Classic 2019

This year marked the 40th anniversary of the Capitol Hill Classic, which means like all good Hill residents and Cluster families (plus Katherine), we supported our local schools by registering and running the 3k (Katherine supported them even more by running the 10k).

It was just as hot as last year, but we must have managed expectations better, for while everyone was a sweaty mess after, there was a lot less complaining on the walk home.  The promise of icees, showers and a lovely brunch probably didn't hurt either. And while our times weren't anything to write home about, we do look cute in our new tees.

(To see all the pics, click here.)

Concert Time

Saturday was a big day for concerts, Nora had her Music on the Hill viola recital in the morning, and then Owen and Nora had their DCYOP orchestra concert in the afternoon (both kids in the same concert!). For Owen, we've got the usual concert video with the Young Artists Orchestra's lovely renditions of Iowa Spring, Blue Rythmico, and Gustav Holst's Jupiter. Nora on the other hand needs a little something different.

Viola Radio Network has been a thing for a little while now during Nora's practice time, but now it is an official YouTube thing, Viola Radio Network, with multiple episodes, merch, and tens of views :-) So of course, Nora's concerts couldn't just have the usual treatment, but needed to be documented with a very special episode including both her recital piece (which started off a little rough when her accompanist took a few measures to realize the song was in the alto clef) and her DCYO concert. Enjoy :-)

Momfest 2019

The proximity of Mother's Day and Mom Mom and my birthdays is always a source of stress for its event planners. While this year the dates did not converge (which hasn't historically ended well), they were sufficiently close that the celebrations was limited to a 24 hour period involving food, adult beverages, and planned activities. The latter was a source of some stress for the celebrants, as the weather was not kind and Katherine was adamant that neither rain nor cold nor gloom of night would prevent the Mother's Day/Birthday bocce ball and ladder ball tournament from happening (also there was threats of mayonnaise marshmallows, which hardly seems a celebration of either motherhood or birth).

But apparently, that was all subterfuge (the mayonnaise marshmallows should have been the tip off), for after a delicious Mother's Day brunch (and presents), Katherine snuck in Brandi, an artist who proceeded instruct us in the finer points of replicating "Bonsai at Night." It was fun time and we all fared about as well as you'd imagine: Allen and Sharon were the teacher's pets; Katherine struggled to mix turquoise; Nora's moon emoted; Owen was all about the roots; Elaine's trees were a bit forced; Don overcame his colorblindness; John struggled with pigments; and Lee had his own point of view.

It was a lovely group activity that didn't involve standing in the rain while throwing objects in the yard or mayonnaise, everyone left with a lovely party gift, and no one got sick.

(To see all the pictures, click here.)

Banff

I had a work trip up to Calgary this week for a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, and when the conference wrapped up a little early on Wednesday some time opened up before my flight on Thursday afternoon to do a little exploring. So I checked out of the hotel early and booked a place in Canmore near Banff. A quick hour drive west of Calgary and I was in the mountains. I dropped my bags off at the Bear & Bison Inn and drove on to Lake Louise for a walk out on the ice and some stunning views through the snowy skies. Driving back from Lake Louise I was planning on doing just a quick drive around Banff before, but a trail marker on the side of the road caught my eye. The Tunnel Mountain Trail, 1.8 km to the summit, perfect! The hike was great, and the trail offered some stunning views of the town, the Banff Springs Hotel, Bow Valley and Mt. Rundle! Then back to Canmore for some duck wings and a beer with great views of the mountains.

In the morning after a delicious breakfast at the Inn, I had enough time for another quick drive up to Banff before heading to the airport. I decided to check out the lookout on Mount Norquay and boy was I glad I did. There were 10 cm of fresh powder on the ground and all the trees were dusted with snow. I walked out onto the snow covered mountain side meadow to a stunning panoramic vista. Clear air, dramatic clouds, mountains and valley below, the fresh snow creating an incredible quiet that was only broken by the beating wings of a raven on the hunt. There was one other person there, a local who worked at the Sunshine ski resort who saw the weather in the morning and knew exactly where he had to go to take it all in. Then he quietly told me to look behind us, and laying in the snow at the edge of the trees not more than 20 meters away were about twenty bighorn sheep, with a giant proud looking ram staring right at us! I stood in the meadow for about an hour taking it all in, holding onto my last few minutes in the mountains before heading for home.



