (though apparently more fun would have been had if puppies were involved). And remember, the future is Mestizo.

Last Game

A first-person account of the Hill's Kitchen Nationals playoff game, by guest blogger, Owen Fawcett

To start the game off, a fly to me that I bobbled and the runner got to third. That inning they got 4 runs & Nick made it home for our first run of the game.  The next inning they got 6 & we got 1 for a 10-2 score. The next 2 innings were scoreless. In the last inning they scored 1 & we scored 4.  The last run was me. I hit a pop-up to third which he missed and threw it to first but the first baseman was not covering and I got to second.  A sacrifice to get me to third & Michel home. After that, a passed ball to get me running the pitcher got it & threw it to the catcher & I just beat the tag! The half inning before that there was a fly ball to right. Dylan got it, bobbled it, got it to Abe who got it to Kieren for the out! So only 1 run scored but if Kieren had missed the tag it would have been a 2 run home run for them. That game made my season.

Air Quality Flag Day

This year Nurse Jade at SWS started an Air Quality Flag Program.  Each day they fly a flag at the entrance to the school indicating what color air quality day it is, so kids, particularly those with asthma and other respiratory issues, can adjust how they play outside depending on the air quality. The whole school has participated and learned a lot about the importance of air quality, and the relation between air pollution, air quality, and health. Since SWS was the first school in DC to start such a program, the EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, and Acting Assistant Administrator of the Air Office Janet McCabe, came to talk to the SWS fourth graders.  Well I couldn't pass up to see my bosses as a parent, so I volunteered to help out Owen's class with FoodPrints in the morning and the Air Quality Flag event afterwards.  Gina and Janet were surprised to see me of course, and Gina was quick to pick out Owen from the crowd.  Gina gave a great speech really engaging the kids, and she even was kind enough to call on Owen when she asked the kids to explain the importance of air quality.  After the event, Owen went to talk to the Administrator, and asked her what her favorite project was in all her time at EPA, and Gina answered with a wink and a pat on my back, "The modeling of course!"

SWS Concert

The wise powers that be at SWS realized after the Winter Concert that divide and conquer was a better approach to school-wide activities. And so on Wednesday evening, after the pre-school through kindergarten classes had finished their concert, the first through fourth grade classes performed. Nora's class did their take on all the verses of "This Land is Your Land" while the fourth grade reprised their twelve bar blues and "Wade in the Waters."

It was a great night in the SWS tradition of nothing without joy, followed by dinner at Ben's -- and nothing without milkshakes.

70th!

After Owen's DCYOP Orchestra Concert Mom was expecting us to go up to Katherine & Lee's for a small family dinner celebrating her birthday and Elaine's birthday.  Unbeknownst to her, Don and Katherine had been busy getting ready for a massive 70th birthday surprise party.  Katherine had been busy for months getting the house ready, including converting the car port to a conservatory in case the endless rain continued, and Don quietly invited 70 or so of Mom's closest friends and somehow managed to keep the ever inquisitive Mom completely in the dark.  All we had to do was keep her out of the way and unsuspecting until everyone was ready for her.  That meant going back to the house after the concert, and mysteriously taking our sweet sweet time getting everything together to drive up to Katherine's.  Eventually we got the call, and we were on our way.

When we pulled into the driveway, Katherine, Lee, Don and Dad were standing there with a big 'Happy Birthday! Sharon' sign, and mom was tickled they went to the effort to print a big sign.  Then Jill appeared, and Mom was stunned that her best friend came all the way from Missouri to surprise her for her birthday.  Then the rest of the crowd started slowly coming out of their hiding places, and mom was overwhelmed with happiness.  Great job everyone, I'm not sure how we'll ever top this one :-)

DCYOP Spring 2016 Concert

Owen's busy concert season continued with his DCYOP Spring concert for Sinfonia 2, the level D strings ensemble.  The kids sounded great playing Rustic Dance and Double Trouble, they really have come a long ways since the beginner level A & B concerts not so long ago.  Mom mom came down to join us for the concert, though the rest of the family mysteriously couldn't make it, but more on that in another post...

Birthday Girl

When you share your birthday with your mother-in-law (and Mother's day in years when your extra lucky), sometimes it can be a little challenging to have your own special day. This year wasn't one of those birthday on Mother's Day years for Elaine, but it was one of those birthday years when your mother-in-law is turning 70 and everyone is throwing a gigantic surprise party for her years. Fortunately the surprise party was on Saturday, so Elaine and I could sneak out for a nice dinner with just the two of us on Friday night for her actual birthday.  We had reservations at Garrison on Barracks Row months in advance, and guess who also had reservations there...Mom, Don, Nancy & Danny!  It was the only evening with pleasant temperatures in no rain in weeks, so we chatted with them while we waited for a table outside, careful to maintain the ruse that there wasn't anything special going on the next day.  Eventually, we got our own quiet little table on the patio, and had a lovely dinner celebrating the most beautiful, amazing, special birthday girl in the world :-)

Mother's Day 2016

Mother's Day has always been a risky enterprise for the Fawcett-Zimmerman household. Given Allen was hospitalized on my first official one as a mom, we tend to get anxious as the date approaches. But this year everyone was prepared: I made sure to bid on a "Mother's Day Art Studio Session" for both kids at the SWS auction; Owen and Nora planned an extensive scavenger hunt to find my presents with upwards of 17 clues; and Allen got tickets for the whole gang for the Capitol City Orchestra to see Mr. James in action followed by dinner.



It was a really great day, complete with pastries, Meeting, a playdate, a playground, music, dinner and lots of family and love.


