Happy Birthday to Yobo!

Mark's birthday was today, so went to his favorite Japanese place and ate at the hibachi. They do a little routine where they throw the knives and light things on fire (if you've been to Benihana then you get the idea) and the kids love it. Then we all saw Spiderwick, which Gryphon said was not nearly as good as the books- I wouldn't know, myself. Happy Birthday to Yobo!

Surprise Field Trip Day!!

Friday I got the girls up and dressed, and just as Gryphon was resigning herself to math announced it was"surprise field trip day"! The Insect Zoo at the Natural History Museum has re-opened, so we headed down to DC to see it. Gryphon was less than thrilled by the giant spiders, so we watched tarantula feeding from a distance. Rowan did pet a horned caterpillar, though, and we discovered that the Insect Zoo is sponsored by Orkin, of all people.

Also new to the museum is a Butterfly Habitat, which we went through. It was a sticky 88 degrees inside, and the butterflies were just gorgeous.

Last we hit the National Archives to see the Constitution, which we have seen a few times but are studying right now. Gryphon bought herself a copy, because every 9 year old girl needs her own, you know!

A Gorgeous Smile!!!

Gryphon got her braces off today! Its wild to think that at 9, she's had them on and off already- its a big change from when I was a kid! We celebrated with some Butterfingers she has been saving in the freezer since Halloween. Next week she gets her retainer, she got to pick the colors so it is tiger striped.

A Trip to the Basement of Mt Vernon

Because of the new National Treasure movie, Mt. Vernon had the basement open, for just 10 days. Having seen the 3rd floor (a rare treat) we certainly wanted to see this! I'm sure its no surprise that there is no secret passage, though the cornerstone of the house is there.(The cornerstone is the thing he turns to get in to the tunnel when he kidnaps the President, for those who have seen the movie!) It isn't even the original, though- its a copy. The original is in the museum next door.

Because photos aren't allowed inside Mt. Vernon (even in the basement) all I have are these- a shot looking down the stairs from outside.

And the cutest kids and Dad ever outside it.

We've been reading a ton on George Washington (Gryphon really likes him) so we hit the museum and saw the exhibits on his time in the French and Indian war, the Revolution, and as our first President.

Here are the girls swearing themselves in as President of the United States- a glimpse of the future, maybe?

Sorry about the blog neglect lately, we've been super busy. I'm trying to make this a priority!

More Rhythmic gymnastics

Rowan had a meet this weekend in Maryland- our only local meet. RG is such a small sport here that that the meets are almost all quite far away, making it an expensive sport! Why our child couldn't pick soccer like every other kid in America, I do not know. ;)

For the awards, they all march in as teams holding a sign for the gym they represent. Of course they march "pretty", kind of a goose-step with pointy toes. This sport is so odd!

They did only all-around awards, not individual routines, so Rowan missed the podium. (Sheonly did one routine, disqualifying her for all around, as they do 3 normally). She still got a cute little rhythmic gymnastics medal and a goodie bag- apparently rhythmic gymnasts like all children LOVE candy! She did gain 2/10ths of a point over her last marks- way to go Rowan! (And the competition at this meet was much fiercer!)

Most exciting of all, we stayed to watch the Level 9/10 Juniors (ages 12-15) and seniors (16 and up- international level competitors) that evening. WOW...it was amazing. And we got to see gymnasts from Russia, the Ukraine and Hungary. And the girl who has been the top ranked rhythmic gymnast in the USA (though right now she's #2), Julie Zetlin! That was amazing- this meet was put on by her gym, so she had a lot of fans in the crowd. She was AMAZING. I have no photos or video, so here she is doing the rope routine we watched in Maryland, at a meet a few weeks ago on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UBNztCzju8 Seriously, go watch it. She is incredible.

So much fun!

I am taking an online class to learn digital scrabooking, and it is so much fun! These are my first 2 digital layouts ever, I'm very proud of them. Yay me!!!

New York, New York!

We took the Staten Island Ferry into the city Friday afternoon, and it was so fun (and free)! Mark had never been to NYC, so he got to see the Statue of Liberty and the amazing city views.

We had some Chinese food and headed back to our hotel early to get some good sleep.

After the meet on Saturday, we took a nap (well, Mark and I did anyway) and went back to the city. The plan was to ice skate at Rockefeller Center, but...Gryphon and I were freezing. Also, the line to get in starts an hour ahead of time, so standing out in the line, then skating, in the cold...not so fun. We're wimps. We settled for some New York pizza and a ride through Times Square in a pedi-cab. Our driver/peddler was an actor- I know, you are shocked! Imagine that. He did have the most perfect teeth I've ever seen though, and was pretty cute, so who knows, maybe he'll be famous someday. We should have got an autograph just in case!

The plan was to go in early today and go up the Empire State building, but we were wiped out and we just slept in and headed back to Virginia. Still, Mark enjoyed his first trip to the city!

