Penguin Day

[Note: GG wrote this last night, but we waited until now to post it...]

Right now, I am wearing penguin PJs. I think penguins pretty much sum up my day.

First, this morning, Mommy made me try on long johns and a parka that made me feel like a penguin for no apparent reason.

Next, I was reading a book that took place in a cold place. Penguins live in cold places.

Finally, we went to an ice skating rink where the thingies that less experienced skaters use for balance are penguins. I found out that I am very good at falling down on ice skates, and composed a (sort of) epic poem commemorating how it feels to have fallen down on your bottom on ice at least four times. Here it is:

Owie owie owie ow,

Ouch ouch ouch.

Owie owie ow,

Ouchie ouch ouch.

Ow.

Here are some pictures at the rink:

 With a penguin in the background:

And some videos:

Then, when we were done, we got cupcakes. Yay!

[Edit this evening: Some people Daddy follows on Twitter said it is #PenguinAwarenessDay.  Did you know that some penguins dive 900 feet down to eat squid? (I read that in Zoobooks.) ]

Sunday Stroll: One Dog, 13 Ducks, and a Ham

Today, we took advantage of a lovely spring Sunday to wander around the National Mall and enjoy the sights. First, we had a picnic lunch along the Ellipse just south of the White House, enjoying the view of the futbol players and the Washington Monument. Then we had a leisurely stroll to view the south side of the White House and glimpsed a member of the First Family playing with Bo on the South Lawn before we, and all our fellow gawkers, were shooed away by the Secret Service.

Next, the Mall proper, starting at the Washington Monument and heading toward Capitol Hill. We kept being passed by tons of folks leaving the 2010 commencement ceremony for George Washington University - where the speaker was the First Lady. (We never saw or heard her.) Our second, very distant brush with the First Family today...

Afterward, we visited the Sculpture Garden for the National Gallery of Art (Geek Girl loves House 1 by Roy Lichtenstein) and watched lots of happy grads taking pictures there and on the steps of the various museums.

Eventually, we ended up at the Capitol Reflecting Pool, where we had some unexpected sights. First, we came across a mother duck (let's call her Suspicious Duck) with four juvenile ducks. Suspicious Duck was quite vigilant for people - any time someone came a bit too close, she craned her neck, started quacking in a low growl (if you can imagine such a thing), and spread out her feathers. Here is a distant shot:

What are you lookin' at?

Geek Girl wanted to sketch Suspicious Duck and her young ducks, so we walked around the pool to sit in the shade of a big tree. While we were sitting there, she drew quite a nice picture and Mama Geek and I chatted. We were pretty oblivious, but eventually we realized that a crowd had gathered, so we looked around and down. Here's what we saw:


That's Trusting Duck with her seven baby ducklings! She was quacking quietly and they were quacking back - almost cheeps. Really cute, and quite literally within my arm's reach as we sat together.

Trusting Duck wanted to take her babies to swim in the Reflecting Pool, so first, she had to get them off the planter and down onto the ground about two feet below. Here's what that looked like:

Ready...

Set...

Go!

All seven ducklings made the big hop and followed Trusting Duck around the edge of the pool. She kept quacking to guide them, and they very politely waddled along behind her. (How does she get them to do that? Never works for us...) Soon, it became apparent that Trusting Duck didn't really know how she was going to get her babies over the decorative edge into the pool, as it is about two feet high, and the babies were definitely having trouble getting that high with their stubby wings. In the end, Trusting Duck and her babies got a helping hand, or four, from me and two of the other bystanders - we each lifted some very soft, fuzzy duckies onto the lip and they slid on down into the water. Yes, Nai Nai, the hat you gave me does double duty as a duck carrier.

Here is a video of Trusting Duck and her babies swimming around in the Reflecting Pool:

It was time to start heading home, so we wandered past the Air and Space Museum to take in the planet walk along the sidewalk. Geek Girl was fascinated and read every sign in detail, and we talked about some fun facts for each planet, like the fact that a Venusian day is longer than a Venusian year and that the tilt of Uranus' axis of rotation is 82 degrees with respect to the plane of the ecliptic (this involved a pen and some twirling).

Between Uranus and Neptune, we stopped off to see some of Geek Girl's favorite art at the Hirshorn Gallery:



Pluto comes at the Smithsonian Castle, which meant we saw the lovely rose garden - and our Ham in Chief wearing The Giraffe Hat Nai-Nai Sent:


We walked on back to the car, stopping along the way for a snack while watching people play kickball at the Washington Monument and then to toss a certain rubber duck around like a baseball (it's a therapy thing). A yummy zvieri with good coffee and yesterday's dessert leftovers, a really yummy dinner made by Mama Geek, and time for this post.

