Cold Spaghetti

Thursday morning was just one of those rough days. Bathroom accidents. Falling down. Diaper leaks. Upset tummies. Just one of those rough days. And so that was our morning.

Shortly before lunchtime, we headed out to Burke to see Wyatt, Eli & Wylie, who were visiting Wyatt’s family for the week while Eli was in the area for work. (They moved to LA last summer so this was a big deal!) Will continued to have a bit of a tough afternoon, but enjoyed playing pirates with Wyatt in the neighborhood playground. It was great to catch up with them; I always love talking to Eli. Wylie is as sweet as can be — huge beautiful blue eyes, pleasant demeanor, and just a happy little guy. He was adorable being pushed in a swing in the park… and when I took out my camera to take it all in, found that I’d not brought a CF card along. (This is a chronic problem for me. One that drives Paul crazy; much like my penchant for leaving shoes all over the house.) So check Eli’s blog for potential pictures… *sigh*

BUT — I did take out the camera when Randy, Katherine, and Murray came by for a late night snack. The kids were fresh out of the tub and were in great moods (i.e.: overtired and pumped up on adrenaline). We were thrilled that they made such a tremendous effort to see us, despite having heavy work and travel schedules.

Will shared ice cream dibs, sang songs, and loved on Murray.

45 – minutes to park for the Metro ride
45 – minutes to find the car when we returned and I realized I didn’t remember on which of the 6 levels we were parked on

“Mommy, where’s our car?”
“I don’t know, Will. We’re going to keep looking until we find it.”
“Oh. Why don’t we just walk instead?”

The Metro delivered us to Farragut West and the three of us strolled down 18th to the World Bank. It was fantastic to roll into the Bank’s Visitor Entrance with my double all-terrain monster and two beautiful toe-headed firecrackers. Will ran in controlled circles in the corner while I nursed Kate — right there inside the doors on the waiting benches. Robin (my tri-athlete superwoman friend and beloved DDer) appeared like a ball of bright energy — she swooped up Kate, our stroller, and Will one-handed and lead us into the inner sanctum of the The Bank. (If you are unconvinced of Robin’s talents, check this out.)

Calling the eating area of the World Bank a cafeteria is sort of like calling the Ritz-Carlton a motel. It just doesn’t do the experience justice. Choices abound, all of it delicious and very affordable. It was a great lunch. So good that we forgot to visit the Bank gift shop afterward. Will was a champ and remembered to use the potty (rather than have an accident) and was thoughtful enough to even turn out the lights when he was done “because there was no one else in here.” That’s my guy, helping Wolfowitz save on the lighting bill.After our lovely lunch, we went out to enjoy the event we’d been talking about for WEEKS. We went to see THE DINOSAURS. On the way, we walked across the Mall, where I’d hoped to point out all the beauty of our Nation’s museums and buildings of importance.
The pictures below sort of sum up my childrens’ reactions.



Then we got to Natural History. Oye. Apparently, American History is closed for awhile. So allll the school kids go to Natural History. All 12 bus loads of them.
After scoping out the front and sides in detail and not finding the handicapped entrance (it’s on Constitution, I would find out later) — I sucked it up and hauled the kids and the stroller up the front stairs, parting those teenyboppers like the Red Sea. The kids remained asleep — I was delighted thinking about how cool it was going to be to wake up Will and have him open his eyes to see DINOSAURS right in front of him.
That is exactly what I did. And was he excited?? Not in the least. Exciting? Well, apparently exciting is the window displays with the plastic protozoa.
After awhile, he warmed up to the bones. It dawned on me that he probably has no concept of “extinct” and “bones” and likely believes that seeing a dinosaur was going to be like going to the Zoo. I’m surprised that this didn’t occur to me earlier. Actually, I think the enormous skeletal shapes freaked him out a bit.
Kate rolled with it all with usual style.
We stopped in the gift shop for tee-shirts before making it out the less-bumpy handicapped entrance onto Constitution. Rather than walk back to the Mall, we went up 12th to Federal Triangle… directly across from the building I worked in so many years ago.
Will was a little more excited about the Metro train on our ride back.

Wednesday morning, we dropped Paul off at his office. Around 9:30, we left for Franconia-Springfield Metro, which holds a parking lot so large that it has it’s very own zip code. It also has parking spaces so small that every 3rd car is double parked. This was one of the many moments where I really appreciated New Orleans. We drove around that lot for 45 minutes looking for parking. Really, 15 of it was looking for parking. After that, we gave up and just tried to find our way out of the maze. I ended up stalking someone returning to their car to secure a space.

With the double stroller holding both kids, we Metro’ed into the District. Easy-squeezy-double-cheesy! Will surprised me: he was not too enthused by the Metro train. Personally, I’m in love with it; it is, in my opinion, the greatest public transport system on the globe. Will took it all in, but without the excitement he brings to thrilling tasks like doing the laundry. This was not the first time that day where he would surprise me.

Paul left Sunday; we left Tuesday. Me and the kids flew (yes, alone) into Dulles. Despite having to remove everyone’s shoes (apparently Robeez are a security risk?) for scanning and having a stroller too big for the scanning machine, all went just fine. We flew United direct to Dulles: 2 1/2 hours. Kate was a squirming monkey who finally fell asleep about 20 minutes before landing. Will was bored but behaved. He fell asleep while the plane was taxing after landing — I had to ask someone to hold Kate while I picked him up to wake him to get out of the plane.

After coordinating carseat pick-up/drop-off with Matt and Laura (who helped us out tremendously by accepting a car seat in the mail and delivering it to Paul), Paul met us at the airport. We drove out to the Manassas/Gainesville area and spent a few hours with Paul and Jenn Reeder and their adorable son, Max, who (besides being an adorable little dude) has one of the best names in Children’s Literature. It was a real gift to be able to spend a short time with them. We felt especially lucky that our children were relatively behaved; we left without any major fires or injuries.

A trip to a local grocery (where we found that a gallon of organic milk is $7, significantly more than the $3.69 at our NOLA Whole Paycheck) and a run down the Parkway to Springfield and we were at our Townesuite home… 2 bedrooms and kitchenette… perfect.