Sunday, September 29th, 2008
^●●●Fall Campout

This weekend was the first campout for this year's cub scouts. We went to North Shore Lake Bastrop.  Dave is now cub master, so he is responsible for planning most of the activities, and he did a great job.  The boys first shot off rockets as a den event last year with just our den (just the kids in the same grade as Dylan).  It was such a hit, that Dave decided to do it with the whole pack.  And the boys LOVED it.  It was really fun watching the expression on each kid's face as he blasted off his rocket, and that watched open-mouthed as it landed.  Good, old-fashioned fun. At Philmont this summer, they had a really nice craft room, and one section of the room was devoted to leather work.  Dylan and Kyle had such a great time stamping leather, that Dave decided to have this also as a camp event.  Each of the kids received a small piece of leather that they could thread into a neckerchief slide.  They then could choose between twenty or so different symbols, letters and numbers to design their own slide.  Again, it was really fun to watch the concentration on the boys' face as they worked on their piece, and well as the pride in their finished product! And lastly, Dave has learned a lot through the scout organization about hosting a great campfire.  To start this one, all the cubs sat around an unlit fire, and Dave introduced them to the concept of "reverse acoustic ignition".  If this kids shouted loud enough, it would light the fire.  I won't give away any of his tricks, but it is needless to say, that it worked perfectly, and on the third time, the kids screamed so loud, that it started the fire.  Magic.

Thursday, September 18th, 2008
^●●●Bastrop Zoo

For the first pack meeting of every year, we hire the same guy from the Bastrop County Zoo.  He comes to the church and brings a few animals with them.  This year he brought a porcupine, a python named banana, a blue-tongue skink and others.  This guy has great interactions with the kids, and is always a hit with both cubs and parents alike! 

^●●●The Hat

Dave has decided that, as pack cub master, he will wear an entertaining hat to every pack meeting.  Something fun.  And he picked his favorite for the first meeting.  Now, this hat has a story.  It did not originate as a cub scout hat, not even for a costume.  No, Dave made this hat for work! 

I guess it all started when Dave's boss asked him to forecast out sales revenue for an absurdly (in his mind) length of time.  Dave responded with, "Who do you think I am, Karnak the great?"  For those of you not up on your 80's TV, Karnak the Great was a skit from Johnny Carson where Karnak would pretend to foresee the contents of an envelope, and then read a question to which the contents provided the answer.

 For example,
   "What does Kermit get when you kick him between the legs?"
   Karnak opens the envelope, within which is written, "Green Acres"

So, Dave showed up at the monthly review, prepared with his revenue estimates... and his Karnak hat.  I guess Dave's boss had to either laugh, or fire him.  Fortunately for us, he chose laugh :o)

Sunday, August 30th, 2008
^●●●Human Race

Danielle and I ran our first race of the season.  Neither one of us has trained very hard over the summer.  She will be starting her marathon training next week, and I will begin my half-marathon training the following week. So, I was really pleased with how well we ran this race.  It was a 6:30 in the evening, and hotter than an oven, but we kept it moving and had a really great race! It was kind of fun to know that this race was taking place all over the world - with 15,000 participants here in Austin!

Monday, August 25th, 2008
^●●●Back to School

Both boys went back to school.  Dylan started third grade and Kyle began kindergarten.  They were both very excited, and the only nervous one was me!

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
^●●●Flash mob in Austin!!!

Dylan started the first flashmob in Austin!

The pack had a Bats and Ice Cream event downtown.  For this event, the pack brings a pile of ice cream, the kids run around like mad children, the sun goes down and we all watch the bats come out; a very Austin (and fun!) thing to do.

However, while I was getting chairs from the car, someone approached Dave about having our boys participate in Austin's first flash mob.  If you don't know what a flash mob is, don't worry, neither did we.  According to Wikipedia, a flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time,and then quickly disperse.  Okay... 

So, all they asked was for the two boys (Dylan and Jared) to start a pillow fight in the middle of the group of people waiting to watch the bats.  They even gave the boys two pillows.  Apparently, they had two children set up to start the pillow fight, but at the last minute, they couldn't make it, so they were looking for substitutes. 

A little before dusk, the girl approached us again, and asked Dylan and Jared to start the fight - just the two of them. A minute later, another girl joined in.  Then a guy came running off from the left at full speed.  He took a full swing at Kyle (knocking him to the ground - Kyle loved it!) and then everyone joined in.  There must have been fifty young adults who all brought pillows for this staged event.

