theparkerfamily.org

  • “sooooooo big.”

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  • out: turtle park

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: turtle park, washington, dc

  • you’re invited: sparklet’s first birthday

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    after a couple of months of dithering, we’ve finally decided to do something for sparklet’s first birthday.

    we’d been bouncing back and forth between wanting to do something but wanting to push off (as long as we can) the days of elaborate affairs with Oscars-level guest gift bags.

    so, we’ve decided to do something — but go militantly informal.

    basically, we’ll be picnicking at the bottom of Lion Hill at the National Zoo on Sunday, October 16th from 3pm to 5pm — and if you’d like to join us, we’d love to have you.

    we’ll bring a little food (cupcakes, snacks) and some blankets, and then just let Sparklet run around in the grass for a bit. i’m sure Sparklet will be taking guests on frequent tours of all her friends at the petting zoo. Other than that, just hope to be visiting with some friends and family.

    as part of the “militantly informal” part, we will be forcibly ejecting anybody who brings any presents, but please come and hang out with us if you have a free afternoon.

    no special need to tell us if you’re coming, but feel free to either drop us a comment/email or RSVP through the facebook event we’ve setup.

    we hope to see you soon 🙂

    Details

    Lion/Tiger Hill is the big grassy hill at the bottom of the Zoo (see the official zoo map here) where they do concerts and such.

    if you drive, the zoo’s parking lots D & E are very close to Lion Hill (and cost $15 for anything less than 3 hours) but we’ve had good success parking in the neighborhood just outside the Adams Mill Road entrance to the Zoo (link to Google Map) which is also very close to where we’ll be.

    If you metro, come in the main entrance, and keep going down hill, following the signs for the Lions/Tigers and the Kid’s Zoo.

  • found: the truth

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    “if you lived here you’d be home by now, but you still couldn’t vote.” mural on 18th street in adams-morgan, washington, dc.

  • out: kalorama park

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: kalorama park, washington, dc

  • out: walter pierce park

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    the austin spindlers (auntie nadine, uncle nadav) have flown in from Tejas for the long weekend. friendly faces, more hands — awesome.
    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    out: walter pierce park

  • #1000

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    jeez, that was quick. it took me five whole years to get to blog post #500 and now just 12 months later i’m at #1000.

    now, i’m not exactly a linear blogger — i’ve usually got 20 or more drafts posts going at any one time, many of which will eventually be backdated by twelve months or more. just last week I added 40+ posts about our trip to Europe in Spring 2009.

    but, everything i do is in service of my horrific memory — the point of going back and blogging about Europe isn’t so others will read, but so that future me can remember.

    (speaking of, i just spent 15 minutes reading through my posts tracking Sparklet’s “firsts”, and last week i spent what felt like an hour digging through the 50+ “photo of the week” posts tracking her growth. awesome.)

    back at post #500 i joked that:

    i have doubled the wonderful women in my life, and will certainly be doubling the silly, stupid things that i want to write down so i don’t forget.

    … and that has certainly turned out to be the case. i’ve never had so much material to write about, or so many things i’ve not wanted to forget.

    so, thanks to my 2.7 3.7 loyal readers for tagging along — here’s hoping that the next 1000 will be as much fun as the first.

  • firsts: overalls

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    i promised myself i’d never do a blog post that says “look how cute my baby is” — but, damn she’s cute in big people clothes. just sayin’.

  • marketing 101

    dude.

    late last month the formula we’ve used since month one to supplement mommy milk — similac sensitive r.s. — all of a sudden disappeared from the shelves, without a trace.

    we tried all the usual stores — empty shelves. the lady sparkler and i both went online to the manufacturer’s site, and it was gone like it never existed in the first place.

    after about two weeks, the empty spaces on the shelves suddenly filled up with a new flavor of formula in a baby puke green color.

    after two more hours of digging — er, googling — it appears that the new flavor (similac sensitive for spit up) is actually just a re-branded old flavor.

    only a different product name. and a completely different color. and a different safety seal. and no reference to the previous brand.

    how did we know? i had to compare the UPC codes off a bottle of the old formula.

    now, i’m not much of a marketer, but if they had kept any one thing from the previous design — keep the red bottle, keep the product name, keep a reference to old product — we wouldn’t have missed a beat and would have kept buying the “new” stuff like lemmings off a cliff.

    seriously, people. marketing 101.

    P.S. sparklet is just about off formula entirely (and mommy phased out of pumping late last month). starting this week we’ve got her on a mix of milk and lactaid — the latter being a holdover over from similac sensitive r.s. being lactose free.

    once she gets used to the whole milk thing, we’ll start phasing out the lactaid, and viola — high cholesterol, full lactose baby.

  • anniversary, apparently

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    the lady sparkler and i got a call from my mother today, wishing us a happy third wedding anniversary. we both looked at each other and said:

    wait, it’s our anniversary?

    apparently.

    UPDATE: aunt melissa has volunteered to babysit for us on a night of our choosing to help us go out and celebrate. yay 🙂