Merry Christmas!

Funny story. It's Christmas Eve and we're all up in the Adirondacks getting ready for the big day. Everybody's going skiing at Gore Mtn and I decide to take Jake out for his first lesson. I haven't been skiing in 15 years, and only in the powdery and forgiving snow of Colorado, but after I get skis on, it seems to come back to me. Jake wasn't really in the mood to learn that day, but I was having a blast on the bunny hill, and feeling like it was just yesterday that I was skiing black diamonds in Aspen. We took a break for lunch and then Uncle Bob (here's where I would post a link to a blog entry about our near tragedy in the Pacific Ocean, but that was back before blogs) suggested I head up the mountain and ski with the big boys. At the time, I couldn't think of any better way to spend a sunny December afternoon.

We head down the slopes and I'm feeling great. But Bob points out that I'm snowplowing and need to keep the skis parallel. That sounds familiar so I put them together and start to remember how to turn. But something's different. Where is the powder up to my knees? What's all this icy snow doing here? Before long, I'm face down and feeling pain everywhere, but mostly in my right hand. I go to stand up and my thumb does not agree with the plan.

I made it down the mountain and for some reason decided to take the gondola up for another run. This time, I'm realizing my thumb is toast. I get down to the bottom again and head for the bar. An ice water for my thumb, and a nut brown ale for me.

Ali's Dad Mike takes me to the hospital, about 40 minutes away and they do X-Rays and confirm the break. It's still lined up, but I'll need to keep it in a splint so it heals properly. It's about 7:30pm by now and we're headed back to the lodge. I get the cellphone to call and let them know we're headed back and to see what we've been missing on Christmas Eve.

The phone rings and rings. It took a while for someone to answer, because Ali, expecting our call, had run to the phone and badly stubbed her toe on a table. And had broken it. The toe, not the table. No, I'm not kidding.

Of course, they didn't know at the time whether it was broken. When we finally got back to the lodge, Ali was being fed shots of whiskey and the Uncles were convincing her that they could manually correct the errant toe. We headed right back to the hospital.

The ER docs and nurses are probably still chuckling about us. They didn't even try to keep straight faces when we showed up with the second broken bone. And when the doctor found out we had two toddlers he really lost it. "So, how are you going to take care of them?? You can't walk and you can't carry anything! HAHAHHAHA!!!" It was a Christmas miracle that we were able to give these poor ER workers such amusement with our wounds. Isn't that the true spirit of Christmas?

Today we had our follow-up visit with the orthopaedist (why do they insist on the funny Greek spelling? It's not like we take the kids to Paediatricians) and we brought laughter and happiness to a whole new office of medical professionals. "Oh we couldn't wait when we saw that you were both coming in. What happened? Who beat up who? Did a thumb wrestling match go horribly wrong?"

Ali's Dad likes to call the whole episode a "Love Story," which I think is the best spin anyone could possibly put on this comedy of errors.

Here's to a healthy 2010!

Oh, Christmas was a blast, besides the injuries. Here are a few pictures from our trip to Warrensburg NY, including the crazy 80's party we had on 12/26. And here's a video of Jake playing his new drumset!!

Annapolis Pirate Adventure

All last week we kept thinking we'd take a day trip somewhere to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather. But we woke up Saturday morning and realized we didn't really know where we wanted to go. Just before giving up and playing out in the cul-de-sac, we decided on Annapolis. Ali did a quick search and found this pirate place, which we kept as a surprise for the kids.

When we got into town, we got lunch at Chick and Ruth's which makes a mean pastrami sandwich, and old fashioned egg creams and shakes and about 150 other menu items. From there, we strolled around town and found a big shady playground for the kids.

Finally, it was pirate time. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this place did a great job. After all the kids showed up, they took them outside to paint tattoos and beards and dress them up in pirate and mermaid gear.
And then for the rest of the adventure, they kept the kids in one group and parents in another. They told them how to be pirate-y, and got them all excited about our boat ride. On the pirate ship, all the kids sat in front and were entertained while the parents relaxed in the back and enjoyed a beautiful day on the bay. We searched for treasure, fired water cannons at Pirate Pete, and even drank some grog. It was a really fun time. And no, we had no idea it was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Not kidding.


