theparkerfamily.org

  • 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

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    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