A rainy Sunday at the end of June did not seem like an auspicious day for an outing to the National Zoo.But the room parents from Vivian’s class were insistent that the 3A play date would go forward as scheduled, so we packed our rain gear and headed into town.Fortunately, the deluge subsided shortly after we arrived, and because of the weather, we had the zoo to ourselves.Elise was working, so it was just Bryant and the kids and a few intrepid families from St. Anthony’s.After a turn on the carousel and a peek at the great cats, we headed over to the sea lion show.Afterward, the children had great fun splashing around in the new tidal basin sprayground (check out the photos below).After visiting a few more animals, including the elephants, we had lunch with our friends and headed home for naps.Despite the weather, and Bryant’s intense skepticism, it turned out to be a great morning.
As a special Father’s Day treat, Henry and Vivian took Bryant to the local Krispy Kreme for breakfast.Apparently other children had the same idea, because the place was filled with dads and their families.We first watched the doughnuts being made on the special doughnut conveyor belt (that curtain of icing is mesmerizing) and then ordered a box of hot doughnuts for ourselves.The cashiers gave the kids hats and balloons, and we all proceeded to get a huge sugar rush.Below are pictures from our morning out.
Henry and Vivian wrapped up their swim lessons at the beginning of June, just in time for summer.Henry started lessons in March, and Vivian joined him for a second session in May.This was our first time participating in an activity without parents, and both kids did great on their own.The rec centers near us tend to book up early, but we found an indoor pool near Mount Vernon that had plenty of availability and great instructors.It also was nice to have a regularly scheduled activity to get us through those (sometimes) dreary months of early spring.Although neither one is swimming on their own yet, both Henry and Vivian made great strides this spring and are looking forward to spending summer at the swim club.Below are pictures from the last day of swim class.
Our daycare center—St. Anthony’s Day School—holds a silent auction every year to raise funds for teacher appreciation and special events.This year’s theme was “80s Night.”This was our first time attending the auction, and we decided to get into the spirit of the evening by dressing up.Elise wore neon tights, a lace headband and fishnet gloves.Bryant wore a Van Halen t-shirt and a fake mullet.Amazingly, we were able to order all of this from Amazon (how would we survive without Amazon Prime?).As you can see from the photo (above), the final result was pretty impressive.So impressive, in fact, that we won “best costume” (beating out some strong competition from a couple dressed as Maverick and Charlie from Top Gun) and a free dinner at Joe Theismann’s Restaurant.The auction itself was a lot of fun—a nice way to socialize with other families from school.We walked away with a toy pirate chest (made by Henry’s teacher), a wine basket and an overnight stay at the New York Palace Hotel.It looks like we have a trip to the Big Apple—maybe our first without kids—in our future.
Vivian had her first dance recital on June 2nd.Bryant was surprised to learn that Vivian’s inaugural performance would be a “daddy and daughter” dance.Along with the other girls from ballet class and their dads, Vivian and Bryant practiced after school for four weeks to get ready for the big day.The instructors chose Rascal Flatts’s“Wish” for the Wiggletoes routine.After some (very simple) choreographed steps, each pair got to perform a solo move.Bryant and Vivian chose to soar like an airplane.Below are two rough videos of our performance.Elise had a little trouble holding the camera still because she was tearing up.Despite some pre-show jitters, Bryant managed to more or less remember his moves.Vivian was a natural and even gave out a little squeal of delight when the audience applauded at the end. And of course, she loved wearing her frilly dance costume.Well done, Vivi.We’re proud of our little girl!
Our oven has been on the fritz for some time.It frequently would fail to ignite (or fail to re-ignite while cooking) and had to be set about 40 degrees higher to reach the correct internal temperature.When the April tax refund came in, we decided to spend it on some new kitchen appliances…and what a difference they have made!We purchased everything from Lowes because they had a decent selection and competitive prices and were located nearby (we don’t have a lot of extra time to devote to comparison shopping).We decided on Samsung appliances: we purchased a Samsung washer and dryer when we moved into the new house, and those have worked well for us.Our only hesitation was whether everything would fit through the narrow passageways of our 1950s era kitchen space.In the end, they had to remove the door handles from the fridge but otherwise managed to get everything into place.Everything, that is, except the dishwasher.Our first shipment arrived damaged and had to re-ordered.When they came to install the second shipment, we realized it would not fit under the countertop.Apparently the prior owners had installed new flooring and effectively narrowed the space by half an inch.So, it was back to Lowes to special order an ADA-compliant dishwasher with adjustable feet.Several weeks later, over Memorial Day weekend, we finally got our new dishwasher installed (they had to cut out the old unit with a hacksaw).Although a little more complicated than we anticipated, the new appliances look great and, more importantly, work perfectly.And for the first time in our married lives, we have a built-in water/ice dispenser.We’ve come a long way!
Elise, Henry and Vivian traveled to Michigan over Memorial Day weekend to visit Mimi Pauline.This was the first time that one of us has attempted to travel alone with both kids, and Elise reports that it was challenging but not altogether unmanageable, especially with a portable DVD player for the plane. Having been sorely disappointed when their last promised trip to Michigan ended in Disney World (watch the infamous video here), the kids were psyched to be visiting Mimi Pauline “for real” this time.Even before they left, Henry and Vivian were looking forward to a ride on the “Green Gator,” and, sure enough, Mimi Pauline busted out the tractor upon arrival.When they weren’t taking rides on the Gator, the kids hunted for frogs at the pond (they found a blue racer snake instead) and watched the horses at the nearby stables.An excellent playground in nearby Brighton also provided some easy entertainment.On Sunday, Elise, Pauline and the kids visited the Brown-Bakers in Harper Woods.While Henry dug for worms in the backyard with Alexander, Emily and Vivian opted for the more civilized activity of coloring.In the evening, everyone enjoyed some delicious Lebanese takeout.As if all that wasn’t exciting enough, Henry and Vivian also got to watch Hotel Transylvania, in 3D, on Mimi Pauline’s fancy new television (check out the photo below of the kids with their 3D glasses).All in all, a pretty eventful holiday weekend for the Morris children.
Back in Alexandria, Bryant had four days on his own to complete some long overdue home improvement projects (including building an enclosure for the garden), shopping for a new suit and baking a three-layer chocolate-raspberry mousse birthday cake for Elise.You can read about the “Labor of Love” cake here.Happy Birthday, Elise!
