Day Trip to Boston

We decided to take a day trip to Boston to visit the aquarium. Yes, there was a tropical storm on its way, but why should we let a little weather keep us from having fun?

Dear friend's husband was out of town, so we loaded up the three kids in the back of the car. Did I mention dear friend had another son on my birthday two years ago? Here he is modeling a Lego Star Wars while the bigger kids talk in the back.


The drive went surprisingly quickly. Near the end of the drive, little brother started trying to tell knock knock jokes.

Little Brother: Knock knock
Everyone Else: Who's there?
Little Brother: Boo hoo
Everyone Else: Boo hoo who?
repeat endlessly

Actually it was quite cute and the big kids were pretty good sports. They did start pretending to fall asleep so he would hopefully stop.

Boston was glorious and pleasant. Along the way, dear friend and I hatched a plan to take the T to Chinatown so we could go to a Malaysian restaurant for lunch. Happiness is Roti Canai, Chow Kuew Teow, and very yummy fish cooked in ginger & garlic sauce. This was my third visit to Penang and I was happy we were able to squeeze it in.

Several years ago Daddy Geek went to Boston for a business trip and returned with the book Make Way for Ducklings. Geek Girl wanted to go to the Public Garden to see the statues made in honor of the book.

Here's Geek Girl with Mrs. Mallard.


Dear friend with her two boys.


And Geek Girl with the rest of the flock.


By now we were ready to head back to the air conditioning of the aquarium. We were there in time to see the penguin feeding, the seal information session, and admire the sharks, giant turtles, and cool fish in the big central tank.

Then we went to see the IMAX 3-D movie Under the Sea. Here are Geek Girl and friend testing out the glasses.


Geek Girl really liked feeling like she was in the ocean and I was happy to learn that she could watch a 3-D movie without getting sick.

We ended the day with some ice cream at Emack & Bolio's and then headed home before the rain.

Geek Girl and Friend through the years

Two months before Geek Girl was born, my dear friend had a son. Since I can't resist showing pictures of my baby Geek Girl, here they are through the years.

Here they are the first time they met. She's almost 6 months old.


In October of 2004, we met again. She's 20 months old.


Aren't they adorable?

And then this past weekend we photographed them on the same chair.


They had a great time playing together. And now Geek Girl has been completely educated on everything there is to know about Lego Star Wars and Clone Wars. She should be ready for playing with her California cousins next week.

We're still here...

The hot and humid days of August are here, so we're going to the library and hanging out in the pool a lot. On Tuesday night we went the the Nationals game because the Colorado Rockies were in town. Geek Girl wanted to know what happens when the Nationals win, but unfortunately, we still don't know. They've been winning more games than usual, just not when we are in the audience.

I was excited to find out that there is going to be a Simulcast of The Barber of Seville at the Nationals Ballpark on September 12. But after the game I realized that Geek Girl just gets too tired to walk back to the metro so I have to decide if I really want to see free opera enough to have to carry the kid (since Daddy Geek will be out of town). The Kennedy Center will be having an open house and international book fair that day, so maybe we'll go to that. Or I guess I can spring for the pedicab...

Daddy Geek is traveling again, so Geek Girl and I leave today on an adventure to visit friends in Amherst.

Last note about food. Geek Girl does not tend to eat sandwiches so we rarely go to sandwich shops. Monday night Daddy Geek was working late and had the car, so I convinced him to stop off at a Bahn Mi place to pick up vietnamese sandwiches after I had already fed Geek Girl. Baguette-like bread filled with fragrantly cooked meat and flavorful pickles. Yum! Why did we wait so long? Oh yeah, finicky Geek Girl. Anyways, for the game Tuesday night, I went back and picked up sandwiches for the game, which were WAY better than hot dogs. Geek Girl of course had chicken tenders. Hey, at least she ate some protein.

There goes another tooth

Tooth number six came out today at the pool. We've finally learned to leave well enough alone and let the tooth come out when it wants to. Geek Girl pushed on the tooth and it came out and I pulled it out of her mouth.

So for the record, she swallowed #1, Daddy Geek pulled out #2, #3 came out while eating a hamburger, #4 came out on the farm field trip, and #5 came out after tooth brushing.

We had a long day at the pool. We were getting ready to leave after a couple of hours by ourselves when another family came and of course Geek Girl wanted to get back in and swim. If we don't give her lots of physical activity she gets a little crazy in the evening, so I was fine with staying a little longer. A couple of other families also came down. I was quite surprised when I came upstairs and realized we had been at the pool for four hours.

Geek Girl told me this morning that she's getting tired of summer break. Well, in a short (but not short enough) 3.5 weeks, the long lazy days of summer will turn into school days.

