Adventuring in DC :: Nationals game vs. Chicago Cubs

Rupert's work sponsors an outing to a Nationals game every year, and even though Maya and I aren't huge fans of the Nats or baseball in general, we're making it a family tradition to go. (Rupert and Ian go to a couple of other games per year.) It was an afternoon game with summer-like temps and humidity, but it was pretty beautiful ... and a good excuse to get milkshakes and shaved ice!

Two of my favorite things about Nats games are Shake Shack and watching the Racing Presidents. Today, instead of racing, they danced for Paula Abdul! (Honest Abe won.)

 

Unfortunately, the Nats lost to the Cubs but we got to spend a few hours of quality time together as a family.

[I'm so happy to get an occasional photo with my son that I'll overlook my double-chin!]

Adventuring in DC :: May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture with Brian Selznick @ Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library

Adventuring in DC :: A Conversation with the Children's Literature Ambassadors @ the Library of Congress

Adventuring in DC :: Independent Bookstore Day @ Politics and Prose

Adventuring in DC :: JICC and Georgetown

It's Rupert's birthday today so I ventured into downtown (DC) to have lunch with him. And, as long as I was trekking into town, I made a pitstop at the Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC) near Farragut North to see their mini-exhibit, "Japanese Versatile Cloths: Furoshiki and Tenugui."

[books wrapped in furoshiki (風呂敷)]

[a karuta (かるた) pattern furoshiki]

Then I walked the mile or so to Georgetown to meet up with Rupert. Along the way, I took a quick photo of the stream to the Potomac by the Swedish Embassy and the House of Sweden.

[You can see the Red Ball on display at the House of Sweden. I also like that I got the plane taking off from National Airport in the shot.]

Then it was off to lunch at Miss Saigon Restaurant to celebrate the start of Rupert's last year in his 30s.

Rupert suggested I stop by Fantom Comics in Dupont Circle on my way home, and I debated whether I should because I'm trying not to buy more comics, but I'm actually really glad I checked out the store. They have a decent sized all-ages section, it's clean and organized, and, what really stuck out to me is how female-friendly the store is. While I was shopping, there were just as many female customers as male, and I liked that the staff was young, female, and diverse.

Japan Information and Culture Center

1150 18th Street, NW, Suite 100

Washington, DC 20036

Embassy of Sweden and House of Sweden

2900 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20007

Miss Saigon Restaurant

3057 M Street, NW

Washington, DC 20007

Fantom Comics

2010 P Street, NW, 2nd Floor

Washington, DC 20036

Adventuring in DC :: JCAW New Year's Festival

Maya and I headed out today to celebrate the Japanese New Year a bit late at the JCAW New Year's Festival (新春祭り), held at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park near the Zoo.

I learned about the event from friends in the Washington-Tokyo Women's Club and I thought it would be a great way to introduce Maya to some Japanese New Year traditions.

[kites are a traditional gift given at the New Year, and tako-age (凧揚げ), kite-flying, is common]

[lunch: inari sushi (稲荷寿司) and takoyaki (たこ焼き)]

[playing a traditional New Year game similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey: fukuwarai (福笑い)]

[trying her hand at Japanese calligraphy; she wrote the word dog in Japanese, inu (犬)]

Adventuring in DC :: U Street Corridor

[Ben's Chili Bowl, African American Civil War Memorial, Busboys and Poets Teaching for Change bookstore]

Adventuring in DC :: Rock Creek Park Nature Center

Adventuring in DC :: Ippakutei (一白亭) Tea House at the Japanese Embassy

[一期一会 (Ichi-go Ichi-e)]

[strolling along Embassy Row (Massachusetts Avenue, NW)]

Virtual Guestbook :: Mama Buddy from Our LA Days

My friend J and her family were in DC to take part in the White House Easter Egg Roll, so I got to spend an afternoon with them as they toured some of the monuments. 

We became friends through a mutual friend when we all had wee little ones (my second, their first), and she and I bonded over our love of children's literature (she's a former teacher and now an Elementary Education professor specializing in literacy). Coincidentally, her husband and I briefly worked at the same non-profit and he was ahead of me in the Urban Planning program at UCLA. 

Anyway, she's another friend I don't get to see very often. After they moved away from LA, she and I met a couple of times at an education conference she and my husband were attending (and I was tagging along to), but I missed seeing her this spring when the conference was in Philly. So I was really thrilled she made another trek to the East Coast. Besides catching up with our kids' lives I absolutely love "talking shop" with her because she doesn't mind me going on on and on about children's literature. And I learn so much from her because she comes to the topic from an academic perspective and she is more well-read than I am.

Virtual Guestbook :: College buddy

[The Capitol Columns in the background at the National Arboretum]

Virtual Guestbook :: Big Sis

[With my big sister at the National Building Museum for the Cherry Blossom Festival Family Days]

Day 16 :: Thankful for ...

... former colleagues who are visiting DC and invited me to join them on a night tour of the monuments.

Day 5 :: Thankful for ...

... friends. My high school friend S was in DC for work so we made plans to hang out. She works for a movie studio and travels around the country coordinating and setting up screenings. This was actually her first time in DC so I gave her a very brief tour of the Mall between lunch and heading back to Georgetown for the evening's screenings (which I got to attend).