Something for everyone

Andy has been aching to go to the Solar Decathlon for years. And yesterday he finally got his chance. He said he was "gathering ideas." Uh-oh. 

 Go Bucks!

 CalTech's entry. See the look on this guy's face? That's about how excited the girls were the entire time. 

 OK, so you want to know how we got the girls to wait in all the lines to look at eco-friendly houses? That's right. We bribed them. The National Book Festival also happened to be on The Mall this weekend, so we lured them (mostly Amalia) with PBS character hugs. Above is Pig from Super Why!

 Sid the Science Kid

 Clifford the Big Red Dog

 Princess Pea (also from Super Why!)

This is the only character we could get Lily to pose with. Martha Speaks is her favorite show. (Mine too! Well, of the ones the girls watch, I mean. It teaches vocabulary and features a dog who talks because she eats alphabet soup. The characters and story lines crack me up. In one episode, Odysseus helped a seasick boy get over his fear of being on a boat by declaring, "Truman! You've got to persevere!")

Woofster, a new character being added to Super Why!, apparently. (We learned this at the PBS Kids tent.)

Curious George (Amy, are you still reading this? Are all these pictures of costumed characters making you cringe?)

Mr. Steve from SteveSongs

 Singing his big hit, "Shapes." It's very catchy. Believe me. 

 We could not get the girls to go up onstage. Perhaps they are my children after all.