The Big Brother

Oh no... I may have to share my wheels and my D??

Most of you already know, but I figured I'd better put it on the blog anyway, since this is the internet age. So sometime around April 15, 2010, Paul will discover the world of being a big brother! We finally got this one just about trained, and now we're starting over again. Now comes the name picking, the baby clothes shopping, the sleeping on a hospital couch, the crib, the swing, the high chair, the little socks, the little hats, the spit up rags, the screaming, the diaper messing, the long nights, and all the rest of the amazing things that come with it. Should increase the insanity around here just a little bit!! Wish us luck!

Seeing the Sights for Free

The nicest thing about D.C. is that most of the tourist attractions are free! The museums, monuments, and even the zoo is cost free to get into! This is incredible when compared to places like St. Augustine down in Florida, where to see a half eaten taco left by Ponce de Leon costs $15 per person. So while I’m on permanent vacation, we’ve been checking out a few things. We rode the Metro up to the zoo the other day to see the animals!


Unfortunately, a lot of the zoo was under construction, so many of the animals were absent without leave… probably wandering around the streets somewhere. But we did see a lion, a tiger, and a Panda Bear… oh my!

The Pandas are kind of a big thing at this zoo, and actually pretty cool to check out. Otherwise, we saw a few flamingos and other large birds, some monkeys, porcupines, a giant octopus, Mr. Crabs from the Sponge Bob show, a komodo dragon, an invisible gorilla and a vanishing hippo, a wallaby from down under, and a gang of fearless sparrows that attempted to loot our popcorn tub.

A couple of days after the zoo we took the Metro to Arlington National Cemetery. We’d been there before, but I really wanted to see the Iwo Jima statue this time because we missed it last time. Well… that didn’t work out. As it turns out, Arlington is massive, and the maps only come about every few miles as you walk around. So we watched the changing of the guard, saw where they just recently buried Ted Kennedy, and then walked, and walked, and walked some more trying to find the statue. Turns out, they call it the Marine Corps War Memorial, and we walked right past the sign that so easily pointed the way to it. Good job. At least we’ll know how to get there next time.

Roary the Racing Car!

Becky still had some cash stuffed into one of Paul’s birthday cards from three months ago, so we figured we’d better let him get a very, very late present with it. We went to the local Toys R’ Us and Paul was in heaven! I put him in one of those Big Wheels cars that was perfect for his size, and he cruised around part of the store with a mischievous grin across his face. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that much birthday money, and I can only imagine how much stuff would get broken if he was driving a car through the house. So, we settled for a remote controlled Ferrari.

On one of the Thomas the Train videos that Paul watches continuously, there is a preview for some show called Roary the Racing Car. So when he started driving this car around the driveway he was singing the theme song over and over again. ROOOOARY the Racing Car!!

Paul’s dad was almost as big of a fan of Roary the remote control car as Paul was. We built a ramp in the driveway, drove it down the street dodging oncoming traffic, and ran it into the grass.

I’m pretty sure we about ran the batteries out on the first day. So now we know how easy it is to keep me and Paul occupied for an extended period of time.

Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!

Last weekend we drove a short ways down into Virginia to see - you guessed it - more battlefields! Fredericksburg sits at about the half-way point between Richmond and Washington, so it was the site of numerous conflicts during the Civil War. Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and a couple of other smaller battles took place within about a twenty mile radius, so it was easy to see several sites in one day.


We stopped in the town first and saw what remained of the battlefield. Unlike Gettysburg, which has been mostly preserved, this one was mostly covered up by houses built after the war. What was left was Marye’s Heights, where the Confederates controlled the high ground that won the battle, and the Sunken Road, where they lined up and massacred the Union soldiers that tried to cross the open field. Eight thousand died in the field in a few hours time, and only a few got within thirty yards of making it to the wall. So in other words, it was not a good day to be fighting for the North. It’s hard to imagine it now, because when you walk along the wall all you see are trees and houses, rather than an open field, but it was definitely worth checking out.