We knew that this was a staged event, but looking at the faces of astonishment and amazement on the other spectators' faces was hilarious. 

If you look closely, you can see Dylan in the lower right hand corner!

Yet one more cool thing in Austin!

If you want to check out their web page, go we www.flashmobaustin.com

Sunday, August 17th, 2008
^●●●Pecos River

We drove up to the Pecos River with Grandpa Mac today - and saw some of the most gorgeous scenes I think I have ever witnessed.  The Pecos River is a somewhat small river that winds between huge mountains.  We had a wonderful morning driving along the river, and stopping every time we saw something just too beautiful to miss!  The boys had a great time throwing rocks into the river, and Dave and I just ogled the view!

Saturday, August 17th, 2008
^●●●Santa Fe with Grandpa Mac and Nanny Beth

We arrived in Santa Fe shortly after lunch.  The boys always love to visit Grandpa Mac and Nanny Beth!  Their house sits right on the edge of a small trail, with rocks, sticks, and, after a very heavy rainfall, even a small creek!  They could spend all day digging in the dirt there!  In their backyard, they also have a small pond with two turtles.  And when the boys got tired (or cold), they popped into Grandpa's hot tub! Plus, the always love seeing and spending time with their Grandpa and Nanny Beth! The weather was cool, but not cold.  But on Sunday night, there was a freak hail storm, that peppered there house.  The kids had a great time making 'hail balls'

Saturday, August 17th, 2008
^●●●Philmont to Santa Fe
We drove from Philmont to Santa Fe on Saturday morning.  We decided to take the long route through the mountains and past Taos.  It cost a about an hour, but the views were amazing!  We rose to above 9,000 feet.  At on point, the view was so breathtaking, we just had to stop and get out!  This is, most certainly, God's country!

And, as a side bonus, we passed by one of Dave's favorite restaurants in Espanola, Joann's, and stopped for a quick but delicious bite to eat!

Sunday, August 10th, 2008
^●●●Philmont
 

Philmont was really, really fun!  Though I think the boys and I had more fun than Dave :o)  The landscape was breathtaking, the weather was awesome (though a bit cold) and the activities were outstanding.  As I came to realize, if anyone is bored at Philmont, it is there own fault.  There is always something going on.

While Dave was in classes, they had a family program for the rest of us.  Dylan and Kyle were in age groups, and I was in the Silverados - a group of all the non-conference adults. The boys had a week of hiking in the beautiful mountains, riding ponies, playing games, making crafts and generally having a fabulous time.  And when they weren't with their group, they played on the playground, pounded out leather stamps, participated in fun games and watched evening programs.

For my part, there was a lot to choose from.  Everyday had a selection of hikes, museums, and crafts.  However, I chose to do the COPE course, which is a confidence ropes course (see below) which was, in a word, amazing! I also went horseback riding one afternoon. We led our horses (or they led us) through a wildflower strewn meadow, with mountains encircling us, and over little babbling brooks.  It really was that beautiful!  For the little remaining time, I toured a local museum, and spent some just enjoying the fresh mountain air while reading a book.   Every evening at Philmont, they had different activities planned.  The first and last nights were the opening and closing programs.  Twice they had a band play that was made up of Philmont staff.  What they lacked in talent, they made up for with good spirits :o) One early evening, they had a game night, where everyone brought their favorite pack activity.  Someone set up a maze, someone else brought water rockets, Dave brought his sling shot, and others brought a collection of fun games or activities.  There was even a Western Dance night, accompanied by buffalo barbecue sandwiches.  We ate the barbecue sandwiches, but were too exhausted to stay up for the dance! As I said before, if you were bored, it was because you wanted to be :o)  There was always something fun going on - and the only thing to stop you from going was pure exhaustion!

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
^●●●Urraca Trail

Wednesday at Philmont is Family Day.  There are no planned activities, but lots of local hikes and museums to visit.  We decided to try a local hike on the Urraca trail up to the Urraca mesa; an amazing hike, with lots of great views of the countryside.  This was probably the most difficult trek the boys have ever been on in their lives.  It was a length of 3 1/2 miles and started at elevation of 6,800, and climbed up to 8,000. It took us a little under three hours to complete.  Since we planned on the hike taking us awhile, we stopped beforehand at the local grocery store to pick up sandwiches. Breathtaking!

