Big News in Washington...

I know I'm late on the blog entry this time around, so this one is going to be massive!!! Lots of good stuff going on, so let's start from the top with our long awaited trip to the Nation's Capitol, Washington D.C.

I have a buddy who lives in Washington in a perfect location for visiting the City. He's about a block away from a Metro station and that station will take you just about everywhere you want to go when you're in town. You can see Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon, the White House, and just about anything you want to see on the National Mall. So we drove up to D.C. after making a pretty aggressive itinerary to tour the city. For Antoinette and I, it was our first time in Washington, so there was so much to see.

Our first stop in Washington on Day 1 was the Holocaust Museum. Wow. Talk about an eye opening experience. From the moment you take the elevator to the top floor and the door's open, the entire museum is basically silent. The walls are filled with historical items from uniforms to writing desks to propaganda, TV monitors running propaganda videos, flags from that particular era, etc. As you make your way through the museum, you are surrounded by images and actual items from that period. Walk through box car trains that carried people to their death, see discarded shoes and luggage from those who thought they were being relocated, etc. The museum is well worth the wait because it can change your life forever. Billy slept through the bulk of this museum until we made it out to the memorial flame at the end of the exhibits, which was probably a good thing. We expected that museum to touch a nerve, so we scheduled it early and timed it up around Billy's nap.

The next stop on Day 1 was a trip to the Washington Monument as we crossed the Mall. Of course we took what seemed like hundreds of pictures of the Monument from all over Washington, so you'll see plenty as we run through the pictures. The temps while we were in Washington were in the mid 90's with a constant heat index approaching 100 degrees just about every day. With Antoinette being pregnant with #2 and all of the walking we had planned, we stopped frequently. Our first stop was on the lawn in front of the Monument. With little concern for fire ants, off came Billy's shoes and we let him run around in the grass all over the place. Took some great pics of him with the Monument in the background.

Once we were ready to move on, we loaded up and were off in the direction of the Museum of American History for a couple hours taking in everything from trains and planes to the Ruby Slippers worn by Judy Garland in the Wizard Oz. Billy even got to sneak a peak at the original Kermit the Frog and for us older folks, we had a chance to see the massive American Flag that inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. Due to its fragile state, no flash photography was allowed for that part though. At this point, Antoinette had enough when came to the walking part as lunchtime was approaching, Billy was fussing, and Paul and I were just wrapping up the last section of the Museum. From there, we were off to the International Trade Building and their very expansive eatery for a bit to eat. It was also time to take a well needed rest before we took off and made our way about 3/4 of a mile to the west side of the National Mall.

For both of us, this next part of the trip was likely to be one of the most memorable. We began our trek to the far western end of the Mall by making our way to the Washington Monument and then heading down the middle of the Mall. Before long, we arrived at the World War II Monument, which is basically a massive fountain complex that you can take your shoes off and dip them in the water while you rest for the next lengthy section of walking. Even though the WWII Monument was not on our primary list, it was pretty impressive and wound up being one of the more interesting parts of our trip. Before long though, we had to be on our way as something special was waiting for us at the other end.

On we walked along the Reflecting Pool edge until we made it to the Lincoln Memorial. But it wasn't time to visit the Memorial quite yet. First, we had to make a stop at the top of the little hill just to the north in order to see the Vietnam Memorial. This famous wall stretches hundreds of feet and has the names of the soldiers who died during that war etched into it. We took dozens of pictures here and many are fantastic photos of Billy standing at the wall and looking at the names written there. After spending about 30-40 minutes at the wall, we had to double back to the Lincoln Memorial for the highlight of our evening.

We arrived at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where we took dozens more pictures of everything from the front steps to the view from the top looking out over the reflecting pool with the Capitol and the Washington Monument in the background. Once inside, we took the elevator to the top and took quite a few photos of the massive statue of the seated Abraham Lincoln. When we were ready and we were as close to a Washington sunset as we could get, Antoinette and I walked to the very edge of the Memorial and took a seat. We put Billy in our laps and handed the camera to our friend. Then we pulled out the envelope given to us by our doctor before we left and prepared to find out once and for all the gender of the baby we are about to have in November. Antoinette opened up the envelope and we found out we are having a...