The Sunken Road.

Paul wishing he was a cavalry officer!

Even Thomas the Train came along... actually, he comes with us to most places.

There was less to see at Chancellorsville, but it was the site where General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was fatally wounded by his own men firing through the trees in the dark. They had all the spots marked out. He was shot here, his horse ran here, they pulled him off here, he fell on his broken arm here, and then they took him to a house over there, where they cut his arm off a few days before he died of pneumonia. Sounds like an otherwise lousy way to go. I remember writing a book report on Stonewall Jackson in fifth grade, so it was pretty cool to me. They made it clear that he was as important to the South as General Lee was, and may have made better decisions in Gettysburg where Lee ultimately lost the war. So it’s interesting to think what may have happened had he not been killed here. Cool stuff, well… for me anyway.

Another Day at the Marina

I’m a couple of posts behind (because I have sooo much to do), so I just wanted to put up a few pics from last week. Continuing our exploration of the surrounding areas, we stopped by this state park just down the road to see what might be going on. Not a lot. Basically it was a marina and not really much of a park. It would have been really cool had we had a boat, or jet skis, or one of those hover craft things I saw on TV the other night that goes on water and on land! But we don’t have any of those things. We don’t even have a kayak. Not that I would want a kayak, because I’d probably drown. And if you drown on the river because you’re an inexperienced kayaker, then there’s probably no one to sue. So we didn’t get in the water. But we did walk around a bit and take some photos. Just like these:


I think it started to rain a little bit about this time. We tried to walk around to check out the "cool" people's boats, but they locked us out.


Paul found this stage and he decided to display one of his modern performance art pieces. Truly magnificent.

Then he crossed the bridge over the troubled water. Actually it was pretty calm and full of large lilly pads, and one lonely turtle. No gators though.

Not really sure what's going on here.

Oh man, if we only had a kayak... or a 60 foot yacht, that could work.

Well, someday maybe we'll have a boat to take to the marina. Maybe even one that hovers over the land as seen on TV! Yeah, probably not.

Lifestyles of the Poor and the Useless

When you’re unemployed and mostly useless, like us, you have to find something to do to entertain yourself. You can only watch so much Sponge Bob, go to Home Depot so many times, and search the classifieds for jobs that don’t exist so often, before you have to do something else to occupy your time. Thankfully, there are a few new places to check out. So yesterday we went to Fort Washington on the Potomac River, a fort originally constructed prior to the War of 1812 to defend the capital from possible British invasion. It worked fantastically! The British landed a little farther south and just marched around the fort right into the city where they set everything on fire. Good job, Fort Washington. Anyway, it was pretty much like every other fort that we saw down south: brick walls, big canons, and humidity. Being an early American soldier would have been fun.

Are you being serious? It's hot, and I had just about fallen asleep in the car.

Wow, Dad. This fort looks exactly like the last one.

Right where she belongs. Behind bars.

Look, I brought a wheel!

Strolling along the brick walls!

Yeah, yeah...

Wait... what?

Quick! Hide behind the wall where she won't see you!

And that's it. As far as forts go, it wasn't exactly the most interesting. Nothing really exciting ever happened, but that's probably how you'd prefer it if you were ever stationed there anyway. And for us, now it's back to uselessness.

Quick! Get the hose!

Give a two year old a garden hose with spray nozzle and turn him loose. Sounds like a great idea, right? Right. I’m sitting here making this post and suffering through a cold, probably because I was running around in the back yard dodging a stream of water the other night… which I apparently didn’t do so well at. But, Paul had fun. A little too much fun.

I'ma getchoo, Daddy! Let go of my hose!!



Distract him camera lady, while I use my Chuck Norris stealth skills to sneak up behind and take him out!



Aaaah!! He's on to you!! Get out of there! Get down!!



Ah ha! But it is dad who came out the victor! Well, kind of. We were both pretty soaked.

Next time, I'll hide behind the glass like mom. But now I have to go blow my nose again. Stupid cold.