I was pretty nervous about my mom and dad coming to visit, didn’t want them to have to make the long trip. Sure glad they did, though – we had a blast. The main event was Reiley’s confirmation, a big day for all of us. Along the way we managed to…
go out to Mellow Mushroom, order Thai Thai…
have a cookout with dogs, brats, corn, s’mores
fix up pop’s boxcarkid.com website
watch Sherlock Holmes (aaaawesome!)
explore the garden, walking CAREFULLY down the steeply sloped back yard
What a great time we had in DC last week!
Any time you want to take a “walking vacation”, I heartily recommend DC. There are more sights to see than you could cover in a week of walking.
We hit museums, monuments, the White House and the Capitol Building in two days, and it was quite a fun workout. Absolutely gorgeous weather, joggers everywhere, people playing soccer on the green. And just walking the streets of Washington provides a wealth of architectural delights.
We stayed in a DoubleTree hotel just off of Dupont Circle, right in the middle of the action. It was maybe a half-mile walk to the White House. We got really good at running across 5-lane intersections with 12 seconds on the pedestrian clock!
At one point, strolling a block off the National Mall, Wren and I are pretty positive that we passed Adam Young, eating a chocolate ice cream cone. He had big sunglasses on and a hoodie, but I swear it was him. And Wren backs me up: “he loves sweets, it had to be him!”
But a word of warning: don’t pet the squirrels! Reiley, ever affectionate towards wildlife, was instructed on this by Chief Headmaster Squirrel, who took a big chunk out of her finger following her third attempt to “pet” him. Fortunately squirrels don’t pass rabies to humans, so treatment centered around preventing infection and tendon damage (once Andrea got her to the emergency room – Wren and I were busy listening to Adam). She’s recovering well. :>
On the last day, before heading out of town, we meandered in the car over to the Georgetown area, where hip restaurants are lined up in long rows, with wait staff loitering on the sidewalk ready to pull you inside. We found a nice-looking Indian restaurant, and shared 4 delicious entrees. After 2 days of walking and quick lunches and dinners at Subway and Johnny Rockets, it was a satisfying end.
Wren and I have been looking forward to this for months, and last Thursday it happened. It was absolutely perfect. We were far up and above the left side of the stage for the first half, then moved down to a few rows back from the stage on the right. Sounded great, the stage lights were great, and Adam kept us jumping and singing and shouting all night, playing keyboard solos, flinging a guitar around, and generally dancing about. Woohoo! Wrenny and I had to wait outside for Ma and Rei to get out of the emergency room (!) after, and we spent the time outside the tour bus, waiting to spot Adam, but we were denied a third sighting. :>
Our beloved dog of 15-16? years went to greener pastures on Saturday. She is in so many of our pictures going back to before the kids were born. We love you Cassidy and we’ll miss you, good girl.
These little creatures are awesome fun! We scared ma and grammy and spent all day building containers for them to navigate. Technically they aren’t aware of their environment, but they’re designed so they sure seem like they are!
Wrenny had her first communion, it was a really nice event at the church, with fancy dessert followed by a nice service. The night before, we made the bread that would be used, from whole wheat flour, honey, soymilk and oil, simple and delicious. And the good friday service the next day is one of my most favorites of the year.
Ready for the next Amazing Race contest?! Sadly, after the first couple episodes, this looks like the season with the theme of “Low IQ”… nonetheless, here we go!
Pick the team you think will win, and pick the team you think will be eliminated next.
If your winning team is eliminated, you have to pick another. Least picks wins!
If your losing team is eliminated, you score, and get to pick another. Most scores wins!
