Earthquakes, Birthdays and Other Natural Disasters

At approximately 2pm on August 23^rd—Henry’s birthday—a rare 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook Washington, DC.  The quake lasted several seconds and resulted in only minor damage to the area (the exceptions being the National Cathedral and the Washington Monument, both of which sustained some structural damage; also, part of the ceiling in our church collapsed, severing an arm on the main crucifix).  The most immediate collateral damage to us was that the kids had to be evacuated from their daycare center in the middle of afternoon nap.  By the time we got home (after spending most of the afternoon camped outside SEC headquarters), they were both tired and cranky.  Henry cheered up after opening his birthday presents.   He’s been infatuated with Spider-Man for several months, and he got plenty of Spidey-wear for his birthday, including a full body costume, light-up shoes, and snow boots (thank you, Mimi Mimi Pauline!).  

Henry’s birthday party was scheduled for the following Saturday.  He requested a Spider-Man party (naturally) and, as entertainment, we booked a live reptile demonstration.  However, Mother Nature decided to wreak havoc with our plans.  Hurricane Irene began churning up the East Coast on Friday and was scheduled to arrive in the Washington, DC area by Saturday evening.  With the storm bearing down, we frantically rescheduled the party for Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, the rain began just as the party started, so we had to move everyone indoors.  It was a tight squeeze, but the kids seemed to have a good time nonetheless.  The reptile demonstration was awesome: the instructor brought lizards, turtles, frogs, a tarantula and a Burmese python for the kids to see and touch.  As the birthday boy, Henry got to help the instructor hold the animals.  Afterward, we all had BBQ, hotdogs and, of course, Spider-man cake.  We were fortunate that our friend, Christine Lee, kindly offered to assist with the party logistics.  Without her help, we would have never survived a house full of preschoolers and live reptiles in the middle of a hurricane!  As an added bonus, Mimi Joanne and Paw Paw Bill drove straight through from Mobile to attend the party and helped us weather the storm (which, in the end, was only “a little rain storm”—as Paw Paw predicted).

 

  

Below are some additional photos from the party:

New Castle Redux

We returned to New Castle, Pennsylvania at the beginning of August for the wedding of Elise’s cousin, Jimmy Janacone.  We went back and forth about whether to break up the drive (about 7 hrs).  In the end, we decided to drive straight through to New Castle.  Overall, the kids did really well in the car and were mostly content to read and play with their toys (although we had the DVD player standing by just in case).  Still, it was a long haul to western Pennsylvania.  Between rest stops on the turnpike, Henry decided he needed to use the potty.  We asked him to wait and he replied: “I’m worried.  The poop is talking to me.  It says it’s time to come out.”  So, we immediately pulled over and dug out the travel potty from the trunk (note to self: never, ever leave home without it).  We arrived at the hotel sometime after 1am and transferred the kids to the room.  Somehow Vivian bit herself while sleeping, and we turned on the lights to find her lip swollen and bleeding.  She didn’t seem too bothered (just a little confused), so after icing down her lip and making sure there was no more blood, we all crawled into bed.

In New Castle, after some much needed rest, we had lunch with Tweety and Denny Richards and their granddaughter Kathy.  Later, we saw the extended New Castle family at Jimmy’s wedding. During the reception, Henry enjoyed making multiple trips to the “cookie table,” and both Henry and Vivian spent a good amount of time on the dance floor.  Vivian, in particular, did not want to stop dancing. (You can see some additional photos of the dancefloor action here.)

Before heading home on Sunday, we stopped at the Living Treasures petting zoo in New Castle.  We thought this would be a quick detour.  It turned out to be the best zoo we’ve ever visited!  The kids were able to pet and feed most of the animals (deer, kangaroos, camels, monkeys and birds), and there was a horse-drawn safari ride with zebra, ostriches, and water buffalo.  At the lion enclosure, the male lion was sleeping on its back right next to the glass.  As you can see from the picture below, you don’t get much closer to a lion without becoming lunch!  We got a late start driving back, but the kids had so much fun at the zoo, they slept for over three hours in the car. Sometimes the best days out are the unplanned ones.

 

  

 

 

Dog Days of Summer

July was busy and very, very hot.  In fact, it was the hottest July on record in the Washington DC area, with temperatures regularly in the high 90s and sometimes exceeding 100 with the humidity.  Despite the heat and increasingly ferocious mosquitoes, the kids enjoyed playing in their new backyard.  The swings have gotten much use, as has the plastic kiddy pool that we bought at Walmart for $12.  Vivian is particularly fond of stripping to her diaper and taking a dip.

