March Madness

Spring has sprung in D.C., and with it we've had a flurry of activity. We neglected to post this picture of Megan's new room décor for her birthday. Not only does it look fancy, but it'll cut down on her chances of getting dengue fever or malaria.


You were this close to getting a full "cherry blossoms" post, but I was able to convince Kim that we've already done that. So you get these pictures from our backyard instead.


Our neighbor Joelle made these hats for the kids. They are awesome. I'm going to have to finagle one out of her, too.






Shauni came out for a quick visit, and we had fun showing her around. Kim dragged Shauni and her parents around the National Mall in the freezing cold, and tried to cram in every sight that she could. Megan just loved making her aunt play endless games of Hide-and-Go-Seek.


Dan came out the week after Shauni for more work training, and since my upcoming travel to Liberia was postponed, we were able to spend the weekend together. We dragged him up to the Billy Goat trail near Great Falls. He also had to visit Ben's Chili Bowl again for another round of half-smokes and chili cheese fries. We topped it all of with an Iraq war movie marathon, watching The Hurt Locker and Green Zone in the same night.


In yet another addition for the "I can't believe that's hereditary" file, Megan LOVES climbing on rocks, just like I did at her age. She moans and complains about every step between the parking lot and the trail, but as soon as there are rocks around, she has an endless supply of energy to climb up each and every one.


And as if we hadn't already doubled the amount of family that had ever come to see us in D.C. -- Kim's parents came out the weekend after Dan! They stayed at the Willard Hotel next to the White House, and we spent Friday night with them. We all shared a room, so it ended up that we went to bed at 9:00 when the kids did, and Kim and I read books by light of my headlamp while her parents enjoyed their iPhones.


We got up the next morning, and after a nice breakfast at Cafe du Parc, headed over for our annual participation in the Kite Festival. I continued the tradition of not knowing how to put together these damn kites, and in not being able to get them to fly.




This new wagon from Grandma and Grandpa was a real life saver. We were able to drag the kids all over the place with only minimal complaint. This is not your childhood wagon -- this thing comes equipped with two seats with seatbelts, cupholders, and a roof for shade from rain or sun.








Since we all have birthdays between February and May, we decided to celebrate them together. Kim got another camera bag to add to our collection (I must admit, it's the best one -- I guess the third time is the charm), and we enjoyed this chocolate cake from Trader Joe's. Kim's dad was disappointed that we all nixed the apricot-almond tart, but was satisfied with our choice.


It's been a hell of a March, and we may need all of April to recover, but we love visitors, so plan your trip today!

P.S. To top it all off, Megan lost her other bottom front tooth. The one she lost in January shows no sign of coming in, so we've started a savings fund for child-size dentures.

Henry Walker, Texas Ranger

Here's Henry working with his physical therapist, Miss Karen. He's still not loving this walker, but he's doing better. Pretty soon he should be able to support himself pushing the lawnmower. That freeloader.

Meggie 5 is Alive!

I reposted this with the above Vimeo version because I was irritated with how pixelated and crappy the blogger video player made this look. It's a pretty stark difference. Check it out.

A Day in the Life of Henry

Soundtrack for this post, if you're so inclined

6:45 (20 minutes before Dad's alarm) Wake up

7:00 Eat breakfast of chips and salsa and yogurt milk fortified with Miralax

7:25 Help clean up

7:40 Watch TV

8:40 Play

9:40 Practice walking

9:45 Get bundled up and go with mom to run errands or play

12:15 fall asleep in the car on the way home

12:30 Eat lunch with shirt off. Oatmeal or macaroni and cheese.

1:00 Take nap

3:30 Wake up, watch PBS kids with Megan

4:30 play

5:30 bug Mom in the kitchen while she's making dinner

6:00 refuse to eat dinner, while simultaneously raising Dad's blood pressure

6:45 Movie night! Watch something Dad is willing to watch, like The Princess Bride or The Apple Dumpling Gang. Get bored quickly.

7:30 take a much needed bath

8:00 Off to bed, to dream of doing the exact same thing tomorrow!

Lots of Valentine Love

My kiddos picked out this lovely card for me for Valentine's Day. It's actually a birthday card, and you can't get the full effect because when you open the card, there is a loud recording with the cats meowing to the tune of "Happy Birthday."

I hope you all feel as loved as I do.

Snowmageddon: The Aftermath

Saturday we forced our kids outside to enjoy the snow. We're now the proud owners of a snow fort that ought to last until June.

There's only one snowblower on the block, so different guys took turns clearing a strip up the sidewalk to make things passable

After 32 hours of continuous snow:

INSIDE

OUTSIDE

We've stayed in our pajamas for days

Sledding on a cookie sheet -- it actually works really well

Megan is a big help with shoveling

They're not really into plowing roads here. That's a car's side mirror that you see poking out of that snow mound on the left.

We upgraded from the cookie sheets and borrowed some neighbor's sleds. You can see from the look on Henry's face that it was all worth it.

This has been an unexpected break from work for Mike, and a fun time with the kids, but we're definitely getting a bit of cabin fever and are about ready for things to go back to normal.

P.S. It's snowing again, right now!

Snowmageddon

In D.C., we've been pummeled by snow for the last 22 hours, and it's projected to continue for another 8.



So far we've gotten 20", which is pretty serious business for this region. To put that in perspective, here is the D.C. list of the top ten snowfalls of all time:

1. January 27-28, 1922 ... 28 inches
2. February 11-13, 1899 ... 20.5 inches
3. February 18-19, 1979 ... 18.7 inches
4. January 6-8, 1996 ... 17.1 inches
5. February 15-18, 2003 ... 16.7 inches
6. February 11-12, 1983 ...16.6 inches
7. December 19-20, 2009 ... 16.4 inches (Snowpocalypse)
8. February 15-16, 1958 ... 14.4 inches
9. February 7, 1936 ... 14.4 inches
10. February 16-18, 1900 ... 14.3 inches

Notice that number 7 on the list was in December, which the news dubbed "snowpocalypse." Since this storm is bigger, they've decided to refer to it as "snowmageddon." They're a little over the top out here. The VA governor declared a state of emergency before the storm even hit, and Arlington county sent everyone an email warning us to stock up on supplies and be ready to not leave our homes for 3 - 5 days. People panicked and bought everything off the shelves. Kim tried to go to Cosco yesterday, and turned around and came home when she saw how long the lines were to check out.

Here's what our street looked like yesterday after the storm had been going for a few hours

And here's what it looked like this morning when we woke up

I had a hard time getting out our front door, which is under a covered porch

Everybody around us seemed to lift up their windshield wipers like this, so I followed suit, not knowing if there is something strange about east coast storms that makes this a wise move. The only thing I can think of is that you would want to do this if there was freezing rain so that they wouldn't freeze to the windshield. I doubt there is a purpose during a normal snowstorm.




State of emergency be damned -- I love snow. I love how quiet it is while the snow falls, and how the snow reflects light at night so that it seems to come from all around. I love layering up and rolling around in the snow, building forts and throwing snowballs, and I love staying inside in my pajamas and moccasins with a book while the world gets buried.




58,000 northern VA residents are without power right now, so assuming that doesn't happen to us, I'll update this post with some final snow totals and pictures later tonight or tomorrow morning.