^●●●COPE

COPE stands for "Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience".  It is defined as:

a series of outdoor challenges, beginning with basic group initiative games and progressing to more complicated low-course and high-course activities. Some of these events involve a group effort, whereas others test individual skills and agility. Participants climb, swing, balance, jump, and rappel as well as think through solutions to a variety of challenges. Most participants find that they can do much more than they initially thought that they could.

And that is a pretty apt description :o)  There were ten others who joined me in the 4 3-hour sessions.  We ranged in age from 21 to, well, much older :o)  In fact, I was the second youngest at 37!  It was a good group, and we all seemed to work together pretty well.  The first days were team building.  My contribution to the group was being the smallest, so I was the one being lifted up to 'put the ring on the giant's finger', or I was the last one being pulled through whatever hole we were trying to traverse.  The last two sessions were the high ropes, which was a confidence trick.  We started off with the flying squirrel, which was very easy, and helped get us comfortable with heights.  Essentially, one person was tied into a harness, and then the rest of the team would pull that person up about fifty feet.  Fun, and the view was amazing.  We also participated in a zip line.  We climbed a 55 foot telephone pole to a platform.  We were then strapped into a zip line, and swung 60 feet to a far telephone pole.  Jumping off a platform is hard - even when you know you are harnessed in, but it was an exhilarating ride.

The hardest feat, and thus the greatest feeling of accomplishment was the "Confidence Pole".  First we climbed up a 35 foot telephone pole - not that big of a deal.  But then, we had to transfer ourselves off of the tiny staples and balance ourselves on the top of the pole.  We then jumped off (held again by a harness) to the ground below.  They had a three foot trial telephone pole to practice on - and it is amazing the difference between 3 and 35 feet!  I was on top of the 35 foot pole, trying to get up the confidence to let go with my hands and put my foot on top and lever myself up.  When I finally made it, I was shaking like a leaf!   But it was an amazing feeling of accomplishment

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008
^●●●Kyle turns 6!!

Kyle had his birthday party with all of us his friends at National Elite Gymnastics.  This place is wonderful, all I had to do was show up with a cake!  National Elite is a huge gymnasium with trampolines to jump on, rings to hang from and mats to run on. They had two youth helping out for the party, and they kept the kids entertained the whole time!  It was wonderful! Unfortunately, within 5 minutes of the party starting, Kyle decided to try a flip off of the trampoline into the foam pit - and came up with a very bloody nose.  It took a bit to calm him down, but he quickly rejoined his friends and had a great time for the rest of the day!

Tuesday, July 25th, 2008
^●●●We're Back!!!

After three weeks in DC, we finally got back today!  What a wonderful trip it was!!!  I will be filling in the back weeks with all we got to see and do, as well as pictures, over the upcoming week.

Our hotel was in the perfect location.  It was a short walk to the National Mall, but on those days when we had walked too much (some days at least 5 miles!), it was also only two metro stops from the hotel to the Mall!  Having over two weeks to spend exploring, we took things pretty slow.  We'd eat a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, and then the boys would play in the room for a bit.  When we were all ready, we would either walk or ride down to the National Mall and take in a museum or memorial.  When the kids got tired (generally around 3 or 4pm) we would head back to the hotel and relax until Dave got home.   Because of the easy pace, the boys really enjoyed our time there, and were never 'museum-ed out' (or course it may be because the museums were sooo amazing)

Here the boys are, cooling their tired dogs off in one of the many Mall fountains!

Although the hotel room had a small kitchen, it was so small, that we wound up not eating in very much at all.   The hotel had a really nice breakfast that we enjoyed every morning.  After spending the first two afternoons eating un-appealing, overpriced food in over-crowded cafeterias, we made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up lunch supplies.  There after, we had some wonderful lunches sitting outside, under a tree, by whatever attraction we were at for the day.  And in the evenings, we would either go out and try one of Dave's favorite restaurants (from all his previous trips to DC), or catch a quick dinner at a nearby Chinese place, or Potbelly)

Monday, July 24th
^●●● Our last day
I had originally planned on going to Mount Vernon today, but the kids are I were a little pooped, and I had a lot of packing to do.  So, we spent most of the morning hanging around the hotel room.  I then gave the kids their choice of anything we could do, and they chose the National History Museum.  So we headed back to the dinosaurs for one last goodbye. 

