Folklife Festival

Here's a picture from a cooking demonstration in one of the Northern Ireland tents at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. I didn't take the picture, but I found it on Flickr. We forgot a camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it that we were there.

Ali took the kids down there yesterday afternoon and I met them after work for dinner. This year, the Festival has exhibits from the Mekong River, Jamestown and Northern Ireland. The theme is, "Places that have had some Troubles, but would now like to increase Tourism."

By the time I met them on the Mall, the temperature was about 135 degrees in the shade (which does not exist on the Mall). They must have decided to make the museums free in Washington so that people might actually come here in the summer. We cooled off with some Mekong River specialties, crisp Green Papaya Salad with Shrimp and spicy Larb Gai. Jake and I practiced saying "Larb Gai" and when we got to the front of the line and he actually ordered it, all the Thai ladies were giggling and asking him what else he could order from the menu. He froze up, but a lot of what he says sounds like he's reading from a Thai menu, so he probably could have pulled it off if he'd tried. "Gap Bai! Prat Doh!"

Jake's Two Year checkup

We took Jake into the doc for his two-year checkup this morning. We barely made it there because Sadie didn't sleep well between the hours of about 12:00 and 6:00 a.m., but then she did sleep well after that, and so did we. And Jake decided to sleep in later than normal, and we haven't set an alarm clock in about two years, so we finally woke up at 7:40 and somehow got everyone (including Mr. Potato Head who goes everywhere with us now) ready and out the door and to Jake's 8:00 a.m. appointment on time. I'm not sure everyone had pants on, but we were there.

Jake had a great checkup and the doc says he's doing very well with his fine motor skills, his vocabulary, and his social interactions. And he's off the charts for height-- although he wasn't crazy about getting measured and we first had to measure Mr. Potato Head who is still holding steady at 6 inches. Jake, on the other hand, broke through the yard barrier and came in at 37 1/2 inches! That's two inches taller than I was at his age (see chart below). He weighs just over 29 pounds, and that bumped him up a bit in the percentile range from the 50's, where he's always been, to the 65th percentile.

He did have to get a shot, but it's his last one until Kindergarten, and he got a Wyle E. Coyote band-aid, so that helped some. We had a nice day with Jake today, and it's pretty neat to think about how much he's grown in the last two years. We went on our family walk after dinner and he just seemed so grown up walking with us. He was chatty and inquisitive and funny and he made Ali and I smile, thinking about the little boy he's turning into.

Oh, and just so this post is a little balanced, Sadie is doing great also! She is the happiest, smiliest baby I've ever seen. I've really only been around two babies, including Sadie and Jake, but I can't imagine there are many as happy as she is. I got to spend some extra time with her today since I took the day off and she just loves to bounce and to look at people and to smile. And she's starting to giggle when Jake makes faces at her, which is the cutest thing ever.

Birthday Party!

We had SO much fun at Jake's birthday party today! Some of my favorite moments:

Jake smiling while we all sang "Happy Birthday" and then getting up and nonchalantly walking away instead of blowing out his candles.

Danny eating his age in chicken wings (he's nine).

Jake getting reunited with his daycare buddies, Rachel and Jocelyn.

All the kids' water sprinkler toys mean I don't have to water the lawn tomorrow.

Antfarm!

And finally, you can always tell a good party when half the guests run around with their pants and shirts off.

It was great to see everyone today - Jake had a blast!

Click the birthday party link over to the right or here for more pictures.

Glen Echo

Here's where Ali and I would have met if we'd lived in Washington in the 1940's or 1950's. We almost met there in 2000. I was taking Swing dance lessons there at the Spanish Ballroom - hoping to meet Ali. As it turned out, Ali was just about to move to DC and didn't know anything about the Spanish Ballroom. If she did know about it, I'm sure she would have signed up for the same class I did. We ended up meeting in September 2000, shortly after I'd finished my series of Swing dance classes. I asked her to go to a Swing dance night at the America restaurant in Tysons, figuring I could impress her with my skills.

The problem was, in class we'd only practiced to pieces of the same songs over and over. And I'd grown accustomed to those little song segments. We'd never danced from start to finish and I'm a terrible dancer anyway, so after Ali I started dancing that night, I quickly realized I was in trouble. Plus, we were surrounded by all the Swing dance pros that go to all these Swing dances and make sure the amateurs know they are just amateurs and should probably get out of the way, which we did.

I don't know why it took us until today to finally visit Glen Echo park together. But they had done so much to renovate the park since I last saw it, so it was almost like we were both seeing it together for the first time.

A bit of background: Glen Echo was an amusement park at the end of a streetcar line that was pretty popular in DC from the time streetcars were in operation until the late 1960's. The National Park Service has been slowly renovating all the Art Deco-style buildings.

We had a great time today with Jake and Sadie, walking around and checking out the Spanish Ballroom, the Arcade, what's left of the Crystal Pool, riding the little train and the beautifully restored 1921 carousel.

Here's Sadie with the lights of the Carousel behind her:
And here's Jake riding the Carousel:

Bathtime

We've had to give Jake a bath almost every night this week since we've been playing in the giant dirt pit across the street where Jamie and Craig's house used to be. They've dug out the foundation, and finally started pouring some concrete today. The guys usually clear out around 4pm, and then neighbors all come out soon after, either checking out their progress, or playing in the dirt (the two groups are usually broken out by age, but not always.) Jake loves climbing on the dirt piles, and then loading up his little dump truck while making this face and dump truck noises. Sometimes he and I walk down dirt piles holding hands, and if he slips a little he says excitedly: "Jake has roller skates!" He's a little obsessed with roller skates. He can spot a kid wearing heelys 10 Target aisles away. "ROLLER SKATES!!"

Countdown to June 25

Here are some of the custom-designed, limited edition finger-painted birthday party invitations that Jake delivered to the neighbors yesterday. I thought Jake did a great job (and I think Ali might have helped too). We're getting excited for Jake to turn two, but he seems uninterested so far. About this time two years ago, we were probably sitting around analyzing Braxton Hicks contractions and wondering whether we were having a boy or a girl. Time flies.

Happy Father's Day!

Jake was SO excited for Father's Day that he woke up bright and early at 5:30 this morning! He knew I wouldn't want to sleep in and waste a minute of this day. Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there - especially Mike and Jack.