Easter Weekend at the Lake

We're down at Smith Mountain Lake for Easter weekend with Ali's family. It's chilly, but beautiful with all the tree blossoms. Ali and I took Jake over to the state park where they had live bunnies and an easter egg hunt right on the edge of the lake:

Here's Jake and Poppi coloring eggs. Jake was more interested in coloring his hands a nice shade of blue. And here's Gram and Poppi with Jake and Sadie.

Sadie enters the Bureaucracy

Sadie's Social Security card arrived today, which means she'll probably start getting mail offering $5,000 lines of credit. And it means that in 2074, if there's any money left, she can start collecting some retirement benefits. Wow, I'll be 100 that year. Ali will only be 96, and I'll still be four years wiser than her. I'll have to remember to remind her of that. I'll probably be using the phrase "whipper-snapper" to refer to anyone under 75. I hope I'll take the advice of both my grandfathers and 1) start joining lots of clubs to make my obituary longer and 2) start buying only top-of-the-line products because at that age I won't want to waste my time fixing a dishwasher or clothes dryer. I hope by then they will have figured out how to make alarm clocks easy to set, come to a decision on either the left or the right side of cars for the gas cap and put videos back on MTV.

On a side note (I guess pretty much everything on this blog could be classified as a "sidenote", with nothing rising the "noteworthy" category), her card came with lots of instructions including "DO NOT LAMINATE THIS CARD". This flimsy paper card is supposed to last 60+ years? What would a little lamination hurt? If anyone can guess the reason behind this bit of bureaucracy, please enlighten me. The most bureaucratic theory wins a 60-year paid subscription to Tripdub.

Gilbert fall down go boom

I just saw on the Post website that Gilbert will be out 2-3 months recovering from surgery he'll undergo today to repair a lateral left meniscus tear in his knee (for all the tripdub medical professionals out there). I usually can't help being an optimist when it comes to the Wizards, but I think the team might as well start planning their May vacations now (and Etan can book his summer Poetry Slam tour dates). They'll still make it to the first round of finals unless they lose all eight remaining games (that can't happen, right?) but it has to be heartbreaking for Gilbert and Caron to both have all-star seasons and then get injuries this close to the finals. Oh well, at least they can sulk in their giant mansions and drive to CVS to pick up tissues to cry into in their Maybachs and Bentleys.

"Uh oh Wizards"

Jake summed up the Wizards situation pretty succinctly this morning. Uh oh Wizards, indeed. They lost Caron again to a hand injury a couple games back and then last night Gilbert knocked knees with someone in the first quarter and now we have to wait for the MRI results to see if he'll be back. They weren't going to the second round of the playoffs without Caron, but now if Agent Zero is out too, they'll be lucky if they can beat the lowly Charlotte Bobcats. Oh wait, they just lost to them - twice in two nights.

Dinner Improv

We're big fans of no-cook, one-dish meals and last night's dinner turned out pretty well. It was basically a salmon salad with a long list of ingredients made up of whatever was in the fridge or pantry:

can of red salmon
bunch of dill
half bag of romaine salad mix
corn salad from last night (fresh corn, diced orange bell pepper and red onion in vinaigrette)
some toasted pine nuts
sauteed yellow squash
two sliced, boiled russet potatoes
handful of sliced cherry tomatoes
and a dressing of olive oil, juice of 1 meyer lemon, S&P and chopped parsley

Leave it to Beaver

Today we tested out the family model that was pretty popular in this country up until about the time Ali and I were kids. In 1980, just half of married moms worked outside the home. By 1999, the number rose to 70 percent. The number is probably higher these days, but Google has let me down and I can't find more recent statistics just now.

In any case, Ali's first day at home with the kids went off without a hitch. She made a game out of cleaning Jake's jelly-fingered smudges off the windows, and then took everyone to the park to enjoy the beautiful spring weather. When I pulled into our driveway I saw little Jake look up from his tricycle, excited to see me (well, probably more excited to see the scooter), and Ali cuddling Sadie in the warm sun. I'm sure Ali's day had its hiccups, but the scene I came home to beat anything from Leave It to Beaver. For one thing, there was no Eddie Haskell around. And for another, everything was in color. Black and white just can't capture spring buds on the trees.

I've got Sadie on my lap now, and we've been talking about her future, the Wizards future, our future family dinners -- anything to lull her to sleep. Sadie's a good listener. She makes eye contact to let me know she's paying attention, and she hardly ever interrupts. Ali's upstairs hopefully catching up on some sleep from last night. The house is quiet, the windows are open to let the breeze in, and the neighborhood dogs aren't barking. It's pretty much all a guy could ask for.

Zoo

Today was our first family trip to the National zoo. We've been to the Memphis zoo, and Jake has been to the National zoo with my folks, but this was our first trip together. Here's Ali and the kids (while I'm double parked on Connecticut Ave. to drop them off and cars are honking at me as I'm taking this picture):


We did the Asia trail, the elephant yard, the small mammal house, and a few other odds and ends (golden tamarins). Jake, like the other toddlers I saw, was much more interested in the bronze statues of the animals, which were just as active, and much more accessible than most of the actual animals. Sadie, as usual, was focussed on her beauty sleep.

Around lunchtime, we started to look for a picnic area to eat the sandwiches we'd brought. It wasn't unbearably hot, but it was very sunny, and we were hoping to find a shady spot to sit. The National zoo is in the middle of Rock Creek Park, which is a woodsy park full of old-growth trees. Funny, that the Zoo management decided to place all of their picnic tables in the few clearings that offer no shade whatsoever. And to add insult to injury, they set up little stands around the picnic areas that advertise refreshing, fresh squeezed lemonade, but weren't open for business at 11:45 when we stopped by. We weren't the only monkeys trying to escape the mid-day sun. Here's an orangutan with a paper bag over his head. In fact, all three of the orangutans in the yard had these bags on their head. Maybe they should plant a shade tree?


And for all the zoologists out there who are upset that I referred to this orangutan as a monkey: To me, monkeys and apes and orangutans are God's version of GM car models. Am I really supposed to notice the differences between a Buick and a Pontiac model of the same car?

First family day

Saturday was the first full day that the four of us spent together. We had blueberry pancakes and then took a nice walk down to the playground a few blocks away. It was also the inaugural run for the new stroller and both kids did great. Jake opted to sit (it's a sit or stand stroller for the big kid) and Sadie just enjoyed an opportunity to nap.

Jake had a great time at the playground, and even climbed up a ladder for the first time. "Awesome!," I said when he got to the top. "Awesome," he replied matter-of-factly. After we'd been playing for a bit, a little kid rolled up on his bicycle. He was wearing cowboy boots, track pants, and had a star wars light saber attached to his hip. He wasn't messing around - representing all the little boy genres: Cowboys, Sports, and Sci-Fi.

Here's a video of Jake negotiating the playground obstacle course...