after seeing Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland:
Sophie: How old is Johnny Depp?
Mommy: Oh, he's older. He's probably around my age.
Sophie: Well, that's not old at all.
Mommy: I love you very much.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Aloooooha!
It is warm and beautiful in Hawaii! The girls had not been here since they were toddlers and had no memories of it. So, we made many of them on the Big Island, from hiking to Akaka Falls and Volcanoes National Park to snorkling in Kealakekua Bay. Check out our album.
Here are some things we learned about Hawaii:
* Hawaiian is a fascinating language. It has only twelve letters (a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m n, p. w) and an okina (which is symbol to pause). To pronounce words correctly, you have to slow down and pronounce EV-ER-Y SYL-LA-BLE. If you really want to challenge yourself, try pronouncing the name of Hawaii's state fish: humuhumunukunuku'āpua'a. Yeah, go ahead and try again. It means "fish with a pig's nose." Or you could just call it a Triggerfish.
* The Big Island is home to the world's largest astronomical observatory, Mauna Kea, with telescopes operated by astronomers from eleven countries. The combined light-gathering power of the telescopes on Mauna Kea is fifteen times greater than that of the Palomar telescope in California -- for many years the world's largest -- and sixty times greater than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. We had a nice chat with the lady at the Visitor's Center in Waimea but you can actually tour the observatory located at 14,000 feet (which we didn't do this time).
* One of First Lady Barbara Bush's finest acts was to advocate for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the single largest conservation area in the United States, and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. It encompasses 139,797 square miles of the Pacific Ocean (105,564 square nautical miles) - an area larger than all the country's national parks combined. We stumbled upon the Education Center in Hilo (while on the hunt for fresh sugar cane which, sadly, we did not find).
* Notwithstanding the Bush Administration's contributions to Hawaii, the people love their hometown hero, Barak. There are a lot of Obama bobble-heads stocked on the shelves.
Oh, it wasn't all so educational. We did a lot of lounging at the pool and chatting. We amended the rules for pre-dinner desserts, which you can read about on our dessert blog. And here, you can eavesdrop on one of our breakfast conversations:
We had bunches of fun and hope to go back soon. Happy Spring Break!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
We have a dream
...that one day our daughters will have the table manners necessary to dine at the White House. We may not get there with them, but we have seen the promised land.
After bidding Aunt Dee and NYC a fond farewell, we boarded the Acela down the Northeast Corridor to Washington, DC. It was a whirlwind trip through the Nation's Capitol, but here are some of the highlights:
* The Capitol Building Tour: Years of polarizing and cynical shenanigans have left us largely distrustful of our nation's politicians. But in the great rotunda of the Capitol, we were reminded that this country was founded with an enormous optimism and ambition that the people should rule themselves. It's a complicated and messy system, but on the whole, we are very proud to play our part in it.
* National Air and Space Museum: Sophie has been asking how airplanes fly, and Mom and Dad didn't have very good answers. Which is to say, they didn't know. But the museum had a whole exhibit about how things fly (remember: drag, lift, thrust, weight). We also saw the 3D movie of footage taken by astronauts and cosmonauts on the international space station. A must see. Here's an important lesson: you can cut your hair in space with vacuum hair snippers, but it is not recommended to eat popcorn in bed because the kernels float all over the place.
[Culinary note: Don't plan to eat at the museum. Their onsite restaurant is a McDonald's/Boston Market. Our organically-attuned children won't eat McDonald's -- even when we plead with them -- which made for a trying meal. We hear the food at the National Museum of the American Indian next door is far superior.]
* International Spy Museum: We adopted "cover" identities and proceeded into training. All those gadgets in James Bond flicks and Get Smart shows? They really had that stuff!! Even a phone in a shoe! We thought it was just Hollywood, but real spies have fantastic imaginations.
* National Museum of American History: This is Mommy's favorite museum. The hall of the Presidents is fascinating and Sophie and Anna stood at a mock podium for the POTUS. There was also a great demonstration on how to conduct a sit-in at a lunch counter. Among the pop culture artifacts, we saw Judy Garland's ruby slippers and Kermit the Frog (Apolo Ohno's skates were there too, which is interesting but, with all due respect to Apolo, feels a little pre-mature. How can that place in the same exhibit with Evil Knievel's Harley-Davidson?).