For dinner we went to Cantler's and had some of the best crabs I've ever had. Jake loved hammering the crabs, and even got some tips (and big crab bites) from the locals sitting next to us. Sadie tried a tiny bite, before switching to hush puppies and ketchup. We were there for almost two hours, which has to be a record with the kids. About halfway through, we switched them to strawberry cake and they were in heaven.

Great day trip!

More pics here.

Day 0 and day 1 of school year 2009-10

Before I start talking about the new school year, I first need to talk about this:


That's me and Deni in the back seat there, with Patrick and one of Smith Mountain Lake's barnstormers at the controls. For Patrick's birthday, Deni got him a flying lesson and when we showed up, it turned out the instructor had room for two more. Deni took her camera up in the plane, but I don't have those pictures so you'll have to take my word for it that it was beautiful and so much fun to see the lake from, oh, 3,000 feet?? I have no idea. My eyes were busy looking out the window at all the sights I'd seen from driving and boating around. I think Patrick may have been a little too focused to do much sightseeing, but he did a great job we only buzzed the control tower once, a la Top Gun. The best piece of advice I took away from it was, "fly it like you stole it," which is my new motto.

Yesterday the kids' school was closed to get ready for the new school year, so we went had a crazy adventure day. After we dropped Ali off, we drove up to Huntley Meadows Park for a morning hike. I've never been, but it was a great spot for exploring and running through the woods, and they also have a great boardwalk through the wetlands where you can pretend that you see all the animals they say live there. We did see the "beaver dam" they advertised, but it just looked like a ranger dropped a handful of twigs. Anyway, the kids loved it.

Here we are at a stoplight. I just held up the camera and took a quick shot since everyone was wearing sunglasses and we had MIA blasting on the system. It wasn't until we got home and I looked at the pics that I saw Jake giving me the tongue. On our way downtown, we stopped at the Maine Ave. fish market for a snack. This wasn't my best idea ever (forklifts, hobos, Sadie-sized spaces between the boats and the Potomuck), but the kids loved it. They got to touch the live crabs, and see all the giant fish. They also got to see that mackerel that Ali's always talking about (I told them this particular one wasn't "holy"). We got some oysters, shrimp, crab balls and hush puppies. Sadie didn't want any of it, but she finally tried a hush puppy and loved it. Then she thought she was getting another, but got a crab ball instead. She made a very sad face and returned the half chewed crab ball to me, and not wanting to risk repeating that experience again, she refused any more hush puppies.


We got down to the mall and ran around a bit. Here they are in front of two monuments (beat that, Sears Portraits!):



Then Sadie saw the Carousel and that was that. We got on and they picked their horses -- Sadie on the purple one, and Jake on the one with a big number "3" that I assumed they painted on to appease the NASCAR tourist lobby. I tied the little strap around Sadie's waist, and wondered, what the heck does that strap do anyway? As the vintage carousel started turning, I noticed the sign that required one adult per child. In about 30 seconds, we were spinning faster than any carousel I'd ever been on. I was feeling the G-Forces more than that plane ride, and I could see both kids tilting outward on their horses ("They're PONIES!" Sadie kept reminding me). I kept jogging back and forth between the kids, making sure they weren't about to fly off, and trying not to show any fear in my expression. I think the ride lasted 34 minutes. I was glad when it was over.
Next we went over to the American History museum to check out the transportation section, and then the kid-zone. We also did the ride simulator thing that they could probably do a better job explaining how it fits into American History, but whatever. Jake loved it, and Sadie "was a little bit scared". She reminded me tonight that she was a little bit scared. I told her we wouldn't ride it again, but she said she wanted to, except this time with Mommy, Daddy, Jake, Sadie......and Cousin Lyssa.

Ok, so the first day of school was today. It was a hectic morning here as we were running a bit behind schedule and Sadie insisted on SLOWLY finishing every.......last......bite.....of her waffle. In the meantime, I took a picture of Jake, sporting his new favorite comical expression: Here are both kids, ready for what turned out to be a great first day in their new classes!

