Backtrack - Spring Break Wrap Up

We had a wonderful spring break with my parental units visiting from Oregon. Besides our two-day roadtrip across Virginia that I mentioned in my previous post, we did a lot of stuff around the house.

I installed some hoists in the garage to store our bikes up above my wife's car.

We installed some new deck lights. Here Grandpa shows ES how to use the drill.

We hung our porch swing under our back deck. It used to be our front porch swing at our last house here in Ashburn, but this house doesn't have a front porch.

It's a nice spot for watching the ducks and geese on the pond, and for watching Grandpa wrestle with ES. (I think ES was winning, but I can't be sure.)

Speaking of ducks, they've got quite the little quack mafia going on in our neighborhood. Every afternoon, we hear them coming across the grass looking for us to somehow "compensate" them in some way for their, uh... "protection."

Protection from what, pray tell?

Well, there I was... Standing at the top of the ladder in the garage installing the bicycle hoists. I heard them coming along the side of the house (quack quack quack). They waddled right around the front of the garage (quack quack quack), saw me at the top of the ladder (quack quack quack), fearlessly waddled right on into the garage to the base of the ladder and stared me down as if something BAD was gonna happen to me if I didn't pay up. FAST.

I said, "No handouts for you! Get out of my garage!"

The white duck in the front seemed to be the ring-leader. He sorta angled his head to one side and gave me an angry QUACK as if to say, "Oh yeah?" and then PFFFFFFFFBBBBBT! blew duck diarhea all over the floor of my garage.

(Don't worry, I didn't take a picture of THAT to share with you.)

I yelled at the ducks to get the heck outta my garage, and they waddled away with a continuous stream of quack-obscenities in my general direction. They waddled on across the street to our neighbor's house where the little girls quickly came out and started feeding the duck-mafia lest they get duck poop in THEIR garage. The ducks seemed to continue working their way down the street. My wife said she later talked to some of the neighbors, and they said the ducks really do hit up every house all the way to the end of the street.

Other than cleaning up after the quack-mafia, it was a beautiful weekend (last weekend). My wife and stepmom made a wonderful Easter dinner for us.

Easter Dinner at the Blunoz Homestead
(Sweet potatoes, ham, asparagus, fruit salad, and dinner rolls)

Monday we went for a tour of the Pentagon (sorry, no cameras allowed) and went downtown to the National Museum of American History.

Grandpa & YB in front of NMAH
with the Washington Monument in the background

(Aside: Grandpa probably needs a lot of motrin from the amount of piggy-back and "carry-me-on-your-shoulders-Grandpa" rides he gave while he was here.)

I've been wanting to go to the NMAH ever since it reopened after being closed for 3 years of remodeling. I really liked the new exhibit for the Star Spangled Banner. It's the actual flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 and inspired Francis Scott Key to write our National Anthem. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in the exhibit, but you can check out pictures on the NMAH website (click on the Star Spangled Banner link above).

Other highlights of our trip to NMAH were seeing Stanley, winner of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge...

...and the actual C3PO costume from Return of the Jedi.

We wanted to see the Muppets exhibit, but the line was REALLY long. It's kinda sad how long the line was to see the muppets in comparison to the much shorter line to see the Star Spangled Banner, but then again I'm a history nerd.

Tuesday, ES went back to school. My dad and I got to go have lunch with him at school. Then since it was raining, we stayed for indoor recess in his classroom.

ES showing me what he wrote in his journal about Luray Caverns and Monticello.

Before my parental units flew back to Oregon, we went to Clyde's for my wife's birthday dinner. Overall, it was REALLY good. They were having a half-price special on wine, so we got a really nice bottle of Stag's Leap Petite Syrah.

Parmesan-crusted trout, potatoes & green beans.

We were a little annoyed though. Why is it whenever we shell out the cash for a babysitter to have a nice, quiet, kid-free dinner at a fancy restaurant, we get seated next to a family with noisy and obnoxious kids? I would have asked to be moved to the other dining room, but there was a squealing baby in that dining room, too.

All in all, we had a great spring break and visit with my dad & stepmom.