September 27, 2009

R is for ... READING!

We took a chance and ventured out of the suburbs to attend the National Book Festival on the Mall. It was packed with people, and made worse by the rain.

The morning started out well. Roscoe went down for his nap on cue and slept for almost two hours. When he woke, we packed up and headed out. On the way we stopped to grab lunch before crossing our fingers and merging onto I95. Luckily, traffic was mild and we zipped into the city.

Our first hurdle was parking. Roscoe and I abandoned the car and headed into the crowd while Andy scoured the area. On our way to the children's tent we saw Paula Deen signing her new children's cookbook! We arrived at the tent just in time to catch the tail end of a story read aloud about baseball and Jackie Robinson, and then we watched the illustrator do a caricature of three kids chosen from the audience.

Roscoe was a hit all on his own. As we weaved through the crowd, strangers stopped us to ask about his Pork Chop Kids, his "ginger" hair, and his big eyes. Roscoe was taking it all in, and seemed quite content for more than an hour. We watched little kids get their pictures taken with Arthur the Aardvark, and then he ate a little snack. When Andy joined us we headed to a different tent where we got to see the Very Hungry Caterpillar!

It began to rain, which we had not prepared for, and the tents were becoming increasingly crowded as visitors tried to escape the downpour, so we headed to the American Museum of Natural History. Roscoe enjoyed the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life best, and we caught him laughing at what we think was the big whale hanging from the ceiling. We grabbed a snack in the atrium cafe and then headed back to the festival to peruse books for sale before walking back to our car. Of course, south bound traffic was horrendous and Roscoe was exhausted which made for a difficult ride home.

My accomplishment of the day was getting over my fear of nursing in public. Out of necessity we nursed in the pouring rain squatting under a tree, on a grassy knoll, even standing in the middle of the mall. Public nursing isn't something I've quite got the hang of, but the anonymity served me well.

Despite the weather and traffic it was really fun to get out together as a family.

Pit stop for lunch

Roscoe's first trip to the National Mall
VHC! The worm was rubbing the back of my head :)

In from the rain

In the museum gift shop


Headed back to the car (Roscoe's in the sling under his hoodie)

2 comments:

  1. Awww he's so adorable!!! I miss him! He's growing really fast!!!!!

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  2. You're the cutest family! Love Roscoe's smile! Even his little sad face is adorable. I can't believe he didn't like the hardhat.

    ReplyDelete

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