Lilies in the Nation’s Capital…

It is always a little embarrassing for me, as a native Washingtonian, to learn about unique sites about which I had previously never heard.

Added to that list recently are the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.

My sister, (aka Dunam), gave me the heads up on these so she and her son joined Tonka, Paco, Nadia, and me as we explored this hidden treasure.

It was hot, so I didn’t get a chance to soak up the full story as I was there, but it seems (and you can click on the link) that back in the ‘20s, a botanist became a devotee of water lilies and started cultivating them…all within miles of the White House.

At one point, the US Army Corps o Engineers wanted to take it over, but a group of citizens successfully lobbied Congress to have it become part of the National Park System.

It’s a vast, marshy reserve that is covered with all kinds of unique flora and fauna.

The part that my kids liked was the boardwalk that took you out to the middle of the pond/lake.

With the exception of the occasional helicopter or train, all we heard were the sounds of nature.

Pretty remarkable given where we were.

The kids, initially (as usual), were skeptical, but soon grew to find many things which they really liked about the place. Tonka even was inspired to pull out her sketch book, doing a pretty good job.

As usual, the point of the exercise was to instigate and stimulate creativity…and as they build their mock-up of the pond eco-system when we got home, I felt like we had accomplished that objective.

Jim Henson and the 3 Kid Family Excursion

  In the latest of our series of Family excursions, my dad and I took the 3 kids to see the Jim Henson traveling exhibit at the Smithsonian.

The heat index that day was 102, so Paco and Tonka cooled their feet in the National Sculpture Garden pool facing the National Archives building.

Without my dad, this day would not have been possible. The NFO was at work and it was the first effort to take all three out.

The exhibition itself was smaller than expected and good. It’s hard to measure ROI, since it was so hot, we had trouble finding parking, it was the day of the DC triathlon and the kids were more excited about the carousel and getting ice cream, but it’s important to take advantage of your hometown, so I felt good about that.

May-Treanor, Walsh, and the Cycle of Feminism

Image by Getty Images via Daylife Like many, I love watching beach volleyball. Sure, the bikinis don't hurt, but as a former volleyball player in high school, I do really enjoy the game.

Watching May-Treanor and Walsh repeat as gold medalists was a great Olympic moment. Hard-fought match against worthy opponents, but I thought the real moment happened afterwards.

The NBC reporter basically asked "so, what are you going to do next?"

Neither of them said "I am going to Disneyland."

They both said, "I want to have a baby and start a family."

Call me a bit dramatic, but for me this was a watershed moment in the history of feminism.  I am far from a student of the movement, but for years, my impression was that women were expected to forgo family to focus on career and that you would never raise the personal issue of family within a career context. 

Or, as my friend Rachel remarked, 'staying home with your kids was looked down upon."

I think May-Treanor and Walsh are saying, "not anymore."

Like stuffing the ball of an opponents spike, they are saying, "we've done our career thing and now, we want to do our family thing, and that's more than ok!"

They love Volleyball and will come back to it, but for now, it's not their focus.

In other words, it is ok (at least in their mind) to step away from their careers. You can have it all, but since you can't do it all (at the same time), it makes sense to do things in more manageable chunks.

I think this is a great moment for women who wonder "can I afford to take the time off?"

From a skills perspective, it may take May/Walsh more time to get back into Volleyball shape, but from a societal perspective (and Dara Torres showed this as well) more and more people are going to say
"She took time off from her career to focus on her family!!"

Not, 'she took time off from her career to focus on her family :-( '

Congratulations to Kerry and Misti.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Dara Torres : The Embodiment of What the Olympics are Supposed to Be
• Dara Torres Says Daughter is "Awesome"
• Mommy Olympics