theparkerfamily.org

Tag: Washington D.C.

  • cherry blossoms, 2010

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    photo of the week // week twenty-five
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    cherry blossoms, washington, dc

  • the mayor of walter pierce park

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    photo of the week // week twenty-three
    baby sparklet and i have been playing around with foursquare, a gps-powered social media app that lets people “check-in” to locations, and become “mayor” if you check-in at a place more than anybody else.

    well, i’m pleased to announce that sparklet is now the mayor of walter pierce park.

    i wasn’t paying much attention to foursquare until i saw Wired co-founder John Battelle speak on the future of social media while i was in Salt Lake City. he said that once you became mayor of your grocery store (for instance), you’d be darned if you’d let anyone else be there more than you.

    he was right.

    and so, we’ll be back to the park early next week. sparklet’s a benevolent leader, but isn’t going to stand by and let the rest of the tots in the lot move in on her fiefdom.

    (p.s. i you are on foursquare, you can friend sparklet on her profile, here.)

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    the mayor of walter pierce park, washington, dc

  • out: playground @ walter pierce park

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  • out: footy @ meridian hill

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  • belated valentine’s, pt 2

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    we made it to ben’s for lunch, so we are up to five out of the last seven valentine’s days … though this is (obviously) the first for sparklet.

    we actually tried to go yesterday — a saturday at ~5:00pm — but the place was packed out the door. turns out the trick is to go on sunday morning at 11am. apparently, ben’s is pre-hangover food, not post-hangover food … i guess it makes sense when you think it through.

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    valentine’s at ben’s chili bowl, washington, dc

  • belated valentine’s, pt 1

    for belated valentine’s day — delayed due to that whole Austin/snow thing — sparklet and i chipped in for a photo album that the lady sparkler can keep in her work bag, so that she can gaze longingly at baby whenever she feels the urge.

    the photo album has one photo a week going back to sparklet’s birth … which seemed like such a good idea, that i’ve put the whole thing live as a ‘photo of the week’ tag on the blog.

    next up, we need to make our annual valentine’s pilgrimage to ben’s chili bowl … and the lady sparkler and i are working on a separate album (one of all the guestbook photos we’ve taken so far) to give to sparklet.

  • exodus

    we’re back, and it looks like DC had every bit as much “fun” as we thought while we were gone.

    while we were out, one of our favorite ways of keeping up with the snow was by following darrow montgomery’s photos at washington city paper’s blog. the above photo was taken about 100 feet from our place (for those who know Mount Pleasant, that “open” sign is at Heller’s Bakery) during the height of the second storm.

    i can’t really fathom what it must have been like.

    in the end, our long weekend in Austin for Auntie Nadine’s wedding turned out to be an 11 day journey. and, based on the size of the snow drifts, it seems being “stuck” in 40 degrees-and-rainy Austin was probably the best option.

    still, it’s good to be home.

    PHOTO: the above photo is courtesy Darrow Montgomery and/or the Washington City Paper. check out the rest of Darrow’s work, and the City Desk blog.

  • snowpacolypse

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    DC is under 18 inches of snow, but the weather for us has been delightful … its 60 degrees and sunny in Austin, and Sparklet and I spent the day wandering around Zilker Botanical Garden and the Lake Austin waterfront.

    of course, it takes “two” airports to “tango” us home … so, we probably won’t make it back to DC before March. our flight for Sunday has already been canceled, and we’re guessing our new flight for Wednesday will be called off in the face of yet another snowstorm facing DC.

    for the record, i can think of MUCH worse places to be “stranded” than Austin, Texas.

  • out: national building museum

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    out: national building museum

  • man on the street

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    i had a math teacher in middle school who said she hated being fat, because everybody in the supermarket assumed that you were a friendly person who like to be talked to by strangers.

    i think having a baby is the new fat.

    today, in the national american indian museum, a woman alone with five kids (yes, that’s “one-two-three-four-five”) looked at me in exasperation when she noticed sparklet was asleep, and blurted out “well that’s a great way for her to see the museum” while she rolled her eyes.

    yesterday, in the american art museum, two women stopped us in the cafe and asked how sparklet was enjoying the museum. i smiled while i said that she was doing great in the large format landscapes, but seemed to start loosing interest (i.e. fall asleep) once we got into the American portraiture. she scoffed, barked “yeah, right” and then stomped off.

    monday, a random guy on the street — looked like a typical D.C. community activist, business casual, with dreads held up in Jamaican rasta hat — called out to me, saying “great job, father! great job!” while he applauded. fwiw, i was crossing the street … and doing it *exceptionally* well.

    but really, besides the random activist, the only reliably positive people experiences have been security guards and cafeteria workers, especially the ones that are 35+ year old women. they just light up when they see someone alone with a baby, and are elated to have 2 minutes with the sparklet.

    biggest observation so far? don’t talk to white people.

    so far, without exception, white people think your baby is either (a) in direct competition with their kid/grandkid or (b) their question for you is just a thinly-veiled ramp to help them launch into a 10 minute soliloquy about their own.

    either way, from here on out i’m dropping them like their hot.

    P.S. there is an interactive “our universe” exhibit on the fourth floor of the national museum of the american indian, which has a ceiling (see photo above) designed to look like the night sky. it is now officially baby sparklet’s favorite place on the planet.

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    out: national museum of the american indian, washington, dc