Catch Up : Family Visit Sept 3-6

Early warning, lots of people pics and updates for family. You've already seen our DC pics, so here are just a bunch of family pics from when my sister, brother-in-law, niece & nephew came into town over Labor Day. We only had Friday night, Saturday, Sunday and part of Monday, but wow did we see a lot of DC. And it was nice to have a chance to get a bunch of photos, though only one of all of us together.

We visited all the war memorials, White House, Lincoln Monument, Washington Monument, Arlington National Cemetary, Natural History Museum, National Botanical Garden, Capitol building, Great Falls National Park and much more. Hours were spent in the pool, on the Metro and eating (ribs, hot dog carts and of course Clare and Don's Beach Shack). We also took a hop-on-hop-off double decker opentop bus from Union Station, which allowed us to see a lot without walking to everything. It included a night tour, which we loved!

(above) all at the White House and Washington Monument (below)

(above) Capitol Bldg & Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, (below)Capitol Bldg & Smithsonian Castle

(above) Capitol, our babysitters!, carousel ride with Aunt Carrie-(below) hanging around, all of us at Capitol

(above) Union Station, kids on the bus top, Carrie and me at the Botanical Garden, our night pics (below)



(above) Great Falls Natl Park, (below) Crab Shack for lunch

(above) chillin in the pool at our house, (below) Georgetown and the Natl. Cathedral

Wish we could've spent more time together! There's nothing like sitting around in your pjs, watching movies and having snacks with the ones you love. We miss them everyday and wish I could squeeze them in our suitcases when we pack up. The hardest part of this lifestyle so far is being away from loved ones.

Address Change... Again

Changed our mailing address with the world again...for the third time... in 6 months. Gees!

Then in a week or so, I can send our new addressES to our family and friends with a lengthy explanation of: for regular mail send here, for mail with small amounts of liquid send here, for courier mail send here. I'll give the explanation of APO/DPO and tell them even though we have a DC address and an APO, the BIG box at the post office is $2 cheaper if you send to the APO. And also stress to not write anything extra in the address! Just this address that I wrote, please please please.

Then we'll sit back and hope for Halloween candy, handwritten letters, holiday cards, PHOTOS and love from "home".
I have a habit of laying these hints on pretty thick, don't I? But as another hint to those smart senders, Bangladesh is the garment capital and has stellar freshwater pearls.

I'm just saying... if you play your cards right...

Turn back the dial...

Just kidding. Though we are under the 3 week mark, I wouldn't turn back the dial for more time. No way! This family is ready to rock and roll, to get on a plane and start an exciting (and probably crazy) new adventure in Bangladesh! Ceiba is also happy to point out our "new house in Bangladesh" on the globe everynight before bedtime.

I've been absent as of late, because we've had family in town over the last two weeks. Can say we all had a great time and wished it could have lasted longer! I'll write more on that later when I can add some pics....which I cannot do now because I'm lying lazily in bed, away from my external drive. And  a nice place to be since I've had the Mucinex guys running around in my chest for days and my brain ready to thump out of my head. Ah, good times, especially when planning your life to leave the country. Think I'm coming around to good health again :)

We do officially have our housing assignment... and no, it is not a house, but an apartment. Honestly though, we are SUPER excited about it! The only pic we received was a front street shot, so won't post it for security reasons. But with room for guests (or extra room for us since we think zero people are dying to visit) and a convenient location, we think we'll love our time there. And let's just say that with a rooftop terrace and 6 verandas off our living area, I'm sure I can have enough soil in pots to keep my manicure ruined and greens on the table. Will post pics when we arrive and again when our HHE shipments arrive, and it becomes cozier. So plan on pics around Christmas!

Confirmed the first HHE shipment is ready to ship out soon, and after 2 inland drays, 4 vessels and a rail move, we hope to see it just before Thanksgiving. I got the booking number from State today and did my own work to get all the transit info and vessel details. Nice to put the years of ocean shipping to work for us. Chris laughed at the dinner table when I told him I had on online chat with the vessel operator's customer service rep and got all the ETD/ETAs, feeder vessels and via ports. Miss my old work... sometimes :) The other HHE and UAB will pack out of here in 2 weeks, and we'll probably be lucky to have the last of it by Christmas.

