October 10th I boarded a plane for the American Academy of Pediatrics National Convention and Exhibition in Boston, the first AAP meeting I've ever attended with my dad, with Margaret's dad thrown in for good measure. (Let me say right here, if you want a blow-by-blow of the convention you can jump over to http://aapnce2008.blogspot.com/ and check it out, but if I haven't already sent you that link there is a chance it will bore you to tears. If you have read that blog, just skip down until you see new photos again.) The public embarrassment started in the Wilmington airport, where I stepped aside in the security line to allow a gaggle of German tourists to snap a photo of the guy pictured below. It would appear he is someone famous, possibly a television or movie star from EUE Screen Gems Studios across the street. Frankly, I didn't know. But I figured if everyone else was taking his picture...
Otherwise I made it up to my room at the Westin Copley Place to find this view:
Then, knocking on the little connecting door between rooms, whom should I find but Mom and Dad!
As the moon rose over the Charles River we prepared to go downstairs to the Section IV reception, where Dad would introduce me to all the leadership of the AAP, since he is the current president of the Tennessee chapter. Embarrassing? "Oh, you're John's son! What are you doing for the AAP there in North Carolina? Nothing? Like nothing at all? So John, what's your daughter up to these days?"
With Dr. Colleen Kraft, runner-up for President Elect of the AAP. I think she's kind of in my personal space here.
With Dr. Judith Palfrey, President-Elect of the AAP. Also in my space.
The next morning I rode a shuttle bus to the 5K Fun Run (they only call it that because "freezing" and "excruciating" don't rhyme with "run") around Boston Commons. The race course was a square we ran three times around, uphill the entire way. To prepare we did mass stretching exercises and high kicks at the behest of a perky aerobics instructor with a headset and amplifier. How did I embarrass myself? I ran in public. Behind a lot of other people. I did, however, come away with what may be the single ugliest race tee shirt of all time:
I spent the day doing the stuff you do at national meetings, recounted in unbearable detail in the other blog. The cool part was going out for dinner with my parents afterward. Below we meet one of dad's friends, Dr. Nancy Chase, at Bar Ten in the hotel:
The next day was filled with lectures, but I was embarrassed to arrive too late during the morning to get into any of the good sessions, all closed by order of the fire marshall. Instead I began exploring the exhibition floor looking for sources of free stuff that wouldn't violate my personal ethic of not dealing with drug reps (see http://www.nofreelunch.org/ for the rationale). A few impressions:
We at Ross Nutritionals agree, "Breast is best," but then again, we have a cool electronic waterfall. Formula, anyone?
I feel like living in Wilmington doesn't make me any less cosmopolitan, but I have to admit before going to Boston I had never seen one of these super-charged public bathroom hand driers. Well gawwwwwlleee! Wouldja look at that?!
As a small-time chicken farmer I was pleased to discover we have our very own lobbyist. Keep up the good work, Egg Lady!
Here I don a reflective node on my forehead and try to tap a spacebar only when the eight-pointed star shows up using a system designed to diagnose attention deficit disorder. I'd tell you how I did, but before I could finish I got distracted.
That night Francis flew in to prepare for the plenary talk he was supposed to give the next morning. We had the distinct pleasure of his company for dinner, at a place called Atlantic Fish. I'll let you guess what they serve there.
Sunday morning Francis gave his talk, starting with the photo third from the top on this blog. I should have been embarrassed I'm sure, but I was just too fascinated by seeing my own zit projected at a size of eight by ten inches in front of five thousand colleagues. From that moment on everyone asked if I was Francis's son-in-law and why I didn't have a dermatologist.
Monday night Dad smuggled me in to the Executive Committee reception atop the Prudential tower. From there we could see Boston all lit up at night and even Fenway Park, where the Red Sox were in the playoffs. The fact that technically I had no right to be snarfing crab cakes and swilling wine there did not make me too embarrassed to catch a quick photo with David Tayloe, the new President of the AAP.
Final thoughts? Those Bostonians sure do like their lobsters. Everywhere from convention center gift shop to our dinner plates it was all lobster, lobster, lobster. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Of course while I was galavanting around Boston from Friday to Tuesday Margaret was at home with three kids and no husband. They didn't galavant, but they busied themselves alright. They began by having McDonald's for dinner:
Then they tried to all sleep together downstairs on an air mattress, although this effort fell victim to snoring:
They awoke to a breakfast of toast and microwaved mini-quiche:
Then the boys perfected the trick of vaulting over a pillow onto the air mattress:
All this was a prelude to the day's big event: a music video shoot. It started when Margaret was playing Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" in the car, leading to all sorts of questions about the admittedly ragged lyrics. This led to a web search, which turned up a concert video everyone agreed was way boring. From there the distance to, "We can make a better video ourselves!" was, perhaps, way too short. Margaret finally got to use everything she learned watching MTV in high school. The project involved multiple costume changes, several locations, and a really disgusting mess. The neighbors were rapt.
