Peanut Butter Preferences

That's the name of Evelyn's science fair project. It's basically a taste test for Jif PB versus Target brand PB. It allows Evelyn to do some basic data collection and a bar graph. No surprise, Jif won. Jif PB rocks. Nothing like heading to Walgreens at 8 PM on a Friday night to pick up 5x7 photos of peanut butter jars "Before" & "After" the black paper masking. We also simulated some spoon-enters-the-mouth shots.


Kenneth's project is not quite done yet. We need a few more people willing to perform 3 types of exercise for 1 minute time periods, then measure heart rate. Maybe next year I'll come to my senses and suggest topics that don't involve getting multiple participants. My cousin's children (college-aged) are visiting my parents, so I think I can get two more participants for him.


We had a visit from Grandma Aixa and Tracy last weekend. They stayed for a couple of days and had a nice visit overall. They bought the kids an official soccer goal with which to practice in the off-season as a joint gift. Evelyn received a rock-painting kit which she loved; it is a very cute idea. I just need to get some clear glossy paint to secure the current designs she's already done. Kenneth got a sketch book, which he promptly started using. It has a built-in easel, which is uber-convenient.


Tonight I will thoroughly enjoy What Not to Wear, my favorite show and really, my only TV indulgence.

Wells Branch Park

We have made 2 trips to Wells Branch Park this week. On our first visit, we stuck to what we're familiar with--a serene pond and nature walk with lots of places to stop and investigate. The kids found some reeds with a center that feels exactly like styrofoam. Perfectly natural packing material! Of course, Kenneth found good bow and arrow candidates. We fed the ducks some old hot dog buns and one of the males got upset when we ran out of bread. He hissed and started following us. Evelyn reacted by jumping away. After that, she was sensitive to any duck activity. On our second visit, we took a walk down one of the many paths. About .5 - .75 miles down the path we came to a traditional playground in the middle of a neighborhood. This park is a great find because it has playground equipment, a 3-story playhouse, a huge dished field, and best of all, clean restroom facilities. Such facilities can make or break future visits. We will have to bring the kids' cousins here next time they visit.

Other than that, this week we've done a lot of lounging mixed in with activities like the Austin Children's Museum, Pfluger Park, Half-Price Books, Central Market Park, and seeing The Waterhorse movie. Tomorrow we've GOT to start and finish (or almost finish) Science Fair projects for both kids. I don't know why it is always scheduled to be completed over the break. I suppose we could start and finish prior to the break. Sigh.

Santa, While You're Here...

We've had a wonderfully relaxing break so far and had a great Christmas together. Evelyn and Kenneth opened a single gift on Christmas Eve--both chose the nerf dart shooters and fun ensued. In the midst of the play, Evelyn lost one of the darts. She decided it would be a good idea to ask Santa to look around for it when he dropped in.

Kenneth has been doing a lot of drawing lately. He's very diligent about it and pays close attention to detail. We bought him a special binder to hold his artwork. I'll have to look into lessons or something for him, but in the meantime we'll just keep on encouraging him. I've posted a few of his recent drawings. What a joy it is to be part of their lives!

Family Versions of Elf-Yourself

These are too funny. Kenneth couldn't stop laughing. Be sure to turn on the volume.

Erin, Rod, Kenneth, & Evelyn:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1632005144

Caleb, Kyle, & Ann Marie:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1632365522

Nana & Pops:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1632488423

Grandpa Merle & Grandma Linda
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1704221223

Stealth Wal-mart Shoppers

It is possible that Evelyn has helped our family measurably contribute to the bottom line of the companies that make the cartoon-character band-aids. She is quick to apply them and exhaustive in her application. I'm not sure exactly how she got the surface scrapes on her knee in the picture, and to the best of my knowledge, she had no physical injury on her nose.


