Out and about in November...

 This is totally unintentionally becoming a once-a-month update.  I need to get back on the regular blogging wagon for sure! Until that happens, once a month will have to do :)

For a good part of November we were all here there and everywhere. During the weekend before the election we made a Sunday afternoon trip to the zoo. Where numerous selfies and not-selfies were taken with metal animals... and a few actual animals were viewed as well.  Perhaps the best viewing of the trip were the otters, which we watched for a good 15 minutes trot from one place to another and "talk" to each other, something I don't think I ever knew before that they did.

The week of the election the girls were in Tucson with Patrick, so I went out with a few friends, one of whom lives a short walk from this view.....

Just days after everyone came back from AZ, I was on a plane to FL for the week for a conference.  The conference was a great break from DC and a nice opportunity to get to see my WRRC colleagues again (although most of them I still talk to almost weekly). At one of the evening receptions they had a person doing free caricatures so my friend Ashley and I braved the pen....

The next weekend Patrick was back off to Tucson for a few days, so we took him to the airport and then spent the day in Baltimore. A month or so ago back we had promised Genevieve that we would "one day" take her to the Ripley's Believe it or Not at the harbor. Being the elephant she is, she reminded me of this and requested that we (or rather I) make good on our promise. It was about what you would expect... probably not worth the close to $60 investment... and parts of it just downright terrified poor Izzy.  The kaleidoscope room was, however, a hit with everyone.

It was quite beautiful outside, about 60 degrees, so we figured a little ice-skating would be a good post-Ripley's experience. The rink was a bit melty, but the girls and I had a great time and went around and around for over an hour. Izzy fell quite a bit, but I was very impressed with her bravery and attitude; every time she fell she just got right back up again.

Then came Thanksgiving and the post-Thanksgiving days of sloth :) To prep for the large intake of food Vivian and Patrick ran in the Kensington Turkey Chase, a 10k tradition that they have been running (off and on) since they were kids. Then mashed potatoes and cucumber salad in hand we hopped on the metro and had Thanksgiving at Mimi's house this year.

 To relax from a busy pre-Thanksgiving few weeks Vivian and I took Genevieve out for the first time to get her nails done. I think she (mostly) enjoyed it.

What we all definitely enjoyed was getting "mood" nail polish that changes colors when you are hot or cold!! Then that night we went out for indian food with Vivian and the nephews and then they introduced us to one of their favorite Rockville places... Duck Donuts, where you assemble your own doughnut and can load it up with all sorts of interesting things (including bacon!)

The collection of personalized donuts.  Sprinkles were the common theme... fortunately bacon did not enter into the picture.