Week Two in DC

Grandma had signed Charlie and Lucy up for a Summer book club. The book for the first week we were there was “Recycle this book” – a book with short chapters on small things you can do to make a difference: recycling, composting, reusing, avoiding Styrofoam, etc. Grandma had gotten Charlie a small notebook in which he could make notes on each chapter. One of the ideas was composting. For Mother’s Day, my brother John had built Grandma a compost pile. She had spent two months contributing garbage to it and let Charlie and Lucy flip the compost. In those two months, the pile had turned into dirt good enough to provide a home to many, many worms, which Lucy began collecting for her fishing trips.



Grandma has bay windows off the kitchen which show off nicely her bird sanctuary in her back yard. Grandma’s backyard isn’t necessarily the ideal for a bunch of kids in that there’s no room for a swingset or pickup baseball game. However, the window gives a perfect view of “God’s TV” where the kids learned to recognize the native birds, especially the ones that liked to frequent the birdfeeders Grandma keeps next to the windows. Alex took to asking for his “bird map” every time he sat down for breakfast so he could learn the names of the birds. They also enjoyed watching the squirrels and chipmunks dangle from the feeder where dried corncobs were strung up. Occasionally, we would see a deer wander through the backyard on his way to eat the tops off Grandmas lilies. One night, grandma even found a raccoon on the back porch getting into the birdseed. She overheard it trying to break into the metal garbage can where she had put it to protect it from the squirrels. That was when she decided that the extra expense for chili pepper laced birdseed was worth it.



To further expand and enhance their appreciation of nature, Grandma took us to Rockville Nature Center up in Rockville, MD. As we drove through there, I recognized some of the roads we had taken to visit Tony’s childhood home last year. Anyhow, they have a lovely little center that has real animal pelts for the children to feel, turtles, snakes, and even an owl in cages/tanks for the kids to look at, and a live honeybee hive where we actually were able to find the queen. They had binoculars aimed out into the fields and a computer that played local bird calls. And of course there were the educational puzzles, the “touchables” like rocks and shells, and various books to look at about the local wildlife. It was quite enjoyable. Even outside the nature center they had beautiful flowers where you could see the giant bees at work collecting pollen. We had packed some Lunchables (the cracker/cheese/ham collection) to eat as a picnic. They had a small picnic area available that we shared briefly with some campers next to the tennis courts. The kids had a little fun running around the field. Grandma had planned to take the older three hiking in the woods there while Florence and I hung out in the nature center, but as it was approaching naptime, Florence was not going to have ANY of that. So we gave it up and headed home. My only requirement for calling an outing with kids successful is that the outing itself lasts longer than it took to get there. We were cutting it close on this one as we had to cross state lines, but a draw can still be considered a win in some cases. Grandma did take the kids hiking through the woods at Wolftrap once we got home in order to make up for the lost hike. She’s a good sport!



Thursday morning, Grandma and I took turns going to church to pray for good blessings and a watchful eye over John Rocco as he, at 4 weeks, underwent the first of what will be three surgeries. At this point, we didn’t know if he would be able to get the double ventricle heart we were hoping and praying for. While he was constantly in our thoughts, we distracted ourselves by visiting Meadowlark Gardens in the morning. We took over crackers/bread to feed the geese and the fish and wandered through the beautiful flowers, trees and hills. It was good exercise for the kids and kept Grandma and I busy so we didn’t overly worry. It was there, while photographing a bird’s nest with new baby birds in it, that we got the call that Rocco had gone to surgery. I took the baby birds as a sign from God that he would be ok. That afternoon, grandma took the older three swimming at Springhill, her rec center, to again keep herself distracted while I stayed home and watched Elmo with Florence. That night, we occupied ourselves with episodes of Boston Legal until we finally heard, around 9:00, that he had made it well through surgery, though with only a single ventricle heart which would mean two more surgeries. We still were so relieved to hear that he had done well.