(click here for all the pictures)

Opening Day 2019

Baseball is back! On Monday Owen and I caught the Nats and Yankees exhibition game, then on Thursday it was time for Opening Day against the Mets! Those first two games were still pretty cold (it was still March after all), but when you're sitting at the ballpark, you can't help but feel that Spring is in the air. We have new seats for this season in section 315, right underneath the press box behind home plate, but we haven't gotten to sit in them yet. On Tuesday the Phillies came to town with Bryce Harper playing his first game here sitting in the visitors dugout. It was cold and rain delayed the start, there was a section full or raucous Philly fans that made the trip down to invade our park, and the Nats fans were a bundle of conflicting emotions. Owen felt pretty strongly that we should applaud Harper when he came up for all he did for us as a Nat, just like we cheer for Wilson Ramos or Jordan Zimmermann, or any of the other ex-Nats we like seeing back in DC. Only after that polite cheer should we cheer even louder for Scherzer to strike him out. The problem with Owen's plan was that all the Nats fans that wanted to rain boos down upon Harper easily drowned out our polite clapping. Owen was pretty disappointed in his fellow fans, but one thing was for sure, the Nats Phillies rivalry is going to be intense.

Viola Radio Network

Practicing viola is always interesting, it's also top secret... Charles Viola has been dating Bella Bow for a while, Ravi Rest and Rebecca Rosin are now and item, and Cassie Case has a crush on Stewart Stand, but she hasn't gotten up the courage to ask him out yet. And of course these are just the main players in the ongoing drama that is viola practice. The real excitement comes from all the fans, Viola Radio Network Fans to be precise. Nora enters, the players assemble, the crowd goes wild, the secret handshake is preformed, and practice can finally begin. You gotta love it :-) 

Cherry Blossoms

Beautiful day for a bike ride to see the cherry blossoms in Stanton Park :-)

Baking Girls

Nora had lovely playdate with Violet, where they lived out all of their Nailed It and Great British Baking Show fantasies :-)

DC Honor Ensemble

Owen made the DC Honor Ensemble again this year. It wasn't at Duke Ellington this time, but it still was a great concert :-)

Family Selfie

Family selfie, an ongoing series :-)

National History Day

When both your parents are economist, two of your grandparents are archivist, an entire branch of your family is friends with the Hoover family, and you have to pick a National History Day project, you really don't have a choice but the role of government in The Great Depression.

Feel free to check out Owen's website here.

Breckenridge 2019

When we left Dave & Kara's house in Colorado Springs, we were very glad that we upgraded our rental car from a minivan to a 4WD Jeep, though that did make it pretty tight squeezing in all the groceries. The worst parts of the drive to Breck were getting out of Dave & Kara's neighborhood, and the last 100 yards to the house in Breckenridge. We probably could have made it without the 4WD, but we'd be violating the chain laws, and getting back up the snowy drive from the house in Breck would have been a challenge.



The house in Breckenridge was beautiful and included a pool table, a hot tub, and private baths for all the couples. The only drawback being it wasn't ski-in ski-out, and it was quite a hike to the shuttle stop. Fortunately, the Sodermans rented a land-boat, and since Jennifer wasn't skiing, we were able to ferry everyone the three minute drive to the slopes.

On the first day skiing, Mike, Steve, Hayden, Connor, Gabriel and Owen all took a family group lesson together, while Nora went the traditional ski school route. Meanwhile, Elaine and I explored the slopes on our own: we skied all the blue groomers on Peak 7 in the morning, had a lovely lunch together at Sevens, then skied the more challenging blues on Peak 6 as the snow started rolling in, before working our way back over to Peak 9.