I pretty much avoid going to Wal-mart. It's not because of any grander concern with unfair practices that may or may not be true. It is because something always happens. Usually the "something" is of the lengthy checkout line nature. Despite the guaranteed but unknown issue, I made a trip to Wal-mart tonight after the kids went to bed to see if I could find a particular CD for a gift that's been tricky to track down. While there, I figured I could get a few grocery items as well. Why not, right? I got my cart, placed my 3 post-it notes of need-to-get-items onto the front seat flap, filled it with a few things, then made my way to the music section to look for the CD. I parked the cart in an unobtrusive place, not blocking any aisles. About 10 minutes later, after unsuccessfully searching for the CD, I returned to the cart and found it in the middle of an aisle, in a really awkward place, and my post-it note arrangement was grouped together and moved to the main part of the basket. I thought a Wal-mart employee had moved it with the thought that someone had abandoned it. When I tried to push it, it felt like something had gotten caught under the wheel; after a few more attempts at pushing it dawned on me. Some FREAK stealth shopper had switched carts with me because they picked a bad cart that was hard to move when they entered the store. I was probably being mocked from a distance by the cart hijackers.

No Caves for Mom

It's the final week before school lets out for a 2-week vacation. The kids are ready for the break, but they're also excited about the classroom parties that will go on this week. Kenneth's class has chosen Mexican food as a theme (what says "Christmas" more than burritos?--hey it's TX). We've been given tortilla chips as the item for which we're responsible. Evelyn's class is a different story, however. The 1st grade has collectively chosen to have a breakfast party. We've been assigned a fruit tray. Sigh. I figure the teachers assign the "responsible" mothers the difficult items. Heck if I'm going to pay HEB for a prepared tray either (they charge mucho $$$$ for those), which means I'll be slicing apples and arranging grapes at 6:30 Thursday morning.

We had the Discover channel on one evening recently...which led to a very amusing comment/observation from Evelyn.

Discovery Narrator: "Caves remain one of the least explored places on earth: at least, by man."
Evelyn: "Yeah, women don't go into caves. At least women like Mom don't."

Rod and I about died laughing. So true though.

Is There Such a Thing as Horse Dander?

We have had a very busy week so far. Kenneth performed in his Bulldog Honor Choir on Friday night for the WinterFest. Songs ranged from traditional carols to Feliz Navidad and Hanukkah songs. Last Saturday, Kenneth and Evelyn were invited to a birthday party at a horse-riding lessons place up in Round Rock. Each child was walked around a fenced-in area for about 20 min. and if they were adapting well, the trainers took them to a trot level. They both had a blast. In fact, all of the kids had a good time. No one cried or was injured, which is an accomplishment at any party, but particularly so when you throw horses in the mix. However, we did find out that we can add horse dander to Kenneth's long list of allergies. Poor guy. He got off the horse with hives all over his face and arms. No more horses for the Wallines.

I've been listening to a bunch of old Christmas records that belonged to my parents; the songs are so much better than some of the painful renditions that you can hear on the radio (a la Mariah Carey). My favorite is this "Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Band" trumpet-based record that insinuates that I should be making a cheese ball and cocktails for imminently-arriving, hip guests.

I can hardly believe Christmas is almost here. My sweeties hammed for the camera in front of the fully, fabulously decorated tree.

Santa Pics

These pictures are from the neighborhood party last Sunday. Rod took the kids out yesterday and let them pick out a Christmas tree. Of course, they also came home with candy canes, an 8-pack box of ornaments, a pack of razors, and a Snickers bar. (This is what happens when you send Rod on a singular mission.) This afternoon, I put on the tree lights and let the kids go for it as far as ornament placement. It is pretty funny because only the front of the tree was covered, yet they had overcompensated for their height and clustered everything up higher than would be expected. I rearranged only a little bit because the wonderful part of a Christmas tree is seeing what each child deems important. Evelyn arranged the new pack of ornaments all in a row, so that they're touching each other.

Jury Duty Fun

It's been awhile since I posted any pictures. This is partly my fault, but I can blame Rod a bit too. He has yet to retrieve the Thanksgiving photos (and a few others) off of his computer for me. Don't worry--I am persistent.

