Spring Break 2015

I had to take a miserable trip to the west coast of FL for work. It was awful. 80-something degrees. No snow. No cold wind. Had to use some sunscreen to keep from getting burned. Loud music. Too many girls in bikinis crowding the dance floor and blocking my view of the gulf.

Someday we'll be able to go there for vacation instead of work. It's a fun place, but staying on the beach and having to get up early for work aren't compatible activities.

New Stairs

This week the carpet guys came and installed our new stairs carpet. We were going to go with all wood, but after we tore out the old carpet we realized that wood stairs would be too noisy. The cats' dragging their toys up and down in the middle of the night was loud enough to wake us.

St. Patty's Day 2015

This year St. Patrick's Day fell on a Tuesday. Our neighbors invited us downtown to hit the Irish pubs that had blocked off a street in the Haymarket with live music. We were still dragging from our trip and the sudden return to reality and work and getting up early, so we stayed simple and joined the G's at the local watering hole for some green beer and an early night.

New life for Old Grill

The other day we were at the Home Depot and found some nice Weber cast iron grills to fit into our grill. They almost fit - it took CP an hour on the bench grinder to coax them into place. Our 10-year old grill is like new again! Time for outdoor cooking season.

DC Day 8 - Home

Our final train ride took us back to the airport. It was so nice having such accessible public transportation. We were able to get everywhere via train and bus.

An hour after we got home, GP was off to his friend's b-day party at Lincoln's newest indoor sports center - Defy Gravity. It's a big sweaty building that's full of trampolines and a bazillion kids all jumping and trying to break each other's limbs.

The animals were glad to have us back home.

DC Day 7 - Natural History

For our last day, we hit the Museum of Natural History. We were all impressed. I could have spent a solid day in the geology exhibit alone. The boys got to see the mouth of the shark that held the fossil teeth we have. JP was impressed with the extensive evolution exhibit that showed the gradual transition from monkey to man. I couldn't believe the sophistication of stone tools from 1,000,000 years ago.

We originally planned to start at the National Archives to see all their documents and a Magna Carta from 1297, but there was a line halfway around the block. It's still on the list for the next time we visit.

Uncle RK met us in Old Town Alexandria for dinner at our favorite Irish Pub. 

Dc Day 6 - American Art

From the Cathedral, we took the city bus back into town where we recharged our batteries at the Hard Rock Cafe. CP was impressed with the memorabilia hanging on the walls.  

JP was excited to see some real Hoppers. He's one of her favorite artists. The boys were unimpressed.

Finally! The boys found a painting they knew and loved! It was the portrait of Steven Colbert that he recently donated to the country. It's hanging at the entrance to the restrooms.

DC Day 6 - National Cathedral

From Georgetown's campus, we wandered thru the streets to the downtown and found an awesome indoor bocce ball bowling alley / restaurant. After recharging, we took a city bus up to the highest point in DC where the National Cathedral sits.

JP and I had a blast. GP didn't like how tall and high everything was; he didn't want to look out the windows of the tower we ascended.

Except for some 8th grade school groups, the church was empty. I would love to attend a service there.

As usual, we ended our visit via the gift shop. They didn't have any shot glasses, but we did find a fun fridge magnet that lists the Top 10 Reasons for Being an Episcopalian:

10. No snake handling.

9. You can believe in dinosaurs.

8. Male and female God created them; male and female we ordain them.

7. You don't have to check your brains at the door.

6. Pew aerobics.

5. Church year is color-coded.

4. Free wine on Sunday.

3. All of the pageantry - none of the guilt.

2. You don't have to know how to swim to get baptized.

1. No matter what you believe, there's bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.

DC Day 6 - Georgetown

We started our sixth day (as usual) on the northbound train to Rosslyn, where we took one of the world's longest escalators up to the street. From there we walked north and crossed the river on the Scott Key bridge to Georgetown. It didn't take us long to find those famous stairs from The Exorcist. The boys didn't care, but JP and I were excited to see them in person.

The Georgetown campus was beautiful. We were in the middle of spring break, so the only ones there were the uber students that preferred to stay and study rather than party on a southern beach.

The boys were impressed with all the facilities on campus. We were all excited to get some Georgetown shirts at the bookstore. GP's history teacher noticed his shirt immediately when he wore it.