Megan and Mirabel got in on Tuesday afternoon (the synchronized skating went great!), so on Wednesday all the kids were in lessons, and all the skiing adults were on the slopes together. Elaine and I guided everyone over to our favorite spots on Peak 7, and we all had lunch again at Sevens (and partook in the free Oxygen bar downstairs ;-). After lunch, Elaine and Megan went off for a Women's Ski & Wine lesson, and I broke off from the guys to explore some black diamonds.



Coming out of lessons on Wednesday, Owen and Hayden were somewhere around level 6.8 and itching to do more black diamonds, Nora was around level 6.5 but wanting to take it easy and ski with the other kids. So, the last two days, I skiied with Owen & Hayden searching out challenging runs, while the rest of the crew stayed together on some of the more reasonable blue terrain. The boys and I spent a lot of time on the T-bar, skiing the North Face Bowl and even some double black diamonds on Horseshoe Bowl. We went up to the top of Peak 8, the highest lift in North America at 12,840 feet, but it was super cold and windy so we just skiied the double black diamond Imperial Bowl together once. We found better conditions off of 6-Chair with loads of fun wooded black diamonds, from the fast and fun No Name, to the super steep narrow and mogul filled Hombre, and best of all going through the gates to the Way Out Bowl. It was super fun skiing with the boys, and we might even have made it to the point I have to admit Owen is a better skier than me :-)


It was a pretty amazing trip, and we've already voted on the DCPS school calendar poll to try and insure we get another trip in next February...

(To see all the skiing pictures, click here.)

In the Springs

When we discovered the kids would have a week off of school in February, we immediately thought we should go skiing. And when we started planning a trip with some friends, we decided to go to Colorado. But when our friends announced they couldn't actually make it to Colorado until Monday of that week due to a synchronized ice-skating competition (which is really a thing), I was sad -- two whole days of skiing lost. That was when Allen reminded me that we had family in Colorado, and our ski delay would actually afford us time to see them. And that, my friends, is what we call lemonade.

So we called Dave and Kara, confirmed the dates worked with their schedule.  After we landed in Denver (in a snowstorm) and rented a jeep (which the 10 year old version of myself would have enjoyed more than the 45 year old version did), we headed to "The Springs."

We fit a lot into just a few days. Allen dropped the rest of us off Saturday night and immediately headed to the Springs Ensemble Theater to catch his friend, Paul "Jude" Bishop, in the title role of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance -- Paul was Liberty Valance as opposed to the Man. The next morning, the kids and Uncle Dave conceived, work-shopped and filmed (with help from Allen), Ripped from the Headlines, the latest AEON production. We all went out to lunch and then Dave joined us for a showing of Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, while Kara prepared for an onslaught of Gradys as Caitlin and Brandon's family came over for dinner, cupcakes in honor of Quin's birthday, and a viewing of the previous AEON production, The Rebellion.

The next morning, we decorated cookies, made a massive grocery store run for the rental house, gave a lot of hugs, and then packed up and headed to Breckenridge for the next stage of our Colorado adventure.



(To see all the Colorado Springs pictures, click here.)

The Rebellion

Last year my 43rd birthday was on Super Bowl Sunday and of course we had a big birthday/Super Bowl party at Katherine & Lee's house. With my 44th birthday on Monday this year, it just made too much sense to do it again! Elaine and Molly had tickets to see a live taping of the My Favorite Murder podcast on Saturday night, so the kids and I headed up to K&L's early with grandpa to spend the night before Super Sunday. This gave them plenty of time to work on their latest production. In the past they've put on plays like, Rebels on Naboo, that have been impressive productions for their age, but do require a fair amount of patience and coordination from the audience. Over Thanksgiving they discovered iMovie with their cousins making the hit series of films: Island Adventure, U2's Dad, and Sponsored by LaCroix. This was a revelation! Now they can indulge their theatrical flights of fancy with editing! Needless to say, the grown ups all were able to enjoy a wonderful weekend long Super Bowl/Birthday party with only a few calls for appearing in cameos (a welcome distraction from the incredibly boring Super Bowl this year), the kids did a deep dive into how to craft a 'realistic fiction that strays from history', and you loyal blog reader can enjoy the fruits of their labors: The Rebellion!