So bought some Halloween goodies to get us by for this year, since we won't have our things in time. And continuing to sort a drawer or a shelf or (on a good day) a room at a time until we ship out.

Naptime Showers

My sister and her family are coming into town for the weekend, HOOOOOOOORAY!!!!
While Ceiba was napping, I decided to take a shower. They are staying with us, so one less person in the shower rotation for tonight would be a good thing.

Ceiba is three, but I still worry about showering while she is napping. She's old enough to get out of bed and come to find me, and our apartment is almost small enough to look from one side to the other. But... I still worry and always hope I don't walk out to a screaming, crying kid in bed, forever traumatized by her mama's poor choice of shower timing. She was fine. I was worried for nothing, for the 100th time. Now cleaner, but still a silly mama.

Tidbits of our new home

I am BEYOND chomping at the bit for details and pictures of our new home in Dhaka. Today we got a tidbit of info, but are waiting on the official notice and details. After months of hearing from people "oh, you have a kid, so surely you'll get a house and not an apartment", I was starting to convince myself the same. And since the only 2 things we really asked for on the housing questionaire were "a yard" and "sunlight", I thought we had a chance at a house.

... we were assigned an apartment. Ug.

All in all though, what I've been able to find about it looks super nice. And the neighborhood is very nice and near a park with a lake (not a lot of park space in Dhaka). So though I REALLY WANTED a yard for gardening and family play, guess I can learn to garden in containers and we can go to the park to play.

Hope to get happy details next week :)

911... what's your emergency?

So a regular trip to the pool on Sunday aftenoon led to an eventful afternoon. Chris and Ceiba were in the water, while I sat in the sun (after being the Round 1 parent for the first duration in the cold water). There was another family in the pool and our lifeguard Camelia. A loud pop sounded from the pool room. Camelia went to check it out, and a canister had burst, sending hazardous chlorine gas into the room. The gas hit her as she opened the door, pushing her back and taking her breath away. We all quickly got out of the pool and rounded up children to the courtyard, while my well trained First Responder husband checked out Camelia's exposure and got her away from the pool. She called her company and the fire alarms started ringing through the complex.

With amazing response time, the fire department arrived. We could hear them race through town and park in the front of the building. Chris stabilized Camelia and had some others neighbors stay with her while he went into the building to meet the firefighters. The hallways had filled with gas and people were coming out with teared eyes, mostly acting oblivious to the alarms and not getting away from the building. One guard even came straight to the pool door and began to open it before we all yelled to stay back. He met the firefighters, briefed them and took them to the courtyard.

Chris is a cool cucumber, always has been. His years of experience and training have him very prepared for emergencies and tense situations, from vehicle accidents to a three year old bleeding from bouncing off the bed onto the corner of a nightstand (our previous evening). My job while he's putting out fires? To be one less thing on his mind. To be out of harm's way with a child on my hip... and my mouth shut. This I can do :)

So as the firemen & hazmat team worked, EMS checked out Camelia (who is fine, thank goodness), while the complex occupants sat on the curb and chatted and we... sat in our swimwear in front of them... with no car keys...or wallets...or cell phones. After the all clear, the firemen tested our apartment, since it touches the poolroom which was hazardous minutes before. We went home, changed clothes and went out for dinner (since we WAY missed ours which was thawing on the counter).

And Ceiba slept in our room for a night, in a pillow-blanket bed in the corner made for a queen. She was nestled in and asleep in no time at all. Glad the day ended with everyone safe and sound. And always glad to have our crisis intervention expert doing his best to keep us all out of harm's way.

Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian

Sunday we drove downtown to see the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian (http://www.nmai.si.edu/).
From the street, the building always looked nice, but up close, it is really beautiful. Made of limestone and flanked by flowing water, it is a very serene and peaceful place.

We enjoyed walking around, catching snip-its of exhibits while entertaining a 3 year old. The Pacific Northwest, Mississippi Valley and Central America exhibits were especially interesting. They have a large collection of clay/terra cotta pieces and beautiful gold adornments and early coins, as well as weapons.

There was a great area dedicated to Mexico's Dias de las Muertos, the Day of the Dead, a custom I'm very interested in. Ceiba was able to see some history of her native Maya Indians, while we also heard of my Cherokee roots. Chris enjoyed pointing out which arrowheads were similar to those he'd found back in Illinois and Missouri. And the Tlingit and First Nations art and tools reminded us of our time in Alaska.