We watched The Exorcist the other night just to match up the filming locations with the places we had been. It was very exciting!

DC Day 5 - Holocaust & American History Museums

We started our day at the Holocaust Museum. All of us were blown away at the depth of the exhibits. We were expecting an hour and a half quick walk thru, but ended up staying there three hours. I'm not sure that the boys captured the enormity of it, but they stayed engaged the whole time we were there. Both were excited to grab some trinkets at the gift shop to show their friends.

The message the Museum was presenting was that ordinary people stood by and let the Holocaust happen; if that were to happen again, what would you do?

On our way to the Museum of American History, we had lunch in the basement of the Ronald Reagan building. We had fun exploring the busy streets of DC. 

The Museum of American History was a letdown for all of us, hence no photos. The exhibit of the original Old Glory flag was impressive, but the other exhibits were all meh.

We had promised to GP since Day 1 that we would eat at an Italian restaurant. He ate an entire 6-pound order of fettuccine alfredo, which was no surprise. CP ate a seafood pasta plate that included artichoke hearts and asparagus. He has turned into a real gastronome. 

DC Day 4 - National Gallery

After the Air & Space museum, we cruised across the mall to the National Gallery. As much as JP had been dreading the A&S museum, she was bubbling with excitement about seeing some old paintings.

CP was on the hunt for French works that he could tell his French teacher about. He loved this portrait of Napoleon.

GP had been ready to go home an hour into the A&S museum. Walking in the rain to the Gallery and then looking at paintings didn't do much to improve his attitude. 

DC Day 4 - Air & Space

The boys had been anticipating the Air & Space museum since we left Lincoln. In the same way, JP had been dreading it. I was with the boys - I couldn't wait to get there.

Once JP realized that the museum wasn't a cavernous hangar that went on for miles, she perked up and enjoyed herself. The boys (and I) were in heaven. CP saw all the WW-II planes that he plays in his video games.

The highlight for all of us was seeing a real Me-262. We nearly missed it off in a little side room. CP was speechless. GP was ready to go.

DC Day 3 - Arlington Cemetery

Aunt S met us at the hotel for a long walking day in DC. We took the Metro to Arlington Cemetery. It's one stop away from the Pentagon and just five stops from Old Town.

The sun came out and we were treated to a beautiful day to explore our nation's graveyard. There are a lot of people buried there. 

We were able to watch the changing of the guards ceremony at the tomb of the unknowns. The tomb of the unknowns for the Civil War contains the remains of 2100 men scraped off the battlefield. Everything there was incredibly moving - it was difficult to fight back the tears. I can't imagine what it's like for servicemen visiting their buried friends.

DC Day 2 - Mt. Vernon

We took the Metro south where R&S picked us up and took us to Mt. Vernon. 

Everyone's favorite spot was the large back porch that overlooks the Potomac River.

Mrs. Washington was impressive to me. The boys weren't as interested in what she had to say. She was like a portrait that came to life.

After seeing all the facets of the estate, we hit Woodbridge to eat and see the K's new house.

DC Day 1

We spent last week in Washington DC! We flew from Lincoln to O'Hare to Reagan and stayed in Old Town Alexandria right next to the Metro station. The two room suite was awesome and we were able to walk everywhere.

R&S Met us for dinner. We missed the St. Patrick's Day parade by a couple of hours, but the festive spirit remained on King Street.

King St. is the main drag thru Old Town. It was 1-1/4 miles of shops and restaurants all the way from our room at the Metro station down to the waterfront.

A cold front came thru the day before we arrived and dumped a few inches of snow and iced up all the water.

Honors Again

CP got straight A's last semester and got to walk at the honors ceremony. The G's daughter was also there along with most of CP's friends and other kids from the neighborhood. The ceremony is held in the basketball arena; one whole side of the court was filled with parents. It's awesome to see 400 parents take the time away from work to support their kids.

Goodbye Carpeted Stairs

We are tired of the carpeting on the stairs, so we tore it off the bottom step and replaced it with wood. We're considering replacing all the steps with the darker stained wood. Looks like there will be significant carpentry required.

The Friendly Toaster

JP got us a new toaster. When she plugged it in, it greeted her. We need more appliances that say nice things.