2 Below in 7 Springs

It's become an annual tradition to go up to 7 Springs MLK Day weekend to ski with with a bunch of friends from the Hill. This year we organized the trip with the Sodermans, Violas, Romans, and Hogans, plus the Potter-Shones and Reubens came up to 7 Springs too, so all told we had 7 families at 7 Springs.

Usually we worry a little bit about snow leading up to a mid-Atlantic ski trip, but this year there was plenty of snow in early January, and the long range forecast was even calling for 10 inches on Saturday followed by bitter cold from a polar vortex. The forecast ended up shifting a bit, and we drove up a little early on Friday to beat the wintery mix that started falling as we neared the slopes. Everyone made it up safe and sound, and we started off the trip with our usual dinner at the Pizza Place accompanied by some stronger than we realized IPAs ;-)

The nice thing about the trip this year is that as 12 year olds, Owen and the boys are adults in the eyes of 7 Springs, which means they cost a bit more, but we can really just turn them loose to explore the hotel and ski on their own. Nora even joined them for lots of the hotel adventuring, including the pool when they were able to convince the attendant that Hayden was an accompanying adult!

Snow was falling most of the day on Saturday while we were skiing, and the conditions were pretty great for a solid day on the slopes. We put Nora in lessons, and I skied with the boys for a bit before turning them loose. Toward the end of the day, right as we were getting ready to go pick up Nora, we ran into her on Lost Girl with her group, and they let us join them on the lift for their last few runs. She was in level 6/7 and they ended up just having one double group with all the highest level kids in ski school together. Nora told her instructor Nick in the morning that her name was Pizza, and it stuck. She declared Nick's nickname was Pepperoni and they became quite the pair.

Around dinner time, the temperature rose above freezing, so the 10 inches of snow that had been forecast ended up falling as rain for several hours, then freezing rain until dawn before the polar vortex hit finally turning it into snow along with plummeting temperatures. The freezing rain left the slopes super icy on Sunday, and along with the cold, the kids mostly decided to call it a day after a couple runs in the morning, but the adults managed to get a decent day of skiing in.

Since the government shutdown was showing no end in sight, we decided to go ahead and extend our stay until Tuesday, to give us a full day of skiing on Monday. The temperature was a 2 below 0 on Tuesday when we hit the slopes, but the crowds were gone and the conditions were great. We managed to bundle up with enough layers to stay warm, being sure to take plenty of hot chocolate breaks at Tahoe Lodge. Luckily Owen and Hayden had the same idea about taking plenty of breaks to stay warm, and we ran into them at the Lodge and skied together for awhile. Most of us called it a day early afternoon, but Owen and Hayden decided they needed a little more time on the slopes, and bundled back up to go night skiing after dinner. Once again, thank goodness we can send them out on their own!

Now that we have our ski legs back, it's time to look forward to Breckenridge!



(click here for all our pictures, and click here for all the group pictures, password: ski)

Snowdown

With Allen furloughed for the past 16 days (EPA had some reserve funds which meant they didn't shutdown until December 29th), museums closed and the parks filled with trash owing to the partial government shutdown (fortunately, Elaine is still supporting and upholding the Constitution over at the Department of Labor), it's been a little depressing in our nation's capitol. Enter 10 inches of good packing snow over a weekend which was just enough to make us smile for at least a little bit (also, "snurlough" is a dumb name, millennials).



(To see all our pictures/videos, click here.)

