Falling Rocks

She's an OOOOld Lady

2012-02-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Coral decided that she was an old lady tonight. When we asked her to replay for the camera she was a little corny. She is a funny kid.

Family Valentines

2012-02-14T17:32:00.001-06:00

After dinner, Ruby disappeared into her room. Thirty minutes later she called us all into the living room and presented us with a valentines from her to the whole family.

Thanks Ruby, we love you too!

Opal the Alain

2012-02-12T19:11:00.002-06:00

Ruby has decided that Opal will be exposed as a Martian in five years... Dun, dun, dun ...

Sunday morning

2012-02-12T17:59:00.001-06:00

Opal discovers the utility of rubber bands

2012-02-12T09:54:00.002-06:00

Projects

2012-02-08T22:12:00.001-06:00

Ruby wanted to make her valentines from scratch. She did some research and made little super hero valentines w/lollipops.

Candid Camera

2012-02-07T06:56:00.003-06:00

Sunday morning

2012-02-05T13:31:00.000-06:00

Involuntary Alloparenting

2012-01-30T18:41:00.000-06:00

We have overheard this conversation between opal and Coral several times today:

Opal: Hey mom...

Coral: I am not you mom, I am your sister

Opal: Alright mom

Coral: I am not you mom, call me CORAL

Opal: Alright mom

Guitar #2

2012-01-29T20:44:00.002-06:00

Opal gives the singer/songwriter thing a try ...

Guitar, day two

2012-01-29T18:04:00.002-06:00

Ruby with her new birthday guitar

Sunday morning

2012-01-29T13:56:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Ruby

2012-01-28T20:08:00.001-06:00

Ruby had a birthday this week and we had a party on Saturday.

She wanted an island theme, Opal helped with the decorations ...

with pizza

and games

and an ice cream cake

Mom and dad got her a 1/2 size guitar and some learning materials. She is already bugging her mom about teaching her more. Her Chei would be proud.

Dancers

2012-01-22T20:55:00.000-06:00

Steph and the girl's decided to watch the Git-Hoan dancers perform at the last minute at the National Museum of the American Indian. They were really glad they went. Poor Opal was not a fan of the masks, neither was Coral. They did a variety of dances, but our favorites were with the masks, even if they were scary.

The Git-Hoan dancers are from Alaska and are comprised of members from the Tsimshian, Haida and Tlingit tribes.

Sunday Morning

2012-01-22T13:30:00.001-06:00

Snow Day in Washington

2012-01-22T08:50:00.001-06:00

We had snow on Friday night and it was pretty much a mess on Saturday morning. We figured it was so nasty out that people would say in and we should go check out the museums early, while they aren't crowded.

We are about 10 minutes from the National Mall when there is no traffic. We found a free parking spot right in front of the National Museum of American History.

We had the Mall to ourselves while we waited for the museum to open.

Awesome emptiness!

Enthroned Washington

They had an exhibit on Jewish peddlers that was pretty interesting

Eli Whitney's patent model for his cotton gin.

The original Muppets

A New Mexican santos

Thomas Edison's first lightbulbs

George Washington's saber

...and mess kit

George Washington's uniform

Custer's coat, we checked for bullet holes

The first American warship, The Philadelphia

A piece of the Berlin Wall

Sheridan's horse "Winchester"

Mary Todd Lincoln's dress

Sunday Morning

2012-01-15T13:40:00.000-06:00

Big Night Out

2012-01-14T18:06:00.004-06:00

We had a fun night out with friends, bowling and Korean bbq at Honey Pig.

Marcel the Snail

2012-01-14T08:13:00.000-06:00

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

Quote of the Day - Lovely day

2012-01-11T16:41:00.003-06:00

Coral said the family prayer this morning and prayer that "everyone has a lovely day today and Daddy and Ruby have fun with their friendmates at work and school."

Visiting with Aunt Amy and Cousin Michael

2012-01-09T17:28:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we went to the Pennsylvania Farm Show, billed as the largest indoor agricultural event in the country.

Governor Tom Corbett. Note to any of Tom Corbett's staff that may come across this post, no one goes to a rodeo to hear a politician speak, sit down and enjoy the events like everyone else.