And of course, we had to finish our vacation the same way we started it - with a carousel ride.  It seemed sooo long since they rode the carousel on our first day.  We had done so much, seen so much, learned so much. It was truly, the opportunity of a lifetime!

Kyle's favorite 'horse' was the dragon.  He waited two turns so he could ride it!

Sunday, July 24th
^●●● The Science Museum and Memorials in the evening

On Sunday, we headed back down to the Mall with Dave.  We stopped at a "Science Museum" that Dave had seen advertised.  As one of the few paid ticket items, we were expecting something great... But, after touring the first three rooms about global warming and viruses, we went looking for the rest of the museum... and looking... and looking.  Apparently, the museum only had three rooms!  Truly, our only disappointing exhibit in DC. So, then we went to the Art Museum, which the boys and I had seen, but Dave hadn't.  We wandered through the rooms until the kids lost interest.  I did get to see the Van Goghs that I had missed the previous visit. Dave hadn't gotten a chance to see any of the memorials, so we headed down to the Mall after dinner.  Clearly, this is the way to see the Monuments.  They are so beautiful all lit up.  And it had been so hot during the day, but the evening was cool and sweet.  We visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam memorial.  Unfortunately, Dave's feet started hurting him before he got a chance to see the FDR... our favorite.

Saturday, July 23rd
^●●● Arlington, Udvar Hazy Center and Lucinda

We started off the day with a tour of the Arlington cemetery.  We saw Kennedy's eternal flame, the Tomb of the Unknown soldier, and a variety of other sites.  A very moving day, seeing all those brave men and women who fought for our amazing country. I did learn something new, apparently the remains of the unknown solider from the Vietnam Memorial have been identified using DNA testing, so that tomb now remains empty.

The tomb of the unknown soldier

A view of Arlington

Afterwards, we headed back to the Udvar Hazy Center, another part of the Air and Space Museum out by Dulles Airport. We walked around looking at all the huge aircraft:  the Enterprise Space Shuttle, a black bird (Kyle's favorite), and lots of other cool things that I have already forgotten.  The boys and Dave also went on a simulator ride of a jet airplane.  With my weak stomach, I opted to take pictures when they finished :o)

The three boys after their simulator ride

And then we went to go visit my friend Lucinda's house.  It is always so nice to see her.  She is one of those people that you can not see for years, but when you see her again, it feels just like picking up an interrupted conversation.

Kyle and Dylan were, well, Kyle and Dylan.  Lucinda's house is very nice... and with two small girls, very quiet.  And we are, well, NOT.  Kyle went screaming "Ahhhhh Ahhhhh Ahhhhh" around the house.  And then, two steps behind him came Zoe, doing the same thing. I doubt the walls of that house have ever rung quite so loudly as when we were there :o)  Nick, who is also a very quiet person, kept looking outside at the three of them and saying, "I think Zoe is overwhelmed.  She just isn't used to this much activity."  Lucinda and I just rolled our eyes... Zoe was having the time of her life :o)  At one point, though, Zoe did convince Kyle to sit down and brush Dora's hair, which was a little hilarious!

Friday, July 22nd
^●●● Capitol

We also got tickets to tour the Capitol from our congressman.  This tour was not self-lead so we did get a little more information than on our White House tour.  Afterwards, we visited our Congressman's office for tickets to the House of Representative, which was not in session.  We then tromped over to our Senator, for tickets to the Senate gallery.  Probably the highlight for the boys was being stopped by the Capitol guards so they could give them an "Honorary Guard" sticker.  I think Kyle really believed he was a policeman for the day ;o)

The senate was in session, and debating renewable energy, which I found entertaining.  What surprised me, was that the boys were entertained also.  I can't really say why, but I kept asking them if they wanted to leave, and they kept telling me "No".  Maybe there is a future of politic somewhere in them!

Thursday, July 21st
^●●● White House and National Archives
I managed to contact our congressman (or at least his aide) to get four tickets to tour the White House today.  Dave took the day off and joined us.  The tour was somewhat disappointing, as it was self-led, overly-crowded and only included a few rooms.  However, with all of the security of 9-11, without the tour, you can't approach within 200 feet of the White House, so it was still a great opportunity!

