Lots of Dots

Dan took an early flight Saturday morning, departing for a week-long work adventure.  While I have been trying to travel with him as much as possible, I stayed home to hang out with the children this time.  (More to be back-posted later on some past adventures that we reported in our Christmas letter but haven't expanded on yet.)  

But what to do alone with the children for a whole week?  

The Kids and their Practically Adult Activities

Saturday started out with the idea of figuring out the Project Of Will Getting University Logistics Going (POWGULF).  While initially an overwhelming concept, after some research and thought, we determined that we are smart people and can figure this out together.  So many parts of Saturday were spent creating a plan on a marker board and researching deadlines.  We determined that with his current grades and SAT, Will has a 5.38% chance of getting into Cal Tech, a 50.94% chance of getting into Georgia Tech,  and a 95.16% chance of getting into Virginia Tech.  So really, there is a good chance he can find a school to attend that works well for him.  We identified our three greatest concerns: Essay writing and editing, finding merit-based scholarships to apply to, and determining the calendar of application deadlines.  

What about Alex?  We broke out his passport and SSN card and took him over to his new job to complete his onboarding paperwork.  On the way, we listened to NPR (learning that Weird Al made a move about himself starring the actor who played Harry Potter) and stopped off at one of the rare automatic car washes in our area to try and get the encrusted pollen removed from the car.  The work paperwork part was successful, but we felt a bit silly after the car wash when a torrential downpour commenced.

Continuing the Tradition of Forced Art Appreciation

Sunday after church, we hopped on the metro to go downtown.  You see, I still have lots of metro dollars left over from before the pandemic when I rode the metro daily to work.  We went to the Hirshorn Gallery, which has a Kusama exhibit.  We saw one of her giant pumpkins but weren't able to take photographs in that section.  However, we did get to take pictures in two different infinity rooms.  The infinity rooms are both rectangular rooms that you can physically enter.  This is a picture of the outside of the first infinity room.  

Outside the Infinity Room

The guy standing outside is responsible for crowd control.  He lets you in for 45 seconds, then kicks you out.  I shall call him, The Infinity Room Bouncer.  So the Infinity Room Bouncer tells you the time rules, the photography rules, checks to see if you are in a group together, and then lets you in.  

To this crazy place:

Which Way to Look for Photograph?

Yes, That Way.  But What About Will?

There We Are, In a Row

Alex Wondering What Those Things Are

Alex and Will are Wondering about Their Infinite Doppelgangers

So it turns out that the red-dot-covered things are soft, phallic sculptures, and the room itself is called "Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field."  Apparently, the artist experienced some trauma as a child.  Her mother would ask her to go spy on her philandering father.  This influenced her art.  The other aspect of Kusama's experience and expression of her art is that she experiences hallucinations which she then translates into art.  She has been experiencing these since about age 10 and finds it therapeutic to create art of infinite dots to cope.  She has lived in a mental institution since the 1970s and walks to her studio each day to create art.

Another of her infinity rooms is called "My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe."  Like a never-ending nightclub, the dots are glowing here.

A little difficult to photograph; we had to get really close to one of the lights to be illuminated.

This Time We Didn't Lose Will

Food Truck?

After our dot adventure, we departed from the Hirshorn and contemplated shwarma.  We walked up to the first food truck that had shwarma on the menu, but Alex was unsure that they would be able to produce a plate of rice, fries, and meat without other ingredients like tomatoes and onions.  We walked by two more shwarma food trucks.  The offerings were more of a gyro sort of sandwich containing other ingredients.  He suggested that we try a restaurant.  Of course, there are few restaurants on the mall, so we found the nearest "shwarma" on google maps and started off on an adventure to find the restaurant called Zaytinya by José Andrés.  Of course, we didn't think it completely through.  Obviously, if a restaurant name has "by Fancy-Chef-Name" after it, it's going to be different than "Shwarma Guys."  Alex was wanting Shwarma Guys or Lebanese Taverna.  We arrived to the fancy Mediterranean restaurant, and indeed there was no plate of rice, fries, and meat.  In fact, they had zero fries at all.  

The pita was lovely.

And look, the water glass even had lots of dots, just like our museum visit.  Throughout the whole experience, Alex kept saying, "This was not what I expected."  But hey, we had a new experience at a new place.  And we all ate delicious, unexpected food.

Where in the world are the Kroboths? Back in the USA

After 2-and-a-half years of living in France, we are back!  Unfortunately, we are not in the lovely Southern California weather, but instead, in the swampy, bug-filled humidity of Washington, DC.

Wait, that doesn't sound great.  Let's start again!

We have returned to the amazing city of Washington, DC.  The city I have loved since I first visited at the age of 17.  The place where Dan and I met.  A historic location with many opportunities for a 10-year-old and 12-year-old to learn new things, or just hang out contemplating why there are more of Degas "Little Dancers" here than in the Musee D'Orsay.

That's better.  Now, where were we?

We are back!  Currently, we are in temporary housing because our new house exists, but our personal items have not arrived from California or France yet.  So, while our new place does have appliances, including a wine fridge, we don't have beds yet.  Yes, rental houses in the United States come with things like appliances.  Including, but not limited to: a stove, refrigerator, washing machine, and clothes dryer.  The house also comes with amazing amenities such as kitchen cabinets.  And, most importantly, instead of bare bulbs hanging down from wires, actual lighting fixtures.

Is that a refrigerator and a stove?

Rather than lounge around by the pool at our temporary housing, we are jumping right in and getting things done in DC.  The plan for our first week of defeating jet lag is to pick up the keys to our house, host a birthday party for Dan's sister in the empty house, then spend the week taking Will to AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Machine Learning Camp.  Alex and I will be hanging out, joining the summer reading club, and searching for a job.  I need to catch up on my reading, and Alex should really start earning money.  :)  No wait, I'm the one looking for a job.