PA State police mounted patrol

Goose with a little feather hat, big grey goose, and some serious mom jeans.

Duckling torture-for-entertainment facility

Opalina likes the ducks

I giant butter sculpture

The butterfly garden was the kid's favorite.

Opalina's favorite was the pigs

We also got to spend some time in Lancaster with Aunt Amy

Bowling

2012-01-08T17:33:00.004-06:00

This post is actually a few days late, but here goes. We found out that the bowling alley at Ft. Meyers is open to the public and it is very family friendly. So we took the girls bowling for the first time...

You might want to notice that Coral is actually at 64 points in the 5th frame and is well ahead of everyone else. We have to add that she insisted on bowling without help (though the bumpers were up) and even chased us off the deck (if that is what it is really called) before she would bowl.

Our master bowler

Opal was on everyone's team

Sunday Morning

2012-01-08T11:51:00.001-06:00

Sunday morning at the Nalis and with cousin Michael.

Quote of the day

2012-01-06T21:06:00.000-06:00

Coral asked Stephanie to play a game with her and Stephanie told her that if Coral set up the game that she would be ready to play in a few minutes.

Several minutes later Coral came back upstairs and told her mother "You were supposed to come lots of minutes ago, now it is too late, you lost your chance, I put the game away!"

Severus Snape

2012-01-05T19:07:00.000-06:00

The lady at the salon talked Steph into going out and getting a flat iron. Opal wanted to try it too. Dad wanted to document the results for posterity.

Reminds us a little of this...

Sunday Morning

2012-01-01T17:54:00.000-06:00

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree ...

2012-01-01T10:54:00.000-06:00

Grandma, frybread and necklaces

2011-12-31T18:46:00.001-06:00

Coral has begun to really show interest in cooking. She was excited for her Maasani to teach her how to make frybread.

Opal came and wanted Grandma's attention too so Grandma turned the whole operation over to Coral.

Coral size and almost perfectly round.

Ruby had another project in mind. She wanted to make a necklace for her Maasani. She got some turquoise and coral beads made a made a pretty little pattern.

Opal was pretty much in everyone business. Though she did make and eat her own frybread.

Grandma also helped Opalina make frybread for the very first time.

Day in Baltimore

2011-12-31T17:24:00.000-06:00

Before I begin the post about Baltimore, Ruby has turned out to be quite an artist. When we went to her holiday party, her teacher said she had made this sign.

We decided to head out to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Ma saan and her girl's on the top floor of the aquarium.

The girl's loved the aquarium. Ruby knew quite a few names of the saltwater fish. She's had good practice since so many of our fish have died.

Christmas Break

2011-12-29T19:41:00.000-06:00

Maasani came in for her Christmas break and we have had a nice visit so far. Christmas Eve we had a combined dinner with Steph's mom and brother and Matt's parent's and brother in Pennsylvania.

Nali Dot took the girls for a walk to get them good and hungry

... and she helped them make box houses.

Coral and Opal sat at the kids table (a table that their dad used when he was their age).

Living where we do we were able to find a milk chocolate Capitol. The girls waited impatiently to cut into it.

Opal pining for "chokit"

The girls took their grandma to visit Arlington National Cemetery.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We also went out to Mount Vernon.

George Washington apparently kept a camel, for show.

Matt got a pin-hole lens for Christmas and had fun trying it out.

We also went out to the Washington DC Temple to see the Christmas lights and nativity display.

Sunday Morning - Christmas Edition

2011-12-25T12:20:00.000-06:00

Quote of the day - "POWER FART!"

2011-12-21T20:20:00.005-06:00

Coral was whining about a tummy ache. She came running into the room to announce that "I farted and now I feel ALL better, it was like a Power Fart!"

Quote of the day - "She needs a different job."

2011-12-20T20:16:00.004-06:00

Stephanie was walking Ruby through school and Ruby pointed to the library aide and told Stephanie; "That lady is old and crabby and doesn't have the patience to work with kids. She needs a different job."

Quote of the day - "Hey Lady!"

2011-12-19T20:16:00.003-06:00

Stephanie braved the crowds at Costco today to get diapers (the Costco here is always a nightmare; five generations loitering while one member of the family shops, people making requests for *extra crispy* chicken bakes at the food counter, fighting with the sample ladies over one-sample-per-person policies ... it is enough to make your faith in human progress diminish).

