If I had a pet unicorn...

A few more of my favorite pictures from Washington, DC

Washington Monument from across the tidal basin

Jefferson Memorial

The Capitol building

DC Day 3: Walking, walking, and more walking. (And Monuments)!

Our third day in DC, we planned to hit the National Mall for monuments. But first, the International Spy Museum!

We stopped at a Starbucks on the way to the spy museum, and then headed straight there. The Spy museum is a fun museum if you like James Bond movies. Nile wanted to go since Nate went two years ago. We moved through it fairly quickly, as I don't think he liked it quite as much as Nate had. We were through there in about an hour.

We stopped on the way back at Paul, the coffee shop where we had eaten breakfast the prior morning. Nile had been wanting to try one of their macarons, since Nate had talked about the "horrible pistachio macaron" he ate there. Nile opted for vanilla and thought that it was great.  While we were there, we put together a game plan for the rest of the morning.  We discussed heading to the White House, but Nile wanted to skip that and just head to the monuments. So, we started at the Washington monument after a quick walk through a sculpture garden on the way.

Holding up the Washington Monument

We made our way through the whole Mall, hitting all the major monuments. Nile liked the WWII monument best.

WWII Memorial

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Selfie at the Lincoln Memorial

FDR memorial

FDR memorial

We finished up around 12:30 after walking around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial. It was lunch time, so we found a small sandwich shop a few blocks away and walked there.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel, where Nile lasted about 10 minutes before wanting to head back out. So we walked up to the Hirshhorn art museum and spent an hour looking at modern art. The main exhibit was on 80's art, so it was colorful and interesting.

Back to the hotel to regroup. We rested about an hour, then decided to walk to the Capitol building on our way to an early dinner.

Just one more picture, please?

Dinner was at an English pub, literally tucked away in a corner. It was a small place but the food was good.

After that we were pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel and called it a day. We had an early flight and we had walked just over 11 miles. We watched some TV and hung out there for the rest of the night.

It was a great trip.

DC Day 2: Air and Space Museum

A highlight of every trip to DC is the National Air and Space Museum. That was our singular goal for Sunday. 

In the morning, since the museum doesn’t open until 10, we headed to a coffee shop for breakfast. 

My breakfast: Leek Quiche with Greens and black coffee.

Coffee.

My breakfast.

Nile’s breakfast: Apple Turnover pastry, Lemon tart, and a mocha. With three extra sugars. 😂

The Lemon Tart.  It was really good.

After that, since it was only 9:30, we headed back to the hotel briefly before walking the single block to the Air and Space Museum. We joined the line of people waiting to enter and got in a little after 10 am. 

Not thrilled to be waiting in line.

As always, we enjoyed exploring the museum. We saw two movies: “Dark Universe” narrated by Neil Degrasse Tyson, and “D-Day 3D” narrated by Tom Brokaw. Both were fantastic. 

We finished up at the museum around 1:30and headed back to the hotel for a late lunch. 

Space: the lunar module

Bullets.  In many sizes. 

Tickets

Very stylish glasses

After lunch, we called for a ride to Arlington National Cemetery. We had pre-purchased a tour of the cemetery, which ended up being a good thing. Our tour started at 3:30, and we ended up on an open-air cart. It was a bit chilly. As we didn't have a ton of time, we opted to stay on the cart and didn't get a chance to see everything. However, the tour buses came around every 15 minutes and we knew we wouldn't have time if we got off a lot.

Then the evening was capped by a trip to watch the Washington Wizards play the New York Knicks. It was fun, and we had seats behind the sideline reporter for the Knicks TV broadcast. (She's the blonde in the photo).

Our seats

The view from our seats

After the game we had one more stop, to a gelato place that Nate and I had visited two years ago. It was as good as I remembered, although Nile was not as impressed. I had chocolate chocolate chip and black tea, while he had vanilla and chocolate hazelnut.

DC Day 1 Continued: The March

Once we got to Washington, DC we found the airport pretty packed.

Had I mentioned there was a major march going on in our nation's capital?  The March For Our Lives was planned to begin at noon that day.
(https://marchforourlives.com/mission-statement/)

Roads were closed, and everywhere there were people walking toward the march, carrying signs and wearing shirts with anti-gun slogans. Large groups were pouring out of buses with matching shirts and chanting. It's estimated that at least 500,000 people were attending the rally. There was a ton of news media there:

Nile wasn't interested in participating. To be honest, I would have loved to join in, to be part of something so special. Looking at the crowd from a block away was really hard for me, and I wanted to be there. But this is Nile's vacation and it wasn't my time to go. (But ohmygosh it was so cool!)

