Astronauts Don't Need No Naps

Mom came for a visit last weekend, but since she drove all night, we went to NASA without her. We have a friend who works at the actual Goddard Space Flight Center, and the plan was to get a tour with him during his lunch break; it didn't work out this time, so we'll have to try again later. We did, however, get to peruse the visitor's center.

Mr. Graff and Studly outside the Visitor's Center

We played in the visitor's center for hours. One of the displays had a video on a lunar orbiting satellite, so Mr. Graff and I sat down to watch while Studly went off to entertain himself. We found him behind the display, playing with cords! 

"Mom, this is awesome!"

Both of my boys make fine astronauts. 

And there was a toy chest full of helmets, space shuttles, and astronauts. 

Mr. Graff and Studly also played Mission Control in the Gemini space capsule. Can you imagine being stuck inside this capsule for two weeks? I mean... where does all the waste go? What if your co-pilot flatulates? Rolling down the window and hoping for a breeze might not be an option...

Just curious.

Apparently, most of the universe is made of plasma, but had to be artificially created here.

Yup, those purple shooting lines are plasma! 

We had a blast learning about sounding rockets, the Sun, solar winds, the moon, and climate change on Earth. Interesting exhibits, and we just skimmed the surface of what was there. Studly loved climbing into the space capsule and going around displays. He kept us busy! We barely got out of the parking lot on the way home when he completely crashed. Score. 

It's harder to get Studly to take a nap without riding around in the car. He just needs to be going and doing all the time.  I've adopted the "when you're tired, come tell me and we'll go take a nap" policy. It works well, he'll get tired sometime between 11am and 2pm, want to be held, and quickly zonk out for two to three hours. 

I was working on the computer, and Studly was playing happily at my feet--singing, moving things, dancing, etc. All of a sudden, he got quiet and stopped moving. Then I heard snoring. 

I looked down and saw...

My little astronaut had crashed. 

Of course, he was holding onto the computer cords.

Silly baby. 

Blossoms Outside My Door

We have an awesome tree right outside our window. In the Fall, the leaves turn bright yellow and in the afternoon light it looks like it is on fire. Now in the Spring, it's full of beautiful, pink blossoms.

This is full bloom a little while ago...

And this is confetti blossom all over the lawn, sidewalk, and our car!

It was just so pretty we had to stop and take pictures.

Just when the tree started losing its petals, both Mr. Graff and Studly got haircuts. Studly didn't like being left out of cutting Mr. Graff's hairs and insisted on being in the bathroom, too. Fortunately, we'd mostly finished trimming it. The next day, we buzzed his cute little head. I held him, and Mr. Graff went at him with the clippers in short bursts. Studly mostly wanted to see where the buzzing sound was coming from and would watch the clippers.

Life, recently

I got a new baby. She's pretty. I named her Sally. She's my Mac, my new computer. I'm excited to be able to blog and use the computer again!

And I have a lot to catch up on.

Study, Mr. Graff, and I went on a field trip with Mr. Graff's Chinese class. He took six weeks from work to take a reading class to improve his Chinese, and of course, he rocked the class. The teacher took the class--and guests--down to Rockville, MD's "Chinatown" to explore different shops together, drink bubble tea, and feast at Bob's restaurant which despite sounding like a truck stop special was authentic cuisine. Mr. Graff, of course, ordered garlic sea snails.

Here's Rae perusing the Chinese bookstore:

An item of interest at the Chinese grocery store:

Pig uteri look surprisingly like large pasta noodles, and not at all like human uteri.

I would know.

Speaking of wombs, the fruit of my womb has decided to love on the dishwasher. It's a fascination for him. Mr. Graff's mom suggested baby gates on either end of the kitchen, and I am thinking that is rather wise--or I will never be able to do dishes again (tragedy!). As soon as the dishwasher opens, like a flash of lightening, Studly appears. He loves the knobs and wheels and silverware caddy.

Oh, and climbing in it, too. Fear-less.

His lack of fear has helped him try many new things, like sand:

french fries:

unrolling the toilet paper:

and riding on the subway:

Did you know that the D.C. area has the second largest public transportation system in the United States? Well, it might be a question on Jeopardy someday and you'll thank me.

Mr. Graff took the day off for good behavior and we went exploring down in D.C. hoping to see the Cherry Blossoms at the Jefferson Memorial. Well, weekend rains washed away a lot of them, but we did get to see some. The Jefferson Memorial which was uniquely reverent and serene. We ate lunch with a Jewish youth group next to the Washington Memorial across from the Holocaust Museum, went to the Sackler Art Gallery--Mr. Graff loved this one because it contained Asian art, and headed over to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, my favorite, particularly the rocks. And mummies. And insects behind glass. And butterfly pavilion.

We held our first ever Easter egg hunt!

We stuffed the eggs with cheerios, put them on the rug, and let Studly go to town.

And that has been our life recently.