While waiting to enter the parking lot (there are orange cones to control the flow of traffic, the need for these cones becomes shockingly obvious when you see these people trying to navigate a shopping cart through the extra wide aisles and failing) this conversation occurred Stephanie and Coral.

Coral (in the back seat): HEY LADY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

Stephanie: Are you talking to me? Who are you talking to?

Coral: That lady right there (points to woman at the crosswalk). She is just standing there and nobody can go. She needs to start walking so people can move.

Sunday Morning

2011-12-18T14:16:00.000-06:00

Opalina is growing up

2011-12-13T18:15:00.001-06:00

she's discovered pockets ...

Sunday Morning

2011-12-11T09:57:00.000-06:00

Coral wanted to wear a Gabonese dress this morning ...

Christmas Cake Pops

2011-12-10T15:24:00.001-06:00

Coral working on Christmas cake pops ...

Trains, trains at the US Botanic Garden

2011-12-10T12:04:00.000-06:00

Steph and the girl's returned to the Botanic Garden this week on a rainy day, when there were no lines at all to see the train. Once again, all the things built are taken from things out of nature.

The highlight of the whole display was Neuschwanstein Castle.

They also built various animal homes.

Opal was super excited about the trains.

They also had the boyhood homes of some of the President's. This one is Abe Lincoln's.

Sunday Morning with a bonus

2011-12-04T14:28:00.000-06:00

Coral is on a "fashion" kick. This last week she got a fashion book at the library, designed an outfit for her stuffed baboon, and this morning got out of bed and promptly dressed herself.

Puttin' up the Christmas tree

2011-12-03T18:05:00.000-06:00

US Botanical Garden Christmas Display

2011-12-03T17:46:00.000-06:00

The US Botanical Garden has opened their Christmas display which includes little mock-ups of the significant buildings around the National Mall. Each of the mock-ups is actually made from plant material. Notice that the top of the Jefferson Memorial is actually a gourd and the National Museum of the American Indian is made from mushrooms.

Can't keep Johnny down

2011-12-02T19:03:00.002-06:00

They Might Be Giants- Can't Keep Johnny Down from Dan Grady on Vimeo.

Fashion Shoot

2011-12-01T15:38:00.000-06:00

We go to the local library on a weekly basis. Coral chose a book on fashion. I don't know where she picked up this interest in fashion. Maybe, it was our yr. spent in Gabon and watching the Style network regularly. Opal decided she'd look at this book and I found her the other day asleep on it drooling. So sorry fellow patrons of the local libraries.

Opal enjoys hamming it up for the camera. In the morning's, we're usually rushing to get Ruby out to the bus and she chose this get-up. Cute rasta hat, mon!

Coral decided to try out some of her fashion ideas on her baboon. She came running downstairs w/her baboon in this outfit. She said, "it has a hat, shirt, and skirt."

Looks like she didn't have enough tissue paper to cover up all of her baboon.

Sunday Morning

2011-11-27T09:36:00.001-06:00

Perils of the Lost Jungle

2011-11-27T07:16:00.000-06:00

We took the girls to miniature golf for the first time. Apparently Newsweek ranks miniature golf courses and Woody's Peril of the Lost Jungle is one of the top five courses in the country, a veritable putt-putt Pebble Beach.

The girls had a blast and are at just the right age that all the motion activated sets were extra exciting for them. Coral took to it right away and got the only hole-in-one.

If we had one criticism it would be that Tarzan looks like he got tangle up in his vine and choked, or was just plain lynched by a resentful Cheeta.

Since were all the way out in Herndon we stopped at one of the county parks that has an interactive museum.

Black Friday

2011-11-26T07:13:00.000-06:00

We had a fun Black Friday. Matt went out at 4 AM this morning and determined that the people who are out shopping at 4 AM are a little off and so he got embarrassed and came home with Dunkin Donuts.

We also have the largest tree in the neighborhood a few feet out our back door. It towers over all the houses and trees in the vicinity. Which means tons of leaves. So we raked a whole bunch of leaves.