The postscript: I have just been informed that I am #3 on The Official Geek Girl List of The Best Things in the World, behind drawing and reading ("Because you're sooooo funny, Daddy!"). Mama Geek is none too pleased with being #4. If Geek Girl knows what's good for her, she'll bump Mama Geek up to a tie for third. One thing's for sure, Mama Geek and I will never take the top spot.

Daddy/Daughter Weekend Day 2

Sometimes, I get lucky and things come together by random chance and good moods. This was one of those lucky days.

Today was clear, crisp, and sunny: a perfect outside day. After breakfast - spent sitting at the table reading the Sunday Washington Post (with Geek Girl reading the kid's pages and stealing the comics from me when I wasn't looking) - Geek Girl and I decided to go to the National Zoo to introduce Wholegrain The New Kitty Santa Brought to Tai Shan and the tigers. We walked to the Metro to maximize sun time and chatted the whole way. Much of the walk was taken up with a very complex story involving the Animal Agents (superhero animals that save the day in myriad ways) that I won't try to repeat here.

Geek Girl kept wanting to know how many "points" she was earning -- she gets 100 points for every mile she walks, and the points are redeemable for whatever treats Mama Geek and I deem appropriate. She sometimes plays along with this, but often you can detect the eye rolling already underway. Today, she played along.

Geek Girl Magic Moment #1: "Daddy, I'm glad Mama and [Auntie Geek] are having fun. Mama takes care of me a lot. You don't get to take care of me very often because you have to work. We should have more days like today."

Once at the zoo, we walked through the Asia Trail, stopping along the way to see the fishing cats and watch the otters wrestle. Geek Girl read and asked about all the interpretive signs, and eventually we reached Tai Shan the panda, who was lunching on bamboo and soaking up the sun. Geek Girl "gave him a letter saying Happy New Year" (I just repeat it; I don't explain it) and then announced it was lunchtime. After a quick stop, we headed on down the hill, stopping in the Small Mammals building and the Reptiles building and for extended visits to the elephants, tigers, and lions.

Geek Girl Magic Moment #2 was the extended joyous amazement I felt while watching the flashbulbs of learning going off in her mind as Geek Girl alternated between intense reading of the interpretive signs and questions to me about various aspects of what she was seeing. "Daddy, what would you do if there was an elephant soooo big it could jump over the railing and walk around? Or soooo small it could duck under the electric fence and walk around?" "Daddy, what does 'om-ni-vor-ous' mean?" "Daddy, I learned that a woman's ov-i-duc-ts and a lizard's don't go to the same place. And *you* don't have o-vi-duc-ts! And what is a u-ter-us anyway?" (This exchange was particularly funny as there was a grandmotherly lady standing there reading the same sign and trying not to laugh, especially about me being informed I lack Fallopian tubes.) "Wow, that tiger sure looks hungry. I hope it doesn't swim across the moat and climb up here. You know, tigers are really good swimmers, Daddy." "Daddy, what would you do if the tiger came to get us? I think I'd have to fight it. I'm a Super Dragon, you know." "Daddy, that donkey was sooooo soft and fuzzy!" At one point, a random dad we had repeatedly run into said, "Wow, that sure is a little girl with one big personality!" That about sums it up.

We left the zoo only because it was closing and only after promises to return soon to see all the other stuff we didn't see, and walked up the hill into Adams Morgan where we found a small playground for Geek Girl to enjoy as the sun set. Next stop: coffee (for me), hot chocolate (her), and small snacks (both of us) while we warmed up, and then a walk to the Dupont Circle metro.

As we left the coffee place: "Daddy, tell me another Little People story! It's been sooooo long since you told me one." [For those who don't know: the Little People are really small people who live in our apartment and go on adventures around it, experiencing everyday objects as huge mountains, lakes, vines, fields, etc. Each story has a mystery Geek Girl has to solve, like the time the Little People visited the Cave Monster (my tongue as I snored with my mouth open) under Two-Cave Mountain (my big schnoz). The Little People first appeared when Geek Girl was freaked out about a small boogie boarding accident and I needed to calm her down by giving her a puzzle to solve. They've been a hit ever since. Desperate fathers take note: some spur-of-the-moment things are winners, but be prepared for them to last.] This time, the Little People went on a three-day journey from Geek Girl's bedroom, through her bathroom, and to the bananas on our counter for the Festival of the Yellow Tubes. This story carried us all the way back to East Falls Church, and then we walked home with Geek Girl talking about the different types of dragons and various other Animal Agents.