Afterwards, it was such a gorgeous day that we headed down to the mall with Dave.  We first stopped at the National Archives to check out the Constitution.  It was a bit of a wait, altogether 45 minutes maybe.  Although the kids weren't amazed by this, I know that in the future they will learn about the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Magna Carta in school, and they will be one of the few Texas children who can say, "I've seen that!"  Just one of those things you have to do while in DC ;o)

Wednesday, July 21st
^●●● Bureau of Engraving and Printing
 

This was another free exhibit that requires tickets.  So the boys and I got tickets in the morning for an evening show (so Dave could join us)  We got to see the actual place that money is made... always fun!  At one point, one of the workers in the facility offered up a stack of around $3 million to Dylan and Kyle.  Unfortunately, a 3 inch plexiglass window prevented us from living out the rest of our life in luxury :o)

Truly it was amazing.  They were printing out $100 bills when we visited.  And there, on a small stack on the factory floor was more than our house was worth!  It was also neat learning how the dollar bill has changed over time, both in appearance and in size!

Wednesday, July 21st
^●●● Franzini Family Circus and Muppets

Smithsonian has a children's theater on the mall called "Discovery Theater".  It is kind of neat, because you enter through a tiny circular building (maybe ten feet diameter).  And then you go down stairs, and the place opens up into a huge building under ground.  Anyway, I purchased tickets to the Franzini Family Circus, an entertaining show that taught science concepts like gravity through juggling and comedy.  The boys had a really great time! As an added bonus, also hidden underground was an exhibit about Jim Henson and the Muppets.

I must admit I was rather embarrassed that my kids had never heard about the Muppets, but they fortunately did have some film clips.  The exhibit had lots of hands-on activities.  A favorite was the huge puppet tent that the kids could use with a variety of supplied puppets.  Even better, they had a TV camera trained on it, so the kids could put on a "real" show.  They also had some large felt characters than the kids could play with, and some storyboard ideas.  I wouldn't have guessed it, but the kids spent at least two hours at this exhibit!  They really enjoyed it!

Tuesday, July 21st
^●●● National Zoo, Part II

We had only seen a small portion of the zoo with my brother and his family, so we went back and spent the entire day here!  Dave dropped us off on his way to work, and then picked us up on the way home.  The zoo was amazing and having a whole day meant that if the kids wanted to sit and watch the seals and sea lions for a half hour, that was what we did. We were also able to enjoy some of the demonstrations, like seeing the bald eagle eat, and the feeding of the giant octopus! And the weather couldn't have been better.  It was threatening to storm, which kept the temperatures (and crowds) to a minimum.  But it never did rain!

One of the coolest things was the "O-Line"  (Orangutan Line).  There are these metal telephone poles fifty or so feet high.  And strung between them are three cables.  These poles connect two different Orangutan exhibits in the zoo.  When the Orangutans want to go from one building to another, they climb there... fifty feet above our heads! At the end of the day, we still hadn't made it to the Birds or the Amazon house, but between the day with John and today, we did manage to see just about everything else.  But boy were our feet tired!

Monday, July 21st
^●●● Dinos 3D and National Art Museum
The IMAX theater in the National History Museum had a 3D dino movie.  So I took the kids to check it out.  They had never seen a 3D movie before, and what better subject than dinosaurs.  It was a very short movie, only 30 minutes, but it was fun watching them reach out and try and touch the flying pteranodons, or hide from the approaching T-Rex!

Afterwards, we headed for a quick tour of the Art Museum.  I wasn't sure how it would go with the kids, but I kept it quick and upbeat, and they seemed to enjoy it.  In every room, we all picked our favorite painting -which kept the boys pretty entertained.  The museum had an exhibit by Martin Puryear.  His goal was to "capture the essence of inner spaces"  or something like that.  Not really my style, but the kids were captivated by his huge wooded structures of levers and balls.  Not all that high-brow, but hey, we had fun!

Sunday, July 19th
^●●●More cousins!
Dave did not join us at the campground, but spent the weekend in Delaware with his half-sister and her new baby.  The boys and I were driving right by their house to get back to DC, so we stopped for a very short visit on the way.  This vacation made it possible for them to see all of their cousins, except the Martins in Chicago!

