We spent a fabulous day exploring the Hirshhorn Museum on the National Mall. We were wowed by sculptures by Simone Leigh, Yayoi Kusama, and Rodin. We also explored other worlds through an exhibit of contemporary Chinese photography, Laurie Anderson’s “Four Talks,” Mark Bradford’s 400-foot long “Picket’s Charge,” and John Akomfrah’s “Purple.” And food trucks. Obviously.
Due to our school calendar, we barely made it to Bethesda in time for Christmas. Fortunately, traveling on Christmas Eve is surprisingly pleasant — no crowds at the airport and plenty of room on the plane. This visit included Anthony and Andrew’s families plus Max. Dave, Nancy, and Raven spent the holiday in Utah. We missed them!
Raven and Max, and their parents, came for a glorious visit during the last week of July. Many adventures were had, some of which are documented below. Click on any photo for a larger version (and a slide-show interface, if you’d like to flip through all of them).
We had plans today to head downtown to see museums and monuments on the national mall, but it was a poor sleep night and a bunch of us were fighting colds, so we decided to stay closer to home. We walked down to Brookeway Drive, the street Dave and I lived on as kids in the ’70s. At the end of the cul-de-sac is a path up to the old railway tracks, now repaved as part of the Capital Crescent Trail. (I remember trains going by, and often put coins on the tracks for flattening.) The kids had a blast in and around the creek for a couple of hours, though I didn’t get the camera out for the epic meltdowns they had after one too many daring maneuvers led to cold, wet feet (and a butt, in Griffin’s case).
We spent Christmas in Bethesda with Grummy and Grandpa Stape, and all the Roy cousins. Fourteen people under one roof! Wonderful mayhem.
We were fortunate enough to rent a house in Bodega Bay that would accommodate all of the Roy Boys and their families, and at a time when everyone could make it! It was a sweet time to reconnect with Anthony, Gena, Dave, Nancy, and their kids. The cousins were non-stop playing from the moment we arrived until the moment we left! Highlights included trips to the beach, meals together, and a carnival put on by the kids. We have a lot of photos in this set, mostly of the adorable children. I have a feeling our kids will be talking about this trip for a long time to come!
Raven’s real birthday (her fourth) was on Friday, but she celebrated it today with a fabulous party at Kids In Motion. I had no idea that such a cool place was only a short walk from our house. It’s like a huge padded gym for toddlers, featuring a massive trampoline, balls, balloons, rocking things, bouncing things, swinging things, sliding things… all the good stuff. It was awesome. I’ve posted a full set of photos in our gallery, with some highlights below.
Our big Thanksgiving gathering took place in Santa Cruz again this year. The consensus is that Santa Cruz is the best of the various destinations that we’ve been to. It’s close. It’s beautiful. Rental houses are plentiful and relatively affordable. And there is no shortage of fun. (Plus, nutritionists always recommend riding roller coasters after a 10,000 calorie meal.) Thanks to Nancy for the massive job of organizing the event! Some favorite pictures are below. Click on them to see larger versions or click here to see the full album. (You may notice a slight parental bias in picture subjects…)
Grummy is in town for a visit, so the whole Stocco-Palmer-Roy family (minus Andrew, who was working hard getting his classroom ready for students on Monday) went out to the Eat Real Festival at Jack London Square on Oakland’s waterfront.
