We’re over the hump folks. Next time I write I should be in the midst of packing up to head back to Idaho. Though I’ve had some good times during my stay here I’m more than ready to head home. I’m pretty sure the kids feel the same way. I know for sure that Kevin does. He’s said he’s “tired of being on a first name basis with pizza” and “done with doing his own laundry.” I interpret these statements as, “I miss you baby, puuuhhhleeease come home soon”
As for all the kiddos, everybody seems to be okay. Wesley, the younger nephew is actually talking to me now…not as much as I know he can, but I’m actually getting statements rather than headshakes. He’s even having fun giggling and laughing with the other kids instead of hanging out alone like he did the first week or so. The only drawback is that while he’s fine with me during the day the minute Carrie comes home he clamps on to her leg and becomes extremely clingy. He’s also having a difficult time at night. Carrie gets him to sleep but he’ll wake up a few hours later and just wail inconsolably. Hopefully, this will ease as he works through the transition of his Mom working. Clayton, the older one, is taking it all in stride, mostly… I think he gets frustrated about Mom being gone all the time. For now Jack is a welcome distraction for him, but I wonder what will happen once Jack goes home?
Okay, now on to the good stuff. As you can see I finally picked up a card reader so that you can see PICTURES!!!! Yippee! I posted most everything so far into an album on Facebook, but I’ll work on putting some in the previous posts of the next day or so.
This past weekend we actually did several things. The first was a trip to Mount Vernon (Home of George and Martha Washington). What a place this was. The mansion was amazing, and the greenhouse and gardens surrounding the house were extensive. Good old George was really quite the farmer and agricultural innovator. He employed techniques like crop rotation, and experimented with what soil types best grew which crops. He imported plants various parts of the world and grew them in his greenhouses. Yup, there were bananas, key limes, oranges, and all sorts of tropical plants. What is so jaw-dropping is that this was in the late18th century! George actually considered himself a farmer first, the politics and military career were just other things he did.
Admittedly, the kids were not as ‘excited’ about all the factual stuff as I was. Emilie liked inspecting sticks, rocks, and leaves; while the boys were most enamored by watching the boats on the Potomac river the plantation overlooks. All the kids got a chance to sit on a horse (well Clay didn’t want to so he didn’t) and Jack even got to ride his around a bit
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The next day we took the kids apple picking at a nearby orchard (hence the photo at the top). On the way home we realized we were close to Dulles Airport where the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is. While we had stopped in at the National Mall location of the Air & Space Museum, over 80% of the Smithsonian’s collection is housed here. One of the focal points of the collection is the Discovery Space Shuttle. Jack, as you know, will be Jack, so even though we tried to get him stoked about seeing the Space Shuttle he was really more excited to see all the helicopters! It was so bad, most of my pictures show him looking away from the camera gazing at the choppers.
The other highlight of the trip for the kids was going up to the observation tower. At the top of the tower is a large oval room with floor to ceiling glass windows. From here you can clearly see the planes landing at Dulles….and I mean CLEARLY. These planes passed by close to the tower! The kids all loved it! They also had fun trying to find our car parked in the parking lot below.
Not sure what the plan is for this weekend. Carrie and I have a sewing project that really needs to get done, and Clay has a birthday party to go to. We may just take it easy and see what comes of that.
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