theparkerfamily.org

  • careful the lessons you teach

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    not twenty-four hours after i showed sparklet how to play in a fountain — there was a little spraying water feature in the u.s. botanic garden — baby decided to show daddy that she mastered the concept, and could apply it elsewhere.

    elsewhere, of course, being a not-so-amused-emily-the-cat’s drinking fountain.

  • out: children’s garden @ u.s. botanic garden

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    photo of the week // week thirty

    took the day off from work to spend a little quality time with baby sparklet. we’ve been out straight between weddings and funerals — not to mention sick — and there was this little nagging voice in the back of my head saying that maybe it was about time for some father-daughter bonding.

    … so of course this is the day that sparklet wakes up early, and then refuses to nap more than 20 minutes at a time the rest of the day.

    she’s been teething since mid-April with one tooth well on it’s way in, and another two or three ready to pop through. of course, this has futzed up both her sleep schedule and her eating schedule, so cute beloved sparklet hasn’t been quite as cute this last little bit.

    dodging rain, not to mention repetitive expressions of “i-should-probably-have-slept-longer,” we went down to the National Mall for most of the day. a little napping in the garden behind the castle, a little tummy time on the grass in front of the Hirschorn, and a little plant destruction in the botanic gardens.

    we’re still working with baby on the basics of “gentle” — a term our cat emily would like her to pick up sooner rather than later — and sparklet just couldn’t seem to touch anything in the garden without destroying it.

    wonder where she gets that from.

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    out: children’s garden @ u.s. botanic garden

  • “hello, i’m with the bakery inspection service and i’m going to need some free samples.”

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  • sarah and kurt’s wedding

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    sarah and kurt’s wedding

  • firsts: horsie, highchair

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    a couple of firsts for baby sparklet while we’re down in historic colonial williamsburg for a friend’s wedding:

    • first horse — she seemed amused, but didn’t really get that it was an animal. i think it was just too big, and didn’t move quickly enough. she probably thought it was a hairy sofa.
    • first high chair — part of growing so rediculously fast is that at six months she’s outgrown her infant car seat, but isn’t old enough to sit-up on her own … so we wedged her in there with a sparkly pillow, natch.

    it probably goes without saying, but for what it’s worth the wedding isn’t a “destination” wedding — the colonial equivalent of a disney wedding package or something. the bride and I both had the great fortune to grow up in Williamsburg, surrounded by the odd million of tourists each season.

    although, the notion of people paying extra to get married in knickers and a bonnet is really to delicious to *not* try and make money off of it.

  • circa de mayo

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    circa de mayo

  • the zoo

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    the zoo

  • diversity at the conservancy

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    … comes down to which color Prius you own.

  • champions league

    dear lord baby jesus.

    tottenham hotspur (click here if you don’t know what that means) just beat somebody. and that somebody (manchester city) spent over $190m on players this season BEFORE THEY EVEN PLAYED THEIR FIRST GAME.

    and now they’ve won the right to compete next year against the top teams in europe, to decide who is the best club of the continent.

    considering that, less than a year ago, i thought they were going to be dropped to the minor leagues — that’s pretty @#%@ing awesome.

    (i’m really sorry if you don’t know what any of that meant.)

  • guestbook: jenny alex

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