Then we headed over to the NMAI to see a Tlingit group perform which was pretty cool.

THey have installed a bunch of flag, from all the tribes, since we were there last. Ruby spotted the Navajo Nation flag right away.

Some of the women's shawls, made from cedar bark and mountain goat wool, were over 140 years old, very cool.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T12:44:00.000-06:00

Haenyo – The Indomitable Diving Grandmas of Jeju Island

2011-11-23T19:56:00.000-06:00

They call themselves haenyo (pronounced hen-yuh), which literally means sea women and the whistling sound they made preceding their exit from the depths is called sumbisori. They are representative of a centuries old tradition, one which transformed their island in to a functioning matriarchy but a way of life which today is in danger of disappearing forever.

Jamestown Virginia

2011-11-20T19:51:00.003-06:00

Nali Dot and Nali Dale invited us to join them for a weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia. We had a nice low key weekend, got to meet our friend Veronica for lunch, and of course the girls were thrilled to spend time with their Nalis.

Our major activity was to visit Jamestown, the first permanent (as opposed to the disappeared Roanoke Colony) English settlement in what would later become the US of A.

Ruby showed us how to fire the canon

Opalina got in some quality time with Grandma.

A reconstruction of the original Jamestown structures

Ruby in front of the statue of John Smith

Pocahantas

Coralita's two favorite things were the cool glass floor, suspended over the original foundations of Jamestown, and fossil shark teeth.

We visited the reconstructed Powhatan villiage. Though after seeing the distinctly un-reconstructed Indian tchotchkes in the gift shop, their ability to deliver authenticity could be fairly questioned.

Working replicas of the original three ships that brought the colonists.

The fort, reconstructed as it would have been during the earliest period of the colony.

Poor Opal got her breastplate on backwards and it looks more like a butt plate.

We drove past a deserted "Presidents World," where you can cast your eyes on twenty foot mock-ups of all the American presidents up to George W. Bush. Unfortunately they are beginning to disintegrate and look pretty creepy.

Sunday Morning with Nali Dot in Williamsburg

2011-11-20T18:50:00.000-06:00

Kewl Video

2011-11-14T16:46:00.003-06:00

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Sunday Morning

2011-11-13T10:21:00.002-06:00

Coral, Ruby and Matt all have colds. So Steph and Opal are off by themselves today.

Winter is here, kindof

2011-11-12T16:44:00.000-06:00

Beautiful Fall & Veteran's Day Pow Wow

2011-11-10T21:52:00.000-06:00

The other evening we were out in our front yard and looked up our street and realized how beautiful the fall colors were. We didn't even notice it.

The big tree in our back yard.

Love the red trees in our yard.

Also, today they had a pre-Veteran's Day pow-wow at George Mason University. We got there in time for Grand Entry.

Opal was mesmerized by the drum group, Stoney Creek. Opal and Coral also did the candy dance. They got out in the arena and would dance when the drum group sang, then when they stopped, they would have a chance to pick up as much candy as they could from the ground. Let's just say we've got way too much candy sitting around this house.

Sunday Morning

2011-11-06T14:12:00.001-06:00

Laying-in-Sleep

2011-11-05T19:12:00.000-05:00

We had a particular photo today that merits its own post.

One of the country's greatest honors is to lay-in-state (lie-in-state?) in the rotunda of the US Capitol. An EVEN rarer honor is laying-in-sleep in the Capitol Rotunda. We ran the kids pretty hard today so Opal just gave up, laid down at my feet, and went to sleep.

Going to the big house

2011-11-05T19:11:00.002-05:00

Stephanie called our congressman and was able to get us tickets to the White House and the US Capitol building. Unfortunately you can't take cameras into the White House, so we didn't get any photos (the few lame-o photos we did take outside were from our phones).

Waiting for our White House tour on the steps of the William Tecumseh Sherman monument

After retrieving our camera from under the bushes in Pershing Park, we headed to the Capitol where you can take photos, so we made up for not being able to take photos at the White House ...

Each state is allowed two statues of important people from their state installed in the Capitol. Here is Ruby in From of PO'PAY, leader of the Pueblo revolt in New Mexico.

Opal in front of the model of Freedom, the statue that is installed on the apex of the Capitol Rotunda.

