Sly

Flags

In February, Andy's preschool learned about the "Grand Old Flag," and now every time he sees the U.S. flag he says "That's the grand old flag!!" Then he got on the idea of having a gray, sparkly dragon flag on our house. That's right: Gray. Sparkly. Dragon. Not sure where those components all came from, but he was quite adamant. We started with a purple flag, but that was a poor substitute. Later I came home to find that Shawn had drawn a dragon for Andy and they'd made it into a second flag. These are carefully marking our territory ... in the garden.

Dentist

Andy had his first dentist appointment last week. Initially he kept trying to wiggle out of the chair and said he wanted to go home, but once he was allowed to use the tools (Mr. Tickles, Mr. Sprayer and Mr. Thirsty), he was happy to be there. Plus he got a plastic bath toy. Then asked for another (they thought it was cute and said yes). Then asked for another (they said: um, no).

Look ma, no cavities!

She stands

Obviously, we had to lower the crib mattress after THIS.

Boy Time

Here are some great fish-eye photos from Shawn and Andy's 5 days together while Sylvia, Mom and I were in D.C. A little outdoor paintin' and a little bread makin'!

My new fave

My new favorite thing is anything written by Matt Taibbi, a writer for Rolling Stone who appears regularly on Real Time with Bill Mahr. He also has a blog at:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/author/matt_taibbi

You must check him out. Interesting Q&A on Hilary and Obama (he's for Obama). And if you have the May Rolling Stone, read "Jesus Made Me Puke and other tales from the evangelical front lines."

D.C. Trip

On our first night in D.C., Peter and his friend Nicola picked us up at the airport and we quickly made our way to dinner at Luigi's, a family-friendly italian restaurant several blocks from our hotel (which was just 2 blocks up from the White House).

Sylvia quickly charmed her Uncle and Nicola.

We didn't know these people, but as they were waiting for their table they all held Sylvia and started taking pictures of her.

Back at our room... this is the smile we saw all week long, lucky us!

Day 2

On Sunday, Mom, Peter, Nicola and Sylvia were out and about while I was in committee meetings. Nicola's triumph.

In the afternoon, I joined the group and we took a walk to the Mall, White House, WWII Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.

White House in the background (above).

Sylvia and Lincoln.

Mom couldn't pass up getting Sylvia a "Future President" onesie.

D.C. is so civilized. Babies are allowed in bars. WAHOO!

And later that night, the giggles...

More D.C.

Mom and Sylvia hit the town's many museums while I attended the conference. Here, Sylvia and the Capitol. I couldn't resist posting all four of these photos in our room.

Mom and Sly met me for lunch one day.

And another lunch on our last day.

Here's to a great trip!

Good Friends

The highlight of my annual D.C. trip is always seeing Cathy and Eric - and now Kate and a soon-to-be baby girl! Cathy, Eric and I were at law school together, and it was our infamous post-bar-hopping (i.e., 2 a.m.), pre-finals drive to Atlantic City with our other friend Mike that finally gave these two the chance to express their mutual ... interest (while Mike and I drank scotch, lots of scotch). We had a great time catching up over dinner, and Cathy (who is a lobbiest) and I are looking for ways to work together on ocean energy projects.

Probably the highlight of the night for Kate: feeding Sylvia, good practice for the baby sister she's waiting for!

My wonderful Mom, who kept Sylvia happy so I could catch up with my friends.