Miss Thing Goes To Washington

Am I the worst blogger ever? Probably. Because it's been almost a month since we went to D.C. for a little long-weekend mini-vacation, and I am just now posting the pictures. I mean, my sister was there at the same time (although for somewhat different reasons) and she had her posting up right away.

tl;dr version: YES I KNOW I SUCK AT MY OWN LIFE. Don't you judge me.

Anyway.

We wanted to go to D.C. because it's close and relatively cheap and there are lots of things to do that are kid-friendly. Especially if your kid is like my kid, who managed to find pretty much an infinite number of sources of amusement, and who has pretty much demanded that we go back there sooner rather than later. I love D.C. -- G and I went there on our first "couples trip," way the hell back in 1994 for Spring Break, when our coupledom was still in its babyhood -- and we try to get there as often as possible, which is unfortunately not as often as we'd like.

OF COURSE we went to the zoo. Are you new here? We always go to the zoo. Everybody always goes to the zoo in D.C., because the Smithsonian Zoo is rad and has pandas and stuff. Duh.

(BTW, I would like to interrupt this long-overdue blog post to complain about the new Flickr layout, because it stinks out loud and I hate it. What was wrong with the way things were, Flickr? Or, in your own parlance: CHG T BCK!*)

Since my sister and brother-in-law were in Washington at the same time, we got to hang out with my niece, who is seriously one of my three favorite kids in the whole wide world who aren't my own kid, and I'm pretty sure I would say that even if we weren't already related. Although the fact that she is the spit and image of my baby sister (except with adorable little toddler legs) certainly doesn't hurt.

(Which is not, by the way, meant to imply that my sister doesn't also have adorable legs, but, y'know, she's over 30, so I figure she now officially no longer qualifies as a "toddler," even though I still think of her that way sometimes because she will always be my baby sister.)

While we were at the zoo, we saw the usual assortment of wild creatures, including some kind of alligator thingy that just lay there basking in the sun like he was auditioning to be my spirit animal or something. (Because, I mean, is there anything I like better than lying in the sun? Only possibly lying in the sun with bacon and a bloody Mary, maybe.)**

Also, we saw an unimpressed orangutan, sitting up there in his little tower, silently (but visibly) judging us.

Kid is all, "Pshaw! I'll show you unimpressed."

BUT! We also saw young cheetahs playing with a ball in their pen, and according to my kid this was approximately THE GREATEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED EVER LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU. I mean, seriously, she still talks about it. Ask her what her favorite part of the D.C. trip was, and she'll tell you, "Oh, that time! When the cheetahs! Were playing! With the red bouncy baaaaaaaaaall!"

I don't know where that kid picks up some of her more melodramatic behaviors. I really don't.

But this was probably my favorite part of our visit to the zoo: getting to see my husband's face when he gets to spend time with us, with basically no schedule, itinerary, or agenda. (He and I had dinner reservations to celebrate our anniversary, but if we really needed more time at the zoo together, we would have cancelled them [even though I am glad we didn't, because that lobster ravioli was DIVINE]).

 

Oh yeah, we also did the typical dork tourist thing, which will never not be awesome.

* "CHANGE IT BACK!" with  the vowels deleted because Flickr is missing an "E" ... get it? Ha ha?

** I am not joking when I tell you that I spent approximately 45 minutes on that paragraph, trying to make sure that I was using lay vs. lie and its various conjugations correctly. Grad school and studying for the PRAXIS have ruined me forever.

Fourteen / Ivory

Fourteen years, four addresses, three cars, three cats, one mortgage, and one kid later ...

... and I am still literally the luckiest woman alive.

Happy anniversary, babe. I love you.

Happy Family-versary (Again!)

I know how most people feel about Tax Day, but it's different for us. It's a happy occasion, because on this date all the way back in 2009 (is really four years ago already? is it really ONLY four years ago?) Shae's adoption was final, and the three of us became HER plus two old dorks lugging all her crap around. Or, in other words: A FAMILY.

We've been having a hell of a time lately, our little family. Growing pains, mostly. A whole bunch of nonsense and foolishness and trying to figure things out. This stuff happens in families. We have our moments when shift schedules and uncertainty and grad school and sleep deprivation and things unnoticed at the time kind of all sneak up on you on roller skates and whomp you over the head and make you PAY GODDAMN ATTENTION.

This, too, shall pass. And in the meantime, we have each other.

I read somewhere that nothing in the world can make a person crazy like a family can. I can't remember who said it -- Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck, probably. The more you love your family, the worse it is. That is not a complaint, really, but a fact of life. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both. There's a time you've got to go and show you're growing.

I complain sometimes about the problems I have, the guerrilla wars I stupidly throw myself headlong into for lack of anything better to do, but the truth is: I have it good. I have it better than most. I have a husband I love and who loves me, we have a daughter we both adore, and whatever stupid thing we're going through right now, we're going through it together, and we'll come out the other side together, and maybe we'll all be bruised and banged up, but we'll heal. Together.

Happy Family-versary, you guys. I love you. And I promise: someday we'll look back on this and laugh. (We might need a drink or twelve first, but we'll laugh eventually.)

Now We Are Six

I may or may not have been saving that blog post title for the last five years, one month, and seven days. I can neither confirm nor deny. (But you already know it's the truth, anyway.)

"'What day is it?'
'It's today,' squeaked Piglet.
'My favorite day,' said Pooh."

"'When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,' said Piglet at last, 'what's the first thing you say to yourself?'
'What's for breakfast?' said Pooh. 'What do you say, Piglet?'
'I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?' said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. 'It's the same thing,' he said."

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why we call it the present."

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."

-- All quotes by A.A. Milne

Something Fishy

Hey, you guys remember that I have a kid, right? Probably not, because I haven't posted pictures of her in approximately forever.

There she is. She's about a hundred feet tall now.

We've only had one or two days of nice weather since the beginning of winter. This has been, like, a nuclear winter or something. It's awful. We're losing our minds.

Which may explain why we're making a fish mouth while we're sticking our face through the eye hole of a giant metal fish statue at the fish hatchery.

I keep trying to remember that Shelley poem, "Ode to the West Wind": If Winter comes, can spring be far behind?

We're all skeptical, but DEAR GOD I HOPE SO.