Our Everyday
Sharing our stories, big and small.
Posts from the “out & about” Category
In 2011 we had Breakfast with Santa at the Rooftop Terrace Restaurant at the Kennedy Center. Not knowing what to expect we were disappointed. The Santa wasn’t authentic and the food was average for the price. On top of that we were managing white tablecloths and china with a 1, 2 and 4 year old.
Always looking for new holiday experiences I was happy to stumble upon the Choral Arts Family performance at the Kennedy Center this year. The show features all the popular holiday songs, encouraging people to sing a long, with special visits by some of your favorite holiday characters. With our Saturday planned for the Kennedy Center I decided to give Breakfast with Santa another try.
Penny mini-golfing, 2013
Every year the National Building Museum features a temporary exhibit that corresponds with the summer months. In the past two years they have created incredible indoor mini golf courses, each hole unique and inventive designed by different area architects, designers and builders.
This year they are featuring “The BIG Maze.” The Museum, in partnership with BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, will create a never-before-seen large-scale maze for the Museum’s historic home. Soaring approximately 18 feet high and measuring 60 feet by 60 feet, the maple plywood structure will boast a series of twists and turns for visitors to weave through and explore. – National Building Museum website, August 2014
Histor (noun) learned, wise man
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an international exposition of living cultural heritage. Initiated in 1967, the Festival has become a national and international model of a research-based presentation of contemporary living cultural traditions. Over the years, it has brought more than twenty-three thousand musicians, artists, performers, craftspeople, workers, cooks, storytellers, and others to the National Mall to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and aesthetics that embody the creative vitality of community-based traditions.
Usually divided into programs featuring a nation, region, state, or theme, the Festival has featured exemplary tradition bearers from more than ninety nations, every region of the United States, scores of ethnic communities, more than a hundred American Indian groups, and some seventy different occupations.
Left
She was only three months old and we decided to do a stay-cation at The W Hotel in Washington, DC. We rushed to the hotel to get there in time for her feeding but our room wasn’t ready. The hotel staff set me up in a conference room so I could nurse in private, Lucas loved spinning in the chairs. Pushing around the heaviest double stroller we explored the American History Museum and Natural History Museum and lunched at KAZ Sushi Bistro. After a long day Lucas enjoyed a bomb pop while we raced back to the hotel in the pouring rain.
Right
To celebrate the 4th we decided to do a stay-cation at The W Hotel. No strollers this time around and everything we needed fit nicely into one bag including three blankets, pink doggy and turtle. We weaved in and out of under trees attempting to avoid the rain while we made our way to BLT Steak for dinner. On the 4th we watched the parade and explored the Folklife Festival. Our day didn’t end until 11pm after the fireworks were finished.
It is April 2014. A drive into DC to the O Street Museum transports us to…
The 1800s where we sit in a parlor room complete with chandeliers and lace and enjoy Sunday brunch with deviled eggs, smoked salmon, waffles, an omelet station and bacon.
The thought of a walkabout inspires and scares me: What do I document? Buildings? People? What if there are no interesting people around? Will my photos be reminiscent of those taken by an Indiana tourist circa 1998? Or worse, will they look like I’m trying too hard? Am I going to come home disappointed, finding I just wasted an afternoon in the city?
Spontaneity reduces pressure. So with an hour to kill before the National Portrait Gallery opens and Ali with her camera by my side I navigated my first walkabout.
Our Everyday 