Friday evening, Charlie, Poppa and I attended a concert called Video Games Live at Wolftrap park. Now, Wolftrap is a large outdoor amphitheatre that hosts groups ranging from the National Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra to Barry Manilow and Josh Grobin to Pilobolus and Martha Graham. I’ve been fortunate to attend a variety of events there over the years. I couldn’t believe that THE ONE concert I was going to go to was “Video Games Live!” We were of course attending to feed Charlie’s interest (obsession) with video games. Now my exposure to the various sounds coming from the DS, or the Nintendo 64, or the arcade has made me aware of how music has progressed from the bleeps and blips of Frogger and Pacman to relevant scores almost level with movie soundtracks. That doesn’t mean that I wanted to spend a Friday evening listening to it, even if it was performed by the National Symphony Orchestra. We arrived a little early to catch the costume contest, and to cheer on a yellow posterboard Pacman as the winner. There were three Links (Charlie’s favorite video game character), though only one made it to the final three. The costumes were amazing, and even though I had my camera, I didn’t think to get it out. The best I did was a fuzzy Link after they turned out the spot lights. Anyhow, even though this was only a week after the passing of Michael Jackson, they had already prepared a video “eulogy” of his character from MoonWalker kicking bootie through other traditional (Donkey Kong, Mario) and more recent games (Call of Duty, Zelda). It was hysterical, and it just goes to show what creativity can be found in the technical world. I was also, despite myself, swept away by the enthusiasm of the (young) audience as we watched videos from various games accompanied by the Symphony playing the scores from those games. It was a little like watching movie trailers for 2 ½ hours, but very effective, nonetheless. They also had a few promotional contests. The first one was where a beer gut bearing 22 year old donned a black tshirt with the Space Invader guy on his back (for computer tracking), then tried to beat the…..invaders in the traditional game displayed on the screen while the NSO plucked out a live action accompaniment to his game. He stunk and lost. The second one involved a kid, a long haired sloppy teenager, who had gotten the highest score on the pre-concert Guitar Hero contest. He then came up to attempt a score of 200,000 to win a computer. Well, he got over 300,000 and a 99% accuracy rating (which probably would’ve been 100% had the host not bootie bumped him to do that guitar thing band guys do). Everyone was so excited and cheering – it was impossible not to get caught up. Poppa commented that his parents must be horrified at how good he might be at a real instrument if he had spent as much time practicing that. Along with the NSO, they had a live choir, with a few featured soloists. I told Poppa, after it was over, that this was why live concerts were never going to die, no matter how good recording technology got. Because no matter how “uninterested” you might be in the material, it’s impossible to dismiss a well done performance. You could tell the nature of the concert at intermission when I was able to zip in and out of the ladies’ room while Charlie had to stand in a rather lengthy line to use the mens’ room. Talk about a switch. Charlie, of course, thoroughly enjoyed it and while I had to remind him a bit that he couldn’t just comment out loud every time he wanted, it was a great way to introduce him to a concert performance. Showing his age and his boyness, I think one of his favorite parts of the evening was running willy-nilly through the great grassy dip between the parking lots.

One of the kids favorite things to do with grandma is to go kayaking and fishing. She has several places she likes to carry them, but on this day, we ventured to a new place called Accotink Lake. It’s a man-made lake that serves to collect the run-off from the surrounding area. It has the lake, complete with “beach” to put in the boats, rental kayaks/paddleboats, a hiking trail through the woods, a carousel, and a playground for young kids. Florence and I hung out either in the woods where it was nice and shady, and at the playground. The other kids took turns kayaking with Grandma, Lucy riding with Grandma while Charlie expertly boated Alexander through the water. Florence and I got to call to them through the trees in the woods. We had planned to do some fishing, but as is Florence’s way, lunch brought on her fits for a nap, so we loaded up and headed home.

Later that evening, we attended church with my parents. They belong to a gospel choir that sings on Saturday evenings twice a month. It’s a good chance to hear a different type of music during mass, and both the leader and the pianist are very talented. Unfortunately, I usually have to enjoy it in the cry room with my noisy ones as well as half a dozen others. But it does feel a little good to be able to just be there and not have to worry about which song comes when. Afterwards, we returned home to celelbrate Poppa’s birthday, complete with French dip beef, pecan pie, and a nice bottle of red wine – his Chateauneuf du Pape. He made us sing between every present, as usual. He’ll no doubt send out a complete list of all he received; but I can tell you he received lots of books, including World Without End, a 1000+ page historical fiction novel by Ken Follett that I had just finished the week before vacation. He also got from us a new birdhouse decorated teapot, one that matched the bird canisters I had gotten Mom for her birthday. Susannah brought him a new bottle of Makers Mark, which he enjoyed as part of his after dinner celebration.

