theparkerfamily.org

Month: August 2011

  • trip #2: boston, ma

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    trip #2: boston, ma

  • found: elephancio

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  • sirens

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    if sparklet has missed anything about our old place on park road, it’s the complete lack of fire and police sirens at the new place.

    before, we were on one of the main east/west routes for emergency traffic — and now we only see sirens if something is happening on our specific block (and it’s a quiet block).

    about a week after we moved in, someone half a block over caught his grill on fire, which led to sparklet busting out the front door and running up and down the porch until i agreed to walk her down to see the commotion up close.

    there’s been nothing sense, sans an occasional driveby while we’re walking around the neighborhood — regardless of how much sparklet makes the “more” when she hears something pass in the distance.

  • flag of honor

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    one of the best kept secrets of capitol hill is that you can get an actual American flag (not the “patriotic banners” Walmart sells now to skirt the flag laws) flown over the Capitol for really reasonable prices.

    while we’ve been flying the District flag and the Great Flag of the Republic from our porch for a couple of months now, on national holidays it’s growing increasingly hard to fly a non-American flag without betraying our separatist leanings.

    so, after another awkward holiday (July 4th, featuring our Texas flag) we finally ordered an American flag, and did so in honor of my grandfather, grant “poppa” roberts.

    it seemed an appropriate thing to do considering he is the only man i know who flew an American flag from his porch each day for the last couple of decades — right up until he moved into assisted care a month or so ago.

    and, besides getting a reasonably priced flag to fly, we also got a nice little certificate from the Architect of the Capitol:

    The is to certify that the accompanying flag was flown over the United States Capitol. At the request of the Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, Member of Congress, this flag was flown for Kate Elisabeth Parker, in honor of Grant “Poppa” Roberts.

    long may it wave.

  • showing

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    we’re only eight weeks in, and people are starting to pick up on the imminent arrival of “thing two.”

    the lady sparkler is also starting to complain that her belly is noticeably getting in the way now (bending over, hugging people). neither are good indicator for my sanity over the next four weeks until we can tell people.

    for my part, i’m just keeping my head down and not making eye contact — i nearly ruined it all the last time, so this time my mouth is staying shut even in the face of the proverbial wild horses.

  • hurricane irene

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    fortunately, no damage to speak of.

    we got about 10 hours of sustained winds but we kept power the whole time, and it looks like we are the only part of my side of the family (virginia, new hampshire, maine, vermont) who are going to be able to say that.

    for our part, we were cautiously optimistic — not only did the hurricane stay farther east than we had thought, but our neighbor told us that this part of mount pleasant hasn’t lost power in the last decade or two.

    turns out most of our electrical infrastructure (plant, substations, wires) are all buried, meaning something pretty spectacular has to happen for us to lose power.

    feeling pretty blessed right now.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    hurricane irene, washington, dc

  • out: bethesda place, maryland

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    we did most of hurricane preparation last night when we moved all the yard furniture/equipment into the thankfully-tenantless basement.

    fortunately, doing the work last night left nothing for this morning besides meeting the talimo’s for a pancake breakfast and then meeting everyone back at our place for a round of bloody marys.

    in the interest of full disclosure, we did far-and-away the most work of any of our neighbors, who did little more than bring their garbage cans up out of the alley. (the only hole in our preparation was not having enough rum to make hurricanes, but that’s something i will happily remedy for next time.)

    not sure which of us is smarter, us for bringing everything inside or our neighbors for not bothering — but at least i know that i won’t have anything to go outside for in the next 18 hours.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    hurricane preparations

  • firsts: pancakes

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    first pancakes, the original pancake house, bethesda, md.

  • earthquake damage assessment

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    one letter off the wall, one photo slightly askew — not exactly something to write home about, but certainly a good deal more severe than the last one.

    i was actually in new york for work, so missed most of the excitement. what i got was a strange surge of vertigo (i was on the 18th floor) and didn’t realize it was an earthquake until my knees started bouncing half a beat later.

    the lady sparkler had it the worst, being forced to walk the mile and a half home because the District (as expected) lost it’s collective minds.

    most buildings downtown were evacuated, traffic was at a standstill which put a kaibosh on the bus, and the metro ground to a halt under unprecedented ridership and speed restrictions through the whole system.

    unfortunately, none of this is terribly surprising. given how badly we handle snowstorms, i expected the District would see roving packs of bureaucrats in ripped suites — with bandanas made from yesterday’s ties — ransacking local stores for water, plastic sheeting and duct tape.

    sparklet, for her part, was walking down the street and didn’t seem to have a problem with the quake itself, but more the fact that each and every front door within view immediately popped open and all at once people started flooding the/her street.

    so, what’s next — a hurricane?

