Memorial Day in Michigan

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!  

 

 

Historic Half

We made a family trip to Fredericksburg, Virginia in May to watch Elise run the Marine Corps “Historic Half” half marathon.  Believe it or not, this is the first time we’ve all gone, as a family, to watch Elise run a race—something that was long overdue.  We drove down on Saturday afternoon to pick up Elise’s race materials and explore Fredericksburg (childhood home of George Washington).  For Bryant and Elise, it was a bit nostalgic to revisit the town where they got engaged some eight years ago: it was at the Kenmore Inn on Princess Anne Street that Bryant popped the fateful question…after first setting off the hotel smoke alarm when he tried to light the bedroom fireplace.  Apparently you’re supposed to open the damper first.

At race headquarters, Henry and Vivian made posters to cheer on their mommy (see photos below) and sampled the energy drinks.   On race day, Bryant and the kids arrived early to find a prime viewing spot near the finish line.  Although it was a little rainy, the kids showed extraordinary patience as they waited for Elise.  Henry was quite keen to have his poster ready for her when she came by; for her part, Vivian was content to sit and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the iphone.  Elise crossed the finish line in just under two hours, running at a pace of about 9 minutes/mile.  Afterward, we all walked with mommy to collect her race medal (Elise is beginning to amass quite a collection) and help her eat the free post-race snacks.  Well done, mommy!  We’re all proud of you.

 

 

Hail the Mighty Anglers!

Alexander was determined to take Henry fishing while he and Emily were in town (see Spring Break Visitors).  On the last day of their visit, we squeezed in an afternoon trip to Cook Lake in Cameron Regional Park, just around the corner from us.  The lake is part of Virginia’s Urban Fishing Program and has a small pier where you can fish for trout and catfish (stocked in the winter and summer, respectively).  The Brown-Bakers had already given Henry a Spider-Man fishing pole and tackle box at Christmas.  A quick trip to Walmart secured some live bait and hooks.  Then it was off to catch some fish.  The boys didn’t come home with any trout, but Henry did manage (with Alexander’s help) to catch several small bluegills.  It’s hard to say what Henry enjoyed more: catching the fish, or watching Alexander gut them.  Henry had a great time and, as you can see from the video below, seemed pleased with his new found angling skills.  Thanks to Alexander for pushing us to make this happen.  It was a great discovery—so easy, even Bryant could (probably) do it.

 

Spring Break Visitors

Back-to-back visitors at the end of March/early April provided a nice break from the routine, even if we weren’t traveling anywhere.  First up was a visit from Eric and Melora Shelton and their daughter Margaret, who were visiting from Seattle.  (Melora and Elise attended college together at Albion).  Margaret is the same age as Henry, and she was a big hit with the kids.  Vivi especially enjoyed having another girl around to dress up, play dolls and generally do “girl stuff” (as Henry calls it).  Margaret also was happy to dig for worms in the backyard, which impressed Henry greatly.  Having three young children in the house certainly made for some exciting dinner/bath times (yep, all three squeezed into the tub together).  Fortunately, we had two extra sets of hands to help out.  In fact, Eric and Melora were kind enough to make dinner (penne al vodka) for us one night, which was a real treat.  Melora also introduced us to some fine Washington State wines.  We lost track of how many bottles we consumed during the week, but it was a lot!  We’re also grateful to Melora and Eric for giving us an excuse to hire a babysitter and go to dinner at one of our old haunts: Bistro du Coin.  We used to frequent this spot once or twice a month when we lived in Dupont Circle, before we had kids—indeed, even before we were married.

Below are some pictures of Margaret, Henry and Vivian decorating Easter eggs in the basement.  As you can see, they are quite the creative little munchkins:

 

 

A few days after the Sheltons returned home, Elise’s cousins Emily and Alexander visited from Michigan.  Elise took some time off from work and planned a fun-filled week of activities.  First up was a whirlwind tour of Washington museums, including the National Archives, the Native American History Museum and the National Air and Space Museum.  Next was a tour of Georgetown University followed by lunch at The Tombs and (for Alexander) a quick jog up and down the Exorcist Steps.  On Thursday, it was down to Kings Dominion (outside of Richmond) for a day of roller coasters and thrill rides.  Around noon, Elise called Bryant to say that she was feeling green.  For their last day, all three got a personal tour of the Pentagon courtesy of our neighbor Paul Prevost, who works for the DoD.