Team
Symbol
Jet/Cord – Cowboys
C
Monique/Shawne – Moms/Attorneys
A
Dan/Jordan – Effeminate Brothers
E
Louie/Michael – Detectives
D
Joe/Heidi – Married
J
Steve/Allie – Dad/Daughter
S
Jody/Shannon – Grandmother/Granddaughter
G
Jordan/Jeff – Newly Dating from Big Brother
N
Brent/Caite – Dating Models
M
Dana/Adrian – High School Sweethearts
H
Carol/Brandy – Dating Lesbians
L
PICKS
Viewer
Ep01 N/H
Ep02 C/G
Ep03 C/A
Ep04 D/(N)
Ep05 D/J
Ep06 D/N
Ep07 S/(C)
Ep08 C/S
Ep09
Ep10
Ep11
Ep12
Larry
N/L
N/L
C/L
Jane
C/E
C/E
Andrea
A/M
D/M
Mike
C/E
C/M
Shelley
N/
D/M
Legend
Winning choice won this leg of the race (used for tiebreaker)
-1
Winning choice lost this leg of the race (pick again)
+1
Losing choice lost this leg of the race
+1
Winning choice won, and losing choice lost – PERFECT!
Jan 18th 2010: Scan today showed a lung tumor ‘the size of an apricot pit’. Getting it cut out in mid-February. Have no fear, we’re on it…
UPDATE Feb 20th 2010: I’m sitting in the hospital bed with only two tubes left stuck in me, feeling fit as a fiddle. Dr. Levine sliced through my ribcage on my back and pulled out every bit of the tumor. And I received comments from two different docs about my fantastic muscle cage around my lungs. Larry took the pic, and Gary measured the scar – 8.5″, the ladies are impressed! Click through if you feel brave enough to see it. ;-) Continue reading “Time to clean up the lungs”→
The family made another trek to Florida for a long weekend of fun.
The plan was to fly into Tampa Thursday night, get a hotel, and hit Busch Gardens Africa all day Friday. Instead, it was heavy rain that hit BG all day Friday, not us. We had already paid for the hotel so we stayed there Thursday night. We had booked “blind” via hotwire.com, and ended up at a Hyatt, not bad. It was a nice little suite room with an HDTV.
Dan and Bailey came to pick us up Friday morning, and I talked everyone into a lunch adventure. The iPhone is great when it comes to exploring new places, and I had dialed up an interesting-sounding “raw and vegan” restaurant for us to try that was only 4 miles away. It was called the Grass Root. The menu was overwhelming, and I was feeling like having some fun, so we ordered a little bit of everything. We chose the “Peace za Pi” as our raw-food adventure, and it was a great call. The cheese-like base of blended cashews was delicious under a bed of garlic, avacado, red peppers, and some very yummy green goodness. We also ordered a BBQ unsteak sandwich, sprout subs and rollups, a garlic noodle dish, and guac and tortilla. Dan loved the dried vegetables and ordered extra to go. All in all, delish!
After eating we headed down to Fort Myers, where Val was having trouble with some plumbing. She had installed a new faucet in the kitchen, and it was leaking all over. She couldn’t get to the shutoff valve in the garage without stepping away from the faucet – it wasn’t a one-man job. We helped her tighten things up, and headed to Ma and Pa’s, where (as usual) Ma was waiting with food for us. Some yummy lentil burgers, to be exact.
Over the weekend, we managed to get in…
shopping for Ma for some small rugs for her high-traffic areas
an excellent 75th birthday party for Ma hosted by Tammy and Di – Ma and Pa, Phyllis Schultz, the Behrns-Millers, the Millers, Niki, Bobby, Corey and his girlfriend Aleea, Tam & Di, Roger and Toni… Maui, Di’s adorable dog, provided entertainment, swimming, doing laps around the house, and showing off commands like “left”, “right”, “through” (she weaved between Di’s legs while Di walked), “peek”, etc. etc… ONE SMART DOG! :>
Pie Theft II – The Second Generation – imported into iMovie, edited, muted, titles added, background music added, sound effects added, exported to DVD and YouTube – Wren Bailey and Reiley did all the heavy lifting, nice job girls!
Installed Ma’s less-old washing machine, replacing her leaking old washing machine, but couldn’t convince her to throw the old one out, *sigh*
Dinner at Ma’s of a delicious Thai soup that she and Val spent hours prepping; and her famous apple pie, too!
Saw “Percy Jackson – The Lightning Thief” (which we all agreed was a letdown)
At various points, picked up Moe’s and groceries for spaghetti for the gang – man Fort Myers is congested this time of year!
Dan drove us by our old house, honking to annoy and embarrass me
Wren and I had a (quick!) swim in the 60-degree pool
