An American Panda

After a fun day at the National Zoo, my kids and I were waiting at the Metro for our ride home. The following heartwarming conversation took place:

Me: "Do you like your new stuffed panda?"
My Son: "Oh yes. I love it."
Me: "You and your sister are my little pandas."
My Son: "And you are our panda mother, cause you have a panda stomach... a little bit."
Me: [Forced smile]

Things I Learned in D.C.

• While swimming in the hotel pool, it is possible to go up/down the elevator 5 times in a one hour period, allowing a total of ten minutes of actual swimming before it thunders. 
• A one bedroom apartment is a luxury suite compared to a hotel room, when traveling with kids. (And a nice, big closet technically counts as a second bedroom for baby!)
• If you are without paperclips or bobby pins, the straw on a can of WD-40 can be used to pick a bathroom lock.
• Most everything in D.C. is FREE!
• You can request free tours of the White House, Pentagon, Capitol, etc. from your state representatives.
• Renting bikes on the national mall is a great way to see the monuments and memorials...
• ...If your baby hates the Burley, her wailing is a great way to clear the sidewalk of pedestrians ahead of you, and attract the sneers of judgemental people.
• Aersol sunscreen is considered a potential terrorist weapon when visiting the Capitol and will be disposed of mercilessly, even if it's hot as blazes outside.
• The Capitol dome is actually two domes: the exterior dome, and a smaller interior dome.
• The statue on top of the Capitol is named "Freedom".
• George Washington was 6'2".
• Martha Washington was a widow with two children when she married George. She and George had no children of their own.
• The Washington D.C. temple's majesty never fades.
• The 2 pandas (Mei Xiang and Tian Tian) in the National Zoo are on loan from China for 10 years... just like a lot of our money.
• The original Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence are on display in the National Archives.
• The National Archives also has a really cool gift shop.
• The Arlington Cemetary holds the remains of over 320,000 servicemen and women.
• Martha Washington's great granddaughter married Robert E. Lee (their home is now part of the Arlington Cemetary).
• The White House tour is very family friendly, and does not allow strollers, diaper bags, or purses.
• Anything that happens in D.C. can be increased in significance by titling it, "National". For example: If, while parking, you scrape your car on the garage wall, you can call it a "National Owie" (I give credit to my son on this one!).
• There is a metro stop called "Foggy Bottom". This is a hit with young children... and some adults.
• Even if you expect to walk a lot, you have understimated the amount of walking required when visiting D.C.
• It is impossible to see everything there is to see in D.C. within a month's time.

Government is No Robin Hood

While on our trip, I read the article, "Punishing the Rich is Impractical, Unethical", by Michael Medved in USA Today. I am not familiar with Medved, but I found this article very interesting. Here are some of the points I liked (in my words):

• The top 5% earn 35% of adjusted gross income but pay 59% of all income taxes.
• It is normal to want to emulate people who are wealthy. It is wrong to want to "annihilate" them.
• The rich generally work hard, earn money, pay taxes, spend and invest. We should not want to discourage this pattern.
• Instead, we should focus on ways to break dysfunctional behavior that leads to poverty (help teach new skills, better schools, safer neighborhoods, etc).
• The government taxes tobacco heavily, and has reduced smoking rates. It also subsidizes loans and grants and has tripled the number of people able to gain a college education. It does not make sense to penalize them.
• Tax hikes will not penalize the already existing millionaires and billionaires (who live off investments). Instead, it will place obstacles in the way of those trying to become millionaires and billionaires (by taxing income).
• And in Medved's words: "Though progressives trumpet 'fairness' as their priority, there's nothing fair about government conferring generous dispensations on dysfunctional, dependent conduct and imposing onerous encumbrances on those who enrich both themselves and others. It is both unwise and, at the deepest level, unjust to promote hatred and resentment where gratitude is due and to offer indulgence for values that require correction."

The idea of encouraging good behavior and fixing dysfunctional behavior makes sense to me. I think America's dream is that we all have a chance at wealth. It is wrong to demonize that desire, and the path to wealth should not be discouraged.

Back to Reality!