...BOY!!!!!!!!!! That's right. Antoinette and I are having another baby boy this Fall. A baby brother for Billy. We were absolutely elated and immediately the discussion about names began. That's going to be quite a process. We had narrowed a list of girl names down to about 10, but boy names we were not prepared for. Even when we arrived home from Washington and went for a walk with a list of 500 popular boys names, we were hard pressed to pick three that we liked the sound of. So Baby #2 will be a boy, but his name is yet to be determined. "It" has become a "he" and "him". And the moment has been captured on camera forever in a place that Antoinette and I will never forget.

Having saved the best for last on Day 1, we spent the rest of the day heading back to Paul's apartment making phone calls and sending text messages along the way. We sent as many as we could before we had to get on the train and then we figured the rest could find out with this blog posting. Off to bed as Day 2 would have an early start.

To start Day 2, we took Billy on a morning tour of the Capitol Building. Due to restrictions at the White House regarding strollers and baby bottles, we felt the Capitol Building was a little more conducive for babies. The tour was outstanding. Once inside, the Capitol Dome Rotunda was immense. The tour led us into some of the older chambers of the building including a quick peak into the old US Supreme Court chambers in the building, and several other quality photo op locations. We let Billy run around in there once we were away from the tour and were able to take some great pictures of him on the lawn and in front of the Capitol.

After lunch, we were back on Capitol Hill for a stop at the US Supreme Court. The Court was closed that day, but we were able to wander about the outside of the building with minimal interruption. This was another great opportunity for Billy to run around on the steps of the Supreme Court, check out the fountains, the massive pillars, and even the massive wooden door that leads into the building. Billy also needed a diaper change at the courthouse, so a nice shady area next to one of the fountains proved to be an ideal location for a quick swap of Huggies. Now, how many babies can grow up to say they had a full diaper changed on the steps of the US Supreme Court? Seriously.

The next two stops were quick ones. We were able to visit the Library of Congress, which is absolutely amazing inside, but the areas you are allowed in and that you can see up close and personal are limited. So without staying long, we ducked over to the Museum of Natural History. Absolutely the worst stop on the entire trip. This Museum was so packed and claustrophobic with hordes of people that it seemed like the entire place was shoulder to shoulder everywhere you turned. We wandered through a couple of the exhibits, but eventually the massive crowds and the long day of walking got to us and we decided to head upstairs to see the Hope Diamond and then get the hell out of there. We all agreed that we'd rather be outside in the stifling heat than inside and crammed together with all of those people.

With some extra time to kill, we tried to get over to the National Archives to see if we could take that off the list, but when we arrived, the lines were spilling out the door and halfway down the block. So instead, we took a few pics of the outside of the building (cameras are not allowed inside anyway), and then decided to get back to Paul's apartment, stopping for dinner along the way, and then just watch a movie until we all passed out. As was the case with the end of Day 1, we had to get to bed early on Day 2 due to a very busy Day 3 that was scheduled.

Day 3 had some early morning adjustments and pretty much started out where Day 2 left off, which was standing at the front doors of the National Archives waiting for it to open. What a difference a day made, as we were basically one of the first ten people in line. Once in and through some crazy security screening, we were able to enter the main rotunda and get our shot to take a peak at the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States. There were several other documents on display, but these three were the home runs of the Archives.

After the National Archives, we wrapped up our tour of the National Mall with a visit to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. Probably my favorite of all of the museums on the Mall. This museum was Billy's favorite also. We walked through countless exhibits with all sorts of planes from the Wright Flyer to the cockpit of a 747. There were Apollo Moon Landers and ICBMs capable of carrying nuclear warheads that were the size of a six or seven story building. Planes hung from the ceiling from every period of flight up to and including the new military UAV's, a host of simulators to ride in, and a room full of high definition photos of nearly every planet in the solar system. By far the most interesting and the most entertaining of all of the museums. Billy also learned a new word here. "Airplane", which sits comfortably behind "Dada" and "Mama" as his third favorite word to date, was a fixture in the Air and Space. And while waiting to get a chance to walk through Skylab, Billy's photo was taken by no less than twelve teenage girls who intended on putting his pictures on MySpace and Facebook pages. That's my boy!!! Making friends early and all he was doing was waiving and practicing the word "hi" over and over and over and over again.

