Dudestock 2006

Last weekend, Todd and a bunch of dear friends got together for a surprise (to Todd)

guy's weekend near Lake Anna, Virginia. Henry had secretly been planning it for months!

Todd and Dan take in the water view.

Todd is up a creek without a...wait a minute.

Lake Anna sunset as seen from a kayak.

The infamous antler chandelier.

"Nope. I don't have any two's. Go fish."

(Choz, Brad and Rob)

The whole durn crew!

Which one of these is not like the other?

If you guessed Waldo, you guessed right!

Only monosyllabicly named men were actually at the event.

The Master At Work

Look how meticulously he cuts the Play-Doh.

Y'know, it's gotta' be just the right size to properly grind into the carpet

Stand back or I'll cutcha!

INDIAN SUMMER IN DC...

Yes, it was 72 gorgeous degrees in DC last week. All the inspiration needed for me, Henry and the Orvetti boys to hit the Capitol Mall.

A photo snapped when Henry somehow sneaked onto the CLOSED Smithsonian Carousel. "Uh, ma'am. Is this your son? He shouldn't be in here," the carousel workers said.

Wonder how many more times I will hear THOSE WORDS in my life?

After the carousel officially opened, Henry had his most awe-struck, fascinated carousel ride ever. It was really sweet.

Me and my belly enjoying the leaves...

There's a great big sign at the Sculpture Garden that says, "DO NOT TOUCH ANY OF THE SCULPTURES." The thing is, Henry and Porter can't read.

Miles and Henry on a roll.

Thanks to the talented Peter Orvetti for the pix!

Pfeiffers Make Beltway Pilgrimage

My very sweet, generous in-laws paid us a swell visit last weekend. They made the 10-hour trek fom Kentucky to bring us the Pfeiffer Family Heirloom Changing Table -- a gorgeous changing table that Brett and Todd made together. No more back-breaking, hunched- over diaper changing for us when Humphrey comes, no sir!

We intend to start living the high life with this kid.

Their visit was a quick one, but a blast, here's some pix.

"Cousin Hen-a-ree, I do believe you have horns growing out of your head!" --Slone Pfeiffer

Henry teaches Slone how to sumo wrestle.

Slone picks it up in no time flat.

Vanessa and Brett enjoy Capitol Hill at dusk.

Halloween on Lamont Street 2006 (cont'd)

The throngs of friends and neighbors who came by.

That mysterious smile...

Guarding the goods...

Thanks to Jennifer Kolansky for the above pix!

Halloween on Lamont Street 2006 It's kind of hard to relay how magical our Halloween night was. Our street is the site of a huge, annual Halloween street party, and our house is the epicenter of that celebration. We had around 400 people partying in our street, and we had something like 200 trick-or-treaters. In our front yard a DJ was set up playing funny/scary music. Grills were set up in the street to toast marshmallows and make smores. Most of the houses are way decked out and everybody gets into it. This year the weather was INCREDIBLE and we saw a huge turnout. There was even a costume contest which Todd judged, (his first public office).

An unfortunate soul in our front yard.

This devilish vixen is the Godmother and mistress of ceremonies of Halloween on Lamont Street. Athena Viscusi has been throwing this bash for 15 years now. We are lucky enough to have moved into her house, and even luckier to call her our friend. She does all the heavy lifting, permit-getting, planning, organizing, and cleaning up of this beloved event. She keeps threatening to quit doing it, but we hope she'll keep reneging on that promise.

They Put the "wee" in Halloween

Here's our little gondolieri, Henry Pfeiffer as he delegates actual gondolier duties to his minions.

Papa made his cool hat.

Mama made his silly mustache.

We got about 7 houses down our street when the whole trick-or-treating expedition unraveled into hanging out and having fun at Sadie's house.

Please note the ever-adorable Orvetti brothers/choo choo boys.

Here's Abby holding Sadie, and Farrar and Peter supervising the boys.

Todd trying (in vain) to screw Henry's head on straight. Our family costumes were a theme this year, Todd was the Leaning Tower of Pizza, (he leaned more and more noticeably as the night wore on) and I was the Mona Lisa.

I picked my costume specifically when this story came to light last week. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5384822.stm

Our Boy, Noah Webster...

Here is a verbatim conversation that happened last week.

Me: (from the other room) "Henry, where are you?"

Henry: (yelling) "I'm here!"

Me: (finding him sitting in the living room thumbing through an enormous dictionary) "What are you doing?"

Henry: (looks up) "I'm reading."

And he sat there quietly thumbing through the dictionary for another 20 minutes.

He's an odd bird, that one.