Owen's work on display at the Smithsonian

About two months again, Owen's teacher send home this book project.  We needed to collect a bunch of random items and answer specific questions about cultural events and the such.  If course we didn't have time to get to any of it until the night before it was due.  So Owen (read Mommy and Pap) started collecting all the things on the list.  We were up pretty late getting it together and Papa might have gone a little overboard on the map of where our ancestors are from.

Well we got this note from Owen's teacher that their books they had made were going to be on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History during their Family Day for Pacific Asian American History Month (or something like that).  So after our t-ball game in the morning, we headed downtown to check it out.  For some reason, Owen thought we should take lots of pictures on the train.

When we got to the museum, it took us a bit to find the display, but we did.  We also ran into two other families from his class that were there for the same reason.

He is pointing at his book.

With is two class mates recording their thought and feeling about having their books on display.

All three together for a group picture.

He also got interviewed by some person from the Smithsonian about his book and such.  He thought that was pretty cool - they filmed him and he got to wear a microphone.

We finished off the afternoon with a ride on the carousel   He loved it and the 4 min 15 sec ride was maybe worth the $3.50 we paid for it.

Chris' Birthday and random stuff from April

Since the camera was "missing" for most of April, we don't have too many pictures, so here are the ones we did manage to take.

Chris opening one of his birthday packages - salted nut rolls!!!

Opening his gift from Owen - a 365 day calendar -The Pessimist- and a sticky note pad tower from despair.com - they make Demotivators and such things that make Chris laugh.  Beki's gift to Chris was his new phone.

One of those weekends in April, the marching band at Northwestern had a parade.  We decided to head down and watch Papa at work.  We got there a little early and found a good spot.  Then Owen saw someone with balloons and we had to go find him one and then we came back to our spot and waited for the band.

Owen was trying to pass the time and was running around.  He slipped on some gravel and scrapped his knee pretty bad.  He was NOT happy and was very upset that I didn't have a band-aid on me.  Beki had to clean out the wound with the water they had brought and then some hand sanitizer = Owen was NOT happy.  The only absorbent things Beki had on her was a pantyliner - worked like a charm.  Then we waited some more.

Papa at work with the director of the Marching Band.

Then Papa packed Owen all the way back to the car and Owen finally got the band-aid he wanted.

For Chris' birthday we celebrated with our good friends the Curtis family.  Chris wanted a Red Velvet Cake from Costco, but we didn't have enough candles, so he got one of each color.

Beki did take Chris to Fogo de Chao on Chris' actual birthday.  He took the day off of work to fix the computer so it would run World of Warcraft again and to go to lunch.  Overall, we are pretty sure he had a good birthday.

Camera FOUND!!!

Finally found the camera.  There are quite a few things that have happened since the last real post, so I will break this up into a few different posts, so make sure you read a few back to catch it all.

Cherry Blossom Festival 2013

We headed downtown again this year to catch the Cherry Blossoms and, most importantly, do the paddle boats on the Tidal Basin.  Owen thought it was pretty neat and we got our leg workout for the day.

The Washington Monument is currently being repaired of the damages made during the earthquake last year.    

"Scary" Japanese drummer guy that performed while we ate lunch.

Showing off some art work that he drew for the children in Japan.  Not really sure what he was going for here.

Getting our Passport stamped.  We have a passport of the National Parks and we can get a stamp in our passport each time we visit a park.  We have been downtown a millions times, but kept forgetting our passport.  So this time around, we were on the hunt for stamps for all the memorials and parks in the DC area.  We almost got them all by the end of the day!!!

We ran into this very helpful Park Ranger that helped Owen understand all about the Cherry trees (us too) and gave Owen an activity book to complete, so he could become a Junior Park Ranger.

Finished the activity book - no to get his Junior Ranger badge! 

We discovered this AMAZING garden behind the Smithsonian Castle.  It was full of Magnolia tress in full bloom and lost of other really beautiful plants.

The ride home - at the front of the train watching the "Star Wars".  When you are in the tunnels, there are lights on the side and they speed past like the lights in Star Wars when you go to light speed. 

Recreating the original picture from one of the first times we went down to DC.

The reflecting pool is finally done and so this part of the Mall looks normal again.  They are still doing some construction at the far end by the WW II memorial, but it is nice that the majority of it is done.  Now they just need to get the Washington Memorial done and the Mall will be back to "normal".