We had lunch (Quiznos), then did some sightseeing. We walked to the American Indian museum, and looked around inside. Then we headed to the Holocaust Museum. I had purchased tickets online while we sat at the airport. Tickets had been sold out for months, but they release a limited number of tickets each morning at 6 am EST.  Sitting at the gate in Moline was the perfect time to check, and we had been able to snag tickets for the 3:00 entry. 

As always the Holocaust museum was great, even though I have been there three times I am still moved. 

Later on we went out to dinner and then crashed at the hotel. Two mornings of waking before 4 am had caught up with me. 

Washington, DC Day 1: The Snow

One of our traditions is for me to take each boy to Washington, DC when they are in fifth grade. The reason for fifth grade is to make sure they are old enough to appreciate the trip, and to be able to handle all the walking.

This year it is Nile's turn. The start of our trip was ominous. For the week prior, the weather forecast had gotten progressively worse, with a winter storm bearing down on the region and promising 8-10 inches of snow. And the predictions of snow were very much guesses as the line between "a few inches" and "a foot or more" crossed straight over the QC region. It was scheduled to start overnight Friday. And we had a 6:15 am flight Saturday.

We went to bed Friday night not knowing exactly what we would wake up to. I set my alarm for 3:45 and settled in for a restless night of sleep. Finally at 3:30 I gave up and looked outside to see a blanket of new wet snow.

Ugh.

I was worried about the drive to the airport. I was worried we would get there and wait for a few hours only to have our flights cancelled. I was worried I would drive off the road. All things that had kept me from sleeping well, and I woke to find they were still true. I had hoped to wake and find the snow had tracked north.

Tom decided to take us to the airport. The drive down Wolf Road was perilous. 25 mph, as there had not been a snow plow through. My instinct to turn around was still there. It took us more than 25 minutes to go the 9 miles.

Once we got to the interstate, things looked up. It was mostly wet and 45 mph felt like 90. Once we got to the airport it was raining. Remember that line I mentioned? Seems it really had crossed right over the metro area, with snow to the northeast and rain to the southwest. It had taken us 45 minutes to make the normally 20 minute trek to the airport.

Everything at the airport was on time, so we checked in, got some breakfast, and sat down at the gate. Soon the airline was boarding - the gate attendant told us they were trying to get us out early. We were on board by 6 am, with 10 other passengers. The flight was supposed to be full, but it seemed nobody else had shown up.

After another hour wait on the tarmac for de-icing, we finally took off around 7 am. Our trip was finally on, and my stress level dropped significantly.

It’s been a while since I posted. My phone and Blogger don’t get along and I hate to get on the computer after work.

I’ll try to do better. No promises...

I am lucky because...

I am lucky because...

• I have a good family
• I love myself
• I have friends

In summer I will pick flowers for you

Novak wanted to write me a note today after school.

Kindergarten Art

Art by Novak

Halloween 2016

Fall fun

Nate, in one million words or less

I was asked to write this for Nate's sixth grade teachers. I asked Nate, and he was okay with me putting it on here also. 

Nate, in one million words or less…

 

Hello!

As I sit here with a blank sheet of paper ahead of me, I find it hard to determine where to start to describe my son, Nate.

Nate has always been one of the happiest kids I have ever met. He loves to have fun and enjoys friendly banter.  This started as early as Kindergarten, where he enjoyed “arguing” with Mrs. Chaney over which team is better, Hawkeyes or Illini.  Nate is a friend to everyone and is generally non-confrontational.

He enjoys playing soccer and has really loved playing on his travel soccer team for the last two years.  Some of his best friendships have been forged in this team. Nate is a thinker, and on the soccer field he is always analyzing the game.  Sometimes he even thinks a bit too much about the game – he is less likely to react instinctively and more likely to wait a half second to plan his moves.

Since a young age, Nate has enjoyed building and creating, especially with Legos.  He has a huge collection of Lego models, mostly Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.  Last year Nate was part of the 5th grade FLL robotics team and he loved the whole experience.  He has said that he would love to be an architect when he grows up, but more recently has been expressing an interest in engineering.  Last summer he went to a week-long engineering day camp at St. Ambrose that involved “race car” design.  He really enjoyed that as well; he was very proud of the race car he built and tested.  