Saturday, July 19th
^●●●Beaver Valley Campground

The boys and I joined the Janneys and some of their friends at a local campground.  Bucks County, where they live, is absolutely beautiful with huge dark green trees interspersed with small creeks here and there.  Because of our limited luggage size, we decided to rent a cabin instead of hauling a tent, sleeping bags, etc.  The cabin was sparse but very nice.  Laura's friend had four boys, and Ted's brother brought 4 girls so there were now even more children to play with.

Needless to say, Kyle was in hog heaven!  The first night, he stayed up until 10pm playing with them all! The campground had a nice pool where we spent a lot of time.  The summer days were pretty hot (even for Texas).  Unfortunately, the pool was actually a bit cool for our Texas blood.  But we did eventually get the guts to go in :o) On Saturday afternoon, we headed down to a small creek running through the campground.  On our hike, the various children found and caught a frog, a crayfish, a lizard, some tadpoles and a very cool baby snapping turtle. They also found a leech, which wasn't quite as entertaining! Saturday evening, we celebrated Samuel's birthday.  Laura, amazing woman that she is, made a honey bee cake that Samuel had seen and liked in Family Fun magazine.

The Janneys also introduced us to 'hobo pies', an apparent Janney camping staple.  Basically, there is a metal sandwich holder with a long rod to place in the fire.  We filled ours with bread, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.  Laura brought along eggplants, which the kids wouldn't touch - but I absolutely loved. I think we have discovered a new camping meal for the Reads!

We stayed at the campground until Sunday afternoon and then headed back to DC.  The worst part of the whole week was seeing how much the kids enjoyed each other, and knowing that we would probably not all be together again for at least a year, and more likely two.

Friday, July 18th
^●●●Mommom's House

My mom lives about 200 steps (according to Grace) from my sister's house, so she joined us at most meals.  Coincidentally, Mom was having an addition added to the back of her house - and

the excavation team showed up during our visit.  The kids spent a number of hours watching the digger, and then later playing in the dirt. On Friday morning, Dylan, Kyle, Grace and Samuel and I all headed back down there to spend some time with her.  Dylan and Samuel played what had to be the longest game of war ever!  We all played rat-a-tat cat, the kids played in the back yard, and I got to see how the addition in my mom's house was going.

Thursday, July 17th
^●●●Ringing Rock
 

The boys and I met Dad at Ringing Rock, a park in Pennsylvania that is filled with rocks made of iron.  We had spent an afternoon there two years ago, and had had such a great time, we decided to do it again. The highlight of this park is taking a hammer and pounding on the rocks, making them ring.  My dad had attempted to find hammers at the local dollar store, but unfortunately, there were none.

Dad had gotten some hoagies (a local favorite!) and we were enjoying eating them under a huge canopy of trees.

While we were eating lunch, a shirtless, shaggy man pulled up in a beat-up telephone repair truck. As he walked past, he asked us, "Which way to the Ringing Rocks?"  My initial response would have been to ignore him, but my Dad, ever friendly, responded with the directions.  The guy then asked, "Do the rocks really ring?"  To which my dad replied jokingly, "Why don't you use your head and find out."  And thus, a friendship was made!

When we were finishing up our lunch, the man returned from seeing the rocks, and my dad asked him (as only Dad can), "Hey, you have any extra hammers in that truck of yours?"  The man looked around, and found two huge (I'm talking at least a foot) bolts used to tie down telephone wires.  These turned out to be just the perfect tool for making the rocks ring -- even better than hammers!  Only with my Dad do these things happen!  :o)

Another really cool event happened right as we arrived at the ringing rocks.  I noticed something moving down among the rocks.  It looked like a snake, but then didn't look like a snake.  As I got closer, I realized, it was a snake, but it had a frog hanging out of its mouth. It had obviously just eaten it - and couldn't escape down its hole until it finished swallowing its meal.  We all sat and watched this amazing display of nature until the snake finished its meal and then quickly took off.

Wednesday, July 16th
^●●●Running with Katianne
Katianne and I went running together twice while I was visiting - which was really fun.  The first loop, I was out of breath just trying to keep up.  But after that, we settled into a more reasonable pace (at least for me!), and finished out the three mile course.  It was her first run, and she was amazing!!  As usual, my great enjoyment from running is more from the conversations I have then with the actual sport.  And it was great getting to know Katianne a little better - she is an amazing young woman!

That evening, we joined the Janneys at the church's Prayer in the Park.  Every Wednesday, her church meets at a local park for a pot luck, and then a short service.  Their church sponsors a large number of missionaries - and a couple  spoke to the group tonight.  It was a fun and inspiring evening!