For the past month, my family has been living in Washington, D.C. My husband had a month long course he had to attend there, so the rest of us decided to tag along and make the most of it. We had a great time packing in as many of the sites as we could- and there are a lot of sites to be seen!
We returned just in time for the first day of school. It was a great experience, and all of us (except perhaps the baby) have grown a fondness in our hearts for our nation's capital... a fondness that was quickly tempered by two hours of traffic on our return trip.
I expect my blogging will be back on track this week because, 1.) I have lots of fun stories and ideas to post, 2.) my baby's naptime is once again my alone time, and 3.) a smartphone is no longer my primary means of accessing the internet.

Happy New School Year to All!

Baking Q&A

Question: What is worse than your son having a breakdown because you decided to try a new dessert recipe instead of his standard favorite treat?
Answer: The new dessert turning out to be a burnt, miserable failure, completely contradicting your optimism and reassurance that this new recipe could be his new favorite.

Question: Is there a silver lining to burnt caramel dumplings?
Answer: Yes. You eat much, much, much less dessert than you would have otherwise.

Pack Rat

Pack Rats are real rodents that live in the desert. In their foraging, should they chance upon a shiny treasure, they will drop what they are carrying and take their new treasure home. Their burrows are filled with all of the little treasures that they have found.
So, a slumbering camper might find in the morning that the spot where they left their watch has been replaced by a stick. Or, someone might find that at home, all of their favorite pens that make writing a joy, have slowly been replaced by cheap-o pharmaceutical pens that hardly write at all, and someone else's backpack is full of someone's favorite pens... for example.

Goodnight Moon

Smoke trail from Atlantis- 5/14/10 (personal photo)

The shuttle program is deeply rooted in my childhood memories. From a young age, space exploration captured my imagination, and has always been a thing of awe and wonder. Man in space bringing home perspectives of our world unlike any other, and views of the mysteries of space... incredible.

As a little girl, I remember watching videos made by astronauts, and laughing as they ate bananas and sent the peel spinning through the anti gravity air. Our family would often drive to the local high school's parking lot and search for the orange glow and smoke trail of a launched rocket on the horizon. Later, I was able to witness in person a rocket light up the night sky like the sun- an unforgettable experience. Visiting the Kennedy Space Center is where the beginning stirrings of patriotism grew in my heart. Nothing can make your heart swell like an IMAX film on our space program set to Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man".

Shuttle launches are perhaps something I have taken for granted, yet a tradition that I had hoped to share with my own children. My husband and son have seen launches from a distance, but nothing in person. Now with Atlantis' final mission, I mourn the end of a chapter in my life and in our nation's history. I can only hope that, like a good sequel, it will be back so that my children can exeprience the same pride and wonder in man and in our country.

Under Where?

The below picture is evidence of why it might be a good idea to blowdry your hair in the the children's/guest bathroom every now and then:

It's amazing the things you miss when you focus below eye level.

America For Me

'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down
Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,
To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,-
But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be,
In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air;
And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;
And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;
But when it comes to living there is no place like home.

I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled;
I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled;
But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day
In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way!

I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack:
The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.
But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free,-
We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.

Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me!
I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea,
To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

-Henry Van Dyke

Things That Are Cute for Children or Babies, But Not Cute for Adults:

• Jabbering to yourself until you fall asleep
• Wearing dress-up clothes in public
• Smearing your meal all over your face
• Toots
• Missing teeth or gummy smiles
• Running around in only a diaper... or naked
• Grabbing people's faces

Oh, the difference a few years makes for propriety...

Dear Mr. Lionel Richie of "The Commodores",

What do you mean by "easy like Sunday morning"? Do you mean "easy" as in, not difficult and no worries? Or do you mean "easy" as in, waking up before your children so that you can shower, instructing your child to eat their cereal (who is holding a hunger strike because you do not have pancakes), and then convincing this same child they need to put on Sunday clothes, while blowdrying your hair, and feeding and tending to your baby, and then gathering 25 heavy bags (all of them necessary) to load in the car- and most Sundays doing this alone?
Please clarify.

Happy Father's Day

To all the dad's rockin' their Dockers!

Dad Life (Father's Day Opening 2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOKuSQIJlog

An Innocent Question

Recently, my mom picked us up to take our family to the airport. As we were getting our last items packed, the following dialogue took place:
My Mom: [to me] "Is there anything I can do for you while you are gone?"
My Son: [without even looking up from his lunch] "Clean our house?"

Why cleaning, of all things, crossed my son's mind is a mystery, but after we laughed it off I thought, it would be nice for children to be taken seriously once in a while too.... :)