Darn Good Pizza in Falls Church: Flippin' Pizza

After The Crisis-Laden Visit to the Zoo, we were all hungry and grumpy. Not a great combination, but in the end, we found a great way to fix it.

We decided to try a new pizza place in Falls Church, Flippin' Pizza. It's the local branch of a small chain of New York-style pizza places, and is located in the "Flower Building", the same new building on Route 7 (Broad Street) that now houses the Falls Church Post Office. The address is 800 W Broad St, Fall Church VA, 22046, open 11-10 Sun-Thu and 11-11 Fri/Sat. No delivery, but they do carry out. Dine-in, they have six four-person tables inside and two outside. Just in case you want to make a visit -- which we highly recommend after last night.

Mama Geek has certain standards that must be met by places selling allegedly New York-style pizza, the most important being a thin and crispy crust. She has been seriously disappointed in the pizza offerings we have tried so far in northern VA, all of which have had the wrong crust: too thick, too soggy, and/or too chewy. I also have tests for good pizza-by-the-slice: slices must be foldable along the long axis, must come from an 18" pie, and must have good, simple toppings.

Flippin' Pizza passes the Mama and Daddy Geek tests with flying colors -- it is darn good stuff! We each had a slice of Whitestone (ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, fresh garlic, and a bit of basil) and a slice of Brooklyn (pepperoni, meatball, mushrooms, garlic, red sauce). I also tried a slice of their Triboro (pepperoni, meatball, sausage). They have herbs, pepper flakes, and cheese in shakers available by the drinks machine, and they earn my bonus points by having soda water available from the drinks machine, something I find far too rare at restaurants these days. They also have great music -- we walked in and they were playing "Spirit of Radio" by Rush, and followed it with lots of good mid-1980s stuff.

It also earns the Geek Girl Seal of Approval: she at a full cheese slice, raved over it, and then requested and ate a full second slice! That essentially never happens.

The capper: it's cheap. Seven slices of darn good pizza and three drinks ran us around $18. Oh, yes.

The restaurant is also just within walking distance with Geek Girl, but only just, so we won't be tempted to go back too often.

Even though we already did -- Geek Girl and I had lunch there today. Oh, dear.

In short, Flippin' Pizza is darn good stuff, on a par with Escape From New York Pizza in Portland, OR and Bronx Pizza in San Diego.

Highly recommended by The Geeks. Come visit us and we'll take you there.

Six-year-old Moments

It is sometimes easy to forget that Geek Girl is really only six ("six and a little more, almost six and a half, Daddy!"), but yesterday afternoon reminded us of it in a big way...

I left work early and we decided to go to the Zoo yesterday, when it was relatively cool and dry, rather than tomorrow when it is supposed to be 95 F and "oppressively humid". (Note: we have been told that when the local weather guys say "oppressive", any normal person would say "why am I living here again?" and stay in the A/C all day.) Geek Girl was initially excited by the idea, and then Six Year Old Moment #1 popped up and she played every stalling tactic in the world to not leave home to get there. Eventually, we more or less had to drag her out the door and carry her down to the car. Grumble.

Once on the Metro, things were relatively good until we had the Kicking the Seat in Front Crisis, followed shortly thereafter by the This Train is too hot Crisis. Once we got past those and arrived at the Woodley Park stop, all was OK until we reached the This Very Gentle Uphill Slope is too Steep Crisis and its partner in crime, the I Have to Walk on Every Wall, Curb, Planter, and Other Flat Surface That Isn't the Sidewalk Crisis. These collectively made up Six Year Old Moments #2 through #27 and kept us occupied until we reached the Zoo.

Finally some time of relaxation -- whee, the cheetahs came out! We learned that cheetahs cover 23 feet (7 meters) in a single stride at top speed, go from zero to 45 MPH in 2.5 seconds, and can top out at about 30 meters/sec (65-70 mph) for short distances. We also learned that Geek Girl tops out at about 3 meters/sec. We also visited the giant and red pandas, elephants, prairie dogs, zebras, and various other animals. And the misters set out to keep folks cool. And the Tiger Treats snack stand for a soft serve ("Daddy, this is not ice cream, so this doesn't count against ice cream for the day." Nice try, dear. Six Year Old Moment #28 and counting - but at least that was a good one.)

We had about 90 minutes of peace before it was time to slog up the hill on the way home.

