Unfinished Dad

Wheaton Adventure Playground or Don't Let Kids Submit Ideas For Your New Playground

Uh, now what?

Longer is not always better.

Sometimes they bend.

Just like your spine after use.

A Walk In The Woods

Most of the activities we do lately are based on Little Bear episodes. Annie is in a bit of a television rut, I guess. Today we went hiking, and I was stoic Owl to Annie's Little Bear. I suppose Tilda was Duck since she thinks every animal on earth makes the same quacking noise.  We set off on Theodore Roosevelt Island, each with a backpack filled to the rim with snacks and water. By the end of the hike--which must have totaled nearly 300 yards--I had two' backpacks stuffed inside mine and a toddler on each hip. Good times.

Ah, nature.

Snack! Or Nack in T vernacular.

Toddler trail running. It's next.

Hmm.    

Butterflies At Brookside Gardens

If you need something to do this summer that will amaze you and your children alike, check out Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton.

Remember 22 month old child, no touching the exotic, brightly colored, haphazardly flying insects!

This is me nonchalantly turning away from you, pretty butterfly.

Hmm...I think this pipevine swallowtail's probiscis is injured.

...And Snowing And Snowing And WTF?

We broke the all-time annual snowfall record here in Washington, DC today. Our total for the year is now a robust 55 inches. Yes, that's almost five feet of snow. Take that, 1898! Your 54 inches are so 19th century. 

I'm torn between wishing my kids were old enough to remember this epic winter and feeling lucky that they won't. That would be a pretty spoiled way to grow up. Things here are different now. Everyone has a warped view of life. A neighbor told me today as he trampled by, "Did you hear? Another 20 inches this weekend!" That is what snowmageddon will do to a person. Two months ago we would have been happy with a single snowstorm of 10 inches. Now we expect a couple of feet every fifth day. Good, genuinely, good times.

The yardstick stretched to the limit.

Our street.

Bethesda Row.

Landmark Theatre.   

...And Snowing And Snowing...

Friday, 3:00PM. 

Friday, 11:00PM.

Saturday, 5:30PM.

This is what we looked like last evening. Two more feet to come on Tuesday and Wednesday! Let Kaiser Snowze rule the Nation's capital forever!    

Washington Winter Wonderland or "Dad, My Hands Are Cold!"

In case you live under a rock or in another hemisphere, we had the storm of the millennium here in Washington, DC over the weekend.  It was a wonderful time of neighborhood camaraderie, childlike frolicking and childhood memories.  23 inches of snow is a lot for any city, especially this one, and it saddens me to think that my children may never see a storm that big again.  

First look.

Unofficial measurement...um, about waist deep.

Warm chocolate chip cookies.

Really Dad? 33 inches in 1996?  Hmmm.

 

Running Around The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

Looking for someplace warm to let your kids blow of steam this winter?  Do you like to photograph the little ones with aerospace technology as the backdrop?  Then the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum out at Dulles Airport is the place for you.

Technically, the museum is free.  However, it costs fifteen dollars to see the parking lot, so this isn't the cheapest indoor play space you can find.  Go on a weekday morning and have the gargantuan hangar pretty much all to yourselves.  Then watch your children wear themselves out while attempting to run up the epically long ramps that connect the different levels.  Finally, stuff them with some Chicken McNuggets in the cafeteria, er, McDonald's, and let them pass out in the car on the way home.  Sounds like the perfect day, no?

Who doesn't get this excited when they see their first space shuttle?

Hm. Nice view, you say?  Whatever.

Do My Children Have Swine Flu?

Okay, so I know what the medical establishment will tell me about the above question, but I have some concerns.  Both of my kids received the first round of H1N1 vaccines on Wednesday and both of my kids woke up with identically colored, jelly-like, escape-the-diaper diarrhea this morning.  I know this is one of the questions they ask when they are diagnosing a case of swine flu so, you know, I'm just asking. 

They have no other symptoms to speak of, but I am officially skeptical.  Go ahead, tell me I'm crazy.

Global Eggo Crisis?

Woodward!  Bernstein!  Get on this Eggo shortage story, like, today.  Petula Dvorak's article, though entertaining, is not enough.  We need answers.  We need in depth analysis.  Pictures of the closed plants.  Interviews with Kellogs' executives on why they aren't relocating all the little old ladies from the "Tennessee waffle factory" who are making waffles from scratch every day and boxing them up for my large scale consumption needs.  Like Elaine and the Today sponge, I will be stocking up. 

In eight grocery stores across Maryland, Virginia and the District, I found warnings of a dire situation and a tough year ahead. Signs taped to the freezer doors warn of a "shortage" and allude to a "situation." A Giant supermarket in Rockville said it best in two, purple-markered words written next to a column of empty shelves: "Eggo problem."

Get out your hockey gear.  If I see you at Giant today and there is only one family sized box left, it's you or me, and one of us is going into the glass.

Disneyland for Suits

My wife is at a conference at the Gaylord National Hotel on the waterfront in National Harbor, Maryland.  I decided to take the kids down to stay over for the night because - aside from being a strange corporate retreat version of Disneyland with self contained restaurants, hotels and living space - they also do an over the top Christmas display.  We were too early for the real indoor snow, however the girls loved the musical fountain and indoor river.  The place is kind of creepy, in an Orwellian sort of way, but it was a well packaged night away.  And no, there is no way to take good low-light pictures with a cell phone, but the photos convey the atmosphere quite well.