Things We Like: Historical Miniseries

This spring, one of our favorite shows returned to cable: The Tudors. It’s a Showtime miniseries about the life of King Henry VIII. This is the show’s third season, and at this point in the series, Henry has already gone through two wives (Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn) and is starting to sour on the third (Jane Seymour). We started watching the show when Elise was pregnant with Henry (Henry’s middle name, Callum, was inspired by one of the actors in the first series, Callum Blue). It’s difficult to find the time to watch TV these days, but with cable on-demand, we can wait and watch the show when Henry is in bed and our chores are done. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays King Henry. The show is a little bit of history with a lot of soap opera and action-adventure mixed in. Two other historical miniseries that we really enjoyed were Rome and John Adams (both HBO productions).

Days Out

With our condo constantly being shown to potential buyers, we’ve decided to spend as much time as possible away from the house. Fortunately, the weather has been improving, and we’ve had some wonderful weekend and day trips this spring.

Baltimore Children’s Museum:

During our first open house, we returned to Baltimore to visit the Port Discovery children’s museum. Covering three levels and with numerous exhibits, the museum is one of the best kid-friendly venues in the area. On the ground level, there's a mock convenience store where children can shop for groceries and pump gas for an actual VW Beetle. Henry could have spent all day packing and unpacking his grocery cart. He particularly liked pulling items out of the refrigerated cabinets and climbing around in the backseat of the car. On the same level, they have a life-sized cow for the children to milk and a patch where they can dig for potatoes. On the top level there's a train, a 1950s retro diner, and Henry's favorite exhibit: the Wonders of Water (WOW). The museum has raincoats and crocs for the children to wear and numerous water exhibits. Henry had great fun putting together water pipes and splashing around in the various streams and canals. Afterward they have a huge hot air fan to dry off. Once again, Henry had so much fun that he was asleep before we left the building. That gave Bryant and Elise the chance to enjoy a long walk around the Inner Harbor.

Fredrick, Maryland:

During the next open house, we headed to Fredrick, Maryland (about one hour from DC), walked around the old town, and played in the city’s enormous Baker Park where Henry tried his first seesaw.

Williamsburg:

On the third open house weekend, we left town early and drove to Williamsburg, Virginia for a quick getaway. Once again, we stayed at a Homewood Suites hotel with a pool. On Saturday we visited Colonial Williamsburg and walked around the historic area. Although much of the history was lost on Henry, he enjoyed seeing the carriages and watching the blacksmiths and wheelwrights at work. In the stationary store, one of the historical interpreters showed Elise how to write with a quill pen and made a souvenir parchment engraving for Henry. While touring the historic area, we ran into Elise’s cousin Nathan Mortier and his wife. Nathan is in law school at William & Mary, so it’s not surprising that we saw them. However, this was the second time we have met them unexpectedly. The last time was several years ago in Rothenburg, Germany when we spotted Nathan and his parents in a restored medieval house. We can't help but wonder where we will see them next!

After a long day in Colonial Williamsburg, we headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool. On Sunday, we made the short drive to Jamestown and visited the site of America’s first permanent English settlement. It was another full day, but Henry proved to be a tropper. It wasn’t until we got back to the car that he finally closed his eyes...and slept most of the ride home.

Henry’s Words

He was a little slow getting started, but in the last few weeks, Henry has been picking up all sorts of new words. His current vocabulary includes:

People:
Mommy
Daddy
Baby
Elmo (mo-mo)
Cookie Monster (ca-ca)

Friends:
Hannah (ann-ah)
Lucy (lu-lu)
Teddy
Dorothy

Body:
Ear
Eye
Nose
Chin
Teeth
Toes
Hair
Elbow (bo-bo)

Food:
Blueberry (blu-blu)
Banana (nana)
Apple
Milk
Juice
Crackers/Cookies (ca-ca)

Colors:
Red
Blue
Green
Yellow (ya-ya)

Misc:
Hat
Ball
Shoe
Sock
Bubbles
Hi
Bye-bye
Help
Please
Thank you
No

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.

MLK/Inauguration Weekend

While most folks were in town to see the new president, Henry and Bryant headed downtown to...visit the fish. Elise was on-call over the MLK-Inauguration weekend, so Bryant and Henry went to the National Aquarium (which, oddly enough, is located in the basement of the Commerce Department building). The Washington branch of the aquarium is much smaller than the one in Baltimore, but there were still plenty of fish, snakes, alligators, turtles and frogs to see. Henry especially liked the sea turtles. On the way back, we walked down the Mall where we saw some of the preparations for the Inauguration. We also saw some of the security measures. The police stopped us briefly while they inspected a backpack that was accidentally left on a park bench. We plan to watch the festivities on TV, in the comfort -- and warmth -- of our own home. Elise is just hoping the celebrations don't get too crazy tomorrow night.