Pollyannas We Are Not

I'm sure you all remember my "Grumpy Face" post from a few days ago. Pouty lips, evil eyes, twirling leaves, snarling faces....they laid it on thick for my camera that day.  In fact, since I'm on the topic, let me take this opportunity to declare that the winner of the Little Miss Grumpy contest via your popular vote...

 Ellie!  Between her downcast eyes, furrowed brow, thumb in mouth, all the while clutching her special "corner blankey"  Ellie outgrumped the competetition and took the prize----an entire chocolate chip cookie to herself.  (The rest of the kids are hoping she'll share).

And while we're still on the topic, I thought I'd show a little glimpse at the rest of our New Year Day, including our visit to US Botanic Gardens in DC which also happened to be the site of our grumpy face photo shoot. 

The lines were long, the weather cold, and the whole family sleep deprived.  The pouts were not hard to come by...

But as we entered the warmth of the gardens, our icy dispositions slowly made way for wonder and delight as we finally arrived upon the reason why we'd come: 

The seasonal display of an elaborate fairytale wonderland filled with detailed castles....

colorful model trains,

quaint cottages,

gorgeous gardens, and any fairytale character you could think of....

  It truly was an amazing spectacle of childhood delights and we could have stayed and explored for hours, if it weren't for that pesky line out the door that reminded us that other families were still waiting outside in the freezing cold. 

It didn't take long before at least everyone could ATTEMPT a strained smile for this family picture taken by a random stranger...

 

and by the time we were walking back to the car, the wonder and beauty of the gardens had thoroughly worked its magic and I had to secretly wonder if some garden fairy had waved her magic wand while we there and dusted them with some kind of happy dust.  And if so, I wanted to go find her and bring her home with me.  I'm sure garden fairies could be bribed with some of Cami's baking.

 

Do you know how absolutely cool I think it is that the Capitol of the USA is in the background of pictures of my kids?  Living by DC rocks!

 

 

And lest you think Little Miss Grumpy Pants was all pouts and  scowls, she did eventually manage a little bit of sunshine to shine through....

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Now if anyone had a good reason to be grumpy that day it would be me....

Thankfully it's only the outer protective lens, not the actual lens.  (Best 5 bucks I ever spent buying that protective lens cover--thanks Aitch). 

But too bad that when it fell it dented the protective lens just enough that it won't budge a bit and it is stuck right where it is.  Even a pair of pliers didn't help.

But there is a silver lining....

all of the pictures in this post  (and the grumpy face pictures) were taken with this cracked lens.  I was beside myself with horror when it happened on New Year's Eve (my fault) and was shocked when my test pictures to make sure the camera still worked actually turned out okay.  The only time you can really tell is on the really wide angle pictures (like the picture of the long line at the beginning of the post).  Now if anyone knows of a way I can turn this into a good excuse to buy a fun new lens, even though this one is actually broken, just let me know.

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