Colvin Run Mill & Egg Hunt

I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by visiting a new historic site that happened to be holding an Egg Hunt today.  So, we traveled to Great Falls, VA and visited the Colvin Run Mill, which was a state-of-the-art hydraulic mill built in 1811.  The site also has a General Store that sells items of yore.  However, the problem with my plan was the corresponding Egg Hunt and the masses of young children that kept us from doing anything except crafts and our egg hunt.  It was a cute little site, but probably best to go on a quiet day when they offer tours and plenty of picnic tables.

The Egg Hunt part made the trip completely worth it.  They offered four craft tables where Alison made a paper plate chick and two bunnies.  Then they shuttled us all outside just in time for the hunt to start.

Waiting for the hunt to begin

No skills necessary to actually find the eggs

I don't think my competitiveness was passed down to Alison.  She was supposed to grab six eggs, but she walked over to a blue one that she liked and proceeded to spend inordinate amounts of time inspecting its contents - right then and there.  I finally convinced her to find another egg and when we were all done, she had five eggs, but two from children who had gathered at least ten and were told they needed to share.  She, of course, was thrilled and spent the entire ride home eating nine jelly beans and playing with a plastic frog.

An egg in the basket is worth six on the ground surrounded by other ravenous two-year-olds

Showing off her stash

Needless to say, Alison is really excited for the Easter Bunny to come in a week.  I think I might tell him that hiding five eggs may just be the perfect amount.

Dying Eggs

I bought an egg dying kit this year so that we could re-live our childhoods and introduce Alison to the concept of edible Easter Eggs.  Yesterday, four days after the dying event, I was still finding red food coloring patches on the dining room floor to clean up.

3-13-13 - So far so good, the eggs are making it into the cups relatively unscathed.

Everything started out great.  We showed Alison how to dunk the eggs in the cups using the little wire tool thingie and she took off.  You've probably already figured out what our first mistake was: using the darn wire thing.  Because of that, we had numerous eggs endure several levels of smacking (table, then chair, then floor) on their plunge to the earth.  No eggs went undyed, but a few will certainly never be eaten.

Monitoring

Exit Strategy

Our egg exit strategy evolved over time from using the wire thing, to helping with a spoon, to just grabbing them out; which led to our second big lesson: You can never have too much newspaper on the table, chair, child, floor, etc.

It was fun!  No one has been bold enough to eat one yet, but we had a lot of fun making a mess.

"Snow Storm"

Snow!

I can't say we didn't know what we were getting into when we moved here.  In February 2010, we visited my brother-in-law during "Snowmageddon".  That time, DC got over 32 inches of snow during a two-part snowstorm.  We were on one of the first flights into Reagan National after the airport was reopened and after the government had been shut down for an entire week - due to 20 of the 32 inches of snow.  I happened to switch flights on the way home to an earlier one and ended up escaping just before the second snow wave pummeled the capital.  We had arrived from Minnesota and North Dakota, and the amount of snow that shut down DC for a week was laughable.  So, even before we moved here, we knew that DC is filled with a bunch of wusses.

Last winter, the only accumulating snow occurred on January 9th.  For one glorious evening, we had enough snow to build a small snowman that was melted by the time we left for the bus the next morning.

This past Wednesday was going to be the next big one.  The weather channel had a name for it, but everyone in DC simply called it Snowquester, after the furlough period that started last week.  One headline declared it the biggest snowfall in two years.  By the time we left work on Tuesday, everyone knew that the next day would be a "telecommuting only" sort of day.  The government is incredibly good at shutting down the commute if any hint of weather is possible.  It is a good safety measure given that we have the worst traffic congestion in the United States.

The build-up for 5-8 inches of snow was very exciting and we scrabbled to put together a makeshift sled for Alison made out of the lid from one of our storage containers.  In the morning on Wednesday, we did actually have snow!  Maybe two inches of it, but it was also....raining?  Then it snowed, then it rained, then, well, I don't know what was happening. We went out at lunch and built the wettest snowman I've ever seen.  We tried to sled down the hill in the backyard, but couldn't go more than a foot without stopping in the mud.

Grandma & Alison Getting Ready to Play

Alison in the Snow

Snowman

Grandma's Snowsaurus

 By Thursday afternoon all that was left were lonely snowmen in every front yard with their hats and eyes strewn about and their bodies sagging.  The Capital Weather Gang summed up the whole experience nicely with their Ode to Snowquester. 

At least Alison will know what snow is as she grows older, she just won't know what it means to have a real snow storm.

