What you need to build a fort...

Two of the neighbor girls are over to play and one has suggested building a fort. According to Geek Girl, "You need tension and teamwork to build a fort."

A Visit to the Beach

A couple of weeks ago we decided to take a quick trip to Virginia Beach. We left late on Thursday morning and were in Chesapeake, VA five hours later. We checked in to the hotel and then headed out to Sandbridge Beach -- just south of Virginia Beach.

Here's Geek Girl happily digging in the sand.


The next day we went back for an all day visit. Daddy Geek practiced his open water swimming, I went for a long walk, and Geek Girl continued digging when she wasn't dragged into the ocean by Daddy Geek. At the end of the day, Geek Girl and I had dug a large "dinosaur nest," but the incoming tide washed it out. However, Geek Girl recruited some new arrivals to help dig a smaller dinosaur nest safer from the waves.


Geek Girl would have loved to stay a couple more days. Hopefully next year we'll plan a longer beach vacation. On Saturday morning, there were a lot of people at the hotel breakfast who were headed towards the Outer Banks. Maybe one year we'll visit the Outer Banks, but we were pretty happy with Sandbridge Beach.

On the way home, we decided to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and go home via the Delmarva peninsula. Yes, this added several hours to our return trip, but it also meant we were able to stop at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Reserve. We went on a short walk amongst the mosquitoes and were able to see the wild ponies way off in the distance.

In the mid afternoon, we stopped at The BBQ Joint in Easton, MD for some barbeque. Daddy Geek and I enjoyed the barbeque. Geek Girl wasn't too crazy about the smell. But she did enjoy the large chocolate chip cookie in a pan (which is also available with sauces and ice cream).

At the beginning...


All done.

Growing like a weed

I am 61.5 inches tall (but I like to tell people I'm 5'2"). Geek Girl is now 8.5 years old and we measured her at 53 inches. She's grown over an inch and a half in six months! Now the question is, how old will she be when she catches up with me? She has 8.5 inches to go. I'm guessing she'll catch up with me when she's eleven, hopefully not ten.

How to Make Dumplings

Another guest post from Geek Girl:

Yesterday I made dumplings for dinner. Here are some pictures:

Starting.

How to make the dumplings.

The finishing touch.

Some Manhattan Food

We spent 4th of July and several days afterwards in Manhattan. Here are some of the meals we remembered to photograph.

Chocolate Chip Cookie, Mississippi Mud Pie, and Sour Cream Apple Walnut Pie from Little Pie Company.


For our 4th of July dinner we went to Cafe Niagra for Sri Lankan food. Daddy Geek and I hadn't had any Sri Lankan food since we left Zürich and we weren't going to miss the opportunity. We also have a tradition of having non-traditional foods for holidays. Bastille Day 2000 found us in Paris and we had Chinese take-out in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.


Geek Girl's big slices of pizza (she only finished one slice) from Big Nick's.


Macarons from La Maison du Macaron (website has music).
On the far plate are rose, lemon, and orange. The near plate has two chocolates, mango, caramel and cassis. In this shot, the cassis is too blue.


Here's another shot of the cassis where it's a little more purple.


One night we decided to stay close to the hotel for dinner. Daddy Geek decided to ask the concierge for a recommendation and after securing a reservation we hurried to the restaurant for our table. However, after we sat down and looked at the menu we realized that the prices were a little higher than we we wanted for large servings of uninspired Italian food (maybe that's why the restaurant didn't have a menu posted outside). They had brought us water, but we decided that it wasn't the place for us and we left. We ended up at Trattori Trecolori (which we had considered earlier) for a more affordable and just as enjoyable meal. Geek Girl really wanted me to take a picture of the balsamic vinegar/olive oil because it looked like the yin and yang symbol


Overall we ate pretty well. We also enjoyed Alsatian food, dim sum, gelato, a visit to Shake Shack, and yummy baked goods

Ohio and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Kids' Museum

Note: this is a guest post from our Geek Girl. She wrote the text and took the pictures.

I am visiting Ohio! I am staying at Hampton Inn. Here are some pictures:

the view out our window

the bed I'm sleeping in

I visited the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Here are some pictures of the bird in the front:

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They have a special "kids only" thing where you can see the next floor up.
[Daddy called it the "anthill".]

They have an exhibit where you make a boat and then play with it in the river they made.

This is me at the birdseed part of the art exhibit.

I had fun at the museum!

P.S.: my daddy is big doofus!

[No, I'm not.]

Like Mother, Like Daughter Part X

Geek Girl has just showered, and needs to get her hair combed with detangler. This is one of Mama Geek's jobs.

I overheard Mama Geek telling Geek Girl to get dressed and they would put the detangler in, followed by Geek Girl's cheerful "OK".

Then silence. For several minutes.

I investigated, only to find Geek Girl was dressed, but reading. I went to remind Mama Geek that they were supposed to comb Geek Girl's hair, only to find Mama Geek was also reading.

Much guilty laughter ensued, until Geek Girl said, "Daddy, maybe you should be reading, too!"

So the Geek House was silent for some time. Inside the Plex, by Steven Levy, if you must know.