Welcome the 21st century!
Back before Allie and Maddie were born, we spent several New Year’s Eves with the Harders at which Larry and I would fantasize (quite seriously, at the time) about where to celebrate New Year’s for the new millennium. As I recall, our conclusion was that the coolest place would be Sydney, Australia or possibly Hong Kong to get a leg up on the rest of the world. As it turned out, we spent the Y2K New Year’s in Baltimore and Ellicott City, respectively. C’est la vie. As a substitute, Barb and I opted to take Allie for a full-blown week at Disney World in February, below.
I wish I could explain what was going on with Allie’s mouth in the photos below. Perhaps she’d just had a New Year’s cupcake or chocolate ice cream cone. She doesn’t seem any worse for wear. These shots in our kitchen are the best evidence that we spent the New Year’s at home. And a fine time was had by all, I’m sure…even though it wasn’t Sydney.
It seems silly now, but many people were genuinely afraid that major parts of our technological world would shut down at the stroke of midnight. People were scared that computer systems the world over, particularly older ones that ran electrical and banking networks, would not be able to handle the year 2000 date change. An entire sub-industry developed in the late 1990’s and billions were spent to get prepared (including at Hekimian), but there was still concern that when the clock ticked over, something would fall through the cracks. It turned out we were fine, though I remember we had withdrawn a fair amount of cash ahead of time, just in case.
Later in January we had a substantial snowstorm that led to construction of one of our most successful snowmen.
A couple of shots of us recovering from the snow?
Barb and I took in some culture, seeing a production of Guys and Dolls starring Maurice Hines at Arena Stage in DC on January 29. It was always a bit of an effort to get ourselves together to see a show in DC but I wish we did a little more of it. Arena Stage remains one of the premiere local theaters in the country and Leila used to usher there, so it wasn’t really all that difficult to get there. Still, I can recall only a few other shows we saw there or at DC’s other playhouses.
Barb and Allie took some time to go meet Joel and Helaine’s baby, Mattea.
In February, we took Allie to Disney World for the first time. See this separate post about our big week-long vacation.
We traveled down to Florida to see Grandma and Grandpop in February or March, probably just after the Disney trip. In early April, Grandmom sent a note to Allie along with some photos from the trip.
Back in Maryland, Allie had a play date with the Harders at their house in Baltimore.
Allie visited the Baltimore Zoo with a buddy from Love of Learning who shall go nameless, for the time being.
Miss Hannah offered to take Allie skating with her kids at the Columbia ice rink. This may have been Allie’s first time skating. I had a bad personal history with skating (see New Jersey) and never though of taking Allie…I didn’t even know Columbia had an ice rink. I don’t think Allie liked it a whole lot better, though she was a fan of the snack bar at the rink.
After the previous year’s Easter Bunny incident, we made sure to overcompensate with a big Easter celebration. We had multiple baskets, including one from the Bunny that appeared Easter morning. There were lots of Easter goodies and someone was much happier about it all. Not Jesus though, presumably.
The Easter celebration continued with Sara and Kristen, and no doubt Betsy and Joe as well, though they are not in any photos. I suspect a ham or roast beef was consumed.
Betsy sent along her own photos from this day, along with some springtime shots of our house. Thanks Bets!
We had an additional Easter egg hunt somewhere and more or less at the same time took a couple of nice pictures of Allie getting ready for school and spring showers.
Two more cute pictures from around this time. I’m not sure exactly of the occasions.
These pictures with Aunt Leona and Cousin Kate were in our 1998 box but I’m thinking they were actually from a later visit to Arizona, maybe around this time in spring 2000. I think these photos are from Leona and Larry’s house in Prescott; I know we visited there at least once, maybe twice. I know Barb (and Allie?) came out to Arizona, piggybacking on some of our sales meetings in Phoenix, of which there were several though I don’t have specific dates. I don’t have any other context for this trip or timing, but Allie looks about the right size…though her hair doesn’t look quite right so maybe it was some other time. Another memorable visit with Barb’s family.
Our tradition continued of getting Grandma a picture of Allie with our weeping cherry in bloom.
