Welcome to the DC Visitors' Center

Zola's grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Rigby, are missionaries for the LDS church at the Washington DC Temple Visitors’ Center . Since they're so much closer now, we cruised on down to the suburbs of Washington DC to visit them.

Here's their cool apartment building, within walking distance of the Visitors' Center. It's hard to see, but there's a fountain out front. Classy living.




Once inside, Zola made herself right at home, playing with the toys Grandma had ready (she's a great grandma. Errrr - not a great-grandmother meaning her grandkids have kids, but great at being a grandmother.)





Maybe one of the reasons that Zola felt right at home at Grandma and Grandpa Rigby's new place was that everything seemed eerily similar to visiting them in California:

Playing in the park. [I guess Jana couldn't handle the g-forces of the swing, despite the protective harness.]



A trip to Baja Fresh for lunch.




Going for a jump in the big.



But some things were definitely different. We spent an hour walking around nearby Brookside Gardens , a beautiful 50-acre preserve that's just up the street a few miles.

"But wait!" you say. Aren't these guys missionaries? Don't they have work to do?

We're getting to that.

After spending their day off (LDS missionaries call this "P-day," meaning "preparation day"), having fun with us, it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to go to work at the Visitors' Center. We took these pictures the night before (I reveal this in the interest of full disclosure), but here's what they do at the Visitors' Center ("VC" for short. It's like they've been doing this for years.).




We saw Grandma at the door, and Zola was really intrigued by her name-tag.




After waving to Jesus (seriously, it was really cute), Zola decided to go on a search-and-destroy mission, looking for animal crackers (Mission: successful.)



Grandpa spends a lot of his time at this desk near the entryway. He answers phones, welcomes visitors, helps with tours, and coordinates the displays and videos, keeping everything running smoothly (I'm mostly repeating what he told me. Chief Rigby, if you'd like to add to this, you should leave a comment.)


And Grandma Rigby runs the LDS church's entire computer network for the Eastern seaboard. Okay, just kidding. But she does use the computer for office work and occasional online gambling. We're really proud of her technological skills (maybe Grandpa will get on board too).


It was fun to see Jana's folks. We'll visit again soon.

The Real World: Zola Rae (2008)

This is the true story... of a baby named Zola ... picked to live in a house... with her parents and have her life photographed ... to find out what happens when babies stop being polite... and start getting real...The Real World.


PART I: The Daily Routine

6:53 a.m. Zola slept in this morning. She's always happy when someone answers her little calls.


Everyone's happier with a clean diaper. Everyone.



Breakfast is good. Peaches and oatmeal. Dad was living dangerously without the protective sheet on the floor. Danger is Dirk's middle name. Bring it on.


I don't have a thing to wear!



Play-time in the Octagon. Right now, Zola especially likes to stack things or make them fit inside one another.


Zola isn't the most thoughtful roommate. She often leaves her dishes out for others to clean up.


PART II: Occasional Excursions

Dirk and Zola did a 13-mile run in Rothrock State Forest on Saturday. The heat, humidity, and bugs were almost more than we could bear.



We're not afraid to show all the details on this program: Diaper change on the trail? No problem.


After the run, we cooled off in the muddy waters of Whipple Dam.

Yeah, that's right. Zola just wears a diaper to swim. We're that kind of white trash family. I was going to make a joke about girls on The Real World who go swimming with minimal or no swimsuits, but c'mon, she's just a baby!




PART III: A Quiet Hobby

Zola is quite the gardening champ. We've been having a pretty nasty gypsy moth infestation this summer. Looks like she's caught a big one.




Part IV: The Dark Side of Zola Rae

Like many cast members of The Real World, Zola has a pretty big drinking problem. I'm guessing it stems from a strained relationship with her father.




"Brooke from The Real World: Denver said what? I can out-scream that crazy psycho! Hey Brooke, wanna go bowling?

P.S. You have a double chin."

[If you get a commercial when you go to the links, just wait. It's worth it.]