Opal and Ruby in front of King Kamehameha I.

Sarah Winnemucca

Chief Washakie

Sakakawea

The National Crypt

The Rotunda

The Apotheosis of Washington

The Discovery of the Mississippi

The Baptism of Pocahontas

The Original Supreme Court

The geographical center of the District of Columbia

Jefferson

Washington

Reagan

Sequoyah

Coral in front of Brigham Young

From the Capitol building there is an underground tunnel to the Library of Congress. Since we only had three or four miles on the kids (no strollers allowed) we force marched them another mile through the tunnel, the Library of Congress, and to the Metro before heading home.

The Capitol as seen from the Library of Congress

Ruby an Coral doing their best statue-on-a-pedestal outside the Library of Congress

We also got to see one of the occupy protest camps, for my feelings about that read this ...

Bubble bath

2011-10-31T19:08:00.000-05:00

Opal discovers bubble baths

Ruby's Halloween class party and parade

2011-10-31T18:27:00.000-05:00

Today, Ruby's class had a big Halloween party.

It was cute, all the kid's got to tell who they were for Halloween. Ruby was proud of hers and told everyone in class that her Dad made her costume.

The start of the parade.

Ruby's class.

Sunday Morning minus the sickos

2011-10-30T08:36:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Opal

2011-10-29T14:33:00.000-05:00

We had a nice little birthday party for Opal. Her Nalis came down and spent the weekend and helped us celebrate.

Opal got what she wanted for her birthday, CARS!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-29T08:54:00.002-05:00

Opalina is a headhunter.

Coralita is KARATEGIRL!, which involves a lot of ambushing her father when he is laying in bed, sitting on the couch, or walking around the house.

Ruby is Rosalina. For those of you who don't speak Nintendo-ese, Rosalina is the princess in Mario Kart.

And the parties begin....

2011-10-27T13:10:00.000-05:00

Today the Halloween festivities started w/our co-op Pre-school Halloween party.

We started out w/making Halloween noodle necklaces.

Luckily, my co-hostess is a cake decorator, so she had all the tools to decorate sugar cookies. Coral and one of her friend's chowing down.

Looks like Opal is chowing down on her pinata goodies.

For snacks, we decorated the clementines as jack-o-lanterns.

We also had lollipop ghosts and Hershey's bats.

Other spooky snacks were vampire mouths, carrot fingers, and cucumber spiders.

Camera Dump

2011-10-23T20:05:00.001-05:00

If you include broken ones and camera phones, I'm not quite sure how many cameras we actually have in the house. Photos accumulate and occasionally we just have to clean out the memory cards.

So here are some random photos from the last few days, or maybe weeks?

Coral and Opal made a clubhouse in the cabinets

Complete with provisions

Stephanie and Coral have joined a preschool co-op. Each mom takes a turn hosting/teaching preschool at their home once a week.

This weeks science lesson was on caterpillars and how they are actually made from bananas and pretzels.

Just Opalina

Ruby's reading and writing has really taken off. At her latest parent teacher conference her teacher reported that she is reading well above her grade level.

She is using her newly developed skills to leave notes around the house for her mom. If it isn't clear enough in the photo, this one reads "Mommy you are to funny" and then a little drawing of a pair of glasses.

Here is a video Ruby made, for no particular reason.

We are in full blown halloween mode lately. The girls started making their decorations the other day.

Ruby made bats and spiders

Coralita made a vampire

Daddy/Daughter camping at the Marriott Ranch and a Pumpkin Vestibule

2011-10-23T19:30:00.000-05:00

Coral and dad were invited to a 4 year old camping trip at the Marriot Ranch in Hume Virginia and then the pumpkin festival (or "vestibule" as Coral calls it).

We toasted marshmallows

We had delicious tinfoil dinners

Coral stood guard over the bacon - close, close guard

We took a little hike to the waterfall

The largest pumpkin in Virginia, 1019 pounds!

Coral won a prize at the pumpkin toss

Went on the haunted hayride

All-in-all it was a cool little trip.