First Meet for Rowan

We are in New Jersey, just across from New York, for a rhythmic gymnastics meet this weekend- Rowans first. These are so much FUN- I had no idea how fun they would be! The leotards are beautiful, the girls are amazing little athletes, and its just such a neat (obscure)sport. We had such a good time! Here is Rowan, her coach, and Nicole about to go onto the floor. Her coach said she was so nervous she was shaking- but she did GREAT! They compete 2 at a time at Level 4, so she competed with Nicole. They run out through the fancy arch, do this funky little ballet-like salute to the judges, and start their routine when the music starts.

Here is the floor during warm-ups. Some teams have all the girls in the same leotard, which looks cool. Some girls have a different leotard (and the matching ball, hoop, etc) for each routine. We only have one- those things are expensive!

Here is Rowan and Brianna, Becky and Nicole before awards.

And here are Rowans ribbons- 8th place in floor, 9th place over all. I was tickled by her scores, and I think her coach was happy, too. And now that she knows how fun meets are, Rowan is excited to do more. We are too!

I'll update with pictures of New York later- and answer all of Helena's tag questions, too! Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Need a pick me up? Try picking one of these up!

OK, this is possibly the worst photo ever- it was the best I have! Most of them have only part of a puppy in them, since I was holding a very wiggly dog in the other hand. This is the *cutest* yellow Lab puppy, one of 3, only 7-8 weeks old. Just darling, with roly-poly little tummies, the size of my hands.

You know, the post-Christmas season can be sort of depressing. Maybe you didn't get what you wanted for Christmas, or had family issues, or were just generally stressed out and not enjoying the season. And now- its just bleck ol winter, cold and grey. Well, have I got the pick-me-up for you! Rescue Transport! I've talked about it on here before, but I did one today, and I must say- its just good for the soul.

The amazing thing about it to me is the amount of coordination and cooperation it takes to get these off the ground. No-kill shelters and rescues pull dogs from pounds and high-kill shelters, trying to save as many as they can. Regrettably, they manage only to save a small percentage of the millions euthanized every year. But in order to pull them, they need to get them out to the shelter or rescue with room- often states away. So this amazing network of volunteers goes into action, moving thousands of animals around the country from pounds and death to rescues, foster homes and "forever homes".

Tonight at the meet up location for my leg of the transport, their were 8 cars, 4 different transports using the same meet up location and same time! That rarely happens, but it was so neat to see the diverse people who do this- a gay couple who own a chicken farm (we chatted), a big, leather-clad guy who recently lost his beloved Schnauzer and does transports to remember his dog, retirees, lobbyists, stay at home moms, soldiers. And the dogs- wow! There had to be 30 dogs tonight. 2 beautiful bloodhounds, a Dalmation, a Shiz-Zhu mom and puppy, a dachshund, and lots and lots of my personal favorite- the All American Mutt.

I got to drive the puppy above and his 2 litter mates, the Shiz-Zhu mom and baby, and a darling black dog who tried to sit on my lap the whole way. She just smiled and snuggled. I'm pretty sure she knew how lucky she is. :)

Anyway, I know- its like a broken record around here. I also know most of you are full up on dogs or kids (or both!) and just can't adopt a rescue dog or cat. We sure can't. I can do little things like transport though, and whats more, it makes me feel good and I get to snuggle puppies. Maybe, if you need a pick-me-up, you'll consider doing transports, too?

Some Christmas fun in St Louis

We went to our absolutely, hands-down favorite museum of all time- The City Museum in downtown St. Louis. We've been going for years now whenever we're in town, but its just SO hard to describe! Its even hard to get a sense of how cool this place is in pictures, but here are bunch, so I'll try!
See that plane? Its waaayyy up (3 stories or more!) and you climb up to it, in a tunnel made of rebar. Outside the museum is a huge treehouse (real tree), a cabin, towers, huge ball pits, slides, etc. They are building a water park on the roof- see the bus hanging over the edge??

You can roast marshmallows outside, around a fire pit. Too cool.

Inside- wow. Here is Gryphon on the slide from the 3rd floor. Its a huge empty building, and they used all recycled and re-purposed material- a wall of those mermite containers any Army readers will recognize, walls of coke bottles, mosaics of seashells and bottle caps, rebar and strange conveyor belt tunnels...I just cannot describe its coolness. Its a visual feast for the eyes- little beautiful art everywhere.

That huge white thing below is a gigantic whale you walk into- there is a water pouring feature, you can climb that spiral, a tunnel beneath the floor, a series of caves below the ground. You could (and we do!) spend hours in here playing everything from Harry Potter to Hide n Seek. There is a rainforest-type deal in back, with real trees, and an aquarium with turtles and big fish, and rooms and tunnels in the forest. And slides, slides, slides!

Here's me and the girls, climbing above the room. A little tight for the grown-ups, but not just for kids- they are open until 1 am. I could totally stay that long.