Sequestration

I have no idea what the rest of the country thinks about Sequestration.  Do you think about it?  Is it all your papers and local radio stations talk about?  Since I live in the DC bubble, it's hard to ignore it. All of the neighbors we slug in with work for DOD or TSA or Homeland Security.  Everyone is facing furloughs, some once per pay period and others will be hit every week.  There have been threats that if they use their Blackberries on furlough days that they will face legal action.  It's forced, unpaid vacation time!

In this pre-furlough honeymoon period, everyone is really upbeat about it.  By everyone, I mean all the real people I talk to - not official press notices from the White House or that economist from the FTC that keeps giving interviews.  I suspect the allure of an extra vacation day every-other-week over the summer is enough to make you forget about the impact to your paycheck.

It took me a while to realize that Nathan is a Federal employee and would likely be impacted.  However, every agency determines its own cost-savings measures.  The National Park Service has an abundance of seasonal employees, so the rumors circulating are that most parks will hire less Rangers for the summer instead of furloughing employees, if they have that choice.  While that lets the permanent employees breathe a sigh of relief, that could mean longer lines at park entrances and visitor centers, fewer facilities open, and definitely less hikes with a Ranger.  That grizzly bear you really wanted to see at Glacier National Park?  Well, he's right over there, but you missed him because you didn't have a guide familiar enough with the terrain to spot him.

In Virginia, an estimated 90,000 Department of Defense employees will lose over $600 million in income.  Most of that is right here in Northern Virginia where we live.  You can compare your state's cuts right here.  I'm almost more worried about the $3-4 million reduced in each state for "clean air and water".  What does that even mean?  I really want to keep my clean air and water.

You might think that, being in the midst of Sequestration Fever, I think it's BS like everyone else.  Except that deep down, I don't.  I really want the government to make smart cuts so that we can balance the budget.  I want to spend less on war and more on STEM education and rebuilding our energy infrastructure with a smart grid that uses renewable fuels.  These are things that will really benefit future generations.  These are the things I want.  But we are so polarized right now that we can't come together for the common good.  Instead of every Congressman (or woman) getting a team of real experts who can help guide them in making policy decisions, we have lobbyists: paid influencers that could care less which issue they push as long as it keeps their personal bank accounts flowing.  So, while I think that semi-blind, automatic cuts are a giant cop-out, it might be the only way to get us moving in the right direction, given our current circumstances.

In the mean time, I'm just going to be glad that I love our new house and wouldn't mind being stuck here for a long time.  We'll see what the real Sequestration impact is and, if we have to, we can always start our own business spotting grizzly bears.

San Antonio

Last weekend, I met three friends from my IBM days for a girls' weekend in San Antonio - no husbands or kids allowed.  I must admit that while I missed the family a little, three full days of sleeping in, eating out, and doing whatever we wanted in a place with beautiful weather was just what I needed.

We stayed at La Mansion del Rio right on the Riverwalk downtown and just blocks from almost everything.  The Riverwalk itself makes San Antonio worth the visit.  They've diverted a 3-to-4-feet-deep portion of the San Antonio River into downtown, lined it with paths, shops, and a plethora of restaurants with plentiful outdoor seating.  I'm glad we had a few days-worth of meals to explore it.  My friend, Amanda, called it a "classy Las Vegas", but it reminded me of Disney World, where everything is undeniably fake, but you love it anyway.

Riverwalk

Riverwalk @ Night

 Day One:

We did what any self-respecting tourist would do in San Antonio: we went straight to The Alamo.  Because I'd been told over and over that it is small, over-commercialized, and "nothing special", my expectations were low, but I ended up loving it.  They have an Imax Movie down the street to help you understand what really happened there.  My summary: a lot of people died, including Davy Crockett, trying to protect Texas/US Freedom from the evil dictator, Santa Ana.  It has a lovely backyard, a newer museum, and a gift shop that sells Alamo Crackers.  What more could you want?

The Alamo

Sara & I outside the museum

We stopped for lunch in the Mercado at Mi Tierra, which had decent Mexican food and crazy decor.  We also toured the Spanish Governor's Palace, which is much larger than my house, and had plenty of Spanish placards to help me practice my second language.

Spanish Governor's Palace

There are tour boats that float up and down the Riverwalk and, while our guide was having a bad day, the tour was fun and gave us a solid history of the downtown San Antonio area.  The restaurant for the evening was Saltgrass where we all overindulged in a large, Texas steak.  Yum!

Day Two:

It rained Saturday, so we went to the San Antonio Rodeo, which is at a giant, indoor arena that kept us warm and entertained.  The line-up was very similar to the Rodeo I saw in Greeley, CO on the 4th of July a few years back, right down to the Mutton Busting which might be the most entertaining form of child abuse ever.  I must figure out how to sign Alison up to do that.  The rain cleared up in time for a dinner at an Italian restaurant, Paesanos, and some local ice cream before bed.

Let's Rodeo San Antonio!

Day Three:

This may have been my favorite excursion of the trip.  We rented bikes from a great guy that delivered them to our hotel and gave us a map to the four Spanish Missions.  The weather, again, was perfect and San Antonio has a wonderful, new bike path that runs along the river and out of downtown.  To get there, we had to bike through an old German neighborhood with huge, ornate houses. Given their proximity to downtown and their size, I was dismayed to find out they were being sold for a mere $15K more than what we paid for our tiny ranch in DC.

There are four Spanish Missions approximately three miles apart, leading into town and to the Alamo.  They were built in the 1700's and each includes a cathedral and in some cases housing for the local Indian population that the Catholic missionaries were working hard to convert to Christianity.  They are in wonderful shape and each still have active congregations.

Mission Concepcion

Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose

Housing @ Mission San Jose

Native Flora

 Church is in Session

We came back and tried a bar that was opened shortly after prohibition ended for dinner.  It would have been excellent if I could drink.  Then, we went to another restaurant for desserts - the perfect end to our time in San Antonio.

Day Four:

I had an unexpected fourth full day added to my trip when, after waking at 4:15am Monday morning, all flights into DC were canceled due to "fog".  I sat in the Atlanta airport for 13 hours on list after list for stand-by.  Air Tran doesn't have any agreements with other carriers, so it took them until Midnight to get me home.  The good news is that my San Antonio weekend was completely worth it.  I'm already planning to take Nathan back, perhaps on an extended layover on our way to a more tropical locale!

Apples, Pumpkins, and Baseball

It's fall.  Want proof?  In the last month, we've been apple-picking, to a Nats game with Uncle Justin, and to the fall celebration at Burke Nursery.

Way back on September 15, we drove an hour to Stribling Orchard.  The attraction to this farm was its variety of apples and it's location: the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Now that I have a garden, I've gotten really into food preservation and bought my own water bath canner, which I'd used precisely once (come visit and we can crack open my jar of pickles).  Applesauce is one of the items that can be canned without a pressure cooker, so I was excited to get some practice in and have an excuse to eat apple crisp day and night.

9-15-12 - Eve

9-15-12 - You can't beat the mountain air!

9-15-12 - New Wagon

The farm was lovely, gave us a chance to try out Alison's new wagon, and gave Alison a chance to eat apples off the ground for two hours straight.

9-15-12 - What?  46 apples seems reasonable to me!

I did eventually make four jars of applesauce (and we've already eaten one - physics works!), two apple pies, and two batches of apple crisp.  Yum!

The next weekend we watched the Nats vs. Brewers game with Uncle Justin.  It started off great, with a beer and brat tailgate, but as the Nats crushed the Brewers (I secretly wanted the Nats to win, I'm sad to say), Alison got more and more angry and we left after the fifth inning.

9-22-12 - We wore red Wisconsin shirts to disguise the fact that we were rooting for the Nats.

We went to Florida, then Nathan took an extra day off.  One luxurious, beautiful October day off together.  However, we were beat from the trip, so we drove eight minutes to Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground.  There, Alison got to take a hayride, see some goats and chickens, play on numerous farm and halloween-related play structures, and rode down huge slides on a carpet.  Over and over again we rode those carpet slides.  She is going to be an excellent roller coaster partner when she hits that coveted 53" mark.

10-6-12 - I jumped the gun because these slides were fast!

10-6-12 - So much joy from a fake horse

10-6-12 - I wanna go fast

10-6-12 - Alison picked this pumpkin out herself

The first time we visited DC was in October and that's why we got hooked.  It is hands down the best time of year to be here and we are soaking it up!

Paddle Boats in the Tidal Basin

Every Friday I pick up Nathan at work and get to park in the paddle boat parking lot along the Tidal Basin.  Every Friday I think about how long paddle boating in the Tidal Basin has been on my DC checklist.  Every Friday I leave without a taste of the (surprisingly) salty sea air.  In mid-September, I finally arrived early enough mark it off my list.

Alison came with me and did a great job of not jumping into the water.  She even tried to help me paddle.

9-14-12 - My Little Helper

It was a lot of fun.  Hard work for one person, but you do get great views of the Jefferson Memorial and you could paddle to the other side and back in an hour if you were motivated.

 9-14-12 - Jefferson Memorial from the Boat

9-14-12 - Mom, What's That?!

We stayed out on the water almost 40 minutes before the novelty wore off for one of us and I was asked to go back.  I would do it again.  I wonder how long the wait is during Cherry Blossom Season?