We stopped off for dinner at a local place where Geek Girl Magic Moment #3 happened: spontaneous consumption of vegetable matter. In mid-sentence, she looked down at her plate and said with immense seriousness: "I'm going to eat one of those carrots. Super Dragons don't usually eat carrots, 'cause we're predators, but I'm going to eat you, Mr. Carrot." And she did. I asked her to eat another one, and this time the response was: "Super Dragons don't usually eat carrots, but sometimes they will if their Daddies tell them to." "Good, sweetie, now finish that one, please."

We rounded out the day with a game of Monopoly, Jr. and a book before Geek Girl headed to bed. She fell asleep almost instantly and is now happily snoring away, which is hardly surprising when you consider that she earned about 600 points today and probably asked just as many questions along the way.

Daddy/Daughter Weekend Day 1

Auntie Geek is visiting us for a couple of weeks, and she and Mama Geek are off on a sister's trip to New York this weekend. That means Geek Girl and I are on our own for a Daddy/Daughter Weekend. I've really been looking forward to it, and I didn't realize how much Geek Girl has as well.

Yesterday was grey and damp, but above freezing for the first time in a while. Geek Girl and I drove Mama Geek and Auntie Geek to their bus for New York, and then headed into DC to pass a drizzly day. First stop: the National Building Museum, which we had heard was full of fun things for kids and certainly was full of families when we visited. Unfortunately, Geek Girl was bored by the activities, which were aimed at younger kids or kids more interested in buildings and architecture, so after about an hour, we headed off the National Museum of the American Indian, where Mama Geek and Auntie Geek lunched the other day; they highly recommended it.

Geek Girl Magic Moment #1 came on the way into the museum, when she spontaneously grabbed my hand and informed me very seriously of the top five things I do that show her that I love her, including this gem: "You take me to museums and explain things to me, even when I ask a lot of questions." (Have we ever mentioned she's inquisitive? An hourlong visit to a museum can easily involve a dozen or more "Daddy, why...?/Well, sweetie,..." exchanges.)

Geek Girl enjoyed her chicken fingers while I ate venison with greens and cornbread (yum!), and afterward, Geek Girl led us on a tour of one of the galleries. She was interested in the different interpretations of the universe that were held by the different cultures, and especially in the loop of videos showing traditional stories on stars and constellations. We also enjoyed some music and a little talking time before deciding to head home via Dairy Godmother in Alexandria (highly recommended). We had a low-key dinner and read books together before bedtime.

Geek Girl Magic Moment #2 came when she cuddled up with me on the couch, put her head on my shoulder, and said very seriously: "Daddy, I really love it when you read me bedtime books even when you're tired." A very nice way to end the day.

Rock Creek Ramble

Last Sunday was a beautiful crisp fall day, perfect for a late morning stroll through Rock Creek Park. Geek Girl was happy to find a stick for making dragon footprints -- have we mentioned she is no longer a tiger, but rather a dragon these days?


She walked ahead of us down the trails, which were blanketed with pretty fall leaves:


That meant Mama Geek and I enjoyed the relatively rare pleasure of holding each other's hands, rather than Geek Girl's hands, which made the hike extra nice for us.

We went up one of the side trails, and then linked up with a main trail alongside the creek itself. It certainly lives up to the name:


We also found a hollowed-out tree trunk alongside the trail -- watch out for wild dragons!


Geek Girl also was happy to meet several dogs and a horse along the way. She gathered many acorns for her nature collection, and "planted" a bunch as well. After an hour or so, we stopped for a snack along the creek and then headed back to the car and off to one of our favorite restaurants, A&J in Annandale (spicy wontons, potstickers, and soup dumplings - yum!), for lunch. All in all, a very nice Sunday outing.

Sunday Wandering

We've been a bit busy lately, so we haven't posted much recently. Time to catch up a bit.

The first week of November was very stressful for me, so when the following weekend came up, it was definitely time for some low-key relaxation. We spent a very pretty Sunday wandering around and stumbled across some (for us, anyway) unexpected treats.

First on the non-agenda: Geek Girl and I introduced Mama Geek to Theodore Roosevelt Island (not to be confused with that other Roosevelt Island to the north). There is a pretty 1.3-mile trail around the perimeter of the island, where a kind passer-by snapped this picture of The Geeks. Lots of nice fall foliage as you can see.