When they weren’t exploring Washington (or enabling their aunt’s motion sickness), Emily and Alexander provided great entertainment for Henry and Vivian.  They brought a Thomas the Train set for Henry and a princess dress-up game for Vivi, and both proved hugely popular.  Alexander also scored big points by taking Henry on his first fishing expedition (see Hail the Mighty Anglers!).  While the boys were fishing, Vivian had a ball playing princess with Emily. 

 

 

After two weeks of visitors, the house seemed a little quiet with just the four of us.  No sooner had our guests departed as Henry and Vivian were already asking if they could come back. Hopefully Eric, Melora, Margaret, Emily and Alexander will visit again soon for more backyard-playing, roller coaster-riding, museum-hopping good times!

Easter 2013

As is our tradition, we spent Easter Sunday with the Powell family.  After morning mass, we all went to brunch at Clyde’s in Tyson’s Corner and then back to the Powell house for coffee and dessert.  Rain kept us from hunting for eggs in the backyard.  Instead, Brad and Tonia improvised and hid eggs in the basement.  The kids didn’t seem to mind—candy is candy, no matter where you find it.  Getting a picture of the kids in their Sunday finest is usually one of the more excruciating parts of Easter morning; however, this year Henry and Vivian were amazingly cooperative.  As you can see, we got some nice shots.

We asked the Easter Bunny to bring us fewer sugary treats this year, but somehow he didn’t get the message.  The baskets were overflowing on Easter morning.  The night before, Henry was quite nervous that the Easter Bunny might skip our house.  He asked to go to bed early (unheard of) and expressed alarm that mommy and daddy were staying up to watch TV.  We assured him that the Easter bunny would not be frightened off by our choice of movie (Lincoln).  And indeed, he was not.

  

 

Swim and Dance

Henry began swim lessons at the local rec center in early March.  Although he’s fairly comfortable in the water, Henry has never been that keen on learning to swim.  We tried private lessons at the end of last summer, but that met with mixed success (see Swim, Run, Cook and Watch TV).  Also, Henry can be quite shy around strangers, so we weren’t sure he would participate without mom or dad by his side.  As it turns out, our doubts were misplaced.  On the morning of the first lesson, Henry readily joined the class and has been happily participating for several weeks.  The first few classes went so well that Bryant quickly registered both kids for the spring session.  Viv is somewhat jealous that her big brother gets to go swimming every Saturday, but she will get her turn in a few weeks.  In the meantime, she continues to shine in her ballet class.  This is a “mommy and me” class (although Bryant has substituted on a few occasions when Elise was working—he was relieved to discover he was not the only dad).  The first half of the class is an introduction to basic ballet steps (plié, chassé, and reitré are a few that we’ve learned); the other half is storytime and dress-up.  Along the way, there’s generous amounts of glitter spray and princess stamps.  Viv has been doing really well and will probably graduate to the “big girl” class next fall.

Disney World 2013

We returned to Disney World at the end of February for another week of magic and mayhem.  This was Henry’s third visit (not counting a 2009 trip to Disneyland) and Vivian’s second, so the kids are now well versed in the House of Mouse.  We weren’t expecting to return so soon, but with Henry starting kindergarten next year, we decided to squeeze in one more off-season visit before becoming slaves to the school year calendar.  We also were super excited to have Mimi Pauline join us this time—her first visit to WDW!

Taking a vacation to Florida in February has its benefits: we were blessed with low crowds and mild weather all week.  We decided to surprise the kids and told them we were flying to Michigan to visit Pauline (which was half true).  Amazingly, they never figured out where we were headed, even after multiple people at the airport asked if we were “visiting Mickey.”  Finally, as we waited to meet Pauline at the shuttle bus, we told the kids our plans.  As you can see from the video below, they both burst into tears—apparently they really wanted to see their Mimi Pauline!  When we explained that Pauline was joining us and that they could visit WDW and see their grandmother at the same time, the tears quickly turned to excitement.

