Richmond Escape

The snow giveth days off from work. The snow taketh out-of-town weekend plans. The first weekend of the snow, we had to cancel our plans to go to Richmond to celebrate our mothers' February birthdays. The second weekend of the snow, we had to cancel our plans to go to a bed and breakfast in Middleburg. Grrr. Most roads were pretty passable by the second weekend, so instead of driving west, we decided to salvage the mothers' birthdays plans and drive to Richmond. It was really a lot of fun, and we were happy to have gone.

David checks out his train layout.

Tommy checks out David's train layout.

David shows Tommy the ropes for setting up a train set. Tommy calls David "D." Everyday after we went to visit, Tommy kept saying, "D! Choo-choo!" and doing the arm motion associated with tooting a train horn. He loves his cousin.

The fellas did a lot of chasing around the house and tackling each other. Tommy and David's squeals of delight were so fun to hear. It's nice when there's room to run indoors. We have a little bit of house envy. We admit it.

The most hilarious episode of the visit happened at Tommy's Lola's house. The truck in this picture was parked two feet from the road at one point, albeit on a steep hill. It ended up deep in the backyard, completely stuck. Don't ask how. Tommy was thoroughly engrossed in what was going on, and still enthusiastically replays the scene by making whirring tire noises accompanied by shoveling and pushing motions.

It Snowed. A lot.

In case you were buried deep in your own igloo and didn't hear, Snowpocalypse hit DC earlier this month, followed shortly by SnowverIt (or SnowYouDidn't, if you prefer). All the storm names were quite humorous. Total accumulation reached about 30 inches around our 'hood. The snow was absolutely beautiful coming down in wondrous silence, but it got to be loathesome hanging around for so long. Despite the mess it caused in our nation's capital, Team CZ got to spend 11 consecutive days together without a peep from EZ's work. Bonus!

Round 1. 16ish inches of the white stuff. Here's what the backyard looked like as it started to come down:


Tommy found a new fun play area to pass the time - the kitchen sink. The kid loves the bubbles.


"Boo! Boo!" He got to break in his new winter boots. They're a bit big on him, so it makes for some great unintentional comedy as he tries to clomp around the house in them.

Contemplating the meaning of life against the snowfallen backdrop. Or making number 2. I can't tell which...

We figured it was about time we put that Christmas wagon together. He was a good assistant until I had to kick him out for moving pieces and parts all over the place.

The maiden voyage back and forth across the living room.

The end of Round 1.

During a break in the action, we trudged over to Nidhi's place to watch the Super Bowl and eat delicious pita pizzas. Tommy signals Touchdown! It was our first outing after being holed up for 3 days, and we were surprised to see so many signs of life out there.

We hear that the Monday after the Super Bowl is the day on which the most U.S. workers call in sick. There was no need for area federal employees to do that this year, as the government was closed down that day. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. What a week! To celebrate, we got out of the house again. Fresh air two days in a row! To heck with cabin fever.

Where The Wild Things Are...our spare bedroom.

Round 2 of the winter snowstorm extravaganza landed on Tuesday of that week. Tommy doesn't look happy about it.

Lots of baking took place during the week. Here Tommy waits for chocolate chip cookies. We're stingy with his sugar intake, and didn't give him a bite, poor guy.

As the end of the week arrived, the realization hit that EZ would have to return to work the following week. But not before the President's Day holiday! Double Bonus! We headed out for drinks with a friend at Bistrot Du Coin.

The view of Dupont Circle from our walk.

The Music Man

Here is a brief demo for all you record executives and/or talent scouts out there. This video shows a bit of what our boy has in store for the big stage someday.

We begin with a harmonica solo in which he starts off strong, then does an equipment check, then takes a playful swipe at the cameraman, and then closes out the set by walking away. Next he briefly tickles the ivories before he is distracted by the camera. The next clip is another harmonica set, but it's really just a lot of giggling because he's distracted by the camera. That's followed by a short drum solo in which he creatively uses poster hangers as drumsticks and a snowsuit-covered chair as a drum...before he gets distracted by the camera. And finally, he finishes strong with a shirtless dance routine complete with foot stomping, spinning, busting out a gangsta lean, and finally a pulling off a leg-lift from a seated position.

As you can see, he's very versatile. He just needs to learn to keep the show going when a camera is on instead of letting it disrupt the performance. Rock on!

The Minister of Westminster

We are definitely regulars at the local park. Here are some action shots of the little man running around, getting into trouble.

Looks like he's practicing for a fire drill in this one.


A hair-raising experience. T's hair gets all staticky when he goes down this slide. His papa's hair does not...

More climbing practice. He'll be swinging from the branches soon enough.

Speaking of climbing, here he is going UP the slide.

TA-DA!