The National Elephant Museum
The bosses were grand enough to give us a day off Monday, so I paid it forward and told Ainsley to go to a spa and get her feet zapped and pores oozed and muscles dipped in chocolate mousse or whatever chicks do.
This gave me a chance to hang out with the kiddos alone for the first time in a long while -- we walked up to the park for a bit, the three of us swinging and sliding and eating dehydrated apple chips like, uh, kids. Then I tandem-stroller-pushed the two of them up Smoketown Road to the Arby's just up the street, where they both devoured their turkey sandwiches and applesauce (no more fruit cups, darnit) plus a french fry or two. Hey, it's Saturday. My Saturday, anyway.
Unfortunately, Erin has had a little trouble adjusting to the end of Daylight Saving Time, so she's been getting up about 5 o'clock every day. Giving us even more Daddy Daughter time while I let Ainsley catch a last hour of sleep before Ryan stirs.
For Veteran's Day, I wanted to take the kids up to DC and see some monuments and maybe the newly reopened American History Museum, but realized that the rest of the family would probably think it dull and harsh my mellow. So after not walking down to the Washington Monument (a cold wind was hitting our face, and Ryan politely asked to go back and see Mommy in the car), we grabbed a hot chocolate in the Smithsonian Castle and then walked across the mall -- pointing out the U.S. Capitol Building to the little guy just in case it would stick -- to the Natural History Museum and its famous stuffed elephant in the rotunda. Ryan enjoyed seeing the large whale, the giraffes, and other suspended animation fauna (it was sort of like a stationary zoo), but he was a little spooked by the tiger in full-on pounce pose, as well as the phony thunderstorm in the rainforest room. But approximately every thirteen seconds, he asked if he could go back and see the elephant. Go up to the second level? Only if we can look down at the elephant. Grab something to eat? "By the elephant?"
Instead we got him a whale cookie.
We're awesome.
Ryan was adorable at night, saying "Thank you for coming to see me," as if I didn't really live here, and when I started kissing his bed's stuffed animals and saying "Good night, Go Dog Go...Good night Balloo..." he came back with "Don't forget the Ryan!"
This gave me a chance to hang out with the kiddos alone for the first time in a long while -- we walked up to the park for a bit, the three of us swinging and sliding and eating dehydrated apple chips like, uh, kids. Then I tandem-stroller-pushed the two of them up Smoketown Road to the Arby's just up the street, where they both devoured their turkey sandwiches and applesauce (no more fruit cups, darnit) plus a french fry or two. Hey, it's Saturday. My Saturday, anyway.
Unfortunately, Erin has had a little trouble adjusting to the end of Daylight Saving Time, so she's been getting up about 5 o'clock every day. Giving us even more Daddy Daughter time while I let Ainsley catch a last hour of sleep before Ryan stirs.
For Veteran's Day, I wanted to take the kids up to DC and see some monuments and maybe the newly reopened American History Museum, but realized that the rest of the family would probably think it dull and harsh my mellow. So after not walking down to the Washington Monument (a cold wind was hitting our face, and Ryan politely asked to go back and see Mommy in the car), we grabbed a hot chocolate in the Smithsonian Castle and then walked across the mall -- pointing out the U.S. Capitol Building to the little guy just in case it would stick -- to the Natural History Museum and its famous stuffed elephant in the rotunda. Ryan enjoyed seeing the large whale, the giraffes, and other suspended animation fauna (it was sort of like a stationary zoo), but he was a little spooked by the tiger in full-on pounce pose, as well as the phony thunderstorm in the rainforest room. But approximately every thirteen seconds, he asked if he could go back and see the elephant. Go up to the second level? Only if we can look down at the elephant. Grab something to eat? "By the elephant?"
Instead we got him a whale cookie.
We're awesome.
Ryan was adorable at night, saying "Thank you for coming to see me," as if I didn't really live here, and when I started kissing his bed's stuffed animals and saying "Good night, Go Dog Go...Good night Balloo..." he came back with "Don't forget the Ryan!"
posted by Dan at 9:44 PM
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