After leaving the museum, we jumped on a Metro over to the White House and dodged a few raindrops from a heavy downpour that forced us under a small building on the White House grounds. Once it let up, we were able to make our way around the White House with pictures of the family garden and the front gates and fountains. Unfortunately, those pictures were taken in between additional heavy downpours, so there are pretty thick rainclouds over the White House for nearly every one of those pictures.

The second half of Day 3 took us on a Metro ride out to Arlington National Cemetery where we had an opportunity to walk through the seemingly endless well manicured grounds that are the final resting place of some of the greatest heroes our country has ever seen. We took a walk up to the JFK Eternal Flame and topped the entire visit off with a chance to see the Changing of the Guard, which was absolutely fascinating. The marble monument behind was incredible. Basically a giant arena made out of white stone with what appears to be a single throne situated right at the front facing the crowd.

The final stop of our visit was the rooftop of Paul's apartment where the views from the 17th floor of the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Pentagon were breathtaking at night. Luckily we had a great night to enjoy it all and pack our stuff up for a morning departure. During the trip to Washington, we took nearly 500 photos with our new camera, so hopefully the images will turn our better with our 14 megapixel camera vs. the 4 megapixels in the last camera. Since this trip, we've probably taken another hundred or so, which means I have about 600 pictures to get on here. I'll probably break them up into groups of 300 or 350, so you won't see all of the Washington pics this week. You'll get a bunch more in the next blog update in a month, that should also have Father's Day pics and 4th of July pics.

On Father's Day, we had a chance to take Billy to the zoo. As he gets bigger, each visit to the zoo seems to have him more and more engaged than the previous visit. He had a chance to see the stingrays swim in an interactive tank and to once again get within a couple feet of a giant giraffe head. Then we walked down to the gorilla enclosure where they have gigantic panel windows separating you from the silverback. Billy was able to walk right up to the giant ape and touch the glass. Unfortunately, some rather "rural" fella showed up with his wife and began banging on his chest like Tarzan. You could tell the gorilla was getting irritated as it glared at him out of the corner of its eye. Then in one quick move, it slammed its fist off of the plexiglass partition and took off running into the enclosed area. Scared the hell out of all of us, since we were about two feet away when he did it. Before we left the area, this interesting fella was at the other end of the enclosure Tarzanning it up over there. The gorilla gradually made his way over, slowly narrowing the gap between him and the guy, and then in one quick flurry, he raised his fists and ran on two legs the last 10-15 feet and slammed both fists right at the spot where that guy's face was and then took off into the enclosure again. Crazy to see just how fast and explosive a 400-500 lbs gorilla can be. Especially when you can just see that he's basically made out of solid muscle, but Billy loved it.

The 4th of July holiday weekend meant our buddy Paul was going to return the favor and come visit us for a couple days. We spent the first day at the pool and then Antoinette and I took Paul and Billy down to an oceanfront restaurant where we had a chance to get over the beach. Saturday was another trip to the beach during the day, and the beach we went to was pretty secluded. That meant we were able to just let Billy walk around and pick up seashells (never more than about 20 feet from us). We also spent the day building sand castles with the little guy so he could smash them and occasionally sit on them. Saturday night had us running up to a local fort on one of the islands down here where we they have a candlelight walk through. If you like history, this is right up your alley. People in era appropriate attire are spread throughout this fort that is lit up only with candlelight. You wander around in there and they talk to you about what life was like there over 150 years ago. Billy had a chance to touch some cannons and wander around in some pretty old barracks.

On Sunday, we marched down to St. Augustine and spent the day wandering around the Castillo de San Marco, a nearly 300 year old completely intact fort right on the bay, followed by some quality walking up and down the St. George street, bouncing in and out of some of the local shops. Later that evening, we were back at the fort to set up our blanket right at the base of this stone monument, which is made out of a compact seashell material known as coquina stone. From there, the fireworks are lit off right over the bay from a barge about 300 yards out in front of you. It is quite an amazing show and for little Billy, it was his first ever, since at about 2 months old, he was too little last year to go see fireworks. When they went off, we weren't really sure how he was going to handle them, but he just leaned back against my chest and stared at them mesmerized while I covered his ears occasionally for the really loud ones (you sit pretty close to the action and the concussions are enough to allow you to feel them deep in your chest).