* Dinner with old friends: We got to catch up with Mommy's college roommate, Kat, Chris and kids. The girls had a great time playing with Jules and Oliver and they ate multiple helpings of Kat's excellent coq au vin. Thanks so much for the lovely meal and making us feel at home!!
* The Lincoln Memorial: On a cold and blustery day, we ventured to the majestic Lincoln Memorial. The park ranger was friendly and knowledgeable. Here are a few fun facts: the statue of Lincoln has one hand open and one hand in a fist. Apparently this was to reflect the President's character of being open and fair, but determined. His chair is flanked by bundled rods representing the strength of individual rods bound together -- much as the states are stronger as a union.
From the steps of the memorial, looking out over the Reflecting Pool in the place that Martin Luther King, Jr. let freedom ring, Anna delivered her first address.
We're planning to come back soon. We still want to visit the White House and we're working hard on table manners for the occasion. In the meantime, here are memories from this President's Week.
After bidding Aunt Dee and NYC a fond farewell, we boarded the Acela down the Northeast Corridor to Washington, DC. It was a whirlwind trip through the Nation's Capitol, but here are some of the highlights:
* The Capitol Building Tour: Years of polarizing and cynical shenanigans have left us largely distrustful of our nation's politicians. But in the great rotunda of the Capitol, we were reminded that this country was founded with an enormous optimism and ambition that the people should rule themselves. It's a complicated and messy system, but on the whole, we are very proud to play our part in it.
* National Air and Space Museum: Sophie has been asking how airplanes fly, and Mom and Dad didn't have very good answers. Which is to say, they didn't know. But the museum had a whole exhibit about how things fly (remember: drag, lift, thrust, weight). We also saw the 3D movie of footage taken by astronauts and cosmonauts on the international space station. A must see. Here's an important lesson: you can cut your hair in space with vacuum hair snippers, but it is not recommended to eat popcorn in bed because the kernels float all over the place.
[Culinary note: Don't plan to eat at the museum. Their onsite restaurant is a McDonald's/Boston Market. Our organically-attuned children won't eat McDonald's -- even when we plead with them -- which made for a trying meal. We hear the food at the National Museum of the American Indian next door is far superior.]
* International Spy Museum: We adopted "cover" identities and proceeded into training. All those gadgets in James Bond flicks and Get Smart shows? They really had that stuff!! Even a phone in a shoe! We thought it was just Hollywood, but real spies have fantastic imaginations.
* National Museum of American History: This is Mommy's favorite museum. The hall of the Presidents is fascinating and Sophie and Anna stood at a mock podium for the POTUS. There was also a great demonstration on how to conduct a sit-in at a lunch counter. Among the pop culture artifacts, we saw Judy Garland's ruby slippers and Kermit the Frog (Apolo Ohno's skates were there too, which is interesting but, with all due respect to Apolo, feels a little pre-mature. How can that place in the same exhibit with Evil Knievel's Harley-Davidson?).
* Dinner with old friends: We got to catch up with Mommy's college roommate, Kat, Chris and kids. The girls had a great time playing with Jules and Oliver and they ate multiple helpings of Kat's excellent coq au vin. Thanks so much for the lovely meal and making us feel at home!!
* The Lincoln Memorial: On a cold and blustery day, we ventured to the majestic Lincoln Memorial. The park ranger was friendly and knowledgeable. Here are a few fun facts: the statue of Lincoln has one hand open and one hand in a fist. Apparently this was to reflect the President's character of being open and fair, but determined. His chair is flanked by bundled rods representing the strength of individual rods bound together -- much as the states are stronger as a union.
From the steps of the memorial, looking out over the Reflecting Pool in the place that Martin Luther King, Jr. let freedom ring, Anna delivered her first address.
We're planning to come back soon. We still want to visit the White House and we're working hard on table manners for the occasion. In the meantime, here are memories from this President's Week.
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