It's a great place to make you remember how much history and culture the Americas encompass.

Camera woes

From the time I was little, I've loved to take pictures. Borrowing the old square film camera for field trips was a treat, and you could never have too many blurry pictures of giraffes.

My "good" camera had being on the fritz and then took a spill a back in June. It went to the local shop, sat there almost 2 months, came back unrepaired and is now out to the warranty company (thank goodness I bought the warranty for once) who just notified me they had to send it to the manufacturer. UG. So by the time I get it back, IF I get it back since it's a Minolta which is now Sony, we'll probably be well settled on the other side of the planet.

Here's hoping my new point and shoot can hang with the big boys until then!

Oakwood and Victor

When we arrived in Virginia, the main Oakwood (often lovingly referred to as the mothership or Oakhood) was full. With no objections, we were moved to another temporary housing location, which we LOVE.  At the main Oakwood, it's pretty much a given that 99% of the people you meet are there for the same reason you are. The case is different where we live. So unless we walk around in a State Dept shirt or ask every person we meet who they work for (a little peculiar habit without scaring people off), it can be hard to meet other FS families.

During cool weather, we would go to the main Oakwood to play and meet people. It gave us a change of venue and offered a better opportunity to make friends. That carried through until summer, when their pool was warmer than ours, so again we went. Until this week, we hadn't gone over to the main Oakwood for a while. Most of our friends had left for post, and our pool had warmed up. The starvation for information during our first months here had waned or been fulfilled, so the yearning to make friends and get information wasn't the factor it had previously been.

While we enjoyed playing (while trying to avoid construction areas), we did get to see one thing the other Oakwood had which we had very much missed... our good friend Victor.

If you've lived at the main Oakwood, I'm sure you've seen him and maybe shared words. From our first visits in April, he was a friendly face. He took a shine to Ceiba right away. Everytime we see each other, we pause to share words.  My spanish is minimal, as is his english, but we always seem to communicate just fine. He was thrilled to know Ceiba was born in his neighboring Guatemala, and the love for his native El Salvador shines in his eyes. Ceiba lights up to see him and get sweet compliments in spanish. We will miss our "holas" on our visits across town. His warm smile and greetings make our visits all the more enjoyable. 

The National Cathedral

Stunningly beautiful...

From many vantage points in the Washington D.C. area, you can catch a glimpse of the National Cathedral perched high atop a hill off Wisconsin Avenue. On our first drive to Embassy Row a few months back, we stopped so I could take a few outside photos of the cathedral. It is truly beautiful!

This week Ceiba and I took an hour to see the beauty within its walls. It is undoubtably a work of art.

The archways, the masonery, the stained glass, the carved wood...

the care which skilled artisans bestowed while building this cathedral is absolutely apparent.

Whatever your religion, even if that means no religion, take a walk inside these walls.

Embrace the OCD!

It rained pretty much all day today. From 0530 when a little someone crawled into our bed until still now past bedtime, it’s been drizzling. This evening we got out the finger paint and rolled out the paper over the coffee table for a change of pace.

So the painting session has me convinced that I’m borderline OCD. I joke, but still think I’m unusually anti-mess. Watching paint colors get mixed by little fingers in different colors, paint on the jars or globs of paint sitting on the paper almost physically hurts me. With controlled breathing and willpower, I made it through and actually played in the paint and encouraged the fun too. Am I especially crazy? Or just a little? Those of you that know me, realize this is

normal and yes, probably a little crazy or controlling. No bashing comments needed, thank you. I’m trying, ok??!! I’m new at this full time mama stuff.

Chris was out of the house, so I texted him pics and told him about the fun painting, but the clarity moment of my disorder. I got no reply… so think that solidifies the epiphany.

In some ways, the OCD is a positive thing. For example, I’m a really good packer. I can anticipate what may come up on trips and generally plan accordingly. You need it? Chances are it’s in the bag. Even down to the UAB (unaccompanied air baggage) which we brought out here. The plan was to be here for about 3 months, which turned into 6 months. The only thing I’ve really wished I’d brought… the garlic press. Yes, I have been mincing by knife, but am getting tired of smelling like an old Italian man.

Embrace the OCD!!

* And now Blogger changed the photo insert process. UG! I'm a donkey on the edge!