And THIS-! In the back on the second floor is a gorgeous pipe organ-massive. And a real bank vault you walk in. And piles of architectural elements salvaged from buildings- staircases and gargoyles and a fascinating doorknob collection. Church windows, balustrades, balconies. And, this. Follow the haunting music of that pipe organ to find a dark tower of spirals. It is HUGE. you can climb waayyy up, via the semi-easy ramp, or the twisting labyrinth of tunnels, then slide down. And it goes waayyy down, into a cave-like place made of cement, with sculpted dragons and hidey-holes and a crystal that glows. Its so big and gorgeous and odd...really, its just amazing. I love this part of the museum.

But wait- there is MORE! A rockin snack bar, with real food. A museum of arcade games and oddities. An aquarium. A huge thrift store on the 4th floor.A train little kids can ride. A no-skate skate park- its ramps and half-pipes to run up and down. And a circus- yes, a circus. Its a children's circus- all kids who perform. They are awesome, if we lived in St Louis, I would so sign the girls up for trapeze. They even have a home school circus class- can you imagine? "Sorry, we don't go to school, we're learning trapeze in a circus class!"

I didn't even include the amazing art room, the fountains, the....

If you're ever in St Louis, do NOT miss the City Museum.

England, baby!

Mark's branch manager came out today. For those not familiar with military-speak, he assigns all the people with Mark's job to different places where they are needed. And, we're going to ENGLAND!!!!

Wahooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

Next fall, we'll be Europe-bound. And the pets get to go- we were previously told Korea, where you can't take pets andwere pretty worried about leaving Cleo and Rocko.

What an awesome opportunity for the girls (and me!).

Best Christmas present EVER.

Photos from the Christmas show Saturday

Since Rowan has short hair, I couldn't do the traditional rhythmic gymnastics bun. I wassweating the whole hair thing- I am not very good at doing hair, that's why the girls have SHORT hair. But look how cute this little weave is! I am super proud of this!

Rowan did her routine in front of people for the first time- she was nervous, but did great! And now she isn't nervous about the upcoming meet, which is good.

The whole team did a darling routine to the James Bond theme.

This sport is so much fun to watch!

Rowan's Gymnastics routine!

Rowan had her "dress rehearsal" tonight, where she did the floor routine in her competition leotard to make sure everything works right, nothing is too tight, etc. I took the opportunity to videotape it, since at the meet in January I have no idea where we will be seated or what he lighting will be like. The video is not so great, because I didn't focus the camera- whoops. And, I am having a really hard time using my video editing program, got sick of it and gave up, so the first 45 seconds is pretty annoying: its me talking, moving, people walking in front of the camera, etc. But hang on- its worth it! You can get the general idea. I am so proud of her, she's only been learning it for a few weeks!

Enjoy!

December 6th photo

It was a snow day here for the whole neighborhood!

I sat around this morning, and at 10 I finally decided to go get dressed.As soon as I got upstairs, Gryphon came barrelling into the house yelling that there was a news reporter outside who wanted to interview them! I threw a sweater on over my pajamas and ran outside, where I was met by a fully-made-up, cute as a button blond reporter who wanted to tape the kids sledding. She interviewed the kids, and then ME! Sans make-up, hair crazy. If you've ever wondered why people on TV look like such morons, well, now you know!

The kids all came in for cocoa at 12, and we watched the news broadcast. Rowan's interview didn't make it to air, which was sad for her, since she is SO shy but wanted to be on TV. I have a feeling the runny nose may have gotten her axed! It was great fun for the kids to see themselves sledding and playing on TV!

December 5th

Yes, we got SNOW!! Only about an inch, but enough to cancel school. =)

We went and got a sled, but it was more mud-sliding than snow sliding!

Girls were thriled, I'm guessing you can tell that by the photos!

December 3rd Photo

OH Christmas tree...oh Christmas tree...We'll soon forget to water
How lover-ly
your branches be
soon to be brown
regretfully
Oh Christmas tree...oh Christmas tree...we should get ar-ti-ficial!

December 2nd photo

This (blurry) photo is Gryphon doing the 100 freestyle this morning. Her goggles flew off at the start, and so she did the whole race goggle-less. I was so proud, she didn't stop or break her stroke, just kept right on swimming! Shesaid her coach has them do drills with their goggles full of water so they get used to it if it ever happens. Smart coach!

Photo a Day in December

I'm trying for a photo-a-day again, for December's Holiday Happenings! Based on how crazy our months are in *general* and then adding the holidays to boot- I may be missing some days!

Here is December 1st:

Its the girls going down the stairs from the berthing deck to the hold on the USS Constellation in Baltimore Harbor. We're up in Maryland for a swim meet, and since driving alllll the way up here in the morning for warm-ups at 7 (!) am is a pain, we just spent the night tonight. Spent today tooling around Baltimore, and since Mark has never been we checked out the Constellation- he's into that stuff. Want to know something interesting? The USS Constellation is the last sail(powered) ship built by the USN, in 1854. It was used in WWII for 2 years as a flag ship for an admiral, because that would free up another (modern!) ship for use in the war effort. Hard to believe an admiral used a sailing gun sloop in 1942! I wonder if he used the Captain's potty- its a hole in a cupboard, surrounded by windows!

A few more of Baltimore Harbor: