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The Kensington KennedysUpdated news and notes on Bob, Ellie, Michael, Meghan and Matthew June 17 Meghan's "Graduation"It is hard to believe that Meghan will be heading to kindergarten next year. She finished off her preschool career with a pool party at a classmate's house, where they had a little gradution ceremony at the end. Lots of wet kids, but all had fun. We had to leave, though, when both kids attempted to drown themselves in different ways at the same time -- I was standing on the edge of the pool, focused on Meghan panicking in the water (she was fine, of course) when all the other parents starting yelling at me to notify me that Matthew had crawled through my legs and was lowering himself into the pool. But before that escapade, we got some pictures. Here's one of Meghan and her buddy Reese:
 Here are some from the graduation "ceremony," where Meghan was presented with her certificate, a class photo, and her field trip journal by her teacher, Ms. Marsy, and one of the aides, Ms. Nici.
     And here is Matthew, where he belongs on the steps to the pool
 May 25 The Battle of the BeltwayIt has been a tough year for the Washington Nine. They entered Sunday's contest having won one just 12 of their first 42 games. Many of those losses were the result of excruitating late inning meltdowns, which left many fans wondering whether the bullpen actually believed they were obligated to live up to the old baseball adage: "Washington: First in war; first in peace; last in the National League." (For those baseball fanatics out there: Yes, we know that both incarnations of the Senators (the Nats' predecessors in DC) were in the American League.)
Against this backdrop, most of the Kennedy Clan were not expecting big things as they made their annual pilgramage to see the Orioles take on the Nationals in the Battle of the Beltway. But the baseball gods decided that they had punished the Nats enough. The hometown squad pulled out a 8-5 victory, that was highlighted by Adam Dunn's grand slam in the seventh inning.
As you can see, this made all but Ellie -- who continues to cling to her Oriole loyalty -- very happy.
 Michael studied the game intensly:
 Everyone enjoyed our seats overlooking the Nats bullpen. Here, Sharon Martis warms up before the game:
 Meghan triggered the late inning comeback with her rally cap:
 Matthew enjoyed the complimentary Ryan Zimmerman jersey that was handed out to the kids as they arrived:
 And he especially enjoyed the musical interludes between batters:
All in all, everyone enjoyed our day in the right field bleachers:
 GO NATS!!!! May 11 The KP cupOn Saturday, Michael and his Lightening teammates squared off against their Kensington Parkwood classmates, the Dragons. While the rivalry hasn't yet reached the levels of the Glasgow Rangers v. Celtic, it was clear that this wasn't just another game.
For his part, Michael unhitched the piano that often seems to be resting on his back when he plays soccer and actually ran with some speed and grace. He also dialed up the aggressiveness. So much so, that one mom complained that "Number 5" had "really wiped out" one of her son's teammates while they went for the ball. Ellie told her that she didn't hear a whistle, and if little Johnny can't run with the big dogs, he should stay on the porch.
Here's some shots from the game -- which we think probably ended in a draw:
 April 15 White House Easter Egg RollOn Easter Monday, I took the kids with Nana to the White House Easter Egg roll, having been lucky enough to get tickets from a friend. Unlike prior years, the tickets this year were for two-hour "windows" -- ours was at 11:30, so we showed up at 10:30 as directed. Things ran smoothly at first -- the kids were relatively good, the line started moving at about 11, and they seemed to have a nice system down. We got through all of the bag searches and metal detectors by about 11:20 and then were directed to another loosely defined line. And then we waited, and waited. Rumor ran through the crowd that they were "running late" (we heard later that in fact the Secret Service had closed things down because Obama and Biden were leaving the White House). We waited for 45 minutes, until they finally opened the gates at 12:15. The crowds were pretty incredible, but so was the proximity to the White House, as you can see here:
  We split the kids up, with Nana taking Meghan and Matthew to the egg hunt, at which Matthew apparently started throwing the eggs he had found.
  I took Michael to shoot some hoops on the converted tennis court that President Obama uses as a basketball court:
  We then split up again -- Michael stood in line to make a jump rope and Meghan got her face painted, as she poses here with the final product
 While in line for the facepainting, I heard one of the organizers tell the line leader that even though we had been let in 45 minutes late, we were going to be forced to leave at 1:30, and that they were soon going to start cutting off lines. So Nana and Michael raced to get a spot in the Easter Egg Roll line -- because after all, it is the tradition that started it all. But when we were almost to the front, they cut off the line so we never did get to do the roll. The kids didn't care too much, though, because while in line they had spotted some of the characters walking around and posing for pictures, like SpongeBob, Clifford, and Curious George. Fortunately, my kids were intent on finding a lesser-known figure -- Avatar -- and we actually got a picture with him because, ahem, no one else seemed to know who he was, so there was no line:
 I think Avatar was just happy that someone recognized him. So all in all, it was a fun day, though certainly not something I would do ever year. In the end, we even managed to get a picture with the President:
 April 14 Easter 2009Easter 2009 was once again celebrated in New Jersey with Grandma and Grandpa and the Mergner cousins. We also got a chance to visit with Bob's high school friend Mike and his family and see their new house in Westfield. It was a very busy weekend, but unfortunately the camera was almost out of batteries so picture-taking was limited. We did decorate Easter Eggs:
 On Easter morning, we had a hunt for the eggs that the Easter bunny hid in Grandma & Grandpa's house. Matthew really enjoyed that part, and the movies that the Easter bunny left for the kids:
    After the excitement of the baskets, we got the kids all dressed in their Easter finery (Michael will hate me for this one in a few years)
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