  • trip #1: new york city

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  • found: punch balloons

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  • sparklet’s view: waterfront

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  • out: georgetown waterfront

    ECPA20110821_x015.jpg
    ECPA20110821_x001.jpg

    sparklet and i have been disappearing for longer periods of time lately, so mommy can incubate thing two in peace. (btw, “incubate” is code for “take a three hour nap”).

    this morning we went down to the georgetown waterfront, which seemed appropriate as it was where sparklet and i went on our first day of paternity leave together and also the place where she first started locomoting in public.

    never has the old cliche seemed more appropriate — the more that things change, the more you wonder where the heck the last 12 months went. or something like that.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: georgetown waterfront

  • flashback: house of sweden, georgetown

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    September 5, 2010

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    August 21, 2011

  • nesting, pt 2

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    it’s not a pregnancy with out a really long list of things i have to do around the house.

    with my new found salary, we’d already started ticking off a couple of items on our long term wish list — installed a water filter next to the kitchen sink, some cosmetic stuff in our bathrooms, and patched up some outstanding items from our home inspection (including some reinforcing some joists under the porch, and blowing more insulation into the attic).

    the big update, however, has been installing a murphy bed in the basement, which instead of being a rental unit we now expect will now play host to a steady stream of family over the next couple of years decades.

    the bed is just fantastic — it’s built like a tank, and takes an honest-to-God real, queen-sized, 12″ thick pillow-top mattress, which i’m seriously considering putting on the bed upstairs and dumping our old mattress on our guests downstairs (i kid, i kid).

    i’m not exactly sure what else is going to be added to the list, but not to worry — the lady sparkler has only been pregnant for six weeks, so she hasn’t really had time to get creative.

  • firsts: dairy queen

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    firsts: dairy queen

  • found: pink

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  • gardening

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    the gardening we did at the beginning of june is starting to bear fruit — and quite literally.

    sparklet picked her first tomatoes (and ate them immediately) and we’ve been using fresh basil in our cooking for the last month or so.

    agriculture thrives in the heart of the District.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    gardening

  • firsts: sparklet’s taking photos

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    sparklet’s figured out how to use the camera, or at least how to push the button when someone else aims.

    something tells me that payback (for the 10,000 pictures i’ve taken of her) is going to be a #$%!&.

  • firsts: movie night with daddy

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    mommy is out of town for work, so sparklet and i did what all good father/daughters do — we put our feet on the couch, threw in (her very first) movie, drank heavily, vegged out on the couch, ate macaroni and cheese straight out of the mixing bowl, and stayed up past our bedtimes.

    that’ll teach mommy.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    firsts: movie night with daddy

  • goodbye, reinita

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    the long transition to our new nanny-share family is drawing to a close. el español picante starts on Monday, and so we’ve had a week’s worth of goodbyes between the baby and the nanny. sparklet’s been mum on the whole thing, but my money is that she’s ready to start using her lady charms on the steamy spaniard.
    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    goodbye, reinita

  • out: bancroft

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: bancroft

  • out: family day

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    more random kids in the nanny’s photography, but these we actually recognize — a grandson, some nieces, and 22-month old sparklet that looks bigger than them all.
    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: family day

  • found: flowers

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  • “why won’t this pony move?!?”

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  • guestbook: aunt jojo

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  • the great glen echo park meltdown of 2011

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    i’ve got no clue what happened, but apparently sparklet doesn’t like carousels.

    and i honestly couldn’t have been more surprised if elvis and a martian walked up to me this afternoon, slapped me in the face, and demanded to be taken to see President Bachmann.

    the lady sparkler, aunt melissa and sparklet boarded the old carousel at Glen Echo park, but sparklet started bawling and demanded to be taken off. mommy handed her to me over the railing around the ride, and then got back on — which, to put it mildly, turned out to be the wrong choice.

    this coming from the girl who loves anything that involves loud music, bright lights, and being hung upside down by her ankles. even so, it looks like we might need to give it another couple of months.

  • hike: cabin john trail

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    hike: cabin john trail, potomac, maryland

  • found: leaf

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  • guestbook: the mighty mighty boigs

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    guestbook: the mighty mighty boigs

  • found: daddy juice

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  • out: francis pool

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: francis pool, washington, dc

  • thing two

    the lady sparkler thinks she’s pregnant.

    for my part, I’m guessing it’s true because (a) our grocery bill has doubled during the last five weeks, and (b) i’m increasingly finding myself alone on the couch after the oh-so-late hour of 9 pm.

    of course the interesting twist is that while we had been toying with the notion of “trying” for a couple of months, all that came to a screeching halt six weeks ago when i changed jobs — but somehow the pregnancy fairy found us anyway.

    still, despite our occasional thoughts regarding immaculate conception (and my suspicious leers towards the milkman) we’re obviously over the moon — and ridiculously thankful that the nanny has sparklet well on the path towards being potty trained.

    yay 🙂

  • artwork: green field

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  • found: view

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