We spent some time this weekend getting the Christmas decorations down so that we could slowly start decorating the house. The advent calendar was the critical item, because who wants to start an advent calendar a week late? We have not yet gotten a tree, although we may manage to get one this week. Definitely by this weekend though... The neighborhood association had a little gathering with Santa visits and a small train for the kids on Sunday. The train was a bigger hit than anticipated, even with kids Kenneth's age.

Rod has been busily getting the third issue of his B/CS community newspaper out the door. The first two issues have been received very well by people in the town and there is a bit of a local rock star phenomenon happening for him (and his partner, Chris) when they are seen around town. (Each issue has their picture in the front, as part of the editors' note.) We experienced this as a group when we made a day trip to CS on Saturday and went out to eat with Chris and his family. While Rod was working on a few loose ends on the newspaper, the kids and I visited Elizabeth's family. Caleb and Kyle were so happy to see Kenneth and Evelyn. In fact, Kyle actually ran to me and hugged me (a first..., because he's usually shy with me).

I was summoned for the Travis County jury duty selection process this afternoon. I had to go downtown and pay $15 to park in a garage 8 blocks away because the particular courthouse where the trial was going to occur did not have nearby parking, other than metered street parking (which is 2 hours, max). Of course, I was one of maybe 5 potential jurors that actually obeyed the 'park on your own or take the Dillo' message. (Note: the 'Dillo is a semi-ridiculous name for the free downtown trolley system, short for Armadillo, I guess?? I wouldn't even know where to begin taking a 'Dillo even if I thought it was a good idea.) Everyone else parked next to the courthouse in metered parking and were told that the county would pay for any parking tickets incurred over the course of the five hours that we were there. I'll know better next time. The case turned out to be in a Criminal Court. Since I was not chosen to continue with jury duty I do not know the case details (and, I suppose, couldn't share anyhow if I was selected); however, we were informed that it was a 1st degree felony case that included burglary and some form of aggravated assault (which could have been murder in the worst form). We also knew that the defendant had been previously been convicted on a 1st degree felony. Nice. Figures my first call for jury duty had the potential to be so dramatic. I am glad I wasn't picked. Highlights of the time I was there:

* Each of us was assigned a number, which we had to label on an index card and hold up as we stood in a line for 30 minutes waiting to be invited to sit in the courtroom. There were sixty of us, standing around, not talking.

* Listening to an annoying guy engaging in banter with the corrections officer who was monitoring us. "So, let's say that someone didn't get the first letter." "What if someone didn't reply to the email that asks for the acknowledgement with capitalized first and last name?" "What happens if someone leaves the building on one of the breaks and doesn't come back?" Blah blah blah.

* Fitting 7 people onto a bench that should really only comfortably fit 5. It was worse than a plane, both from a side-by-side personal space perspective, but also because the leg room was tight. And you couldn't speak out of turn, drink a diet coke, or chew gum.

* Listening to 2 people waste valuable time as they explained why they could not possibly pass judgement on another human being due to their religion. Apparently karmic forces take care of all good and bad imbalances. I think they actually knew each other outside of the courtroom because I noticed a granola greeting in the hallway prior to any of the karma-talk. "[Loud Squeal] What are YOU doing here ?!?"

* Hearing a potential juror try to get out of serving because he owns a small business. About four people tried to get out of serving, which required approaching the judge's bench and presenting your case. This guy made sure to explain loudly that his business was a special case because he details planes (a mission critical job indeed). The judge didn't agree & took him to task for not being willing to serve his government.

* Plane detail guy was the most vociferous potential juror present and spent a lot of time debating what "reasonable doubt" was. "Is it 100%? Is it 75% Is it 80% How will I know what reasonable doubt is? How will my opinion of reasonable doubt be comparable to yours, ...or his, ... or hers..." Blah blah blah.

* Assistant District Attorney actually said "My bad" when mistakenly using the wrong term for something.

Thanksgiving '07

It's been a great Thanksgiving Break. Merle (Rod's Dad) and Linda arrived Wednesday afternoon with, literally, armfuls of homemade cookies and pies. I will seriously need to go on a fast this week to deal with the excessive amount of desserts that were consumed! Elizabeth and her family arrived on Wednesday also, although they stayed with my Mom and Dad. We had 17 people at the Thanksgiving table, and the food was wonderful. The company was even better. We managed to get family photos taken, which was not an easy task...

