Raising the Scientists

The boys were, as you can tell from all these blog posts, out of school this week. Thursday, their Montessori school teachers Mamy and Maurice took them to The Maryland Science Center for a chance to experiment and learn. I received excellent photos throughout the day of their various activities.

They ended the day by watching Born Free.

Presidents' Day! McMurrers' Visit! Oh, My!

The weekend began for real on Saturday mid afternoon when Lucy and Bridget arrived from Massachusetts. 

Immediately, Cassius showed Lucy our most recent book of family photos. 

The boys were super excited (I was happy, too!), and they quickly dragged Bridget into the process of making gummy dinosaurs with Cassius's kit he received this summer. Success and candy were achieved! Thanks, Bridget! 

The next day, we hosted Grandpa and Grandma Sue for Grandpa's birthday dinner! We made a delicious lasagna (Maceo ate three slices!), brussel sprouts, salad, and a yummy birthday cake (Cassius was so suspicious of it that he wouldn't taste it).

Cassius and Maceo are quite interested in chess lately,
so of course here they are playing checkers.

Happy birthday!!!

Monday, no school for anyone. So, we hosted a gaggle on young men at the house and boy oh boy, were they boys. First, they played football and baseball out in the backyard. Then, we went for a hike on the grounds of the Divinity School across the street. There, we found a deer carcass which was pretty cool. 

It's honestly hard to tell we are in the city over here!

From there, we climbed trees, as young boys are wont to do.

This is Parker being saucy.

Monkeys on a branch.

And finally, we whacked things with sticks. Let those among without sin cast the first stick.

Various layers of whackers.

The next day, the boys' school was closed, so I dropped them off with Mamy, Maurice, Lucy, and Bridget and left them to their adventures. And boy, howdy, did they have adventures! I received updates throughout the day--they took the Metro, they went to the Natural History Museum, they played on the Mall, they ate snacks, and they played at Mamy's. 

Various monuments of Washington

The biggest termites you've ever seen at the Insect section of the Natural History Museum.

LOOK WHO KNOWS TO STAND TO THE RIGHT! SO PROUD!

Cassius spent some time looking up family members' names in the dictionary.

By the time I got there, the boys were rather tired, a little hungry, and very happy. And that's how you popsico.

Car Show!

Maceo and Cassius went to the car show with their grandfather, and I had them bring along their cameras to take pictures of the vehicles they liked. Maceo took a whole boatload of pictures, some of which are publishable!

Below is the slideshow of his ouevre!

Play Ball!

We are still attending baseball clinics in the neighborhood, sometimes with our friends Parker and Carter, and sometimes not. This past weekend, we went just the three of us, and it was great! We walked over in the lovely spring-like weather, and once there, the boys just went and got a ball and started playing catch. And they can actually play catch! Their throws are accurate enough, and they can catch, too. It was fun to watch.

The future All-Stars warm up

The coaches soon broke them into different groups, and Cassius came over to sit with me. "Can I play on your phone?" he asked. "Nope," I said. After about 5 seconds, Cassius got up and ran to join the drills.

First up was fielding drills. Cassius was really good at charging the ball and scooping it up and rifling a throw to the coach.

Maceo was really good at hitting. In fact, at least one of his shots was so powerful that it cleared the netting he was hitting into, and he crowed, "Home run!!!"

The funniest part of the practice was the kids running suicides to end the practice. They are still learning how drills work, how to participate and pay attention, and how to be athletes in general. But they are learning!

Family Festivities

The boys have gotten lots of family time the last week. First, they had a day off from school for the Chinese New Year, so Grandpa and Grandma Sue took them to the Washington, DC auto show. While I sent them off with their own cameras to take pictures of their favorite cars, the only photos I saw were these:

Concentrate! CONCENTRATE!!

Cassius told me he was a better driver than Grandpa because
he only crashed a few times, and Grandpa crashed a lot more.

Then, on the weekend, we had a sad occasion--my Aunt Mary succumbed to pancreatic cancer, and so nearly the entire Hanrahan clan came into town. The boys and I practiced who is who and who is related to whom, but there were so many people, it was hard for the boys to keep track.