Sunday Morning

2011-10-23T10:03:00.000-05:00

Sunday Morning

2011-10-16T10:12:00.000-05:00

Washington DC Temple

2011-10-15T19:36:00.000-05:00

Very Busy Monday

2011-10-10T22:51:00.001-05:00

With two extra kids to keep entertained, we planned a busy holiday Monday. We got up early and went to the National Zoo, where we witnessed the orangutan poo from the high wire. Then we headed to Frying Pan Park in Fairfax County to picnic and see the farm. And we finished off the day at the Big Apple Circus.

The Big Apple Circus is awesome because it is a classic big top, one ring circus with top notch production value, perfect for all ages AND we got last minute 50% off tickets, whoot whoot! Our favorites were Scott and Muriel, who actually won the World Cup of Magic!

Sunday Morning w/friends

2011-10-09T09:52:00.000-05:00

Xtra kids

2011-10-08T19:22:00.002-05:00

Eli and Ephram are staying with us for the weekend and we are having fun running all over the place with a whole slew of little kids.

We started on the Metro and headed to the Mall for the Ponca festival at the National Museum of the American Indian. We got to the Mall before the museums opened so we headed over to the Capitol to kill some time. Then we went to the Ponca festival, made Mayan bracelets at the craft center and checked out the new interactive kids area at NMAI. We were just up the street from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum so we checked that out before heading back home to get ready four our Ward picnic. Still going strong at 8 PM, the whole crew is watching movies and eating popcorn.

Opal pushes the stroller until she is exhausted, then she rides.

Luckily we left the Air and Space Museum before the protesters got pepper sprayed!

Hiding

2011-10-04T16:28:00.000-05:00

Sunday Morning - Conference Weekend

2011-10-02T10:31:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning trip to the US Botanical Garden

2011-10-01T14:21:00.001-05:00

Stephanie is trying to teach Opal how to smile for the camera.

Everybody is growing up

2011-10-01T08:36:00.001-05:00

Opal has started playing under our bed, which is fine until she falls asleep and we can't get her out.

We also had a little birthday party for Stephanie. Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Sunday Morning

2011-09-25T14:14:00.000-05:00

Busy Saturday

2011-09-24T19:10:00.000-05:00

We had a busy Saturday. We started out at a local elementary school for the 2011 Day of Service.

We weeded and we mulched a neglected butterfly garden

With our work done, we headed into the city for a little adventure.

The girls are expert Metro riders now

We went to Chinatown for lunch

They have an old skool Chinese-American restaurant there, with Polynesian cocktails, pu pu platters (you know we love our pu pu platters) and a lobster tank. Coral was fascinated by the peking ducks hanging in the back. She must not remember going to Chinatown in LA with her cousin Rachel and being served a chicken head.

Then we used our Museum Day coupon to visit the crime and punishment museum. Were we learned about all sorts of things, like ...

autopsies ...

We found out that they also film America's Most Wanted here and were able to visit the set.

We always enjoy finding Pancho Villa stuff and of course we have spent a fair amount of time in Cochise County, so this whole corner was interesting.

Pancho Villa's death mask (or a replica maybe)

The car that Bonnie and Clyde were driving when the police caught up to them, pin-cushioned after a hail of gunfire.

Number 4 looks pretty shifty ...

I guess we should have known that this could not have resulted in anything good...

Opal got stuck in the prison toilet. The girls loved the little jail cell the best because there was a little passage way hidden behind the wall and you could "break out" of jail, which they did about 45 times. Opalina never would have made it, her giggling would have alerted the guards.

The Back to School Times

2011-09-22T20:41:00.000-05:00

Sunday Morning

2011-09-18T09:55:00.000-05:00

Fishing in the rain @ Chicken Town

2011-09-17T17:37:00.001-05:00

You never know how much a kid really enjoys an activity until you take them out in the cold and rain. The girls were troopers, we got wet, we got cold and the fishing was mediocre, but no one complained and they all say they want to go back again.

Opalina did amazing considering that she isn't even two yet and it was pretty cold and wet

Stephanie caught a decent sized stingray

We caught (and released) a few seagulls

We got back soaking wet and made a beeline to get hot chocolate

last time we were in Chincoteague Ruby noticed that a main street is named "Chicken City" and since they have trouble pronouncing "Chincoteague" they have taken to calling it "Chicken Town."