Some of my favorite moments:

Caleb (Elizabeth's 3 yr old): Repeatedly asked "Can I please have some dirt?" [Dirt=Dessert]

On the way over to my parents' house:
Evelyn: "Kenneth stop it!"
Kenneth: "Stop what?"
Evelyn: "Tooting! You need to go to Toot-oring [tutoring] to learn to stop tooting!"

Reviewing a Harry & David catalog with Caleb in my lap:
Erin: "Oooh I like all this food. Nuts, cheese, apples, pears...What is your favorite food on this page, Caleb?"
Caleb: "I pretty much like pizza, mac a woni and cheese, chicken nuggets, that kind of food. Not that stuff."

Regarding a nightshirt with obvious static cling:
Evelyn: "Every time I see my cousins 4 days in a row, my nightshirt does this."

One More Soccer Weekend

The kids have wrapped up their Fall soccer season with the exception of one more tournament for Kenneth's team. Per the usual psychotic nature of soccer planning, the games start at 8 AM on a Saturday and are in a town about 25 minutes from our house. Argh.

My Aunt Pat and Uncle Henry visited my parents this week and we went over for appetizers and wine on Tuesday evening. It was great seeing them again and the kids enjoyed it too. They went home with a couple of new games that Pat bought for them and are looking forward to trying them out. Board games on the weekend are pretty standard for us.

I took a personal day from work today and relaxed in the morning at Upper Crust Bakery, reading some of the many catalogs that have besieged my mailbox since November began. After lunch I went to the school and helped out Evelyn's teacher by folding/stapling classwork, then helped out Kenneth's teacher as well. I also brought in some $$ from Taiwan so that I could show the kids what money from a different part of the world looked like. For Kenneth's class, I showed them how to convert from Taiwan dollars (TWD) to U.S. dollars (USD). They were impressed with the $500 TWD, which was only about $16 USD. We ended the day with (unfortunately) flu shots for both kids. Normally, Evelyn would qualify for FluMist (Kenneth's mild asthma prohibits proper intake of the FluMist) but they were out of their supply--so she had an unexpected shot and was not thrilled about it. A hospital cafeteria popsicle post-shot made life a bit better.

You're Killing Me

I got back from Taiwan late Friday night (or early Saturday morning, depending on how you look at it). On my 5+ hour layover in LAX, I saw Kimora Lee Simmons (not so famous celebrity) and Meg Ryan (definite A-list celebrity). According to a couple of American Airlines workers I befriended during my lengthy stay, I had "just missed" Danny Devito. LAX is happening. Today was very hard as far as jet lag since it was a full day of work. My eyes were red by about 2 PM. I will be heading to bed pretty soon.

In my absence, Evelyn spent some time admiring my (mostly costume) jewelry in my closet. I could tell because things were rearranged just enough that I knew someone had been looking. One of the things I do as resident tooth fairy is store their teeth in separate little containers. Kenneth has long been aware that the tooth fairy is not real, but Evelyn was holding on. One of the containers that held teeth was placed on top of my main jewelry box. The conversation went like this:

Little E: "Is the tooth fairy real?"
Bigger E: "What do you think? Let's talk about it."
Little E: "I'm not so sure. I found a tooth on your floor!"
Bigger E: "Really, because I noticed that some of my jewelry containers were rearranged and one of those containers had your teeth in them."
Little E: "Are you the tooth fairy?"
Bigger E: "Yes, I am."
Little E: "You're killing me!" (Incredulous look...)

Halloween Adventures

This year, I had the pleasure of walking around with the kids (and a group of neighbors) for Halloween. Rod wanted to be the one to answer the door, but I really think he wanted to surprise trick-or-treaters with his Superman costume.