Now, I use "slog" advisedly here. To be fair, the far end of the National Zoo is down a fairly long steep grade into the bottom of the Rock Creek watershed. To get back, you have to go up and there isn't really any easy way to get a whiny, hot, tired, whiny, and hot six year old back up the hill but to grit your dang teeth and do it. Did I mention she was whiny, tired, and hot? How do we know that? Because, Six Year Old Moments #29 through #856 happened on the way up the hill: "I'm hot." "I'm tired." "I'm hot." "I'm tired." Yes, dear, we heard you the first 800 times. We've also suggested many solutions to the problem, and you didn't want to use them. So, enough with the hot and tired bit, OK? Yeesh. (I know, I know, she's six, and she whines. But man-oh-man, was this in the winner class for her...) Can you hear the teeth gritting?

Finally at the top and heading for the Metro. Now comes the choice: baseball game or straight home? Geek Girl wants baseball game, but she is also six (did I mention she's six?) which means baseball games sometimes get boring for her. And in the prizewinning mood we had last night, we decided we needed to consider that one carefully. So we told her: If you stop whining, and start doing what we ask, we can go to the game. "OK, Daddy!"

Now, here, you should start hearing ominous music, perhaps something like the Toccata and Fugue or maybe the theme to the Terminator, because I'm sure you see what's coming next.

Six Year Old Moments #857 through #998 involve Geek Girl not ending the whining and not doing what we told her to do. #999 involves refusing to get up off the floor of the Columbia Park Metro station. Moment #1000 was total meltdown at the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station - crying, running away from both of us, kicking Daddy when he retrieves Crying Six Year Old. Quite the scene.

Needless to say, we did not go to the baseball game - we went home. Which led to The Crying on the Train Crisis and the I'm Really Angry and Going to Make Huffing Sounds for 15 Minutes Crisis and finally to the I Am Now Going to Admit What Daddy and Mama Have Known for the Past Hour Which is That I'm Actually Tired, Not Just Whiny Tired Crisis, which was resolved by the Daddy Carries Me to the Car While I Rest and Cry on His Shoulder Maneuver.

Thus endeth the Crises for the day.

In the end, the only thing that we could do was laugh -- grimly -- and I enjoyed running the following bit of dialogue from Vacation through my head (RIP, John Hughes):

Well I'll tell you something. This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. It's a quest for fun. I'm gonna have fun and you're gonna have fun. We're all gonna have so much f*cking fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our g*dam* smiles. You'll be whistling 'Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah' out of your....

Sorry, this is meant to be a family blog, after all.

OK, so lessons learned. Geek Girl really is still only six and can be a world-class whiner. Daddy Geek needs to start drinking heavily or at least visit the doctor for meds that change whining into bluebirds and sunshine. Mama Geek has patience beyond that of mortal mothers. Or maybe she already has those meds and I just need to find them.

Coincidence?

Yesterday Geek Girl and I gassed up the car and finally went through the car wash.

Today we've been having light rain.

Coincidence?

Department of Redundancy Department

What does it say about your area's transit system when they feel it's necessary to make the following announcement:

The following is a special message. All elevators are currently in operation.

Hmmm...

Ick

At 8:52 pm, the weather conditions at National Airport were:

Mostly cloudy

77 °F

79% humidity

We try not to run the air conditioning more than we have to, but all of our windows are on the same side of the building and we can't really generate a cross-breeze.

Copycats

Whenever the President visits a local establishment, it's usually mentioned in the press -- so we have a good idea where he's eaten. So far we've been to two of the places he's visited recently.

A couple weeks ago we went the Ray's Hell-Burger in Arlington. Even at 5:30 pm on a Saturday it was quite busy. The burgers are tasty, but *really* big, so I'm not sure we'll be going back too soon.

Friday night we visited the Dairy Godmother in Alexandria. The line was quite long, so Geek Girl and I took a little walk around the neighborhood. We found the cheese shop Cheestique which I've been wanting to visit. However, as soon as we were inside, Geek Girl insisted on leaving because the stinky cheese smell was a little too much for her. Hmmmm.... five more weeks until she's back in school. Anyways, but the time we got back to the shop, Daddy Geek had a chocolate custard for Geek Girl and we shared a very good peach sorbet.

I'm not sure we'll be able to go to all the places that our fearless leader visits, but we can visit the cheap eats.

The princess, the pirate, and the castle

On Friday, Geek Girl and I went to see a performance at Wolftrap -- the National Park for the Performing Arts. The show we saw was Instant Opera!

Five opera singers sang parts of two different arias, and the audience voted for which aria would be part of the opera. Then the audience made suggestions for setting, characters, and activities. Geek Girl was thrilled when they selected her suggested character of a Superhero Tiger. The opera singers put together a short opera featuring a princess and superhero tiger dancing at a castle. Then along came a witch and a pirate who tried to steal and eat all of the corn dogs. Don't worry, the audience voted for a happy ending so everything turned out okay.