The cousins who made it.

The Hanrahan siblings.

My cousing Allen was supposed to stay with us, but his wife called after being in a car accident (all were fine), and so he rushed on home and didn't get a chance to hang out.

He was going to sleep in Cassius's bed, so I wanted you to see how Cassius had prepared his room for a visitor.

Perhaps the quilt is too big for the mattress?

Aunt Mary was an expert on early childhood development, so I thought it highly appropriate to bring lots of toys for the boys to play with. Once they were tired of that, they went outside to play with their cousin Claire in the sand on the dock next to the river. They played together for hours and then came in to share a hot chocolate. Back at Aunt Mary's house later, they continued to play very well together. At one point, I looked out the window to the playground behind the house. Claire and Cassius were sitting together intently with their heads together. Claire's mom Carrie told me when she came in that they were building fairy houses together.

This weekend, we continued to celebrate the Year of the Rat. The boys and I went to National Theater to see a free concert. Then, we stopped for some pastries as we walked over to the Museum of American Art where there were celebrations of Chinese culture. 

I told the boys they should use their Chinese skills to ingratiate themselves with the other Mandarin speakers and get some free stuff, but they were getting free stuff anyway.

A free lantern, a free block print, some clay, and a snack!

Watching acrobats and dancers

We also ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant, and both boys spoke Mandarin and got themselves a coke. Cassius brought his own lunch (of course), but this time, he was the first to speak with the waiter while Maceo had to eat some dumplings and work his way back into a good mood. In the end, Maceo asked super formally and politely for a coke, loved his dumplings, and really liked the ramen I got, so I think the whole trip was a success!

WARRIORS! Mount up!

Maceo and Cassius, as you must know by now, love football. Maceo is signed up for flag football this spring, and Cassius, while he loves playing football, has thus far refused to join a team.

But in other sports news, I recently found out about a local sports organization, the Woodridge Warriors (we used to live in the neighborhood of Woodridge), which has lots of different teams in lots of different sports, was offering baseball workouts for free this winter. So, we went to the first one. I wasn't sure how the boys would take to it, so I conspired with a friend to include her kids, too. Her 6 year old Carter, like Cassius, can be less than enthusiastic about taking part, so we both hoped peer pressure would do the magic we know it can. Surprisingly, Maceo, Cassius, and Parker went right in to the drills and were enthusiastic without a shred of shyness. Yay, peer pressure. But Carter moped and sulked and didn't join in. Sad.

Warmups with Coach Gil.

After brief warm ups, the kids were separated by age, and since Carter wasn't taking part, I was worried because Cassius was not with Parker and Maceo. But he did great! He stayed in line and took the drills seriously and had fun!

Cassius learning about the "Ready" position with the other 5 and 6 year olds.

Maceo and Parker getting coached on how to field a grounder.

Yes, I am the parent who takes pictures when his darlings do their activities. And yes, I am the dad who watches Maceo make a throw and then shouts to him to keep his elbow up. But I only did that two times, and I was very nice!

Coach told Maceo, and Maceo breathlessly recounted to me,
that he swings "like a 15 year old." Ooooo, Maceo was proud.

After practice, all the boys came to my house for lunch and play. You know what they played? Baseball. Now, Maceo is interested in playing on a baseball team, too. And he still really likes soccer. He's becoming an expensive child, but we all know it will pay off in the millions when he goes pro.

A neighborhood gang forms as we walked Parker and Carter back to their house. We were
flashing gang signs and smoking cigarettes and doing graffiti all the way.

Christmas Day

The boys arrived at my house at about 10:30 Christmas Day and immediately went to their stockings. Inside them were Mad Libs (a big hit with Cassius), chocolates, ornaments, Chinese soup spoons, and other things. Now, Cassius kind of knows the difference between adverbs and adjectives! He fell asleep last night with a pen doing a Mad Lib by himself in bed. (That's how he got pen marks on his shoulder and neck, in case you saw him out and about recently and were wondering.)