8 hours in Baltimore

Jake was asking about Baltimore and the first description that popped into my head was "a fun version of Washington DC". Don't get me wrong, DC is a fun town with lots of character. But Baltimore is Baltimore and it has at least two things going for it: duckpin bowling and no congressional staffers.

Baltimore also has a pretty good roller derby team in the Charm City All Stars. Saturday night they soundly beat the #2 Philly Liberty Belles, 149-74. We left to get the kids home right after the opening bout in which Charm City's Female Trouble took a beating from Philly's Independence Dolls. Cousin Lyssa was with us representing Philly and we taught Jake to boo every time Lyssa cheered. It was a lot of fun and we even got to see some old friends. Here's Sadie helping Mya Bloody Valentine of the Charm City All-Stars sell tickets:


Sadie kept looking up at us to say "now Sadie roller skate". Maybe a few more years...

Before the bout, we had a ball at Port Discovery where Sadie fearlessly climbed every rope bridge she could find and Jake ruled the soccer field:

Day hike

I'm on my way out the door to Austin, TX, but I realized if I don't post something here a WHOLE MONTH will have gone by with no update. As much as Ali would like, we can't just assume it's still St. Patrick's Day!

We had a fun weekend, and cousin Lyssa stopped by on her way to and back from the Lake. The kids kept looking for her in the mornings, after she'd gone. Especially Sadie, who is much more comfortable with Lyssa than she is with most people.

On Sunday we went for a hike at this funny little preserve that you've probably driven by a hundred times and never even known about. Unless you live someplace else, that is. It's called the Winkler Botanic Preserve and it's a beautiful little pocket of woods and streams and waterfalls, tucked right back up against I-395, with the entrance hidden behind a bunch of garden apartment buildings. They have a big 1930's log-cabin style lodge and a full ropes course. They must do retreats, but there was strangely no official website that I could find.

Here are some pictures:

Saturday Adventure

On Saturday we headed out west to see Dinosaur Land, a kitschy 50's style exhibit of dinosaurs in their natural environs - the backyard of an old motel near Rt. 81. Here we are in the jaws of a prehistoric shark:


Sadie loved everything about this place. We weren't technically supposed to climb on the dinosaurs, but I couldn't keep her off. In fact, I had to drag her away from this one kicking and screaming.
And King Kong was there too, because....why not? After driving an hour out to Dinosaur Land and spending only about 20 minutes wandering the grounds, we did a quick search to see what else there was to do nearby. Ali came up with the Route 11 potato chip factory, which was a nice scenic drive down the road. Here we are driving through a covered bridge on our way there:


Anyone know why there are covered bridges? Check here if you're as curious as we were. The Route 11 chip factory was a small operation, but we got to watch them slicing the potatoes and then see the chips fry in giant vats of peanut oil. Then, the chips rode a conveyor belt upstairs where seasonings were added before they were dropped into the bagging chute. It was a fun little tour, and we got to sample all the different varieties of chips.

They asked what brought us out that way and we told them we'd come from Dinosaur Land. Then they told us we really should check out the American Celebration exhibit just down the road. So, we hopped back in the car, not quite knowing what to expect. It turns out, this is the company that makes all the parade floats for the inaugural parades, as well as other parades like the Rose and Thanksgiving Day parades. The warehouse was packed with all kinds of floats and displays. Here are a few shots:
And after that, we went through their exhibit of old storefront displays from the 50's and 60's. And for that last bit of randomness, they also had a goat:

Fun day. Check out more pictures here.

South Mountain Creamery

On Sunday we drove out to visit South Mountain Creamery, the dairy that delivers our milk. It was their fall open house and they had tours and BBQ and ice cream and hayrides a big barn full of toddler ride-on toys. It was great.

We got to see the milking operation and the tiny dairy where the milk is bottled and packed up for delivery later the same day it's milked. They had all kinds of equipment packed into the dairy house where they make yogurt, ice cream, butter and cheeses. I loved hearing about everything, but Sadie and Jake were ready to see the cows. We walked up to the barn where all the calves live - about 20 or 30 of them. Sadie loved every minute of this. She loves animals and these calves were pretty friendly and happy to have visitors.