Sunday was a relaxing day. We had already been to church so we didn’t have any of that run around that morning. We did our best to put together one of dad’s other gifts, a floor to ceiling bike rack to hold some of the umpteen bikes that were housed in the garage now that Grandma is trying to keep bikes to fit every age of grandchild, God bless her. Charlie did help, and Poppa tried to, but ultimately Grandma figured out how to suspend the durn thing and actually get the child-size bikes on it. Before dinner, we took a short trip to Clemy-John Tree Park to run the kids a bit. It was overwhelmingly hot and humid, so we didn’t last too long, but Florence did get to ride the merry-go-round. It speaks to the ages of the kids that we pretty much didn’t see Charlie the whole time we were there, but didn’t really worry about it until it was time to go.

Monday was again a slow day. We planted flowers in the backyard, another favorite thing to do at Grandmas. Poppa had also bought a few games to share with the grandkids. One was an expanded version of a marble tower (where you fit plastic pieces together to form ramps and tunnels and marbles run from top to bottom). Charlie had been seriously enjoying for years the version we had gotten for $4 from a Toys R Us clearance table. The one dad bought came complete with a battery operated chain link “marble raiser” so that you no longer had to put the marbles at the top yourself – when they hit bottom, they were “speared” and carried back to the top. It was cool. The three older kids worked together with Poppa to get it put together and were pretty proud of themselves when it was finished. In between these two activities, we took one of our favorite fieldtrips over to Harris Teeter to “snack up” on the available samples they put out, including cantaloupe, cheese, lunch meat, and bread (and not your run-of-the-mill sandwich bread) and muffins. Grandma and I would split up so that they hopefully wouldn’t notice we were all together, but no doubt after 3 weeks of lunching at the sample cases, they probably recognized us.

On Tuesday, I traveled down to Charlottesville again to visit John Rocco and Lisa. John Gilbert had to work that day (someone had to earn a paycheck to pay for Rocco’s “fancy digs”…his words) so I went to keep Lisa company. I had brought along some games and photo albums to look at because when I arrived, Rocco was still attached to many monitors, IVs, feeding tubes, drains, etc. from his surgery. But by the time I left that evening, he had been disconnected from everything but the feeding tube and maybe one IV for the meds. And Lisa, who hadn’t held her son in days, couldn’t be distracted from holding him. She graciously let me have a turn as well. He was snuggly as ever.

While I was down there, Grandma had gotten tickets to Children’s Theatre in the Woods so that she and the kids could walk over. Florence would only tolerate one performance, partially because she was wearing Alex’s shoes, which bothered her and Grandma (thankfully) wouldn’t let her run around barefoot. But when she indicated it was time to go, it was time to go. Grandma also put out the slip and slide and the sprinkler for the little kids while her friend Lamar came to pick up Charlie and Lucy for a swim lesson. After the lesson, Charlie and Lucy took turns walking Lamar’s dog (part of Charlie’s assignment for this week’s book, Marley and Me, ), and then brought the dog back to the house. Lamar had envisioned sitting and visiting with the kids and Grandma while the kids played in the water and with the dog. She didn’t know Florence well enough to know that you’re not allowed to sit at all if she’s around, and when she’s tired and hungry, which she is in the evening, she rules the world, and there will be no activity that doesn’t focus on her.

That night, in an attempt to keep things “even” with the grandkids, Poppa took Lucy to Wolftrap to see a modern dance performance by a troupe of Merce Cunningham. She probably enjoyed the “single child” outing as much (if not more) than the actual performance. Interestingly, Merce Cunningham died that following weekend.

Wednesday, we played with the water slide some more, while Grandma blew bubbles for Florence. This time, Lucy followed a little too closely and lost a tooth as her mouth made contact with Charlie’s elbow. Grandma actually found the tooth in the “pool” of the water slide, but as we tried to pose for a picture next to the slide, Charlie elbowed it out of her hand and it was lost forever in the grass. Fortunately, the tooth fairy left her a note “I found your tooth outside in the yard. Next time, leave it under your pillow”. That tooth fairy is such a smart mouth! That evening we watched Marley and Me. It was interesting to hear Charlie comment on the differences between the book and the movie. I thought they had hammed it up a little bit too much from the book as well. It wasn’t until later that I realized the book Charlie had read was a kid’s version of the original book. So maybe the differences were closer to the original – that’s ok I suppose.

Tomorrow, week 3, begins our vacation within our vacation.