Christmas 2018

After all the parties, plays and performances, we were finally able to settle in for a (relatively) quiet Christmas celebration. We attended Meeting on Sunday where First Day School performed its Christmas pageant with Nora as Joseph and Owen as stage crew (he's wanted to play a wise man but the kings were omitted from this version and narrator was already taken). Afterwards, we dropped the kids off at their Grandmother's (so that Nora could help make the Christmas cake) and Aunt's (so that Owen could play with Lee) while Allen and I began preparing the Christmas Eve dinner in earnest.

The next day everyone convened at our place for some Mexican mole enchiladas and some sanctioned, albeit limited gift opening. The kids lobbied to sleep on the couch in order to end the Santa debate once and for all, but were sent to their rooms protesting so that the magic could happen.

After a morning of opening presents and eating pancakes on some slightly morbid Christmas dishes, we headed up to Mom Mom and Grandpa Don's for even more presents, family, friends, a feast and a sleepover. A very merry Christmas was had by all.

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

Most if not All Aboard!

We weren't sure that out annual outing to the Botanic Gardens was going to happen this year, as the initial email we received from them described some alternative programming which coincided with Owen's DCYO concert and was decidedly not an evening holiday train viewing party (nothing against making terrarium ornaments, but that is not why we joined Friends & Family of the Botanic Gardens). But the programming options were eventually clarified, and while in the end Grandpa, Mom Mom and Grandpa Don all decided that they were maxed out on holiday celebrations for the day, we were able to meet up with the Romans and enjoy plant-based recreations of iconic train stations from across the United States... and  cocktails.

(To see all the pictures, click here.)

Dueling Concerts

We were so close to having Owen & Nora's DC Youth Orchestra winter concerts converging into a single event. Alas, at the last minute DCYOP decided to hold Nora's concert six days prior to Owen's at a different venue in another ward. And while that may imply we should have two separate posts for each unique event, we decided to merge them into one if, not as god intended, then at least we as parents with packed December schedules had hoped.

Nora, currently first viola in Sinfonia D, got to debut her glasses while playing Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Mozart's Serenade and Dance. They were all really nervous beforehand, but did a pretty amazing job and I think even Nora was surprised by how good they sounded.



Owen, now second cello in the Young Artists Orchestra, was finally sitting where he was actually visible during a performance. Joined by his friend Gabriel, they played Gluck's Overture in D Major and Prokofiev's Troika. Later in the program, they combined the Repertory and Young Artists Orchestras to perform Tchaikovsky's Two Dances from the Nutcracker which was a festive way to end the concert and DCYOP's season.

Nora's Recital

Nora's third viola recital, this time with piano accompaniment! We all thought she did great, but according to Nora, Gavotte sounded much better when she played it for her audition to move up to the Young Artists Orchestra.

Beast of Burden

In September, the Stuart-Hobson drama department announced that they would be staging Beauty and the Beast for its fall musical and Owen announced that he wouldn't be acting in a Disney-based play. Knowing how much he regretted not performing in the spring's, Alice in Wonderland, we urged Owen to change his mind, but instead Owen, for the second time, ran the sound board for all four performances (while singing along to every musical number).

It was a pretty impressive staging with especially strong performances from the seventh grade class, which was particularly touching since we've known Belle (Alice), Gaston (Hayden) and LeFou (Adam) since pre-K, plus Lumiere (Patrick) and Cogsworth (Han) since third grade (we've also known the Beast (Owen B) since daycare, but he's only a sixth grader). Like so many middle-school productions, it wasn't entirely clear if they would pull it off (I think even Ms. Purgason was worried as tweens are not the most dependable demographic), but they all worked really hard and in the end it really was an amazing show.

And hopefully, the performance convinced Owen to emerge from the shadows of crew and back into the bright light of the stage, regardless of its origins.

(To see all the pictures, click here.)

Glasses!

