cupcakes for change!

at times, being at the inaugural felt like we were navigating a souk of obama-gear, from the white house to the capitol building to the lincoln monument. a ginormous obama swapmeet, if you will. reportedly, over 550 licensed vendors were showing their goods, all manner of tacky t-shirts, hats, backpacks, baby onesies, pins, pens, mousepads, bags, totes, magnets, postcards, calendars, you name it they had it. on second thought, i shoulda grabbed that pink 'michelle first lady' apron when i had the chance!!

top photo: dylan models an obama hat  with dad at bull run battlefield in manassass, va.  

but here's our favorite: cupcakes! dylan grabbed his at the newseum cafe, the first museum dedicated to the history of print and broadcast news, a fascinating, engaging place in d.c. it was definitely a highlight of the trip.

yes we were there! inaugural photos with barack!

we just returned from a whirlwind baltimore to arlington to d.c. inaugural trip to see the 44th president sworn into office. here a few photos from our trip. lo and behold, we had our photo moment with barack, though we'd have to admit that he just didn't have that 'star quality' that we've heard about. he looks a bit flat in these photos, no? judge for yourself.

the night before the inauguration, we took a stroll around the national mall and saw the parade floats, up close. this is barack's hawaiian float. you can see dylan asleep in his stroller, he was so tired, but check out his little feet! i'm not sure what the big blob is on top of the float--kilauea, about to erupt, i imagine. all constructed with cans of spam, probably. 

who's the cardboard cutout in the photo (bottom)? john looks a bit like a cnn hologram in this farewell-to-inaugural-festivities photo, taken the day after the big event at john's cousin glenn's house (l to r). glenn, dylan, me, barack, lori, cheryl and john pose for our unofficial inaugural portrait. unfortunately, john has decided not to deed his sweater to the smithsonian for its inaugural exhibit. too bad. 

we also want to send a big 'thank you' to glenn, lori and the kids in arlington for giving us shelter, and for shuttling us to and fro around d.c. (though we'll have to hit the chili bowl on our next trip!). they were the best hosts, and we couldn't have done our inaugural trek without their help and hospitality! these pilgrims are grateful! 

happy new year! a song from dylan

dylan's been practicing with john's ukulele. this baby is self-taught! watch the video:

here's to the year of the ox!