theparkerfamily.org

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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

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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