Part of the trail is along a boardwalk over a tidal wetland, where we saw lots of ducks and Geek Girl enjoyed looking for tiger tails among the cattails and reeds. Mama Geek took this picture of Geek Girl and me on the boardwalk:


After finishing the walk, we were ready for lunch and headed to Columbia Heights for pizza, followed by a meander around the neighborhood. It was an interesting mix of old and new buildings, including this brightly-colored house that caught our fancy:


Afterward, it was time to "go home", which of course means "stop for coffee and a snack", so off to Georgetown for a stop at Dolcezza, followed by a bit of hill-climbing to burn off the gelato. We stumbled upon the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, a very pretty old mansion at the top of the highest hill in Georgetown. It has a spectacular set of gardens that are free to wander in from November to March (they cost $8 the rest of the year), so wander we did.

First, Geek Girl practiced her tree-climbing skills:

(She notes: "I'm afraid of Daddy-longlegs - good thing there weren't any!")

Here's a shot of Geek Girl and Mama Geek being silly:


And a couple of garden shots for Grandma:



On the way back to the car, we uncovered a playground at Montrose Park, where Geek Girl played until we dragged her away to head home. Overall, we had a very nice day with no real plan.

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.

Long lost cousin

I have a cousin who's lived all over the world. After volunteering with the Peace Corps, she continued to live in cool places like Russia, Japan, Africa and I'm sure I'm missing several other places. The other day I was chatting with Auntie Geek and she mentioned that this cousin was living in the D.C. area. So, after going through the parental channels, I got in touch with my cousin and it turns out her family lives about 5.5 miles away! And the wildest thing is that her younger daughter has the same name as Geek Girl! Now, you might have though the grandmas might have mentioned this to the daughters, but I guess it wasn't as cool to them as it is to us.

Yesterday Geek Girl and I went over to visit with long lost cousin and her daughters. We chatted a while and then went to their pool. There was confusion with two girls with the same name, but the older sister came up with the solution of adding "tiger" to Geek Girl's name. Afterwards there was some parallel play (they had the great big Littlest Pet Shop house) but in the end they were all decorating a big piece of cardboard that was to be used as a prop for a play that the older daughter had written in school.

Today Geek Girl and I went into D.C. to go to a children's program at the National Art Gallery. We were supposed to meet long lost cousin and her younger daughter, but the metro was running a little slow between their stop and our stop. We ended up participating in an earlier program than they did (we had plans to meet Daddy Geek for lunch afterwards). During the program, the leader read and discussed a book with the kids, talked about a piece of art, and then the kids had their own craft to paint. It was too bad that we missed hanging out with long lost cousin and daughter, but we should see them again soon.

edited to add: Okay, I spoke to mom and she said she did tell me that long lost cousin had a child with the same name as Geek Girl. Further proof that I don't listen to my mother, or remember what she tells me.

A Capitol Third

One of the best parts about living near Washington DC is that there are lots of very cheap - or free - cultural events going on. We can just pop into the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum or National Museum of Natural History for a couple of hours (or, like the other day, bail out right away when they are much too crowded, knowing we can go back). Or go to the National Zoo, or just take a walk along the National Mall and watch people fly kites.

Every Fourth of July, there is a huge concert and fireworks show on the Mall: A Capitol Fourth. It attracts a giant crowd, so if you want to see it in person, you have to be willing to go really early and sit with many thousands of your closest friends. Or go watch the dress rehearsals on 2 July and 3 July, like we did last night at Mama Geek's urging.

The concert is held on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol building. We got there about two hours ahead of time, found a spot to spread out our blanket and break out the picnic, and settled in to pass the time with books and Geek Girl's horse cards, a Christmas present from friends in Colorado. We had a great view of the Capitol:

and the Washington Monument:


We had time for a Geek Family Portrait or two:



The show started with a briefing from the head of the organizing committee, then Jimmy Smits did his emcee bit and introduced the various acts. We got to see Aretha Franklin perform the National Anthem and later, R-E-S-P-E-C-T and a medley of other classics. We got to see a video message from President Obama. We got to see them perform the 1812 Overture with real cannons. We got to listen to Raphsody in Blue. We endured Barry Manilow, which led to (a) me realizing that a disturbingly large number of people seem to really like Barry Manilow and (b) Mama Geek noting: "I guess you really do love me."

There were also some other special guests, including this large yellow guy as guest conductor:


He brought along some friends, and I got to torment Geek Girl by singing "C is for Cookie" in my best Cookie Monster voice. (I've been playing Cookie Monster for years; ask Nai Nai about The Racetrack Incident.) GG also loved the trash song from Oscar the Grouch. Thankfully, she finds Elmo mystifying.

The highlight, though, was definitely MG and GG dancing a duet to the Jersey Boys' rendition of "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)":





After the show, we walked for a bit along Pennsylvania Avenue to see the White House at night before hopping the metro home.

Tonight, we get to go see the fireworks show from a friend's apartment - on the 20th floor of a high-rise building with a great view directly up the Mall. It should be good fun.