A Rambling Report

Warning: This is an uncharacteristically long post for me, along with high picture content. It's just that when you haven't done a substantive post for two weeks, there is a lot to report. I do not promise cohesiveness or clarity. Just musing. Read at your own risk.

I don't really know what to say about my long lapse in blogging. I think it's my post-Christmas blues. The first week after the holidays is always the pits. It's hard to climb out of the holiday joys of staying in your jammies till lunchtime, indulging in way too many chocolates, going on fun outings, feeling a sense of accomplishment on house projects, and having your spouse around full-time. Fortunately the new year does bring about some momentum, I'm just experiencing a longer warm-up time this year.

And actually one consuming aspect of our lives has been that my 90-year old Grandmother's health has been quite poor. We have been quite concerned about her. She has spent the last week and a half in the hospital, but returned home on Thursday, for which we are very grateful. We're getting to know the hospital staff way too well. For someone who has such get-up and go and has always been so independent, it has been difficult to see her so burdened by the realities and discomforts of being 90 years old.

Despite the concern with my Grandma, we had a great week with my sister, Jen and her family, visiting from Portland, Oregon. Before I recap the time we had with them, I have to show off the DARLING dresses I spoke of previously, made by my Mom and Grandma. Ella and her cousin Lauren have deemed them their "princess" dresses.


They danced and danced together in them, and when Jen and I sensed the disapproving glares from the head women in the family that these were NOT to be used for dress-up, we quickly set a dancing time limit. For Ella, this has been the dress of choice for the past two Sundays and I suspect we'll hit number three tomorrow. Am I setting a bad fashion precedence for my daughter by allowing her to wear the same dress three Sundays in a row?

During our week with the Wards, we boarded the metro several times to hit various sites in DC. I love taking Ella downtown. I need to do it more. (On a day with less people.) It reminds me how much I like living here and what wonderful resources we have at our disposal. (I'm still charting out my strategy for getting downtown on Inauguration Day, which promises to exceed the mall's capacity. Could be interesting.) This picture of Ella and Lauren made me smile.

It brought back fun memories of me exploring DC as a pre-teen with my best friend Annee and her sister, Sarah. We'd take the bus to the metro and spend entire days at museums. It still seems crazy that we were allowed to roam around the city without an adult. Did our mothers even notice where we were all day?

Our first stop of the week downtown was to Arlington Cemetery--both to visit my Dad's grave and to do some sightseeing.

I love this picture of Ella and Lauren playing hide-and-seek in the cemetery (you might need to enlarge it). My first thought was I should stop them--it seemed so irreverent. But then I realized there wasn't a better gift to my Dad than to have his grandchildren playing around him.

Oh, how it saddens me when I think about what he's missing.

As Brian and I have observed many times in DC, if you think a particularly outing is a good idea, chances are so does everyone else. As expected, the mall was mobbed. The museums were slow going, but we HAD to see the new Ocean Hall and Bug exhibit in the Natural History Museum

(This is a Madagascar hissing cockroach. Ella is like me in that bugs/rodents in a controlled environment are perfectly fine. However, if they surprise me in my own house, I can't deal.)

and we HAD to see the newly renovated American History Museum. The First Ladies' gowns are indeed lovely, but they don't display as many as they used to--they've decided to do more rotating. Not a fan of the rotation schedule.

Other parts of our week consisted of random activities to keep the kids occupied and the parents sane. (I warned you there were a lot of pictures.)

A visit to the temple and lights at the Visitor's Center:

A rousing New Year's Eve Celebration that consisted of games and this puzzle. Those pictured here, minus my husband, finished the puzzle at 2:45am. Now that's dedication.

Bowling. I was the champ. The bumpers are a life-saver.

Partaking of our neighbor's trampoline.

Ella attending her weekly birthday party (or so it seems). There was face painting at this one, and I thought it was way cool. She has mentioned daily, since this party that she got to wear real lipstick and eyeshadow. She begged to keep it on for church. I did put my foot down on that one.

So long holiday season. We look forward to your return next year.