Sometimes when you're too close to something you just can't see it. In our case, we were a bit too hyperopic to notice Nora's myopia. Nora never said things were blurry or hard to see, and her squinting always just blended in with Nora's myriad of funny facial expressions. But one well timed remark can snap everything into focus. Jacqui was visiting this weekend, and after the girls came home from High Tea, she saw Nora squinting, and asked if Nora needs glasses. All of the sudden we saw Nora's squints in a whole new light, and a quick quiz about reading a few things across the room made it crystal clear that Nora is nearsighted. Elaine sprang to action, and set up an eye doctor appointment the next day, and by Wednesday Nora was sporting a brand new pair of pink and rainbow glasses.

For her part, Nora couldn't be more excited about this development. She was so excited the first night we told her that she might need glasses that she couldn't fall asleep. When she got her glasses on Wednesday, it was like Christmas came early. A cool fashion accessory that gives her the super power of crystal clear vision, what could be better! I could try to keep describing her enthusiasm, but it's probably best to just watch the video below and let Nora put it in her own words :-)

Tea Party

For the third year in a row, Jacqui invited Nora and I to a holiday tea at the Ritz Carlton (this year Allen was even in town, but uninvited). Having been fully initiated into the ritual, Nora has now mastered ordering, pouring and keeping herself occupied while the adults continue to talk endlessly (especially when she only has a few chapters left of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).



We were all very lady-like, had a lovely time and are already planning next year's outing.

(To see all the pictures, click here.)

Trimming the tree

We didn't get the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving this year, but since Thanksgiving was so early this year, we were able to wait a week and still trim the tree before the start of December. Owen helped pick out a beautiful tree at Eastern Market, and Nora reassured me that despite what some may say, it really does have a lot of lights ;-)


(click here for all the pictures)

Brew in the Zoo Two -- Electric Boogaloo

Last year, John, Katherine and Allen had such an amazing time at the National Zoo's Brew Lights, that I went ahead and bought tickets for their summer version, thinking that Uncle L would also enjoy it, particularly if it wasn't 30 degrees. Alas, John had his surgery and so we ended up giving the tickets away.

Fortunately, John had recovered in time for this years Brew Lights, so I bought four more tickets thinking we could give Uncle L some hand warmers and he'd be fine. But then John ended up staying in Iowa for an extra week after Thanksgiving so he couldn't go. And Uncle L had to be at work at 4:30 the next morning and didn't think an extensive beer tasting the night before was a great idea. And then Katherine had a business meeting that was also going to conflict.

I was indignant -- we were not giving these tickets away again! But what were we to do? Molly and Adam had to work and none of my Facebook friends offered to step up.

Enter Mom Mom and Grandpa Don. The former offered to watch the kids while the latter offered to join us. We had a wonderful time (though maybe not quite as wonderful as they'd had the previous year without Katherine there to egg us on to try all the stations...) and thoroughly enjoyed both the brews and the lights.

Though I'm still debating if I'm going to buy any more tickets ever.



(To see all the pictures, click here.)

Thanksgiving 2018

Thanksgiving was in Iowa this year, which meant we had to squeeze a lot into a short amount of time. Initially, we thought we'd need to spread the drive into two days owing to a storm heading east. But the weather gods were kind and we managed to make it in one day with only a few rest stops (and one beer stop when we dropped John off at Ken & Helen's).

Arriving Saturday night, we pretty much crashed on Sunday (though the boys did get in a sledding expedition at the Pond). On Monday, Nora, annoyed that due to her absorption in Harry Potter she'd missed the sledding invite, got in a few runs with Daddy before we were visited by Uncle Bernie (who we yet again neglected to get a picture with), after which we managed to fin it a play date at Leanna's with Grace & Grant, followed by dinner at Ken & Helen's with all the Fawcetts present. Tuesday we headed to the mall where we enjoyed the Coral Ridge food court, followed by a viewing of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, ice-skating, the Coral Ridge food court desert round and then a Mexican fiesta with Grandpa & Grandma Z.



