Our Yard

Young bluejay - photo taken on Memorial Day

I really love our backyard and I'll miss it when we leave. It isn't fancy or nicely landscaped, but it is a gift of space in a busy area. We have birds, squirrels (of course), rabbits and we've even had a fox around. To me, it is amazing that we live about a mile from the Pentagon, yet I get to look out my back window and see so much wildlife.

Sleepy fox in our yard in January - he was outside our fenced area, but still on the property.

After checking out the situation for a while, he curled up and took a long nap in the sun. I saw him a few other times, but haven't seen him since the tear-down on the lots next to us.

When the weather is nice, I spend as much time there as I can. And when it isn't so nice, I spend a lot of time looking out the back window into the yard.

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Yesterday evening, after a stifflingly hot and sticky day, a breeze came through and cooled things off just in time for us to grill some steaks and decide to eat them outside. Ahhhh...what a treat, perfect weather for eating out and enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitos away. As it grew darker outside, Marshall was excited to point out the newest critter he has discovered -- lightening bugs! There were lots of themIt is a rare thing. So rare and enjoyable that I never even thought to pick up the camera.

Last week, while David was away in Japan, Daisy kept waking me early so she could go out. While I was not excited to be awakened so early, I figured getting up and taking care of her might save me a big clean up job when I did finally get up. On Memorial Day morning, I actually thanked her for the wake up call (as if she could understand). It turned out the be a hot and humid day, but before 7 in the morning, it was still pleasant and quiet out. While I stood outside with the girls, I started watching a couple of blue jays in the trees. After I while, I realized there were two who were finding food then taking it to a baby. While I am absolutely NO great photographer, I got a few shots that weren't too bad.

Above and below - the baby. He looks grown in this picture, but beside a parent there was a significant size difference.

Breakfast time -- I didn't get great shots, but you can see the mama (or daddy?) just to the left of the baby in the first one, then you can see the parent bent over and feeding the little one in the next.

"What? Our blog hasn't been updated since October?!"

That is what David said to me recently. Funny how he didn't know how out of date our blog was. Hmmmmm....seems that life with a toddler is just so much fun, I never find the time to sit and write about it.

Well, our time in Washington, D.C. is rapidly coming to a close. Next up -- Newport, Rhode Island. Isn't that just the kind of exotic locale you think of the Foreign Service taking you? Maybe not exactly, but we are looking forward to experiencing a new part of our own country -- instead of a new part of the world.

But before we go, we are trying to take advantage of DC a bit more.

A few weeks ago, thanks to the efforts of some good friends in Philly, we all went on a tour of the White House.


Marshall was most interested in pointing out the American flags he saw, looking for the "tractor" he saw mowing the lawn and riding on Daddy's shoulders.





Since we weren't allowed to take cameras inside, we had to rely on John's phone for outside pics after the tour.

After the tour, we decided to check out the Museum of Natural History where we saw lots of animals and even some dinosaurs. I think this was a little more Marshall's speed.


Hopefully, we'll make it to the zoo and a few more museums before we roll out of town...

Halloween Parade

Just a few pics from the Ft. Meyer Halloween Parade...yesterday's prelude to tonight's big event.


Marshall thought this dragon was a big stuffed animal and kept going back to pet it. Good thing the knight didn't mind!



Seriously eyeing his octopus friend's sucker



Getting some tips from a colleague




Walking with Daddy in the Parade

"OK, Dad, enough of this parade. I've got to get back to the kitchen."

Paris...

...with a toddler!

What a trip! David and I thought it was a shame that our little Foreign Service kid hadn’t yet traveled overseas so we decided to take advantage of a business trip of David’s to introduce Marshall to the adventures of international travel. We figured Paris would be an easy-ish trip to do with a little one. And we were right.

All in all it was great! David was there for over a week before we arrived so he had already scoped out the nearest grocery store, worked out logistics for us and arranged for a Euro-style Pack N Play to be set up in the room when we arrived. The flight to Paris went well. We purchased a seat for Marshall so he was able to sleep for a few hours in his car seat, then in my lap for part of the flight, and back into the safety of his car seat for landing. We hopped into a cab and were off to the hotel where David met us and, after we got a bit settled in, we all headed out for lunch and a little stroll around the neighborhood.

On our first night in town, we went for a walk (David for a jog) on the Champs du Mars -- the park beneath the Eiffel Tower. Marshall liked the big tower so much that he didn’t want to walk away from it and insisted I carry him so he could watch it over my shoulder. Then he promptly fell asleep in my arms. Maybe he was just too tired to walk!

First Morning in Paris – looks like a long, hard sleep! He slept through David getting ready for work and leaving (so did I), David calling to tell us breakfast would be delivered soon, two leisurely cups of coffee for me, breakfast for me, CNN International and finally he began to wake up saying, “Pop, Pop, Gzi- Gzi” (Pops & Zannie are David’s parents). I guess he figured if he woke up not in his own bed, he must be at their house.

This is the life – a huge breakfast delivered to our room every morning! I’m sure the very nice folks downstairs were glad to bring it up so Marshall didn’t destroy the breakfast room.


Lots of our time was spent walking and playing around the Eiffel Tower. The big, green spaces are great and they even had several playgrounds.

Chasing Pigeons is such fun – the French kids seemed to enjoy it too!

With the Eiffel Tower behind us, Marshall heads back toward our hotel near the Ecole Militaire.

On Sunday, David had the day off so we spent the day together walking around this beautiful city.

Our last day in town – a long and rainy walk up the stairs to the Sacre Coeur – beautiful, but the view of Paris would have been much better if it hadn’t been raining.

More From the Kitchen

Bruschetta from my very own tomatoes and basil...yum.

Small servings as I don't have much that is ripe yet and the squirrels seem to get to the ripe ones first, but I'm having fun trying to get enough to enjoy.

Poor Dogs

They have to tolerate so much. This morning they turned into mountains for Marshall's car & tractor to drive over. Poor, poor, patient dogs.

At least he also sunggles with them and gives them kisses when he's finished using them as roads.

First Fruits

My little garden is growing and the squash runneth over. Just yesterday, Marshall and I picked this whole bowlful of crookneck. I'm thinking it is squash casserole for dinner tonight.

The tomatoes are another story. I've been watching the green tomatoes get bigger and bigger for what seems like weeks now, but the color never seems to change. Yesterday, I noticed one that was ripening and decided it could use just one more day. This plant is called a Lemon Boy. Looks good, right?

Until you turn it over and see the big, black, squishy spot.

After cutting around the bad spot, this is what I have left.

Looks like David and I will each only get a little sprinkle of home grown tomato on our salads tonight. I think I can supplement with some tasty little store-bought grape tomatoes. Still waiting for the big red ones to ripen....