Sunday Morning

2011-09-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

New kicks

2011-09-10T12:51:00.001-05:00

We went to get Opalina some new shoes (because the ones we bought her 6 weeks ago are now too small) and Ruby found a pair of boots on the sale rack.

Trip to NM

2011-09-07T09:41:00.000-05:00

Opal and I headed home to NM for a week to visit Ma saan and Kelly. Poor Matt was home alone to experience both the earthquake and prepped for Hurricane Irene in that one week. The other two girl's were w/their grandparent's.

The new school opened back home. After 2 or so yrs. of waiting to occupy it, it opened this yr.

Opal in Ma saan's classroom wishing she was in school.

Opal played w/cousin Tayden and she wasn't so sure she liked sharing her toys.

One evening, we went to dinner at El Bruno's. It was Opal's first time there.

Opal and Uncle Kelly.

Opal at the end of our trip on our way back to the airport. She was wiped out and covered herself w/this scarf and fell asleep. We put a lot of miles on our rental car in one week.

This trip contained a lot of first's for Opal. Here she is waiting for her first plane ride. We had a fun time in NM.

First day of school

2011-09-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

Ruby went off on the bus this morning for her first day of school. Poor girl was afraid that she had missed her bus after she saw two buses pass by. She kept asking, "Are you sure this is where I'm supposed to get on the bus?" But the bus came and off she went and I experienced a little anxiety as my baby went off to school in the big city. The first thing she told me when she got off the bus this afternoon was, "My first day was amazing!"

Sunday Morning

2011-09-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

NM food - Air and Space

2011-09-03T22:11:00.001-05:00

Stephanie brought 40 pounds of Bluebird flour back from NM.

We also saw that they were roasting chile at some of the local supermarkets. Steph went to the Harris Teeter in Pentagon City week before last and the line was long and the roaster broke before she got any. This time we went out to the Wegmans in Leesburg and there wasn't a line. We asked for two boxes and then did some shopping, went back and got our chile and then loaded up the car. Matt ran back in to get something we forgot and the alarms went off and they evacuated the whole store. Turns out the roaster set off the sprinklers. But not to worry, we got our chile.

Frantically wheeling the still full roasters out from under the sprinklers...

We had though we might go to the Manassas Battlefield, but it was a little rainy. So we went to the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on the way back to Arlington.

Ruby's favorite was the "shark" plane

SR-71

Yes, the helicopter that Matt crewed the most while in the Army is now in a museum.

A blimp capsule

While a little peeved that the helicopter was in the museum, Matt still thought it would have been cool to have been around back when drag-behind-a-moving-vehicle-helicopter kits were available.

Afternoon walk

2011-09-02T20:08:00.000-05:00

We took the girls on an afternoon walk to see the new Martin Luther King Memorial on the National Mall. We took the Metro to Foggy Bottom and walked down past Main State, past the Vietnam War Memorial, to the Lincoln Memorial, past the Korea War Memorial, to the Martin Luther King Memorial and then around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial.

While we were at the Lincoln Memorial a group of Cadets from the Naval Academy came and sand "Anchors Aweigh" on the steps.

Sunday Morning

2011-08-21T09:54:00.001-05:00

With her two older sisters off at their grandparents, Opalina is the star of the show.

An only child

2011-08-21T08:52:00.000-05:00

Ruby and Coral are at their grandparent's house this week. Opalina is basking in the glory of her new only child status.

30% off fish sale!! whoot, whoot!

2011-08-21T08:50:00.000-05:00

We got some new fish and discovered a few stowaways...

an arrow crab and pink urchin

Ruby specifically requesting some "blue fish" so we got her a few azure damsels

a mandarin goby. Coral says that these "fly like Tinkerbell!"

a purple lobster

We also had some stowaways in our live rock. After tearing the tank apart to drown the killer mantis shrimp in seltzer water, we are glad that the latest discovery is a tiny starfish.

and a tube worm that came attached to the shell of this hermit crab

National Zoo

2011-08-18T21:41:00.000-05:00

The girls went up to the National Zoo this morning. It is nice that it is only a few minutes away.

Sunday Morning

2011-08-14T14:22:00.000-05:00