I just need to set up this video, though. I was taking a little movie because the kids were being so cute with the calves, but when Jake asks us if these are baby cows, both Ali I turned our heads to talk to him and when we looked back Sadie was backpedaling and had a terrified look on her face. At the time we had no idea what happened because she'd been having such a great time with the cows. When we got home and watched the movie, we realized that the cow surprised her with a quick lick to the ear. The quality here isn't great so you might have to watch it twice to see it. We watched it about 35 times.



This is for Stacey and Cara: Cow says, "Don't be scared Sadie, we just like the salt in your ear"

Here are some pictures.

Oyster Fest

Today we drove out to Leonardtown, MD where the US National Oyster Shucking Competition is held annually. We've been going for the past three years, although today we found out that Ali and her family used to go when she was little. Funny coincidence. Last year Jake had his first oyster and this year he was excited to try them again. Here he is bringing us another dozen:


Pictures here.

I Heart Fall

This weekend was pretty much the perfect weather for a weekend. Sunny, cool, and the sky looked like the opening scene of the Simpsons.

I love fall, but I still don't get why you're not supposed to capitalize the seasons. With words like fall and spring, they could easily be mistaken for their verb cousins without a capital letter starting them off right. Even "winter" can be a verb. Oh well, I suppose there are bigger fish...

Anyway, first things first. I was going through the camera's memory card, which is finally full, and making sure I had copies of all the pictures before I deleted everything. I came across a few pictures that Ali had taken for Patrick's birthday a few months back of the kids dressed in their Majestic chef's whites. Majestic is capitalized, of course, because it's the famous restaurant recently voted best restaurant in Memphis, TN (full disclosure: at least 23 votes were cast from this household). So, happy belated birthday, Patrick! How's that ukulele?


We started the weekend off with a trip out to Burke nursery with Stacey and Mike and baby Lily. Here we are showing Sadie how smiling works:


And here are Sadie and Lily about to walk through the Great Pumpkin Tunnel:
This picture cracks me up. Yes, Stacey is taller than Ali in real life, but for some reason, Ali looks like she's four feet tall here:
Does Jake have a future career as a professional model? You be the judge (but there's only one correct answer, judges).

Three Musketeers Outing

We had fun yesterday catching up with Jake's buddies, Rachel and Jocelyn. After a snack at Rachel's house, we all went over to Cabin John Park to play and ride the train.

Here they are on the engine. The conductor was very focused on keeping his train on schedule and finally agreed to let us take a quick picture as long we agreed to "make it snappy."

Sadie loved the train ride! Big smiles and lots of pointing. And, we saw a deer!


I'll be sad when the kids are too old to be convinced to make any pose for my amusement.


More pictures...

Girls Weekend in NYC

This weekend, to celebrate Ali's upcoming milestone birthday, her mom and sister took her up to New York for some shows and dining and miscellaneous good times. Luckily, Poppy stayed behind to help me keep track of the kids. Here we are this morning, playing Ready Set Go. As usual, Jake is in the lead, Sadie is a close second, and Poppy's bringing up the rear. We're getting quite a bit of rain today from tropical storm Hanna, so we decided to head downtown to the Natural History museum for some indoor fun. We had a great time exploring mammals and dinosaurs and insects and PBJ sandwiches.

I think I've got the basic parenting skills down pretty well, at least when it comes to kids waist-high or shorter, but I still have no idea what to do with Sadie's hair. That's exclusively Ali's territory, and when she's not around, this is what Sadie looks like:
There's a hair tie in there somewhere, but I'm not sure what it's doing. Sadie didn't seem to mind. Before we went to the museum, I put a baseball cap on her and she looked like mini college Ali.

Happy Labor Day

We're having a nice relaxing day so far. We made pancakes this morning, and then went on a little hike around Teddy Roosevelt Island. Sadie was in heaven with all the steps to climb on. On our way back home we stopped at the Italian Store and devoured two of their subs. Yum. Here are a couple of pictures from Ali's cell phone, because I forgot the camera. And my wallet. It was that kind of morning...



We rarely use the cell camera, and there were a few shots on there that I'd never uploaded to the computer. This one made me chuckle. This is from a few weeks ago when we all went to the Shenandoah Brewery, and Jake was playing on this rocking horse while I was in the back bottling my beer.


