theparkerfamily.org

Author: evancparker

  • children’s

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    after a couple year delay, we’re restarting sparklet’s treatments for the port wine stain on her cheek. she’s older now, so we’re better able to bribe her with ice cream, and she’ll probably be a little less freaked by the procedures.

    also, children’s national medical center — which is about 12 blocks from our house — has a specialty clinic that treats them on site.

    so, once again, we get the strange “luxury” of being the parents of kids walking into a major pediatric hospital with entirely healthy kids. i know that someday that likely won’t be the case, but it’s hard not to feel blessed that something so minor is our most major children’s health issue.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    children’s

  • christmas cartoon extravaganza

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    this year, we didn’t get off our rear-end fast enough to do our annual christmas cartoon extravaganza, so we crashed someone elses party (thanks, petemma!) and brought the holiday specials with us. soooo much easier than actually doing something ourselves.

  • sparklet

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    sparklet

  • found: home for christmas

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  • snow

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    snow

  • while you were out…

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    … it snowed.

  • coming home

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    coming home

  • anniversary

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    we’re actually in new york city to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary, which we should have done last year, but we sort of forgot.

    for those of us who know us best, forgetting our anniversary is something we do very very well — and has resulted in us celebrating our October wedding each year in December.

    this year we celebrated at Les Halles (for the second time in three years) and Bemelmans Bar, which was named in honor of Ludwig Bemelmans the creator of the classic Madeline children’s books who hand painted the scenes that cover the whole interior.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    anniversary

  • nelson mandela

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    in 1987, i joined the Model United Nations club at my school (james blair junior high school) and represented Nepal in my very first conference. i was in the social and humanitarian segment of the competition (third committee?) and i remember learning about two things that year that blew my mind.

    first, there was this thing called “terrorism” where people (not states?!?) attacked other countries. second, there was a guy named nelson mandela who was fighting against something called “apartheid,” a policy that (to my 7th grade mind) seemed about 100 years out of step with the rest of the planet.

    i didn’t do anything worth mentioning during that conference — i was so, so incredibly confused — but I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Mandela was the first public figure to teach me that the world could be a better place if we just fought for what we believe in.

    i’ll never be a Mandela, or a Gorbachev, or even a James Baker, but hopefully i’ll be able to make the ocean a little better, children a little safer, the climate a little more stable — and give my kids just a little less work to do to clean up our mess when they grow up.

    if only.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    nelson mandela

  • shopping in new york

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    shopping in new york