Nate is an avid reader.  Like his mother, he devours books.  Sometimes I find that he is reading multiple books at the same time – not literally (that would be really hard!) but he will switch between books and have several “in process.”  It’s almost like he can’t read them fast enough, when he has so much he wants to read.  It’s been so much fun lately as he is interested in and starting to read books that I have read and loved.  He loves fantasy (Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, etc), and now is really excited to read The Hunger Games, Divergent, and the Maze Runner.  I am always excited when a teacher has been able to turn him on to a new series or author.

Nate does best when he clearly understands the plan – he constantly is asking us “what are we doing next?”  He needs to be “in the know,” and asks a lot of questions if he doesn’t feel he knows enough about what is going on.  This can be frustrating for a “let’s go with the flow” parent like me, who doesn’t want to plan every minute of my day in advance…:)

A few other things about Nate:  He loves food, and likes to think of ideas for recipes.  He has studied comic book superheroes and often amazes me with his knowledge of obscure Marvel or DC characters.  (Seriously...ask him sometime!).  Like his mother, he can be stubborn and sometimes enjoys arguing a point just for the sake of the debate.  (This may or may not drive his father crazy…)   He works hard and always does his best.  He has a good sense of right and wrong and always tries to do what he feels is the right thing.  

Back to school (and routine!)

I sent off these three handsome guys to school today...

Kindergarten

Fourth grade

(Note: Nile just finished two weeks of a rapid palate expander - so his front teeth are widely spaced. It's temporary, they will all shift around to fill in the gap over the next few months. Can you believe that 14 days ago the front teeth were touching/overlapping?)

Sixth grade

Back to School night

Look who is a kindergartner!

He has been waiting for this day for several years. 

The icing on this cake?  He is sitting right next to his best preschool friend Lyla. 

I feel like a warning to Mrs. Chaney may be in order. 😳

Lost at sea

It's been a while since I posted. Turns out the Blogger Mobile app is no longer available from the App Store, and it took me a while to figure out how to install it. Plus, life. 

Anyway, prepare for a few back to school posts and I may document our summer if I get some free time later...don't hold your breath! 

Introducing...Stella!

Introducing the newest member of our family. This is Stella, formerly known as Peanut Brittle.

This photo is from her first night with us - it was late and the light on their faces was from the TV so they look blue. :)

She spent the first evening snuggled up against me.  So far we have learned that she is shy and timid around new things. She loves to snuggle and loves her new bed. She has not been interested in playing with any toys yet (the boys are waiting for that part!).

We are working on going potty outside. She is doing great with lots of breaks. She likes to go potty in the tall prairie grass. We haven't conquered stairs yet - too scary.  The leash is kind of scary too, but once it's on she is fine.

The best part is that through all the new things, even the scary and anxious parts, she has not shown an ounce of aggression. With lots of love and encouragement and time, she is getting more comfortable with us every day.

DC trip day 3 - monuments, monuments, monuments

After the Holocaust Museum, we went to the National Mall and got hot dogs at a food concession stand.  It was still cold, the wind was blowing pretty hard, but it was nicer than it had been earlier.  After eating, we headed out to visit as many monuments as we could before we needed to head to the Capitol for our tour.

WWII memorial

The Illinois pillar

We visited the Vietnam Memorial (The Wall), which is one of my favorite places in the world.  However, I never quite feel right taking pictures there.  It is a solemn, sacred place.  We talked quite a bit about the Vietnam War, and the names of the soldiers on the wall, but no pictures.

Lincoln Memorial

The great Leader.

Can you find Nate?  Taken from the spot where Martin Luther King, Jr gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Speaking of Mr. King...

The view from the Tidal Basin.  The cherry blossoms were almost ready to bloom.

FDR memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Inside the Jefferson Memorial.

After viewing the Jefferson Memorial, we called for a ride to the Capitol building.  Nate took a ton of pictures inside the Capitol, but I won't include many of them here.  The Capitol tour was so crazy, there were hundreds of people trying to go on tours at the same time.  Our tour guide was one of Dick Durbin's staffers.  We were constantly being told to get out of the way by the "official" tour guides.  It was so noisy, that we could hardly hear what she was trying to tell us.

So. Many. People.

The original doors, that ended up too heavy for anyone to open.  They became a decoration.

A 15 million dollar chandelier.