Wednesday, the rest of the family started to arrive which meant that the preparation, eating, cousin time and film production portion of the holiday began in earnest. This year in lieu of plays, the kids have decided to create short movies which they then edit before their premier. I cannot tell you how much this approach has improved our enjoyment of the next generation's love of theater, but that's ok because now you too can experience Island Adventure, U2's Dad, and Sponsored by LaCroix (Not Really) from the comfort of your own home.

After a lovely Thanksgiving meal and post-meal snacking, we left Friday morning and headed to Pittsburgh to hang out with the Mettenburgs. It was arguably our best visit ever -- lots of games, lots of good food, no one got sick and we actually made it out of the driveway on our first attempt -- until we got home and realized that we'd stolen Hugh's winter coat (happy birthday, little guy) and left some coats of our own. Maybe next time...



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

Spooktacular

The weekend before Halloween is always a bit of a blur, but this year we decided to pack even more in. While Owen's baseball game was cancelled (again!) due to weather, both kids still made Youth Orchestra, (and Nora got a special "spa treatment") after which we headed up to the Brown's "12th Annual Hottern" Hades Chili Cookoff/Suds Revival" costume party. While Owen donned his Thor Ragnarok costume and Nora her "Holiday Confusion" ensemble (with Allen and I recycling our "Cereal Killers" masks), we couldn't really compete with Mario Cart or album covers or whatever this is. After partaking of the festivities, we headed to Katherine and Lees for dinner and a sleepover.



The next morning, we headed home in order to eat, change and were then off to the Kennedy Center where the kids had volunteered to help in the petting zoo before the National Symphony's Spooktacular Concert. It started off a little slow (the kids weren't supposed to bring their own instruments and the organizers were down a cello), but once the costume hordes entered, the kids really got into it. Both enjoyed showing off to budding musicians how to hold the instrument, the different strings, and proper plucking and bowing techniques.

Nora & Grandpa

Everyone looks good in Professor Marshmallow's glasses :-)

Professor Marshmallow's Magical Beans

Nora had the title role at Play-in-a-Day Camp today. And as her interpretation largely defies description, you should probably just watch it yourself. We hope you like it!

Food Prints

Wonderful morning of FoodPrints making Butternut Squash Provençal, Aloo Palak, Roasted Rosemary Chickpeas and Pumpkin Bread with Nora’s class at SWS :-)

Family Selfie in Portrait Mode :-)

Family selfie, now with more tounge ;-)

#SR15

Earlier this year, State Department convinced me to sign on as an expert reviewer for the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C, and after two rounds of reviewing hundreds of pages, they included me on the delegation going to Incheon, South Korea for the 48th IPCC meeting, and the approval session for the Summary for Policy Makers of the Special Report. The first three days of the meeting were relatively normal, then Thursday things really ramped up, and we went 20 hours straight, took a four hour break, then came back for another 38 straight hours of negotiations during which Typhoon Kong Rey blew through and delayed my flight home for a day. There were lots of fascinating stories from inside the negotiations, but probably best to just ask me about them instead of recounting them on the blog. Suffice to say, I mostly ate little seaweed rice and spam sandwiches from the connivence store, and I didn't see much of Korea beyond the hotel and the convention center, but we got the job done :-)

Dead Girls Run

Allen was originally supposed to get back this past Saturday, and we were set to celebrate his return by Nora and I running a 5k followed by a election postcard writing party with lots of adult beverages at the Telfair-Chas. Alas, due to Typhoon Kong-Rey, Allen didn't actually make it home, but that didn't stop the rest of us.

The race, called Dead Man's Run, is held annually at the Congressional Cemetery around dusk. Costumes are strongly encouraged, so Nora and I chose a cat and mouse theme... with capes (which might have been a mistake: polyester on one's shoulders -- on a humid night while running -- does not make me happy). Mirabel joined us though not in spirit as she wisely removed the cape early and didn't want to wear our extra set of ears.