We got about 10 minutes into the neighborhood walk when I received a phone call from Rod. Thank goodness he was the one who was home. He had gone into the garage briefly to get something from his car and on his way back in, a RAT scurried from the garage into the house. Rod said the body was about 5 inches and adding the tail made it about 9 inches. AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH. He chased it around the house and at one point it jumped onto the first stair, as if it wanted to dash upstairs. It would have been a nightmare trying to find it if it did that. He said it ran under every conceivable cover and when I returned home, all the couches were upside down from his searches. The rat even ran over his foot once. Eventually he chased it out the front door. Ugh. To top it off, the kids were getting ready for bed and a huge grasshopper had found its way upstairs and was chaotically bouncing off the walls. it didn't help that Kenneth was laughing hysterically and yelling "It's got enormous fangs! Look at the fangs!!" Evelyn was beside herself with tiredness and got so upset about it, especially when Kenneth grabbed her dress she had set out for the next school day to use to capture the grasshopper. I intervened, trapped the grasshopper in the middle room and when Rod finally arrived at the scene, he went in to get it. Sure enough, he agreed that "this sucker has a set of choppers." Great.

This Halloween rat was rodent incident number 4 in the Walline household. We've been here for a little over 4 years, so once per year isn't too bad I suppose. Some of you may recall my experience with finding a dead, disgusting, drowned rat in the midst of my clean WASH as I unloaded it from the washing machine to the dryer. This was a couple of years ago, around the same time a mouse crawled through our cooling down oven to grab a freshly baked mini-muffin from the cooling rack and try to drag it back down. The other rodent experience involved me seeing a mouse run through the garage, and because this was our first rodent incident, Rod didn't believe me until he found said mouse drowned in a bucket that had a couple inches of water in it.

Life's an adventure, though I'd prefer adventures without animals involved on any level.

I am leaving for Taiwan again on Friday evening and will be back the following Friday. Rod launches the 2nd edition of his magazine in my absence. He's so excited about it!

Toh-Tally

Evelyn tells us that a boy named Nicolas ("sometimes he lets us call him Nick") has a way of accentuating other people's adjectives with the word "Totally." Evelyn likes to use the word "Sweet!" or "Awesome!", to which Nicolas replies in perfect Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High fashion "Toh-tally Sweet...". It is cute to watch Evelyn imitate him.

Last Saturday, Kenneth participated in a special soccer tournament called "Spookout" through the Round Rock soccer association. The teams were 3 vs. 3 so it was much more fast-paced than a traditional game. A different set of rules applied as well. His team won all three of the standard games, which allowed them to advance to the finals. Their last game was so exciting and so close -- they were leading till the last part when the other team scored one goal that put them in the lead. Although I did not get any pictures of the games, I can assure you the boys were beyond thrilled with themselves after all of the games, and truly disappointed when they lost. However, he got a great trophy and the team had 2nd place status in the tournament.


Saturday night, Rod and I dressed up for Halloween and headed downtown to a friend's loft for a party. Rod was Clark Kent and had a Superman costume underneath his suit. He revealed the Superman costume after we had been there about an hour. I attempted a Wonder Woman costume, mostly made out of things I already owned. We had to stop at a Walmart on the way to the party to pick up gold braided rope for the lasso of truth, a gold belt, and a gold wrist bands. This picture was taken before I wandered through Walmart in my red tights, short-shorts, and high heel boots to purchase the accessories. I ditched the yellow-suede belt in the picture for a gold one with a big buckle. The blazer was the only thing that kept me feeling like a semi-normal person. Of course, having Rod accompany me with the suit probably didn't read too well to the Pflugerville Walmart customers. I swear we looked better in person.

Blue Angels Air Show

Last weekend we zipped up to Dallas to visit our friends, Tiffani, Jim, & Abby and see an air show that featured the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels are 'the best of the best' as far as fighter and stunt pilots. It was a beautiful day, but despite the nice weather, the sun made us tired. OK, when I say "us" I mean the 4 females in the group. Tiffani laid on her back on the hot concrete at one point and I spent time sitting with my head facing down to avoid too much sun exposure. Evelyn and Abby took only one good photo where they didn't look exhausted or upset. Rod took a picture of me and Tiffani that I refuse to admit was the reality of the day (and also refuse to post it). The wind had whipped several hairs out of the ponytail that was attempting to restrain them and we looked like splotchy-faced Olans. Kenneth and Rod spent most of the time happily looking up at the sky with cameras. Rod was bright red the following day. The Blue Angels portion of the show was very cool, I have to admit.