Oh, by the way, if you're interested in Labor related issues on Labor Day, or any other day, check out Robert Reich's blog. He was Clinton's Secretary of Labor and always has interesting things to say.

Airshow

Yesterday we went to the Joint Service Open House at Andrews Air Force Base. It was a beautiful day, and just a little cool in the morning - perfect for walking around on the tarmac where it gets hot pretty quickly. Mimi and Grandpa came too, which which was fun because I remember going with them when I was Jake's age (or maybe a little older).

Here's Jake at the controls of a helicopter:

I'm pretty sure he adjusted every dial and switch, so hopefully the real pilots check everything before they fire up the engines.

And here's Sadie checking out the rotors:


They have all services represented here, and you'd need to stay longer than we did to see everything. It's pretty impressive. This is a picture of Jake in some SCUBA gear at the Navy deep sea diving and bomb squad booth:

Check out more pictures here.

Tractors

Yesterday Ali took the kids out to Frying Pan Farm Park to see all the spring baby animals. We were telling Jake the night before about the trip and he asked "will there be mud?". We said, "yes, there will be mud, since it's rained for the past three days". "And will there be pigs?". "Yep, there will be pigs, and lots of baby piglets." "And can we roll around in the mud with the pigs?" "Absolutely," I said, knowing I would be at work. I do need to be more careful about saying things like that because Jake is starting to get a pretty good memory - "Daddy, last night you said we could have chocolate cake for breakfast!"

I'll say pretty much anything to get him to go to sleep....

Haircut

Today the big activity was a haircut for Jake. We go to a little barbershop in Falls Church (where the Jacksons go, too) and they're really good with kids. Normally Jake sits on my lap, but today he saw an older kid sit there on his own, so he wanted to do the same. Jake was so good - he sat still, he moved when she asked him too, and he even made small talk! "So what's your favorite color?" "Ummm, red".
And here's Sadie thoroughly enjoying some mashed sweet potatoes.
And here's a shot from my hike with Jake today. We went on a tiger hunt, but couldn't find any near this creek. At one point, to keep things interesting, I gave him a stick and told him he was Captain Hook. "And who are you Daddy?" "Well, I guess I'm Peter Pan". So, for the rest of the hike, he stuck with it, and I was Peter Pan. "Can I throw a rock in the river, Peter Pan?" "What we doing, Peter Pan?" "Where's the tigers, Peter Pan?"

Two Nights Off

This weekend we decided to redeem two of our Christmas presents. The first was a night out to Brasserie Beck and the second was an overnight stay in Baltimore. Yes, the Grandparents will go to great lengths to get babysitting duty, and we love it.

On Friday, we had a great dinner at Brasserie Beck with Stacey & Mike and Erin & Fred. We sat at the Chef's table and had a view of the kitchen. Great Belgian food and beers. Afterwards it was off to the Palace of Wonders to see a burlesque show and meet up with some old friends. Jake and Sadie spent the night at my folks house -- the first time for Sadie. Sounds like everyone had a great time. Here's a picture of Jake in his big-boy bed at my folks house:

On Sunday, we left the kids at our house with Ali's folks and drove up to Baltimore for the night. We had brunch at the Blue Moon Cafe, which was GREAT. It's just a tiny, hole-in-the-wall cafe, but everything was perfect -- great coffee, fresh squeezed & cold OJ, dee-licious banana pancakes and an amazing crab, roasted red pepper and brie omelette with homemade biscuit and homemade jam. OK, full disclosure: we were STARVING after waiting about40 minutes outside to get a table in the tiny place, so we probably would have been happy with a hot cup of coffee and a doughnut, but it turned out the wait was well worth it.

We stayed right in Fells Point in a cool hotel that was a converted factory right on the water. We shopped around all the little stores, saw a movie, caught the end of the Daytona 500 at an Irish pub, and had a nice leisurely dinner. None of which are possible on a typical night at home. In the morning, we checked out Canton and Hampden, and had lunch at Cafe Hon and tried to act like a local.

Here's Jake and Poppy making faces at each other, and a picture of our hotel and the view from our room:Thanks so much to Mike and Pat and Jack and Carol for the great gifts and for the gift of letting Ali and me spend a little time together.