Ranger Dan: 1.1 Lincoln Home National Historic Site

Date of Visit: May 29, 2016 

Lincoln Home National Historic Site Sign

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Penguin Dominoes

This afternoon I heard noise on the upper deck and thought it was the lounge chairs getting pushed around by the wind. Instead I found most of my penguin army had fallen over. The noise seems to have been the trash can being blown over and rolling around on the deck until it hit the row of penguins.

I meant to do something about that trash can the last time it was rolling around. I didn't have anything to secure it before, but at least for now I'm using penguins to weight it down.

Ally Fell Through the Hole

This morning I woke up to two texts from Mik saying Ally was stuck and then Ally fell through the hole. Only took him a day to have something fall through. Guess we better finish his room project before something more major falls through the hole.

Our Life's Too Kaotic

Today Mom asked if I still posted on Our Kaotic Life. My response was "No, our life's too chaotic. I don't have time." Mom replied, "Sounds like you should have plenty of material then."

Some of Our Kaotic Life Events

• Snowzilla

• Carrie Underwood Concert

• Cleaning and Repacking 400+ Insulators

• Moving

• Boat Life

• My First ER Visit & My First Broken Bone (pinkie finger)

• My First Surgery & My First IV (required ultrasound)

• Mik New Room Remodel 

• Endless Rain

Happy Kaotic Mother's Day! In case I forget, you can pick up your Mother's Day card off the printer.

2015 Year in Review

 January

Several days of snow and geese hanging out by the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria. Mik and Orchids exhibit at National Museum of Natural History and statue at National Museum of the American Indian.

February

Mik and I visited the National Building Museum to check out their current exhibits at the time, which included the building model exhibit called "HOT TO COLD: Around the World in 800 Feet."

Dad and I went to Mount Vernon on President's Day when the George Washington Birthday Parade in Alexandria was cancelled due to cold weather (Potomac was even frozen)

[Top Left] Mom and I checked out Capitol Hill Books to find some 1940s books for my collection. [Top Right] For Valentine's Day, I took Mik to the Newseum for his first time and he was impressed by the Berlin Wall pieces. [Bottom Left] Mik loves to nap on the Metro. [Bottom Right] I enjoyed see Rosanne Cash at the Fox in Tucson.

March

I took Mom to see the Oak Ridge Boys at The Birchmere, which has become our favorite concert venue because it's small and it's dinner and a show style.

[Top Left] We got our first Amazon Echo. Mik now also has one in his room. I love it for playing music, but the reason we both love them is that now makes controlling the Hue lights much easier, which we started putting in other places besides just Mik's room. [Top Right] Grumpy statue on our porch covered with snow. [Bottom Left] Dad took us on a private tour of the Capitol for the first time after he started working in Visitor Center. I laid on the ground to get this photo. [Bottom Right] Mom and I saw Angela Lansbury in The Blithe Spirit at National Theatre.

April

 

Mom, Dad, and I visited National Harbor on Easter mainly to check out the Peeps, but also because I had been wanting to ride the Capitol Wheel.

Mik and I saw Opening Day this year at National's Park and enjoyed trying out the new grilled cheese concession stand.

During Grandpa and Jeannie's visit, we went to the National Cherry Blossom Parade, National Cherry Blossom Festival, and the Udvar-Hazy Center.

We experienced some of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's death events. Mik and I saw Lincoln's carriage at the National Museum of American History and the reenactment of Lincoln's last ride. Dad and I saw the beginning and end of the Lincoln Tribute event at Ford's Theater, which reenacted Lincoln getting shot and the updates throughout the night until the announcement of Lincoln's death in the morning.

May

Dad, Mik, and I spent a few days in Shenandoah National Park and also went to the Natural Bridge, Washington, and Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.

Mik and I went to Disneyland in May, since we were doing the D23 Expo this year and got Premier Passes and there's now a Hyatt Place close enough to walk from where we can use Mom's Hyatt points. Ended up also being there for the start of the 60th Anniversary celebration and did the 24-hour event from 6am, although we only lasted until about 2pm, but that's longer than Mik ever lasts in the parks even when we start at 8am.

June

I spent most of June at the cottage in Michigan.