AbouTown Launch

Rod and one of his College Station colleagues, Chris, launched a community newspaper called AbouTown that gets mailed to everyone in Bryan/College Station. We are all very excited about it. They had the launch party about a week and a half ago and lots of folks showed up to support them.
While we were there, the kids went to Elizabeth's house and hung out with their cousins. OF course, they had a lot of fun.

We've been so busy that we have had a poor plant in the pot in which we bought it for about a month. I faithfully watered it in the tiny pot, but it definitely needed to be planted or it would die. The kids helped plant it in the front yard. Hopefully it will grow to block the view of the water meter and hoses!



Saturday started out with the usual soccer games. Rod took this cute picture of Evelyn and a couple of her teammates. This weekend we went to an awesome (!!) restaurant south of downtown called Home Slice with some friends/neighbors. It was amazing. The pizza was great, but the meatball sandwich was to die for. Those of you who know me, know that I would not ordinarily lush over a meatball sandwich so it has to be good! Afterwards, we headed over to a green city festival, organized by the City of Austin.

DC Trip: Day 4

The last day of our trip included a morning visit to the Textile Museum. This is not a traditional stop that a DC-visit might entail, but it is worth it. My work is directly involved with Industrial Design and textiles play a role in user perceptions. The museum was recommended by a colleague who has specialized in Colors/Materials/Finishes as they relate to products. It was located about 4 blocks from our B&B, in a historic neighborhood. As we walked down the street, we realized we were surrounded by embassies. Walks later that day in a slightly different direction showed more of the same. Although it makes sense, it still surprised us how many we saw. The picture is me in front of one of the Ireland embassies. The Museum was located in the former family home of the man who started the collection that has now grown into the largest collection in the U.S. The third floor of the museum actually has a textile library for students of this art.


After the Textile Museum, we had lunch in the Dupont Circle area at a French Bistro and spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening shopping in Georgetown. Our flight was early Sunday morning and we were very glad to get home to see the kids.

DC Trip: Day 3

Our third and fourth days in DC were a little bit more relaxing. The morning at the B&B was a little odd, though. Forgive the detailed story about the toaster situation, but it bothered me at the time. The regular B&B management was not around when I got up for breakfast; instead, another lady was handling the kitchen and clearly was not aiming for customer experience. I was all set to toast my own bagel using one of the three available toasters set up in the dining area, without any need for eggs or anything that might require assistance. Because they only had mini-bagels, I opted for the traditional toaster where you can lay the bagel flat, as opposed to the sideways-entry toaster, which is really meant for larger items. I placed my bagel halves in the toaster and realized it wasn't plugged in, so I reached around the table and plugged it in. Out of nowhere, this lady appears and tells me "You can use the other toaster!" Taken aback, I said "this is fine, I plugged it in". Clearly still invested in my bagel-making tactics, she pointed out "this one has a bagel setting!" OOOOKKKKK. I could tell she was edgy, so I looked at her blankly and moved my bagels to the sideways toaster that she desperately wanted me to use. Of course, the bagel setting was actually meant for normal-size bagels, not mini ones so it didn't really work out. As soon as I got the bagels in the preferred toaster, she grabbed the tray from the first toaster, dumped the few crumbs into the trash can, put the tray back in and unplugged it. WHATEVER. If she really didn't want people to use it because she didn't want to clean it, then it shouldn't have been an option on the table. Sigh.

Our first stop of the day was the Smithsonian Hirshhorn museum, which is primarily sculptures, mixed in with a few other exhibits. The exhibits included:

* An art series by Morris Louis. His striped canvases appealed to me tremendously. I may try to find a print of one that I really like for framing purposes.