In April, Allie participated in a Hop-a-Thon at Love of Learning, padding her resume at an early age.
In May or so, Nancy and Tony arranged a field trip to Chicago. It was supposed to have been just the two of them and the three of us. I think it was Nancy’s idea that she and Tony would be in one room and the Duncans in another. Don Kosin got wind of the trip and shoehorned his way in (or maybe Tony arranged for him to come). I wasn’t thrilled to spend a weekend with Don, but he’s a hard person to say “no” to. Ultimately, we ended up with a guys room and a girls room.
We stayed at the House of Blues Hotel (now the Sax Chicago) in downtown Chicago. The hotel was actually pretty good and the sleeping arrangements were not unbearable…I think Don was on the floor. We ate some good meals in various places but the only one I really remember was the Billy Goat Tavern, the original “Cheeburger, cheeburger” place that inspired the Saturday Night Live skit.
We took a boat tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.We had a good, touristy time and learned a little bit about Chicago sights and history.
A highlight for me was seeing a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I think the highlight for the girls were the hot dogs. I guess the White Sox were out of town otherwise Don would have forced us to see them, too.
We visited two of colleagues who were then living in Chicago, Brian Annulis and family (no photos) and Lorie Mayorga with her boyfriend, Ken. We made a stop at Lorie’s place where Ken entertained Allie with some music or maybe a DVD.
Lorie followed up with a nice note and some photos of her own of this visit.
Stephanie and Bernard had a big birthday party for Kristin. It seems to have included several stages, beginning with an archaeology activity at their house. There was also an outing at Barnum and Bailey’s circus and what looks like the B&O Railroad museum in Baltimore. Maybe these weren’t all the same event, but they ended up in the same bunch of photos.
Dan and David went out west for a vacation in May and wrote this postcard from the Grand Canyon. It would take us a a few more years to get out there.
Time for Allie’s spring dance recital. I think this was her first full year of Ballet with Cindee Velle. We have video of the event, fortunately, otherwise I couldn’t have remembered the dance or music this year. Still, it was a big deal for us and the first of many to come. Barb particularly remembers getting crap from the ballet ladies for Allie having bangs when her hair was supposed to be pulled back…but I see lots of bangs on the other girls. Ballet ladies can be very tough.
Allie video, June 1, 2000 (2:33)
Allie’s full dance, our view from the audience. A star is born.
(Apologies for a few choppy seconds in the middle)
In June, Nancy rented a beach house in Corolla, North Carolina. We joined her along with another friend and her daughter, both of whose names are lost to us now. Nancy was there for a full week; I can’t remember if we were there for the whole week or not. The house was a couple of blocks off the beach which meant lugging armfuls of stuff back and forth. It wasn’t too bad, but we learned we liked to be closer to the beach when possible.
There was a corner in the back of our Paddington house that was particularly cumbersome to mow, so we turned it into a flower garden. Barb had visions of a seasonal rainbow of flowers. Year after year, we planted tulips and all sorts of annuals and perennials. In actuality, what didn’t get eaten by deer and rabbits was often overrun with weeds. Nevertheless, in various years we had some blooms that were quite nice. Here is a series of shots with our Maryland state flower, Black-eyed Susans.
I’m not sure of the occasion, but Sara and Kristen came up and we spent some time at the Harder’s house with Maddie and Phil. Maybe it was Maddie’s birthday but there’s no evidence of a party, just a few photos of what looks like “Our Gang” hanging out on the front step. This was not frequently a gang that hung out together but they looked like best buddies here.
I’m not sure of this occasion either, but at some point Allie went riding on another horse. She seems to have gone riding more often than I remembered. There are no other photos of this event to put it in context but it looks a little more comfortable on the horse.
Barb and Allie attended a Barbie Tea Party at the Four Seasons (in Baltimore?) benefiting Children’s Hospital.
Allie and Kristin went to a gymnastics class/event together though I don’t remember this specific one. I remember Allie going to a gymnastics class for a little while, but I don’t recall Kristin being there. In general, gymnastics were ok but dancing was more fun for Allie and less of a worry for us.
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