The Usual Susspects » Darah

Darah’s First Horse

Mike — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:38:01 +0000

This past weekend Patty and I took the kids (and Olivia) to an Earth Day Fair at the Dairy Barn. No, not the Dairy Barn drive-through convenience stores on Long Island. The Dairy Barn is part of the Anne Springs Greenway in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

Maegan and Olivia took off hiking down a long trail (after participating in a 5K earlier that morning). Patty and I took Darah around the fair. Darah climbed to the top of an old silo and waved down at Patty. Patty sat with her on a full-size tractor. And there were lots of farm animals all around, which Darah loved.

But Darah’s biggest thrill was getting to ride a horse for the first time. She rode a twenty-something year old horse named Cotton. Maegan and Olivia were familiar with him because they often go down to Anne Springs to visit the horses. She really enjoyed her short, slow ride but when she was done she was a little disappointed because she didn’t actually get to pet the horse – because I told her to hold on to the saddle.

Here’s video:

Ballerina II

Mike — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:46:20 +0000

I was just sent this photo of Darah in dance lessons.

This reminded me of when Maegan took dance lessons. Here’s a photo from a 2005 blog post, which would make Darah the same age as Maegan was at the time:

Florida 2012

Mike — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 03:15:52 +0000

Last week I got to take the kids to Florida, but Patty couldn’t make it due to her nursing school. We did a lot of swimming, some mini-golf, went to the Palm Beach Zoo, and went to the beach. Here are photos from the trip.

Darah Sings to Her Dandelion

Mike — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:37:32 +0000

This is some video I shot during the summer of Darah singing to her dandelion.

Darah’s Surgery

Mike — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:04:44 +0000

Darah had her third ear surgery today. She first had a myringotomy (putting tubes in the ears) back in 2008. Unfortunately the procedure left a hole in her right ear drum, resulting in hearing loss. So in 2010 she had a myringoplasty surgery to repair the hole in her ear and hopefully fully restore her hearing. But unfortunately that procedure failed. So today she had a second myringoplasty (third ear surgery overall) – and a more invasive type of it. Hopefully this time will finally fix her ear.

Funny story: Darah was very upset yesterday that she was going to have to go to the doctor. She said over and over again, “Mommy I don’t want to go to the doctor and get a boo boo.” After a while Patty told her that she would get her some ice cream after the surgery. Suddenly Darah said, “I want to go to the doctor and get a boo boo now.”

Family Visits DC – Part 2

Mike — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 02:49:19 +0000

This weekend we did some special things with Patty, Maegan, and Darah. On Saturday we all went to the Washington Monument (Amy and Steve too). We’ve all been there before but I got tickets months ago to go inside and up to the top for the first time.

The weather was absolutely perfect and you could see for miles and miles in every direction. From over 500 feet up we could look down on the White House, Capitol Hill (with FedEx Field in Maryland in the background), the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial (with Reagan airport in the background), and tons more. I took a bunch of shots on the north side and stitched them together to make this giant panorama.

On the elevator ride back down, the glass doors changed from opaque to translucent and we were able to see the inside of the monument. We had no idea, but the inside is filled with 192 engraved commemorative stones. All of these stones were completely different like a haphazardly mismatched collage. They were donated from different cities, states, territories, and foreign nations. Many were just local lodges and even individuals. And there are even a few stones that they don’t have any idea of where they came from or why.

Then on Sunday we all went for a private tour of the west wing of the White House. Amy’s good friend was able to take us on a private tour. I’ve been on a private tour of the White House before in 1987 during a family reunion, thanks to my cousin who was a U.S. Representative from the state of Washington at the time. This time I had a full understanding of everything around me and could really appreciate where I was.

We were just outside the Oval Office but the door was closed because Obama was inside (possibly working on the debt ceiling). Then a few minutes later Obama walked out of the Oval Office (outside) and past the windows of the adjacent Cabinet Room. Unfortunately at that moment we were all looking at the Roosevelt Room across the hall so most of us had our backs turned and we just missed him. This photo was taken the same day so this was perhaps the very moment that he walked by the window.

After Obama left the Oval Office the door was opened so we got to see it. (We didn’t get to walk in.) I couldn’t see it from my angle but it was pretty cool to know that the actual Emancipation Proclamation was just inches away, hanging next to the door on the inside.

On our way out we were appreciating a Norman Rockwell painting, “The Problem We All Live With“, hanging in the hallway. Little did we know that the little girl in the painting, Ruby Bridges Hall, was standing right there in that spot just two days earlier.

Family Visits DC – Part 1

Mike — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:35:25 +0000

My family drove up to visit me for the first time since I began working in Washington DC back in March. It’s taken so long because they needed a time when Patty was between semesters at nursing school and Maegan was not in school or camp either. Patty had her final exam on Monday and they all drove up on Wednesday. Knowing that the last hour of the trip would the most confusing part, I took the Metro from work down to the southernmost station to meet up with them before they hit the Capital Beltway. They picked me up in Franconia, VA and I drove the rest of the way, around the city and up to Silver Spring, MD.

I went to work on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday Patty, Maegan, and Darah took the Metro into the city with me and continued past my stop to go to the National Zoo. (Sorry, Idon’t have any of the photos taken at the zoo.) Thursday night we all went to Rockville Town Center, and Friday night we went to Downtown Silver Spring. Each place was really nice with live music.

Bigger activities are planned for the weekend.

Darah’s New First Day

Mike — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:16:18 +0000

Yesterday was Darah’s first day at her new child care. She loved it! She met her new teacher and all the new kids and she had a blast.

When I dropped her off the kids were just on their way out for their first outside play session and Darah just jumped right in running and playing with all her new friends. We picked her up “early” but it was much later than she was used to. At her previous child care we picked her up at 1:00pm and she never slept there, so this was her first time taking a nap with other kids at school. She did absolutely fine with the different schedule. When we picked her up in the afternoon she happened to be playing on the playground again.

P.S. It was kind of odd that many of the other kids came up and gave us hugs while we were talking to her teacher about Darah’s first day. A lovey bunch of kids.

Darah’s Last Day

Mike — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:24:39 +0000

Yesterday was Darah’s last day at her child care. She’s been going to the preschool program at Central Steele Creek Presbyterian Church since last summer. It’s a great. program and Darah loved it. It was a Tuesday through Thursday program from 9am to 1pm. That worked out great until now but with me moving to Washington, DC and Patty still going to nursing school, we needed a full-time Monday through Friday child care. We found a new place which Darah already loves (she’s easy to please) and she’ll begin there on Monday.

Darah absolutely adored her teachers, Miss Susan and Miss Joyce so I took this picture when I picked her up yesterday. (Darah’s lips are green because it was St. Patrick’s Day and they celebrated with green-icing cupcakes.)

Multitasking

Mike — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:06:54 +0000

Hey, whatever works.