If you have to vanish from your home on a Sunday afternoon for an "open house" for prospective buyers, you might as well make
your day memorable.
At least that's my opinion. :)
So, while we've spent an afternoon or two at Nana and Papa's in Arlington, we've also done some special trips to distract the Little Supervisor from the whole house sale thing.
(OK, so we're really trying to distract ME, but let's all pretend we don't know that....)
* * * * *
During our first scheduled open house, we hit the
National Zoo.
(If you think we look dressed up, well, that's because we are. We dressed for church that day--we just didn't quite MAKE it to church that day once we finished the crazy cleaning and made the mad dash to Nana and Papa's to drop off Sherwen the Cat so he didn't seize the moment to make a prison break while a would-be buyer evaluated our kitchen. No, our townhouse's kitchen does not have granite countertops, but I can promise you that you can actually prepare a meal on non-granite countertops. Your spatulas won't disintegrate like the Wicked Witch of the West when Dorothy throws water on her, honest! And you can store milk in a fridge that isn't stainless steel, too! Yes, really!!!! But I digress....)
The Little Supervisor visited her namesake.
Scooter loved watching the goats.
I found myself fascinated by this statue on the roof of a zoo building.
And here you have "The Three Little Bears"--Scooter in her teddy hat, Little Supervisor in her polar bear hat, and the bear statue they decided to climb.
* * * * *
This past Sunday--after actually making it to church for a change--we visited
Hillwood Museum and Gardens for their Family Faberge Egg Festival. I'd always been curious about Hillwood; it was the home of
Marjorie Merriweather Post, who was the heiress to the Post Cereal fortune, so I figured the house and gardens would be lovely.
And of course they were. (The Little Supervisor particularly liked Marjorie's pink bathroom. I have to admit I did too.)
But the luxuriousness of the house and grounds were matched by the friendliness of the staff, who could not have been more welcoming to the swarms of children and parents on a sunny Sunday afternoon. They answered questions, they suggested activities, and they kindly offered directions at the slightest sign of parental confusion.
We made our way to the Adirondack Building, where we embellished eggs a la Faberge, only with stickers, ribbon, and glue guns--not 14-carat gold and precious gems.
We rolled eggs on the lawn.
We admired the colorful tulips.
The Cyclist and the Little Supervisor explored the Japanese Garden.
Meanwhile, I attempted to take advantage of the fabulous backdrop of these professionally landscaped grounds to shoot a springtime portrait of Scooter that I could cherish forever as a keepsake of those oh-so-precious and fleeting moments of childhood. As you can see, I had a lot of luck with THAT. "Fleeting moment" is right--this kid only sits still if she's filling her diaper.
We explored the mansion, including the enormous kitchen, and Marjorie's posh dressing room, closets (!), and bedroom suite.
By the time we got home that evening, I was ready to borrow this little sterling silver detail from Marjorie's bedroom door for my own.
Alison M. Rice
