Easter 2009

For the last several years, we’ve spent Easter Sunday with our friends Brad and Tonia Powell and their family (Joey, Andy and Sara). Elise was on call this year, so Bryant and Henry spent the day together. After attending Mass with the Powells, we had brunch at Clyde’s restaurant and then returned to Brad and Tonia’s house for an Easter egg hunt. Below are some photos from the weekend:

Also, we took Henry to meet the Easter Bunny at Tyson’s Corner. Henry wasn’t too fond of the large furry rabbit and kept saying “bye bye” until we snapped a photo and left.

In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb

These photos were taken about one month apart.

Catching Up

It’s been a busy winter and spring in the Morris family. Now that things have calmed down a bit, we wanted to update the blog with all the recent events.

For Sale: Stunning Two Bedroom Condo in Columbia Heights, Parking Included:

We decided to list our condo for sale and spent much of February and March getting the place ready to show. We moved half of our furniture and belongings into storage and finally managed to install some permanent blinds in the master bedroom. After several hard weeks of packing, reorganizing and cleaning, we finally went "live" on March 19th. Since then, we’ve had several open houses and a number of visitors, but as of yet, no serious interest. It’s a difficult time to be selling, so we’re trying to be patient. But it sure would be nice to be somewhere with a backyard this summer. Here’s hoping we find a buyer soon! To view the listing, click here.

Henry’s Surgery:

On February 5th, Henry had outpatient eye surgery to correct a blocked tear duct. The procedure is relatively minor (the doctor inserted a small metal probe into the duct to clear out any blockage), but required Henry to be put under general anesthesia. The operation lasted only about 20 minutes, and Henry did just fine. The hardest part for mom and dad was watching their son be put to sleep. As you can see from the photo, Henry was out like a light. The operation seems to have been a success: so far, no more goopy eye infections.

Trip to Baltimore:

After weeks of getting ready to list our condo, the whole family needed a mid-winter break, so we headed up to Baltimore for President’s Day weekend. We stayed at a hotel near the Inner Harbor and visited the National Aquarium. When we arrived in the morning, an employee at the aquarium took us downstairs so we could watch the rays being fed. Henry loved standing next to the glass and watching the rays sail by.

Afterward, we visited the rain forest habitat, walked through the large shark tank, and checked out the Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes exhibit. By the time we were done viewing all the fishes and animals, Henry was exhausted and fell asleep before we were out of the building. So, we all went back to the hotel and enjoyed a family nap.

We haven’t been parents for long, but we’ve learned a thing or two about traveling with little ones: (i) always stay at a hotel with a kitchenette (Homewood Suites is one chain that we like); (ii) never plan more than one major activity per day; and (iii) always pack a swimsuit. We realized the importance of this last rule when we stayed in Baltimore: our hotel had an indoor pool but we forgot our swimsuits. Fortunately, there was a shopping mall in the area. We found some swim trunks for Henry in the GAP Kids store, but since it was February, none of the adult clothing stores had swimsuits. So, Bryant bought an XXXL pair of boys’ swim trunks and (just barely) squeezed in. You can check out the photo below, but be warned, it isn’t pretty.

Before heading back to Washington, we returned to the National Aquarium to watch the dolphin show. We got seats fairly close up but managed to avoid getting wet. Henry enjoyed watching the dolphins, especially when they swam by and splashed water on the crowd.