Decorating for the Holidays

All of the inside Christmas decorations are down now and put away until next Christmas. But we are all set now in the house for two important upcoming holidays in February - Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day. It helps make the transition from all the Christmas decorations not quite so hard. Davis loves his special China tree and ornaments too!

Boys' Bedroom with Lantern and origami 

First Basketball Games of the Season

Davis and Wesley had their first Upwards games of the season on Thursday night. Davis plays half court at 6pm - he's #5 on the gray team in these pictures. They don't keep score right now for his age group. He did well and scored a couple of points. 

Wesley plays full court basketball at 7pm. He's #32 in the gray. They had a very high scoring game - both teams over 50 points. Unfortunately Wesley's team lost but by only four points - 55-51. He had several scores, including a 3 pointer and also some free throws. Everyone is off to a great start!

Our Budding Artist

Davis loves, loves, loves to draw. When he was at Shands this week for his annual craniofacial clinic appointment, they gave him crayons and he was drawing  on the exam room table paper. A bear.

This week he also gifted Baba with a portrait! 

Basketball Practice and Homework

The boys now have basketball practice on Tuesdays from 6-7 (Davis) and 7-8 (Wesley). This was Davis trying to get his homework done during Wesley's practice! And Wesley playing around with his friend Cullen and sinking a three.

Bella's Vacation

Our lovely puppy always has fun on vacations. She goes to stay with one of our church members who is a dog trainer and dog sits in her home. This is Bella snuggled up with her good buddy Chesney. 

Our Last Day in DC

Our last day in DC was January 1st. We checked out of our apartment and loaded up the car. And then we spent time really wandering around our neighborhood. We were right in the middle of so many embassies. Right next door to us was the chancery (home) of the Ambassador to Mali. The Mali Embassy was across the street. There was also a marker on the chancery proclaiming it to be the home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1920s when he was the Assistant Secretary to the Navy.  

Two blocks away is the start of the Sheridan-Kalaroma neighborhood. They've turned the old emergency boxes on the sidewalks into these shrines that tell the history of the neighborhood. And right behind this was the famous Spanish steps.

Getting off at the Cleveland Park metro stop we walked a little way over Rock Creek and past this awesome apartment building, the Kennedy Warren. 

And then we arrived at the National Zoo! The boys were excited to check it all out. This was one of Parker's favorite stops when he was there four years ago.

This is some kind of bird eating spider. Just gross. 

When we back to Dupont one last time on the Metro, grabbed our car and said goodbye to 2123 R Street (3rd house in from the corner).

We drove north to the Adams Morgan neighborhood to check out a place called Busboys and Poets named for Langston Hughes. I came to a poetry slam here years ago. The place was so alive - there were at least five different languages being spoken around us, including ASL. It's another great bookstore with a restaurant and also a stage for events.

Then we drove to our final stop. One last monument on the Mall that we wanted the boys to see during the daytime so that they could really experience it - The Vietnam Memorial. We walked into the Mall by Constitution Gardens and then proceeded to the memorial. This was bittersweet for us because Daryl's dad did two tours in Vietnam.

We headed south after that, driving six and half hours and stopping for the night in South Carolina. What a whirlwind experience, but such a good time!