Weekend update.
Jun. 13th, 2005 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaSaturday night, for the first time, Michael and I went out by ourselves and left Alex with babysitters. All of us survived, but I was surprised at how anxious I felt when we left the house. The sitters were two friends of ours from church, responsible and loving women who have been devoted to Alex since early gestation. Clearly they were not going to endanger our baby - although I did try to float a theory in which they were vicious cannibals, who only appeared to be vegetarians because we'd never seen them alone with a baby before. But I still had butterflies in my stomach as we walked to the restaurant.
We started out with sushi, which was tasty, but nothing exceptional. We were disappointed to discover that they were out of quite a few absolutely ordinary menu items, such as tamago and ebi; as a result, we didn't end up with as much variety, or as many pieces, as we had intended. So for once, after sushi, we had room for dessert. We decided to hit our favorite neighborhood cafe for dessert. I thought their dessert case was a little too cheesecake-heavy, but I wound up being absolutely delighted by my final choice, a moist, rich banana-hazelnut cake topped with a luscious caramel glaze and a generous sprinkling of dried bananas. Yum.
Alex was visibly glad to see us when we got home, and fell asleep instantly once she had the opportunity for close contact with Mom. She's going to need to get used to sleeping for other people! Preferably before I start back to work.
Sunday saw us on our first major whole-family outing. We drove down to the terminus of the DC Metro and then took the subway to Crystal City in Arlington, where Da Vinci's notebook was performing at a street fair.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
minnaleigh joined us. She showed up early and claimed seats in the shade - the venue had an enormous semicircular arbor with benches underneath. I was very grateful to minnaleigh for the seats, because even as it was I was paranoid about Alex's white, white skin getting too much exposure to the sun. (She's not allowed to use sunscreen until she's four months old - doctor's orders.)
Food at the street fair was not what I was used to. A bunch of Crystal City restaurants set up "tasting booths" where they offered small portions of food for a dollar, with the proceeds to benefit some sort of charity. Ordinarily I would love something like that - I adore tapas and appetizer buffets and other opportunities to eat lots of different things in the same meal. But it meant standing in lots and lots of lines, and it was a hot day, and it was hard to juggle all the little plates to bring them back to our seats. As it was, I was still pretty darned pleased. I had a mini steak sandwich from Ruth's Chris, a mini chicken, chorizo, and potato soft taco on a homemade corn tortilla, and chicken onna stick with some sort of sweet glaze.
Da Vinci's Notebook was fun, as always, but something was off with the sound.minnaleigh said it sounded perfectly fine during their soundcheck, but during the show itself the vocals were unbalanced and it was sometimes hard to hear. The first song after their break sounded great, and we had high hopes for the second set, but it quickly went back to being unbalanced again. minnaleigh and I refused to give it up for the sound guy when the group asked us to. (I'm sure our protest was registered by all.)
It was supposed to be a "family show," and DVN's announcement e-mail warned us not to request any of their "adult material." So we were a little surprised when they launched into "I Wish I Were," what with the references to taking a crap and flinging feces at the wall and so forth. They did change the word "testicles" to "private parts," which I suppose turned the song into family fare. It kindled hope inminnaleigh and I that they'd be able to sing "Enormous Penis" if they changed the words to "Enormous Private Parts," but alas, it was not to be. I guess the scansion isn't right.
Alex got very, very tired on the way home, which meant a lot of whining, but all in all we thought she did very well.
Speaking of Alex, June pics can be found here. She continues to be a little bit cute.
We started out with sushi, which was tasty, but nothing exceptional. We were disappointed to discover that they were out of quite a few absolutely ordinary menu items, such as tamago and ebi; as a result, we didn't end up with as much variety, or as many pieces, as we had intended. So for once, after sushi, we had room for dessert. We decided to hit our favorite neighborhood cafe for dessert. I thought their dessert case was a little too cheesecake-heavy, but I wound up being absolutely delighted by my final choice, a moist, rich banana-hazelnut cake topped with a luscious caramel glaze and a generous sprinkling of dried bananas. Yum.
Alex was visibly glad to see us when we got home, and fell asleep instantly once she had the opportunity for close contact with Mom. She's going to need to get used to sleeping for other people! Preferably before I start back to work.