On Monday morning, Paul's last day in town, we were back up at the pool for a late morning swim. This was the first time I had a chance to take Billy into the pool myself this year and he loved it. We were practicing swimming (basically holding him out while he kicks his feet) and before we left, we even got an arm to paddle at the water. One thing is certain about this kid. He sure loves the water. Something we're going to have to keep an eye on now that he's mobile. He even took a little jump off the ledge of the pool into his Mother's waiting arms. That's impressive to me since he's only 14 months old right now. Daddy's little fearless tough guy.

Since we're going a little long with this blog update, I'm going to run through some of the latest changes we've seen in Billy since the last blog update. I'll probably get into a bit more detail with them in the next blog entry. Billy is physically getting stronger and it's quite noticeable. He's starting to climb on things, beginning to run, and even giving jumping a try. His language skills are still developing, but so far the one word he has down pat is "Dada". Of course he knows "Mama", "Airplane", "Baba", "Hi", "Bye Bye", and several others that seem like only his Mother and I can make out. His understanding of body parts is also improving. He can point to his nose, eyes, ears, tongue, teeth, hair, belly, feet, toes, and belly button. He is beginning to learn how to dress himself. He tries to put his shoes on and take them off when we get home. He tries to put his hat one, puts his legs in his pajamas and shorts, and puts his arms in all of his shirts once you pull them over his head. We're still not sure if he's right handed or left handed, because he is still using both equally the same. He throws things with both hands and started drawing with crayons, also using both hands for that, too. There are improved dancing skills and he has now incorporated some sort of running in place into his dance routine when you play any song with any sort of a catchy beat. And lastly for Billy, his comprehension is continuing to increase weekly. He brushes his own hair (and yours), his own teeth (when you wet the brush and hand it to him), and uses a spoon when you give him a scoopful of anything. He even used the potty for the first time this past month, although he didn't like it and was not very pleased about the situation. We have yet been able to get him to duplicate that one. His ability to understand you shows that his vocabulary in terms of words and phrases he understands is probably about 50-75 words. Everything from going out to getting shoes, getting in his high chair to putting his bottle on the table, letting the dog out of his kennel to picking things up and relocating them where he's told to, all just by being told are all examples of ways in which you can tell that he's picking up what you're saying.

As for Antoinette and #2, who is yet to have a name other than being able to call him "he" and "him" instead of "it" and "baby", there are tons of updates. The last ultrasound we went to since we came back from Washington went great. The doctor said that he's growing like a weed in there. Heart beat and all tests are perfect. Baby is definitely a boy after the second set of confirmation images on the ultrasound. The little guy's soft cartilage is beginning to turn into bone and his umbilical cord is now thicker and stronger. He can move his joints and his sweat glands have begun to develop. The increased muscle tissue in the arms and legs are allowing him to flex them repeatedly and his boy parts are readily apparent (as used to determine his gender on the ultrasound). The hairs on his scalp are sprouting and sensory development is in overdrive. The brain is partitioning off areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. He can also hear his Momma's voice now, too. He's beginning to swallow more, as practice for the development of his digestive system, and that more well developed system has begun producing meconium. Antoinette feels the little guy kicking on a regular basis and I can clearly feel him through her belly now, too. His eyebrows and eyelids are present, and his lips are becoming more distinct. His tiny little tooth buds have begun to develop in the gums and his eyes have formed, even though the irises still lack pigment. His body is covered in fine hair called lanugo and his skin is mostly wrinkled. His pancreas is beginning to kick in the production of important hormones. At this point, the baby is nearly a foot long and weighs in at just over a pound, and Antoinette has zoomed past the halfway point in this pregnancy.

We'll cover a bunch more of this in detail on the next entry, so for now, just enjoy the pictures coming shortly.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kDWyr7O1pM