Washington DC, Day 1

Nathan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a trip to DC. We were able to stay with his Uncle Dick and Aunt Hazie, who were the Best Hosts Ever! We had curbside 'taxi' service into downtown DC, free accomodations, plus they made us what Rebeccca calls 'big fancy breakfast' every morning.

We left in the early evening on Father's Day. The kids all stayed with Nathan's mom for the week, and when we dropped them off Rebecca informed Grandma Toone that she was not staying at her house for a week, but rather, was "having 7 sleepovers at Grandma's." They had so much fun playing with aunts and uncles and going on picnics to the park that the only child who would admit to missing us when we returned was Cassidy. That's the way I'd rather though, because I'm not the kind of mom who dies a little inside every time I leave them. I love them and it's good to be with them, but every so often it's good to be without them too.

Monday we started our Week of Fun at Arlington National Cemetary. We saw the Kennedy grave site and eternal flame, and visited the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

This is the view of the Washington Monument from Arlington.

Next we visited the National Gallery of Art. We did the "if you only have an hour here" tour of the highlights, because the two of us are just casual lovers of art. Even so, it was so awesome to see the works of some of the greats. We saw Monet, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Whistler, among others. No photography, because that's what uncultured swine would do. We took a walk around the sculpture garden outside after lunch.

Next was a stop at the National Archives, where we viewed the actual Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution. I tried to get a photo of John Hancock's signature, but the ink on the Declaration was extremely faded and they request that you turn your flash off to protect the documents from unnecessary light exposure.

My heart skipped a beat when we viewed the documents in the Archives. It was one of the coolest things ever to be so close to the works of the Founding Fathers.

We ended the day with a cursory visit to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, but we were so beat by then that we walked around the main floor just wishing we could sit down and have someone bring the museum to us. We even watched a dumb 5 minute kid-oriented movie about evolution and a character named Harry or Honey or something because we could sit down while we did it. We made it up to the second floor to take a look at the Hope Diamond (and, from the looks of the photo, our best friend Some Kid), and then Nathan's uncle called and said he was done with work and ready to come pick us up.

Nerd + 1 = Braden to the nth power

So last week I was sitting on Braden's bed and talking to him in his room. I realized that his quilt was a couple years old and I had been the one to pick it out. I asked him, "Do you still like your sports bedspread, or if we bought you another one would you rather have something else?" Nathan, who was sitting on the floor chimed in, "There are lots of choices. You could pick space, or dinosaurs, or even a plain color if you are too old for pictures on your bedspread." Braden thought for a brief moment, and then said, "I know what I would really like, but I don't know if they make it. I wish I could have a bedspread that has all different sorts of Math Equations on it."

Oh, goodness. Not that it's of prime concern to a 6 year old, but that's not a way to get the ladies...

I told him that indeed, I do not think they make that kind. And no, I am not going to try and make one. He'll have to make do with the bedding that normal boys have!

Snoozing on the Matterhorn

Have you ever fallen asleep on a roller coaster? If you consider what is the infant-equivalent of a roller coaster, then Rachel's nap in the Jumperoo could possibly be "Falling Asleep on Space Mountain/The Ninja/Colossus."

On the update front, she did not go pants-less again after The Incident in the Crib. The good news is she didn't need to (whew!). The rash and the Big D are gone. She was still a somewhat iffy after a week of the Culturelle probiotics, so her doctor recommended a few days on Isomil soy formula to give her little tummy a rest from the proteins in regular formula. That did the trick. I'm so glad she doesn't have to drink soy all the time.

I had the same feeling about soy formula as I do about baby food peas - slight revulsion. Isomil has a very strange - okay, nasty - odor, and I found myself mouth-breathing every time I made her a bottle. "Here, drink this. You'll love it. I had to hold my breath while I made it for you. Nothing but the best for my baby!"

Beach Day

A few weekends ago we took the kids to Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake. In all my thirty years of life, it was the first time I had ever seen or touched it! We took swimsuits, but it was really windy and too cold to get in and test the tales of salt water buoyancy. We also, inexplicably took two pairs of sandals for Cassidy, which turned out to be serendipitous because she lost one on the long trek through the sand out to the water. Sorry, lake huggers, the black size two sandal ruining the Antelope Island ecosystem that day was our fault -- but the reason it was lost is because it sunk down in a sand dune while on her foot, and then didn't come back out when said foot was picked up to take another step, so perhaps no one will ever find it?? Ever since our day trip, which involved no waves, no sand castles, no beach towels, and no swimsuits, Rebecca has referred to it as Beach Day. "Mom, remember beach day? It was so much fun."

These are my feet, in the Great Salt Lake.

These are my kids, in the Great Salt Lake.

These are the two spoilsports who didn't go in the Great Salt Lake.

The answer

Nathan's birthday gift was an iphone. Get it? EYE-phone? {Cue hilarious, cackling laughter}

No it wasn't a fancy one. He's wanted one since they were introduced, but neither one of us thought it was quite worth the $300-400 price. But then they announced the new fancy ones and made the previous version $99, that was just the ticket!

A funny punny birthday gift

Nathan's birthday was yesterday, and this was one of the many exciting gifts he unwrapped.

Don't you wish you had one? Do you know what it is?

The Big D, and I don't mean Dallas

Little Rachel has had some problems of the diaper variety recently. She has had diarrhea for over a week. Yesterday we saw the pediatrician, did a weight check and a quick exam to make sure she wasn't dehydrated, and had a long chat. So far we don't have any good ideas about what's causing it to last so long. The doctor recommended adding some lactobacillus culture powder to her food (to recolonize the normal bacteria that always live in the intestine), and we're crossing our fingers that it works so we don't have to take the next step of collecting samples to send for lab work.

Her main problem right now is actually her diaper rash. She recommended Triple Cream for her bottom, but then said the main thing that would help was to exposure to fresh air. Geez, how ya gonna air out a 7 month old with diarrhea who crawls?? The doctor recommended putting down some old towels in her crib and then laying her down for her nap sans diaper. At first I thought, "No Way," but then the guilt got to me and I decided I should try all my options. This afternoon I tucked 3 old towels over and around the crib mattress, and Rachel got to sleep in the nude.

It turned out pretty much like I thought it would.