Father's Day

Just a few pics from Ben's special day.  It wasn't particularly restful for him, since he was substitute teaching Luke's Primary class and he wanted to make his own dinner, but it was still a good day.

Can you really teach a Primary class of 9-year-olds about
David and Goliath without dressing up as Goliath and letting
them throw fabric balls at you?  I think not.

Jack and Eliza made this great sign!

Ben took charge of dinner - all I did was the rolls.
He even ordered dessert for himself from a
coworker whose wife makes yummy pies as a side hustle.

We're so thankful for Ben and all he does for our family!  I can't imagine what our house would be like without his sense of humor OR his serious side.  I appreciate them both!

Washington, DC Reunion, Part 4

There had been talk of going to Baltimore to see the National Aquarium on Day 5 but we scrapped it in favor of a more laid-back kid-centered day.  We tried to find a water park or family fun center where we could spend a few hours but school wasn't out yet in DC so most of those places hadn't opened for the season.  After some trial and error (thinking we coudl go do gokarts but finding out the place only had the arcade open) we finally went to a trampoline park.  It worked out great!  All the kids - including teenagers - jumped and climbed and dodged and dunked while the adults sat at a table and played cards.  Back at the house we sang Happy Birthday to Ben before heading out on the Metro to catch the Nationals vs. the Brewers.

I promise the cake looked better when it was freshly decorated...

It's not a baseball game if you don't eat hot dogs.

Or ice cream out of a miniature batting helmet.

And funnel cake doesn't hurt.

I set up a birthday greeting for Ben on the scoreboard, but we happened
to be sitting in the one area of the stadium where we couldn't see the scoreboard.
The messages showed up at the bottom of the 4th and I swear the top of the 4th
was the fastest half of an inning I've ever seen.  We were all running over to
try to see the message but we missed it.  So, this is an edited make-up photo.

We checked out of our AirBnb on Day 6, then we all went for a little driving tour of Alexandria, where we lived for a couple of years growing up.  We saw our grandparents' houses and some of the schools we and our parents attended.  I'll publish a separate post about that soon.  Then we walked around the National Cathedral and said goodbye to Megan's family.  The rest of us had lunch in Georgetown (thanks to Ben and Suz's parking skills and willingness to pick up food for a crowd), then spent the last bit of time we had in DC at the National Zoo before flying home.

This is everyone trying to see the Darth Vader gargoyle
at the National Cathedral.  It was very high up and very
difficult to see.

This is such a cool building!
We couldn't go inside because a commencement was going on
but we enjoyed seeing the outside.

Georgetown University, one of Andy's alma maters.

It was really cool to be so close to the Giant Pandas at the National Zoo!

This was the second time we've seen Pandas, but the other time was
the San Diego Zoo, where the animals are much farther away.  I think
the habitat was probably better in San Diego, but it was neat to be able
to see them so well in DC.

Eliza with Turtles/Tortoises = Happy Eliza

Our view of the Pentagon and Arlington as we began our flight home.

Arlington.

It was SO FUN to be back with all of my siblings and their families for a few days!  It was a busy week but there was something for everyone, and it was so nice to all be in a house together.  We had lots of laughs, made lots of memories, and didn't get enough sleep, which is exactly how it should be.

Next time we go to DC, I'd love to see Mount Vernon, a few Revolutionary War / Civil War battle fields, the Holocaust Museum, Ford's Theater, and go inside the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument.  And maybe check out the National Gallery of Art and see a show at the Kennedy Center and paddle boat in the Tidal Basin and spend more time at the war memorials. That's all.

Washington, DC Reunion, Part 3

We spent most of Day 3 on the National Mall, and though we were lucky to have comparatively cool June weather for the whole week, this was the hottest day and also the day we did the most walking.  We started out in the middle of the Mall, walked past the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Monument, and the menfolk were kind enough to rent scooters to go pick up a Subway lunch for all of us, which we ate while sitting on the grass, in the shade.  Then we walked to the Natural History Museum and split up into smaller groups while we were at the museum so that everyone could see the things they wanted to see.

An experiment in taking a Suz-style photo.
It wasn't a complete failure, but it's definitely not what we're used to!

Marine 1!  The President is in one helicopter and the other is a decoy.
(I learned that from Andy.)

We happened to see a Marine Corps drill team performing too, which was really cool.
I heard another observer say it was the Silent Drill Platoon, but I don't know for sure.
They did a great job!

We didn't take time to appreciate the WWII memorial,
but you can see it in the background here.  Whit was kind
enough to share his shade with Luke while we walked.

Everyone was hot and tired but Megan really wanted me
to recreate this photo from when we were in DC in 2014
for Grandpa's funeral.

This was the best we could do, trying to hurry so
that we didn't hold everyone else up and keep them
in the sun even longer.  Not bad though, right?

Will was a great tour guide!

The boys were the most interested in the Hall of Fossils.

I was pretty excited to see some mummies.

Now THAT'S a big crab.

We made sure to see the Hope Diamond too, but I didn't get a good picture.

A worn-out bunch waiting to get on the Metro back to the AirBnb.

Cat found a good way to keep Sydney entertained on the Metro -
photo filters.  She loved it!

That night, a group of us went to see Top Gun: Maverick.

We split into two groups on the morning of Day 4.  Half of the family went with Will to see his apartment and stomping grounds.  (I would have loved to do that, but most of Will's family was already going, plus my girls and Suz, and I didn't want to make the group too big, and I thought the boys would enjoy doing touristy stuff more.)  The other group went straight to the National Mall.  We waited in line at the National Archives for a little while, but going in and seeing The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution was worth it!  Then we tried out the Metro's $1 bus, and it was awesome.  We took the bus to the Jefferson Memorial, then the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.  I thought the MLK Memorial was wonderfully done.

Why is Jefferson always portrayed gazing into the middle distance?

We briefly considered taking the boys (and Sydney)
on the paddle boats in the Tidal Basin but the wind picked up
when we were there and all the boats were brought in.
(Also, believe it or not, this photo was not staged.)

We all connected again in the afternoon and went through the American History Museum.  We saw some of the iconic items on display, but never could find Kermit the Frog.  There was some renovation and exhibit-building going on, so things were a bit jumbled.  We'll just have to go back.

{place holder for a photo of all of the females of the

family at the entrance to the feminism exhibit}

Julia Child's kitchen, and Eliza and Dylan.

Abraham Lincoln's top hat!

Pooped out again after another day of walking.

Back in 2021 when Megan was in the very early stages of planning this reunion, I suggested we have it in Washington, DC, in large part because I wanted to go to Will's restaurant.  He started working as a chef de partie (line cook) for Chef Eric Ziebold about a year ago.  One kitchen services two Michelin-star restuarants in DC: Kinship (a la carte) and Metier (seven-course tasting menu).  I wanted to go support Will AND try the food, so I was really excited when Megan decided we would have the reunion in DC and eat at Kinship!

On Thursday night, the kids ate pizza and had a Mario Kart tournament (organized by Colin) while the adults headed over to Kinship for an awesome dinner.

Megan made our reservation for the day Ben got back from NC
so he was able to join us for this special dinner.  We were all pretty stoked!

Kinship's version of chips and dip:
amazing potato chips fried in clarified butter, creme fraiche from a local dairy,
and caviar.  I was nervous to try caviar for the first time, but it was really good!

We loved dinner and definitely enjoyed it even more knowing we were
at Will's place.  He sent up some special things just for us, and came up
to chat with us when he was finished with work.

THEN Will gave us a tour of Metier and the kitchen
(both in the basement of the building).  So cool!
The kitchen was smaller than I expected, to serve two restaurants.