Mik turned 21 and got to celebrate three times. First was with Dad, who took him out to dinner on his birthday. Mom took him out for lunch a few days later when she got back in town. Then when I got home from the cottage I made him a pina colada mug cake.

July

[Top Left] Dad and I watched the Capitol Fourth rehearsals, which included Alabama. [Top Right] Mom, Mik, and I watched the D.C. fireworks from the boat, where Mom and Dad now live. [Bottom Left] Mik got his own Amazon Echo. [Bottom Right] Dad and I went to the Star Wars Day game at Nationals Park.

August

Mik and I went to the D23 Expo. This time we managed to get Sorcerer tickets, which made a huge difference. The past two Expos we mainly did everything in a day and never tried to even do the presentations. This time we spent most of the entire four days there and did went to quite a few presentations. Mik's favorite parts were seeing George Lucas and Johnny Depp at the Disney Legend's ceremony and the Disney Interactive presentation. My favorite part was seeing Richard Sherman perform a song during the Disney Legend's ceremony.

September

 

Mom, Mik, and I spent Labor Day weekend in Illinois and Mom and I happened upon Norway, Illinois.

Mom and I went to the Brad Paisley concert at Jiffy Lube Live. I didn't like the venue, so we didn't actually stay to see him perform. However, we really did enjoy the radio fest before the concert that included Rainey Qualley and saw Mickey Guyton perform, who was the person I really went to the concert to see.

October

For my birthday, Mik, Mom, and I went to Nashville. We saw the Opry at the Ryman as well as the Grand Ole Opry House, where we also saw the Oak Ridge Boys for the Opry's 90th Birthday Bash Concert. Mik only went with the the Ryman show, but he loved Nashville for the food, Goo Goo Clusters, and the car museum.

I spent a week in Paris with my godmother. We climbed to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, which I have been wanting to do for years after only going to the first floor back in 1999. I also finally got to Disneyland Paris.

In Paris, I also found the same spot to take a photo as the only photo I could find of me from my first Paris trip in 1999.

Mik and I fit in one more Disneyland trip while we had Premier Passes this year since we had DVC points left for the year and wouldn't be able to do Disneyland again until at least next D23 Expo. Plus, Mickey's Halloween Party is way better at Disneyland than the Magic Kingdom, although Disneyland Paris does have the best Halloween decorations.

November

We took a day trip to see the last of the fall colors on Skyline Drive.

Dad and I put up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving.

December

Dad and I decorated the boat for Christmas.

 

We went on a 4-day Bahamian Disney Cruise on the Disney Dream, so we've now been on all the Disney cruise ships.

Mik was hesitant to go see the National Tree after the state trees being all the same looking last year, but I convinced him to give it another try. He really enjoyed it now that it was back to the traditional style of having ornaments made by people from each state/territory.

How many CSAs does it take to do a two man lift?

Two times in a row we ended up post boarded connecting through DFW. The first time it made sense as our flight was late and they were boarding by the time we got to gate. This time connection was a little close for preboarding, but we still got there 15 minutes before boarding. They immediately called for CSAs for an aisle chair and they wouldn't have really made the call much earlier even if we had been there. 15 minutes pass and two calls later and still no one, so they begin regular boarding to help ensure flight gets out on time. Final boarding call and probably three calls later and we've got one CSA. Finally, two more show up and by the time rest of flight gets on plane and we can do the aisle chair transfer two more show up. And we did in fact need one of those two guys because only the first of the first three knew how to do the transfer. The CSAs in general seem to be horrible at DFW, but I've got to imagine it's partly being understaffed and/or that you can get really spread out with taking people to connecting gates. However, awesome gate agents!!! Mik was getting a little nervous about missing flight, though.

Why I don't trust Mom for logistics

That seems like she really made a plan. She even went as far as to say how we were getting from airport to home when all I really meant when I said, "How am I getting home?" was "How am I getting to O'Hare for my flight?"

But here's the next part of the conversation.

Thankfully, I had an award ticket and she did get it changed for only like $20. And I had purposely planned to come home Friday so I had an extra day before needing to be home Sunday, but that was meant for in case weather messed up my scheduled flight.