Soon, Grandpa and Grandma Sue came over to open presents and have the traditional Loewen Christmas breakfast of eggs with bacon, stollen, and sausage. Before we ate, we opened presents. Maceo received a great present from Grandpa--traveling to several different burger places to taste test burgers (Maceo's favorite food)! Cassius is less of a foodie, but he got a food taste test present, too--he and Grandpa get to go to various restaurants to taste test hash browns and they would end at Dunkin' Donuts to have hash browns and a donut. (That present happened on the 27th, and the consensus was McDonald's had the best hash browns and that chocolate dipped French crullers are the best donut.) The boys made chocolate chip cookies for Grandpa and got Grandma Sue a fancy bottle of wine from our neighborhood French restaurant--the owner has his own wine label.

EXCITED FOR MOAR HASH BROWNS ROAR!

The boys, as astute readers of the blog know, enjoy the NFL. They each received several appropriate gifts from me--t-shirts and socks and pjs-- , and our lovely neighbors the Bigelows gave them hats and gloves from the Ravens, one of their preferred teams.

Action shot of football fans.

More Ravens gear!

The neighbors on the other side of us, the Pughs, gave the boys a tabletop fooseball set which has been a blessing (because the boys really like fooseball) and a curse (because they fight over the rules and if it was a goal or not). 

Cassius's big present was a fluke. Perhaps you remember that Cassius won an overnight with a Tesla? 

Well, he received a card from Santa explaining the whole situation and you can see the realization of such an incredible gift grow on his face in this GIF I made:
                                                                                                                                                               

via GIPHY

Breakfast was very good, and we even got to FaceTime with my cousin Giovanna, her daughter Winnie and my Aunt Mary off in Romania for a brief but lovely call. Maceo devoured the eggs and bacon, and a suspicious Cassius learned he likes Weihnachtsstollen.

In the evening, Mom and Maurice came over for dinner and presents. Their favorite gift? A huge box for Cassius that contained his winter coat he'd left over there one afternoon by accident. He was a very good sport about it, too. He's really developing some good humor when he isn't having a tantrum. For example, Grandpa often calls a grandchild "XXX P. McGillicuddy", placing whichever grandchild he is speaking to in the name. One night recently when Grandpa was over for dinner, Cassius walked through the room announcing, "I have to go to the bathroom." He stopped and raised a finger. "That's why they call me P. McGillicuddy!" he said importantly and walked on to the bathroom.

In any case, the boys had wonderful gifts from Mom and Maurice, too, and we ate a yummy dinner of lasagna I made in the Instant Pot. It didn't look as good as an oven baked one, but Maceo had three helpings and finished the rest the next lunch. And we had the Hanrahan traditional dessert: a bûche de Noël. Cassius liked that one, too.

BUCHE DE NOEL ALERT

Photo taken by Cassius.

On Friday, we went down to get the Tesla, and holy smokes, did they miss out on an opportunity for a great ad campaign (one which I think ideally finishes with them giving me a free car). Look at this photogenic little monkey and imagine the voice over that would tear at your heartstrings!

Checking in to the showroom.

The proud new "owner."

This chauffeur is hoping my clients leave the car spotless.

We took the car and went to get Dad and Susan to see the Christmas lights at a nearby state park where one drives along for about 30 minutes slowly watching scenes and animals and Christmas themed displays from the windows of a brand new Tesla. 

In the morning, we drove the car back to the dealer, and then we wandered on to the newly opened Natural History Museum to see the brand-new dinosaur fossils. They were impressive and it had been so long since we'd been there that Cassius had forgotten it. At 11:30, we left because we had Maceo's Christmas present from Santa--tickets to a Hoyas basketball game, a cheeseburger, and a soda! 

Pre-game, pre-lunch, low energy.

The King sits on his throne.

BURGER AND SODA!!!

On the metro ride home, they collaborated coloring
in the NFL book the Bigelows gave them. Very cute.

It was the first big time basketball game Maceo had been to, and he was not looking forward to it. I was disappointed about that, but once there, he had an outstanding time--he even caught a t shirt fired into the crowd! (Actually, an usher caught it and looked for someone to throw it to--I motioned at Maceo and he threw it over.) 

It's been a busy few days lately, and I am looking forward to some return to normal in the next few days so I can get a rest!