The Gordon Girls in their new spring outfits

Grandma Joy sent the Gordon girls some new spring outfits. We took them outside for a picture today. Seneca has about two minutes while she will put up with her sisters and having a picture taken, so this is what we came up with.

Eowyn™

I have to relate this story from our trip to DC. After leaving the Lincoln Memorial, we walked to the nearest subway station, which is near George Washington University. It was around noon, so we decided to have lunch in one of the campus food courts. We ate at a pita place, which had some pretty good food. I bought some Harvest Crisp™ chips for the girls to go with their ham and mayonnaise pita. Eowyn was eating her chips and looking at the bag when she announced, “I think the guy who made these chips made my Polly Pocket™ t-shirt! Because they both say T – M!” I almost choked trying to stifle a laugh (Eowyn doesn’t like it when she thinks people are laughing at her.) I told her that was a great observation, and maybe the same guy did make the chips and t-shirt.

DC Trip

The Gordons took a trip to DC on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day, and so we pulled Eowyn out of Kindergarten and took off. We drove to Fredericksburg, then took the Amtrak into Union Station in DC. We got on the subway from there and went to the Mall. Eowyn has been studying presidents in school, and learned about Washington and Lincoln for President's Day last month. She was very excited to see the Washington Monument when we surfaced from the subway station. As you can probably see, it was an absolutely beautiful day. The sky was blue (at first) and the temperature was in the 70s.


We haven't been to DC since 2002 when we went for the Easter Egg roll at the White House. Eowyn was about Seneca's age then. We have a picture of Gia, Michelle, and Margaret in this very tree from that trip. Gia thought it would be cool to have the picture with the three Gordon sisters. Seneca has her usual group picture face, we are pretty sure she doesn't like her sisters. You can see the new World War II monument in the background. It wasn't built the last time we were in DC. It is nice. There is supposed to be a pool of water in the center, but none of the pools on the mall have any water in them, probably because it is still officially winter. The monument reminded us a lot of the monument in the American cemetery in Normandy.

We went to the Lincoln Memorial after visiting the Vietnam Memorial. Eowyn and Giana climbed up the monument with Shawn. Eowyn did it all by herself, but Giana needed some help.

We went to the National Zoo afterwards. It was a disappointment. I prefer the Nürnberg zoo, which we went to many times in Germany. The Pandas were kind of cool, and Seneca referred to everything as a "DOG!" (She pronounces it dogga!, which sounds a lot like her word for daddy.) It started to rain, so we headed back to the subway for our journey home. All in all, a pretty good day.

Spring Day

Okay, Okay, I know. It is not officially spring yet, but it sure feels like spring outside. What a great day here in Virginia. Eowyn had pony lessons this morning, then we played outside and did a little yard cleanup, and then went for a walk down by the river. Glorious!

The kids had a great time. I'm trying to teach Eowyn and Giana how to skip rocks, but we're not having a lot of luck there

12

Today marks the twelfth anniversary of my joining the Army. It was March of 1995 when I got on the airplane at Portland International which took me to Georgia and basic training at Fort Benning. While the last twelve years have had their ups and downs, I have to say it was one of the best decisions I ever made. If I hadn't joined the Army, I never would have met Gia, and the best things in my life happened because of that meeting at the Primary Leadership Development Course at Fort Drum. So, whether at any given moment I love the Army or hate the Army, I have to say that being in the Army has been good to me.

Eowyn School Picture

This is Eowyn's Kindergarten school picture. She is actually showing a toothy smile in the picture (before she lost any teeth, I think). She looks good. She brought the pictures home, we hadn't ordered them or paid for them, I guess they think once we look at them we'll have to buy them. They may not have ever heard of scanners, I'm not sure.

Supreme Court

I went on a class trip to DC today. I was sworn in to practice in front of the Supreme Court. Because nothing ever goes right, they had lost my paperwork and I had to do some last minute wrangling to get my name added to the list. John Roberts, the new Chief Justice, came in to visit the class after the ceremony, and I had my picture taken with him.

I also had my picture taken on the front steps of the Supreme Court with the Capitol Building in the background. It was a pretty good trip.

The justices look older than I had pictured them. Only 7 of 9 were in the chambers when we were sworn in. Stevens and Scalia were not there. Since Stevens is around 80, he probably thought he could use a day off, since there wasn't any pressing business. Thomas and Ginsburg both look ancient, again, much older than I had thought they would. Of course, Roberts and Alito look like young men in comparison. Both of them will probably be with us for another 30 years.

Toilet Paper

All of our girls have had a thing for toilet paper. Seneca is just the latest in a long line of TP stringers. We have given up putting tp on the roller, because it will end up strung down the hall. We try to put the stuff up high where Seneca can't get it, but that means that Giana and Eowyn will have trouble getting to it.

Oh well, it can be cute, in small doses. I think we waste about as much as we use, but what can you do?