Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone. May God bless you and your family this holiday.

Here’s some pictures from the NCC Live Nativity. Little Guy took the extreme close-up of the sheep.

Camera Trick

I found out a trick about my digital camera. I find my photos in the hangar tend to be dark with the normal camera settings. When I switch to the Night-time or Low-light setting, the pictures become blurry because of the shutter speed. However, Landscape setting works great.

America’s Hangar: Udvar-Hazy Center

There are advantages to living close to the Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles. Namely, we can drive over after 4 PM to get free parking. It’s normally $12 to park. Blue Suit Little Guy and I drove over the other day to look at the displays. He gets a real kick out of the whole thing except when I tell him that he can’t ride on the flight simulators today.

It’s a great place to visit. The displays include a Concorde, the shuttle Enterprise, an SR-71 Blackbird, the first 707 (Dash 80), and the STOVL version of the Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator (X-35). There's also an observation tower that gives spectacular views of Dulles and the surrounding area.

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
When along came a spider
Who sat down beside her and said
“Wow, you’ve got puffy cheeks!”“And big eyes, too!”

A Poor Man’s X-box

At Thanksgiving, Blue Suit Little Guy saw an X-box for the first time at my uncle’s house. Needless to say, he was impressed -- chip off the ol’ block. I got Blue Suit Little Guy to run upstairs and tell Mommy, “Daddy needs an X-box.” Needless to say, Mommy was not impressed.

On Sunday, we were watching Pittsburgh helping Cincinnati to win their football game. We took a box (hey, we’re a military family; we’ve got lots of boxes) and drew a football field on it. Rachel tried to teach Blue Suit Little Guy how the game was played. I kept watching Pittsburgh help Cincinnati win.

On Monday, Blue Suit Little Guy decided to turn cardboard box into X-box. (He told Mommy, “Come play football with me!”) Here’s the result:

Move over, Madden.

Happy Birthday and Happy-ish Birthday

Birthday time came and went at the Blue Suit household. I turned the big 3-0. I had a special treat as my parents came into town after quite a long drive. As the way to my heart goes through my stomach, Rachel whipped up a chocolate cream pie. Blue Suit Little Guy sang the birthday song. The next day was the intern social for the folks who completed their first term at GWU. Rachel managed to put together a surprise mini-party for me that included a chocolate tasting contest. The competitors fielded an impressive array of chocolate delicacies. I was very pleased. I also played poker for the first time. Let’s say that I’m not ready for the World Championship of Poker. I did wear sunglasses, though.

Three days after my birthday was Rachel’s birthday. We are a year and 3 days apart, so for those 3 days, I constantly remind Rachel that I’m 2 years older than her. Rachel’s birthday started at 3 AM when I woke up feeling like I needed to vomit and starting popping Pepto tablets. I could hardly get out of bed and had no appetite. The plan was for me and my parents to paint the kitchen as a present for Rachel. Well, I wasn’t going to be much help. By noon, Rachel and Blue Suit Baby Girl were also feeling queasy. My energy was in a flux all day. Sometimes I had enough energy to help paint, and other times I was crashed in bed. I got up long enough to pick up Rachel’s cake, which neither of us could eat. While my parents when out to eat at Legal Sea Food in Tyson’s Corner, Rachel and I were putting the kids to bed. I had also spiked a fever.

Rachel’s sister called and Rachel filled her in on her not so great birthday. She told Rachel that adults don’t have Happy Birthdays but Happy-ish Birthdays. Well, I have to say that I had a Happy Birthday. On the other hand, saying that Rachel had a Happy-ish Birthday might be charitable.

Note: we did eventually eat Rachel’s birthday cake. It was a Amaretto layered cake and it was fabulous. We highly recommend Amphora Restaurant and Bakery in Vienna for dinner or dessert. Especially dessert.