I hadn't run with Nora in a while (she ran her last 5k with Aunt Katherine) so i was a bit surprised with how much better she's gotten -- it probably didn't hurt to have Owen there to cheer us on as well as the creepy guy in costume that jumped out at us from one of the gravestones (which I think was sanctioned, but regardless, did make us run). We made reasonably good time and would have probably finished under 40 minutes if the girls hadn't collided around the 3k mark resulting in Mirabel falling down and injuring her arm.

After the race, we headed back to the Telfair-Cha's for pizza, some election outreach, Halloween candy and Marvel movies while intermittently checking in with Allen to make sure that he finally made it onto a flight home. He did!



(To check out all the pictures, click here.)

Supernora

Some time early in the summer, we mentioned the possibility of a "planetarium" birthday party to Nora, who immediately leaped at the idea.  We said, "great" and then headed off for various family trips, figuring that since I'd seen a blog post on kids' birthday parties in the DC area that mentioned such a party, I'd nail down the details closer to her actual birthday.

But once we got in the birthday window, I discovered that planetarium shows are only about 30 minutes (birthday parties are generally at least 2 hours) and the place referenced in the blog, doesn't allow you to to bring in food, had nothing convenient nearby to facilitate a party, and didn't respond to my inquiries either way. I had a little more success with the Air & Space Museum, who will give private tours to members (and an annual membership is a great present for a budding astronomer!), has a conveniently located snack shop just outside its doors, and whose 230 seat planetarium runs 14 shows a day.

A membership was purchased, the tour arranged, and invites sent out. All we had left to do was get 18 tickets to the planetarium show, Journey to the Stars. Only the Einstein's Planetarium's computer system had some sort of glitch which wouldn't schedule showings after August 31st.

Fortunately, on the eve of Nora's birthday, the computer gods shined on us and so the next day, 12 kids, and six adults joined our docent Vince on a 1.5 hour tour highlighting air and space, a pretty cool show on the lifespan of stars, and some kid friendly snacks and space ice cream sandwiches (followed by a three hour playdate with a few friends afterwards at our house).

After which, we pretty much collapsed, like so many red giants before us :-)

The Nines

At the end of third grade, Nora's teachers told us how amazed they were at Nora's maturity in the past year. Sure she still likes her "stuffies" and "huggies" and reverting to baby-talk when the mood suits her, but at eight, Nora became much more adept during times of conflict at articulating her views and frustrations, listening to others and resolving her issues without having to resort to hitting someone or running away and slamming a door. At least most of the time.

Having learned how to properly express herself, Nora proceeded to do so. A lot. On a wide variety of topics: politics, music, literature, the time-space continuum, video games, cinema, food, personal hygiene, etc. Sometimes in meter, sometimes in song, occasionally via mime or an array of giggles, but always clearly and with certainty.

But while being vocal in her feelings, Nora has also become more open to other world views. And so while constantly complaining about the conditions, she still finished two 5ks (and one 3k). Sure, Nora threatened to go back and live in a cave a quarter of a mile into a hike, but in the end she raced ahead of the pack and climbed to the top of the Grinnell Glacier Trail. She now eats brisket! And despite years of eschewing it, Nora finally started reading the Harry Potter series in earnest.

So as she starts her ninth year, we know that Nora will let us know exactly how she feels about everything she's about to do, but we also know that she's about to do a lot. Happy birthday, baby girl, we love you so much!

1. If you have to be stranded on an island, it's good to be stranded with friends.
2. "I'm awesome. Call the awesome police, I need to be arrested!"
3. When using fondant icing, cornstarch should be used to combat stickiness. Flour is for amateurs.
4. No one ever talks about the silent menace of bison at the Jackson Hole airport.
5. Flightless birds, they really are a bit of a paradox.
6. Less guns, more books.
7. Always tip your bartender.
8. Nature doesn't always smell so great.
9. "Oath to heart, Never lie, Keep this promise 'til I die."
10. And to paraphrase, Hamilton, "There's a million things you haven't done. Just you wait, just you wait."