* A room with a name plate that was called "Milk Run". The idea was that you were supposed to walk into this darkened hallway with glow-tape arrows to direct you to an even darker room. The messaging dictated that you wait several minutes for your eyes to adjust and said not to "walk in the white area". A security guard stood in the area between the semi-darkened hallway and the "milk run". She guided us, one at a time through the darkness by holding our elbow and asked us if we wanted to sit. Sure, why not. This involved further elbow guiding until she gestured (I could barely see) to an area that had a bench. By this time, I realized we had been guided past a row of people already seated on what was a bleacher-like bench. After my eyes adjusted, I was embarrassed at how much those people could see us stumbling around, shoulders hunched and hands out searching for solid objects. The milk run itself was just a stark white floor with a reddish-orange lighting glow coming from around the corner that projected onto the white floor. It was very serious in there and I asked Rod if he thought we should expect anything else. We eventually got up and left. The security guard told us that "milk run" implied a sunrise on a farm and that was what the exhibit was about.

* A video that was more like animal performance art. The artist videotaped a wild wolf and a wild deer together in a white room; basically, taking two wild animals out of their natural element and watching what happened. The images would zoom in on the deer, which was clearly stressed out (breathing hard and darting eyes). The wolf circled around but got bored and laid on the ground to sleep after a while. The goal was to have observers look deeper into themselves (according to the signage). It didn't do much for introspection (for me anyway).

More tomorrow...

DC Trip: Day 2

We are lucky enough to have 2 cousins in DC, Hank and Sarah. Hank has finished college and is working near the Capitol and Sarah is a junior at George Washington University. Hank arranged a personal tour of the US Capitol through our state rep's (Mike McCaul) office on Thursday morning. A very nice intern named Emily showed us around and we heard about many details that I don't think we'd have been told on a regular tour. No famous politician sightings, although we saw Nancy Pelosi's chamber entrance with a "closed" sign blocking the hallway. :)


After that, we visited the Library of Congress, which was one of my favorite sites on the whole trip. It is not only beautiful, but the ambiance reminds you that education is sacred. We walked past the Supreme Court building as we left the Library.

After lunch, we visited the American Indian museum and the Botanical Gardens, then headed back to the B&B to rest up before meeting my cousins for dinner. We met in Georgetown at a restaurant called Clyde's and had a great visit. We hope to see them more often. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the four of us!

DC Trip: Day 1

Rod and I landed in DC around 3 PM last Wednesday and after purchasing $17 worth of two drinks and a shared Cinnabon at the airport, we bought Metro cards and hopped on the Red line to Dupont Circle. Our B&B was perfectly located in Upper Georgetown, which was a safe(ish) and eccentric part of town. The Metro station at Dupont Circle was about 5 blocks from the B&B, so it was a brief walk every time we wanted to use the subway. The escalator up (see Rod's picture) was very steep and moved very slowly. Our B&B was quaint, with spiraling stairs and wooden floors . We were on the 4th floor (no elevator) and our particular room was really rather big, with our own bathroom and mini-refrigerator. The fourth picture from the top (in the center row) of the website was our specific room. http://www.lodgingsinternational.com/accommodations/1663.htm


After relaxing a bit and unpacking our luggage, we checked out the street map and determined that we were only about 3-4 miles from the part of DC that had the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, etc. We ate at a locally famous Italian restaurant called Anna Maria's. There were pictures of the owners (father, then son as the pictures progressed in time) with famous politicians and celebrities. I am standing in front of the restaurant in the picture.

We continued our walk down to the monuments for a night-time view, which we'd heard was a requirement since the lighting is so beautifully placed. We walked by the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the Lincoln Monument. On our way to the Lincoln Monument, we walked along the rectangular pond that was featured in the Forrest Gump movie; by that time, it was dark and swarms of large gnats were attacking us along the entire length of the pond in periodic (every 30 seconds or so) bouts. On our way back to Georgetown, we walked through the George Washington University campus. The next day, we regretted the 8 mile walk because our shins were quite sore!