Here's (most) of the stuff we had to move from our temporary housing to our new rental house.  It includes the kids' scooters which will be helpful for us to get around our new neighborhood, especially without a car.  If you recall, we sold the Pilot and passed along the Leaf lease when we left California.  We sold our Golf before leaving France.

The boys didn't want me to post an obvious picture of them in DC.  You know, one with the Washington monument or Capital Building.  They picked this building to pose in front of:

Will & Alex Hang Out at The Cannon House Office Building Like Normal Pre-Teens

If Alex ever gets elected to the House, I am printing this photo really big and bringing it to his swearing-in ceremony.  

It's a crazy adjustment, but we hope to have great adventures here in our new home of Washington, DC.

Visiting The Cousins

During the brief break between the end of school and the beginning of summer camp, we took a trip to go on some adventures in Virginia and Washington, DC.  Originally we were going to attend Tim's college graduation in North Carolina and let our boys hang out with their three cousins at their Grandparents house.  However, we missed the good airplane ticket price window, so opted to make a trip to visit Caleb, Josh, and Andrew at their house.  

Of course, we attempted to take a picture of the five boys together.

That's not right!

Somebody is missing...

Goofballs!

The best of the bunch!

 

The first day, we let the boys play at their cousins' house.  This worked out reasonably well.  Will even stayed to hang out while Alex went with me back to the hotel to take a nap until dinner time. After dinner with their cousins (I use dinner in the loosest terms since my boys wouldn't eat at properly defined "mealtimes"), we headed over to meet up with Joanne and swim in her pool.  The boys were cool about hanging out with a girl, Joanne's daughter Cara, but I think they were using her for her pool. 

The second day, all of the boys went swimming in the hotel pool, then we went to Chik-Fil-A for lunch.  After that, my boys were exhausted.  They couldn't quite come to grips with the time zone change, so we hung out at the hotel that afternoon.  As Dan seems to have shifted away from TiVo obsession and replaced it with AppleProducts obsession, he had the AppleTV setup in the hotel room.  We used this to pick a show off streaming NetFlix.  The boys picked Mario.  It seems that NetFlix has made available "The Super Mario Brothers Super Show!" from 1989.  Combining live action Mario and Luigi with cartoon versions, it is fascinating to watch for the 4-year old and 6-year old who want a break from being in a different timezone.  With rapping plumbers and references to 1980s technology, how can you go wrong?


Day three it was time to do something in DC.  We drove to the metro, then took the train to the National Zoo.  Will and Alex were sick of each other at this point, having spent most of the prior 72 hours together non-stop.  They insisted on not being separated, opting instead to bump into each other, then complain loudly about it.  We met up with their cousins at the zoo, had some lunch, then went to visit the small mammals.  

Will explains to the meerkat what he should be doing

Meerkat complies

Near the end of the small mammals, Alex insisted on having to use the restroom, so he and I set off on our own, leaving Will once again with his cousins.  


We weren't able to re-connect with them due to the poor cell phone coverage at the zoo, most likely.  So we texted them that we would be in the Reptile House and decided to try to call again later.  Amazingly, this was the best thing for Alex.  He calmed down and loved visiting the reptiles, playing "locate the reptile" in each of the displays.  Some of them were obvious, some camouflaged.  Then, at the end, TURTLES!  Alex had been hoping for turtles.  

Alex with turtle

He took some pictures (some turned out pretty good):

But we did end up with a couple of escaping, turtle tail pictures .  They are fast little buggers!

To get back from the zoo, we got a ride from Angela, or as I explained to the boys, Angela #2.  They got a bit confused between Angela #2 and Aunt Angela (who I explained was Angela #3), but fortunately, they didn't get me confused as I typically go by the title of Mom.  We went to Starbucks with Angela, then back to the hotel to hang out for Happy Hour and snacks in the atrium.  We finished off the day with tasty Indian Food before Angela #2 headed back to Philadelphia.  It was awesome that she came by!

Sunday was Father's Day

Sunday morning we headed over to The Smithsonian Air and Space Annex, the Udvar-Hazy Center.  

 The last time we visited, we saw the Shuttle Enterprise.  This time, they had swapped it out with the Shuttle Discovery.  Discovery was the one that put Hubble up in orbit, Will was interested to find out.

Shuttle Enterprise in 2008 (very clean-looking)

Another picture from the last visit (that's Will on Dan)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shuttle Discovery on Sunday

Sunday afternoon we went for another swim, or at least Alex and Dan did.  Will and I hung out poolside.  

Alex the Turtle

Then, it was back to the cousins' house for one more avoidance of dinner, and back to the airport for the return flight home.  


It seems that I am now an expert at flying with kids.  The biggest challenge is getting them to not inadvertently kick the seat in front of them since they are getting so tall.  I attribute my success to their addiction to games on their iPods as well as their use of activity books and cool games such as Perplexus and this Maze Game (very quiet while Perplexus has a little noise related to the ball rolling around inside).  Originally they had the Perplexus Rookie game, but it got broken during this trip, so we upgraded to Perplexus Original which they are enjoying quite a bit.  We had purchased Perplexus Rookie for their cousin, Josh's, birthday which he enjoyed.  However, it seems that the cousins needed even more of a challenge, so they upgraded to Perplexus Epic.  Perplexus is a self-contained 3 dimensional maze inside a plastic ball.  

Good when you are stuck for an hour on the runway after you land

We survived our trip, even had a bit of fun, and met our primary goal of seeing the kids' cousins and going swimming. 


Another trip?  None are planned for this year, but we hope that people may come visit us here.  The weather is nice all of the time.  You know you want to visit!  See you in our guest room soon.