(click here for all the pictures)

Camp Girl

Nora has a knack for showing up in Camp Shenanigans twitter feed ;-)

Dueling Playdates

Nothing better than playdates with your oldest friends :-)

Kennedy Center

Mr. James has been doing amazing things with the SWS 4th grade Orchestra.  Most of them started as complete beginners this year, and they actually sounded pretty good at the Winter Concert.  Now their latest accomplishment is playing a song they wrote in class at the Kennedy Center!  Parents weren't allowed to go, as there were many school groups performing and watching each other, but I was able tag along as a roadie, hauling basses and cellos to the concert.  Owen was especially excited as he was picked to play the cello solo.  Their song was a variation on twelve bar blues, and Owen's solo was meant to be an improvisation, which of course he loved.  I could write all sorts of things about the concert, but really it's best to leave it in Owen's words.

"I felt like during the rest of the song I had to keep my skills contained, but during my solo my skills were unleashed like the Hecatonchires breaking out of Tartaros to wage war against the Titans."

(click here for all the pictures)

Hell on Wheels

A year ago, Nora was on the precipice of having her training wheels taken off when disaster struck -- she took a turn too fast, crashed and broke her arm. Understandably, Nora's been a little reticent about riding again, and so the transition to two wheels has been a fairly long, tortuous affair, involving a non-trivial number of tears.

But after weeks of crying every time Allen attempted to let go (and refusal to allow me anywhere near her), something clicked and today Nora managed to ride several laps unaided and even stopped herself. She's pretty proud of herself (though not as much as Allen and I are). Now we just need to build up her stamina to ride up-hill so she can visit all her friends.

A Day at the Museum

One of our purchases from the SWS was a day at the National Gallery with the first grade teachers. So Nora brought her art supplies and joined Ms. Celestino and Ms. Quattrone and several of her friends to tour the West Gallery in order to, "See, think and wonder" – and produce the occasional forgery.




(To see all the pics, click here.)

Little League and Snow Storms

For Owen's little league opening day all the kids went down to the dedication of the new Ryan Zimmerman field.  Ryan Zimmerman, Dusty Baker and Screech were all there taking team photos with the kids, so we were of course thrilled to be there.  The weather wasn't thrilled to have us though, right after we finished taking pictures a wintery mix started to fall on us.  The big leaguers were all under a tent with the Mayor for the speeches and the dedication ceremony, but all the little guys had to stand out in the outfield, so we bailed right after the team picture.  Pretty sure that was the only part Owen was really excited for, so no harm done.  Now time to start the new season, go Hill's Kitchen Nats!

Opening Day

The weather forecast was a bit sketchy for Opening Day, and I had a conference conflicting with the 4pm start, but Mom Mom and Grandpa Don were able to pick up Owen and meet me at the ballpark, and the weather at the start of the game was beautiful.  Rain started falling though in the second inning, and we waited out a 90 minute rain delay, and the Nats ended up losing the game, but other than that game, they started the season on a hot streak, and we're all just happy that baseball is back!

NYC

We've been talking about doing a Spring Break trip up to New York on the train with the kids for a few years now, and this year we finally made it happen.  The dinosaur exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is closed for the next few years for major renovations (it hasn't been updated since I was a kid, and Owen had gotten very good at pointing out everything that was wrong with the 70's era depiction of dinosaurs, so it was probably time), and the American Museum of Natural History in New York just opened up two cool new dinosaur exhibits: The Titanosaur, a reconstruction of the largest sauropod ever discovered; and Dinosaurs Among Us, a new exhibit about how dinosaurs evolved into birds, so now seemed like the perfect time for a trip.  We put the kids in Camp Mom Mom for the first three days of Spring Break, and on Thursday morning we were off to New York.



We woke up early and took the streetcar to Union Station and the Amtrak train up to Penn Station. The kids read the whole time on the train, and we arrived in New York City just in time for a quick lunch and a trip to the top of the Empire State Building.  Owen searched for Mount Olympus (he's been reading a lot of Percy Jackson), and Nora shouted into the air for all to hear, "Hello people of New York City, please stop what you're doing and listen to me, I'm going to tell you how to drive a car!"




Our plan for this trip was to keep things laid back and not try to cram too much in, so after the Empire State Building we just headed up to our hotel on the upper west side, and went for a hike through Central Park.  That turned out to be a great plan, as we caught some Mozart at Belvedere Castle, the kids loved climbing all the rocks in The Ramble, and we walked all the way to the zoo (which was closed by the time we got there), and had a lovely dinner at a spot Nabeel and Megan recommended.



Friday was our big day for the American Museum of Natural History.  Owen loved the dinosaurs of course, but Nora preferred the butterflies and the Hayden Planetarium.  What both the kids agreed on was that the first thing they wanted to see was the Dodo in the Hall of Biodiversity.  "Really?" you might ask, well if you've watched enough Wild Kratts, you'd know the Hall of Biodiversity is featured prominently in the show by the Kratt Brothers.  So after our New York bagels for breakfast, we made a bee line for the Dodo, but lo and behold the Dodo had gone missing.  We couldn't find it anywhere, but then we found where it was supposed to be, and it was hidden behind a six foot screen.  Fortunately, Daddy was able to lift the kids on his shoulders to peer over the screen and see the Dodo skeleton.  The mystery of the missing Dodo was finally solved when we went though the Dinosaurs Among Us exhibit.  The model of the Dodo was moved up to the new exhibit, it really was a cool dinosaur all along.



Our plan for Saturday was to explore the High Line park before catching the train home, but it was raining and the park didn't really seem like a good idea.  Nora saved the day though by noticing a sign for a Mo Willems exhibit at the New York Historical Society just around the corner from our hotel. The kids had a blast at the Mo Willems exhibit, and there was even a cool Children's History Museum in the basement.  A perfect way to spend a rainy morning on our last day in New York.  We'll have to do it again soon!



(click here for all the pictures)