Having stayed at the Caribbean Beach and Polynesian resorts on past trips, we decided to try Coronado Springs this time.  Overall, we really liked this resort: central location, moderate prices and better than usual food options for a WDW hotel.  The one negative: it took us over an hour to check in.  The cast member misheard our name and tried to give us another party’s rooms.  Disney is a well-oiled machine, but when the wheels come off, they really come off.  Once they realized their mistake, no one could figure out how to fix it—and in the meantime, our adjoining rooms were given away to other guests.  Finally, Bryant uttered those words that strike fear in the heart of every Disney employee: “I’m not having a magical day.”  The entire reception desk fell silent and someone went to fetch a manager.  She quickly rectified the situation (sort of, we weren’t able to get our adjoining rooms, but we were nearby) and promised to make it up to us.  Later that evening, after some margaritas at the Mexico Pavilion and some hearty German food at the Biergarten restaurant in Epcot, we returned to find toys, balloons and autographed photos of Mickey and Minnie in our room.  That was nice, but not a replacement for our adjoining rooms.  Fortunately, the rest of the vacation went smoothly.

We were anxious to see the new Fantasyland expansion, which was still under construction the last time we visited.  Although not completely finished (a new Snow White themed ride is still in the works) and somewhat smaller than we expected, the expansion did not disappoint.  The Ariel ride quickly became Vivian’s favorite, and she asked to ride it every day we visited the Magic Kingdom.  Fortunately, there were fast passes available because the stand-by line was over 90 minutes long—and no ride is worth that kind of wait.  We tried the LeFou’s Brew at Gaston’s Tavern (Disney’s answer to Harry Potter’s butterbeer at Universal) and had dinner at the new Be Our Guest restaurant, which was simply awesome.  The restaurant is themed to look like the Beast’s castle, complete with grand ballroom, library (where you can meet the Beast) and even the spooky west wing (where you can see the magic rose in its glass case).  Not surprisingly, the menu is French inspired.  This was, hands down, the best meal of the trip.  Elise and Pauline both enjoyed a very nice ($$$) glass of French wine, and Bryant stuffed himself on mussels provencal, grilled steak and pommes frites with truffle mayonnaise.  Afterward, the waitress wheeled over an impressive dessert cart, and we each chose a different pastry.  We will definitely be heading back here on our next visit.  Another highlight of the new Fantasyland was the Enchanted Tales with Belle.  It’s basically a meet-and-greet attraction where the kids get to re-enact the story of Beauty and the Beast (everyone gets a part and they perform a little skit).  It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s nicely done.  There’s also a really cool magic mirror that transports you to the castle and an impressive animatronic Lumiere.

 

  

When we weren’t riding our favorite attractions (or standing in line to ride them), we were getting made up like princesses and pirates.  Vivian was finally old enough to visit the Bibbi Bobbi Boutique at Cinderella’s Castle and had a grand time getting the full princess treatment.  Apparently mom and mimi also got a touch of princess fever because Vivian came home with several new dresses from the boutique.  While the ladies were getting sprinkled with pixie dust, Henry and Bryant headed over to the Pirate’s League in Fantasyland so Henry could get his face painted like a skeleton pirate (again).  It never ceases to amaze us how our squirmy little boy can sit so still for these things.

 

 

It was a fun but exhausting week—we managed to hit all our favorite attractions and restaurants and even added a few new ones.  Both kids rode the Haunted Mansion for the first time (and were mostly OK).  Henry’s favorites are still the Barnstormer roller coaster and the Maelstrom ride in Norway.  Actually, we’re not sure if Henry likes the ride so much as the gift shop afterward.  Thanks to his grandmothers, he managed to come home with two more troll figurines for his collection.  Henry wasn’t quite old enough to ride the adult roller coasters, but he did make it onto the Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom (even if he had his eyes closed for most of it).  For Viv, the highlight of the trip was undoubtedly breakfast at Cinderella’s Castle.  She simply can’t get enough of her Disney princesses.

 

Mimi Pauline provided good cheer and some much needed help throughout the week.  We’re not sure what the highlight was for her, but she certainly seemed to enjoy riding the Kali River Rapids with Bryant and Henry as you can see below.

 

 

As usual, the week went by far too quickly and, before we knew it, we found ourselves at the airport waiting to fly home.  Not sure when we’ll make it back for another magical vacation, but something tells us it won’t be long…