Henry turns 1

Last of the Easter Pictures

Easter Sunday, after church for the famous family Easter pictures.

Henry is my cute little spring chick with his cockatoo hair




Henry's standard "frozen crawl" stance, with the "I will do this if I have to look."


Megan being sweet with her Daddy

"We're going to Barack Obama's house!"

I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this, but whenever I go to a concert or show I always have in mind what I will play on the guitar if I happen to get invited onstage. Naturally, when I have a chance to go to the White House, I also plan what I want to wear for our press photo when Obama invites me in to the Oval Office to discuss foreign policy.

I remembered that during the early days of the election, CNN did a story about how Obama and Ahmadinejad both liked to wear suits without ties, so I figured I could also pull off the collar-no-tie look without offending anyone. I also remembered seeing a story about people getting in a twist over the fact that some lacrosse players wore flip-flops when visiting Bush, so I nixed my casual shoes. Finally, I read a few articles about how Obama had done away with the strict dress code among his staff, so I figured he wouldn't mind if I gussied myself up with a nice, hand-knit sweater.

I basically settled on wearing the Chilean school uniform.



I should back up a little, because it took us about two and a half hours of waiting before getting to the point where we could snap that picture.

We waited.


And walked.


And waited.


And got through one layer of security.


And then waited some more.


But all the waiting, and attire planning, were worth it when Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha came to greet the people waiting in line! We were right next to them, and the man was wearing jeans!


Ok, ok -- sadly, the Obama's did not actually make an appearance, and all of my foreign policy suggestions will have to go via letter.

We did at least get to participate in the traditional easter egg roll.

And Megan's best friends from TV were there.


I found the swing set, but couldn't find the garden.


And of course Kim took tons of pictures with the presidential backdrop.






We ended the day completely beat (except for Henry, who had taken a nap during our long wait in line.)


Did I mention that I was working on a nice fat case of strep throat all day, and when we got home I spent the rest of the afternoon in bed? That's right -- it may be early in the 09 season, but I'm pretty sure you can go ahead and just give me the Father-of-the-Year award right now...

Wait for it...

For those seeking our regular weekly update, check back on Tuesday or so. Kim (with Alisha's help) was able to finagle tickets for us to go to the Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Monday. I don't know if Barack will be there, but I'm at least going to be checking out their new garden and swing set.


For now, enjoy this archival footage from Megan's first Easter Egg hunt:

Kites and Cherry Blossoms Redux

It's that time of year again -- time for dad to run around like a lunatic, trying to get this darn fish kite in the air. Maybe we should have bought a kite shaped like a bird...


Time to finally get the kite in the air, and then immediately get it caught in a tree


And then in a taller one.


But it's all worth it to see the pure joy on my kids' face.


Just kidding, they actually do seem to like it once I give them a turn.





It is beautiful around here in the spring.


Our backyard. To the bottom right you can see my garden extension -- it's going to be bigger and better than last year.


Kim would spend every day of spring taking pictures of the kids up in a tree if she could.


It's nice to go to the trouble to make lasting memories for our kids, I'm sure they'll really appreciate it one day.