Unfortunately while they were setting up the first shot Margaret got a call from her security service alerting her the motion sensor at her office had gone off. She needed to meet the Wilmington Police there immediately. So she did:
What follows is a rough cut of the video, but it will at least give you an idea of what they had in mind. When I have a really long weekend sometime I'll get it in a more polished state:
I got home Tuesday in time to dine with the family and hand out presents to everyone. I then spent one day at work before turning everything over for our upcoming weekend at Lookout Mountain where Nana Fran was to celebrate her 90th birthday. There was laundry to do, suitcases to re-pack, and bills to pay, but most important I had to take care of our transportation.
If you read the last blog you may recall I was looking to replace one of the minivans. With help from our neighbor Ian Sause we identified the perfect car, a Volvo V70-R wagon. You can read about it online, but suffice to say it's a nice, staid, safe, square Volvo wagon that just happens to be a little faster than some. Like the minivan it holds all five of us and our luggage. Like the minivan it has a six-speed manual transmission, Brembo brakes, xenon headlights, a high-pressure turbocharger, all wheel drive, and a low, agressive stance - oh, wait, right, that's not like the minivan. Not at all.
Jeff and Don look on as my new baby finally arrives from Annapolis Volvo, more than a week after it was supposed to come.
Sellers gets the point.
Friday we awoke at 4:30 and had the kids on the road by 6:00. Our new GPS computer promised us a ten-hour drive through the North Carolina mountains. The fall color was breathtaking. The twisting mountain roads brought a grin to my face and gastric contents to Abby's mouth. We arrived in Lookout Mountain about twelve hours later.
We stop briefly in Boone, NC, to add a critical detail to the new car: a bumper sticker.
The kids take a break at a McDonald's near Boone that, whatever it is, is not "fast food."
Nana Fran knows how to greet a person.
This was our first chance to meet Alex, my sister's Swedish fiance. Having spent some of his formative years in the US he speaks better English than most North Carolinians. He is utterly delightful, great with the kids, and a superb addition to the family. Normally this would be a set-up for a joke, but all I can say is Kid (that's what I call Elizabeth Anne, since she's ten years my junior), you done good. This is a guy I can eat pickled herring with.
Granne fixes Abby's hair for dinner Friday night.
Nana Fran and her little boy joke at their end of the table.
Alex's dad works for Ericsson. He shows Sellers a phone that really can cook breakfast for you.
By the end of dinner two of our three are out. It was a long trip.
We packed Saturday full of activity, starting by playing with the toys Alex and Elizabeth Anne picked up for the kids. From there it was on to the Tennessee Aquarium for Margaret, myself, the boys, EA, and Alex while Abby joined Granne and Grandpa John on a dog rescue mission.
Margaret keeps Julian from knocking over all the cowboys and Native Americans.
EA and Julian toss the ball around in the back yard.
Is that a rustling in the tall grass?
Sellers and Julian go up inside one of those aquariums you can go up inside of.
These guys are all mouth.
Julian grows distressed that he cannot have everything in the gift shop. This is how we know lunch time has arrived.
Since the kids still had a little life left in them we proceeded after lunch to a nearby corn maze (maize?). What can I say? It was...(wait for it)...aMAZing. But then again it was also kind of...corny. Okay, I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have done that.
By this time we were all flagging, and there was a big party yet to go, so we found Lookout Mountain's one Starbucks, from which you can See Rock City.
From there we went to my cousin Christopher's house (she's a girl cousin) for Nana Fran's 90th birthday celebration. There was a bar, food, a bar, great cake, oh and a bar.
Nana Fran prepares to blow out some candles. Behind her are Aunt Toni, Momma, EA, and Dad.
Dad enjoys dessert with my nephew Alex (not to be confused with my future brother-in-law Alex. We may be from Tennessee but it's not like that.).
Margaret reconnects with my other cousin Melissa.
Alex teaches Julian how to plastic fish.
Julian finally, finally, finally gets to eat the gummi snake he got at the Aquarium. He did not stop asking until just this moment, and he did indeed finish it.
We got up early again Sunday for the trip back. We figured if we went by way of Atlanta we could cut the trip to nine hours. A mere elven hours later, we were home.
Sellers and Abby tell EA and Alex good bye.
Nana Fran gives everyone one last big hug.
Once everyone got really hungry we stopped at a place you should only go if you're really hungry.
The kids were already tired of travelling after only a couple of hours. Their Obama Kid tee shirts didn't go over as well at the Cracker Barrel as they have in Wilmington.
Sellers isn't allowed to curse, but just this once he could have gotten away with it.
Margaret swears she hasn't seen me clean the windshield since I got my minivan.
Okay, so the new car is a bit more cramped.
This week was busy and uneventful except for Abby being out sick Thursday and Friday. Saturday night we went to one Halloween party at the Kings' house, then this afternoon we went to Sandra Hall's place. The first one was a costume party. Today, well, we just like our costumes. For the record, we were a little embarrassed.
In addition to the Matrix characters we have a Wednesday Addams type goth girl and Voldemort. Black Spider Man was hiding.
Margaret gets some love from Goth Girl and Voldemort out on Sandra's dock.
This week of course we have Halloween, and I'm really hoping to sell my minivan (see http://www.autotrader.com/). Hopefully we won't have to prove any more just how little we fear public embarrassment, but you never know.
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