Over the month, we welcomed several visitors to our new home.  In early July, Mimi Pauline drove down from Michigan and brought several pieces of antique furniture for our living room.  Thank you, Mimi Pauline!  She also gave us a new handheld vacuum, which Bryant quickly fell in love with it, much to Elise’s scorn.

At the end of the month, the Baker-Brown family (Dawn, Emily and Alexander – we missed you Stokes!) paid a visit.  To keep cool, we hung out at the pool and went for a boat ride on the Potomac.  At noon, the local river boat company does a pirated-themed cruise around Alexandria Harbor, which involved donning eye patches, brandishing plastic swords and accosting the local yachtsmen with “Ahoy, there!  We be Potomac pirates. Prepare to be boarded. Aaaaargh.”  Not sure if it was the heat or the ridiculous pirate costumes, but Henry didn’t seem too impressed.  He did, however, enjoy spending time with his cousins, and was particularly excited to show Alexander his action figures, cars and dinosaurs.

 

Between visits, we also celebrated July 4^th with friends from our daycare center, hosted a BBQ with the Powell family, and celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary.  To mark our anniversary, we had dinner (sans kids) at the Columbia Firehouse restaurant in Old Town.  There was a slight break in the heat, and we were able to eat on the restaurant terrace.  It was a nice, low-key meal, during which we enjoyed trading smug comments about the childless couples seated next to us.  They seemed blissfully unaware of what lay ahead!  Afterward, we strolled down to the river where Alexandria city was having its founder’s day fireworks celebration.  We lingered on the waterfront to watch the fireworks, which seemed like a perfect way to end the evening.

Vivian Loves Shoes

Vivian is the Imelda Marcos of our family – she loves shoes.  Henry views shoes as a necessary evil, but Vivian can’t live without them.  She insists on wearing them inside the house and even to bed!  At a recent outing to the Disney Store, she virtually ignored the toys and went straight for the Princess slippers.  And it’s not just the frilly shoes: she loves sandals, Tevas, tennis shoes, slippers, boots – if it fits on her feet, she will wear it.  We’re not sure where this comes from, but Elise does own half a dozen pairs of clogs.

Our New House

Finally!  We’re in.  After weeks of planning and preparation, we moved into our new house on June 15th.  It was a hectic week, but we managed to vacate our old home and get mostly unpacked at our new place in a few short but intense days.  Bryant’s mom came up from Alabama and was invaluable in helping us to manage the move.  We love the new house (especially the extra space), and the kids are really enjoying their backyard playset.  The only difficulty has been getting them to share the swings (see below) and come inside for dinner.  We still have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, but below are some pictures of the new place.

 

 

  

 

Note: When we told Henry about the new home, he immediately asked if it would have a “dolphin swing.”  Our friends Brad and Tonia Powell have an outdoor playset with a bucket swing shaped like a blue dolphin.  Henry LOVES swinging on this, so we decided to get one for the new house.  It turns out Step2 no longer makes this particular type of swing.  However, Bryant found a few for sale on eBay and, after missing out on several bids, finally managed to secure one.  Now both kids love riding the dolphin swing (Vivian calls it a “shark,”, but that’s close enough).  As you can see, it’s really quite a superb swing:

Henry Does Yoga

In addition to soccer, gymnastics and music class, Henry also does yoga at school (one wonders when they find time for old fashioned things like numbers and ABCs…).  In June, his instructor invited parents to a demonstration.  Henry showed off various poses, including downward facing dog, but seemed more interested in making animal noises than poses. Below is our little yogi in action.

 

Dutch Wonderland

With our move just around the corner, we decided to take a break from home improvements and escape to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a day out at Dutch Wonderland.  For those that don’t know, Dutch Wonderland is the Disneyland of Amish country – a small-scale amusement park that caters to young children.  Unlike other parks, most of the rides at Dutch Wonderland are designed for the under-five crowd and don’t have those annoying height and age restrictions.  As you can see from the photos below, the whole family had a wonderful time.  Henry got his face painted like Spider-Man, Vivian enjoyed chasing the baby ducks, and we all had fun riding the log plume, merry-go-round and leapin’ frogs (it’s more intense than it sounds). In the afternoon, we topped off our day with some cool treats at the Breyer’s ice cream parlor.  Not quite the Magic Kingdom, but they do have a (small) monorail and we were home in time for dinner.