Sunday saw us on our first major whole-family outing. We drove down to the terminus of the DC Metro and then took the subway to Crystal City in Arlington, where Da Vinci's notebook was performing at a street fair.
minnaleigh joined us. She showed up early and claimed seats in the shade - the venue had an enormous semicircular arbor with benches underneath. I was very grateful to minnaleigh for the seats, because even as it was I was paranoid about Alex's white, white skin getting too much exposure to the sun. (She's not allowed to use sunscreen until she's four months old - doctor's orders.)Food at the street fair was not what I was used to. A bunch of Crystal City restaurants set up "tasting booths" where they offered small portions of food for a dollar, with the proceeds to benefit some sort of charity. Ordinarily I would love something like that - I adore tapas and appetizer buffets and other opportunities to eat lots of different things in the same meal. But it meant standing in lots and lots of lines, and it was a hot day, and it was hard to juggle all the little plates to bring them back to our seats. As it was, I was still pretty darned pleased. I had a mini steak sandwich from Ruth's Chris, a mini chicken, chorizo, and potato soft taco on a homemade corn tortilla, and chicken onna stick with some sort of sweet glaze.
Da Vinci's Notebook was fun, as always, but something was off with the sound.
minnaleigh said it sounded perfectly fine during their soundcheck, but during the show itself the vocals were unbalanced and it was sometimes hard to hear. The first song after their break sounded great, and we had high hopes for the second set, but it quickly went back to being unbalanced again. minnaleigh and I refused to give it up for the sound guy when the group asked us to. (I'm sure our protest was registered by all.)It was supposed to be a "family show," and DVN's announcement e-mail warned us not to request any of their "adult material." So we were a little surprised when they launched into "I Wish I Were," what with the references to taking a crap and flinging feces at the wall and so forth. They did change the word "testicles" to "private parts," which I suppose turned the song into family fare. It kindled hope in
minnaleigh and I that they'd be able to sing "Enormous Penis" if they changed the words to "Enormous Private Parts," but alas, it was not to be. I guess the scansion isn't right.Alex got very, very tired on the way home, which meant a lot of whining, but all in all we thought she did very well.
Speaking of Alex, June pics can be found here. She continues to be a little bit cute.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 03:35 pm (UTC)'tween that and the StrawberryBlondie hair, she's a cutie!
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Date: 2005-06-13 03:42 pm (UTC)OMG the red hair! And teh cuteness!! (I'm lucky I have my own supply of red hair that sticks up, and teh cuteness. But I don't have many pictures of smiles, because she gets all serious when we get the camera out.)
I have the same playmat - and yes, she loves it.
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Date: 2005-06-13 03:45 pm (UTC)It's not just the picture -- they really *are* that blue! We don't know if they'll stay that color, but they are really striking.
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Date: 2005-06-13 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 04:10 pm (UTC)Alex is,I think, a 'little bit cute' the same way her Mama is a little bit fabulous.
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Date: 2005-06-13 04:25 pm (UTC)Ahem. The phrase "little bit cute" does not begin to adequately describe the ineffable cuteness of Alex.
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Date: 2005-06-13 04:37 pm (UTC)If they'd start performing on a more regular basis, though, I think they'd manage to blow a lot of the rust off, and they still managed to put on a show that was entertaining and worth the trip. They also do a better job when it's not a "family show" -- I think the bawdy humor holds their attention a little better. They did a nice job with getting the audience involved, and they've still got some real comic potential.
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Date: 2005-06-13 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 04:39 pm (UTC)>It was supposed to be a "family show," and DVN's announcement e-mail warned us not to request any of their "adult material." So we were a little surprised when they launched into "I Wish I Were," what with the references to taking a crap and flinging feces at the wall and so forth.
That's not adult behavior. I don't think anyone needs to worry about the song being inappropriate for young people. Toddlers figure that sort of thing out on their own whether they hear it described artistically or not.
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Date: 2005-06-13 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 07:40 pm (UTC)Wish you guys were going to be around when we're out there the first week of July - I might even have her afghan done by then :-)
Hard to leave
Date: 2005-06-13 10:50 pm (UTC)Formerly Anonymous, now signing as "Grandma S"
no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 03:00 am (UTC)a moist, rich banana-hazelnut cake topped with a luscious caramel glaze and a generous sprinkling of dried bananas. Yum.
Whoah!