Monday, July 14th
^●●●Lots of Janneys!!

The boys and I rented a car and headed north to see my family in Pennsylvania.  We arrived at lunch time (much to my sister's surprise - who expected us by dinner!)  The boys **loved** playing with my sister's kids.  Samuel and Grace are each just six months older than Dylan and Kyle, and they played together beautifully.  They played army men... lots and lots of army men, setting up the tanks and soldiers in intricate positions.  They played in the sand box, they played in the dirt, and they played in the attic.  One fond memory I have is of all four of the kids trooping down to Mommom's house.  Samuel and Kyle had pogo sticks resting like guns in their arms, and Grace had a hockey stick propped the same way.  Dylan kept time beside them.  I'm not sure who they were ready to fight, but I felt very safe :o)
Over the next couple of days, we joined the Janney whirlwind, and with seven children, there is always something going on.  Kyle was in heaven!!  And I got lots of baby holding time with Jonathan!  After the younger kids went to bed, I then got to spend some time hanging out with the older kids.  The conversations range widely, but are always interesting and entertaining.  There is a phenomena in the house that I call the Janney time vacuum - especially in the evenings.  In the space of about five minutes, whole hours can go by!
And one surprising thing - Dylan really took to Jonathon - talking to him and trying to play with him.  And he always wanted to hold him (though not always carefully securing him!)  I missed the moment when Dylan decided he would change Jonathan's diaper.  Jonathon is right at that age when diaper changing is a struggle.  He is old enough to wiggle all around, but not old enough to realize if he stays still, it will go much quicker.  So, Dylan decided he could do this.  And he struggled with Jonathon for over five minutes (I am told).  Finally, he managed to fasten the diaper somewhere close to Jonathon's knees.  He took a deep breath, phew, and said, "I'm done".

Sunday, July 13th
^●●●Baltimore Aquarium

Today, we took the 45 minute ride from DC to Baltimore to check out the aquarium.  The aquarium was amazing!!  We saw sharks, puffins, an octopus, deep sea creatures, Carribean creatures, walked through a rain forest, and saw hundred of other things .  We also purchased tickets to see a dolphin show.  Dave's favorite creature was the Chambered Nautilus, which he'd only seen in pictures before.  The kids enjoyed watching the scuba diver in the main tank feed all the fish.  I just enjoyed the whole experience.  We had intended to visit the Science Museum afterwards, but instead spent the whole day at the aquarium, since it was so awesome!

Saturday, July 12th
^●●●Washington Monument

The boys finally got to go up the Washington Monument today!  And it was pretty impressive!  

In order to go up the Washington Monument, you have to stand in line for free tickets.  I remember visiting as a child, and waiting in line for hours - so this in an improvement.  They hand the tickets out at 8:30 in the morning, and they go quickly.  They recommend arriving one to two hours before 8:30 to ensure getting a ticket.

I had taken my running clothes with me to DC, as I couldn't imagine going three weeks without a jog.  And the Washington jogs were amazing.  I'd start at the hotel, pass the White House, loop around the Washington Monument, and then head back - about three miles.  But, on the weekends, I'd take a longer run, that would take me past the Washington Monument, in front of the Jefferson Memorial, the past the FDR , Lincoln and Vietnam memorials.  A truly inspiring run!

So, when I was finishing my run this morning past the Washington Monument, I saw them handing out tickets, so I got in line.  Forty five minutes later, I finished my run, tickets in hand!

This afternoon, we took an elevator up 555 feet to the top, and then peered out of windows on all four sides.  The monument has pictures of Washington DC in the past, alongside current pictures.  I enjoyed seeing the changes... the boys just enjoyed the view :O) 

Friday, July 11th
^●●●National Zoo with Logan

John, Tracy and Logan were spending the upcoming weekend in Philadelphia for a concert.  So, they took a short detour from their trip to come to see us in DC!  We met them at the National Zoo.  Kyle and Logan sped through the exhibits, but seemed to have a great time.  I enjoyed seeing the pandas, though I think Kyle's favorite were the ground hogs!  In the mid-afternoon, John and Tracy headed up to Philly, and we headed home.  It was great to see them, if even only for a bit!

If you are wondering where Kyle is, he took this picture!  Pretty good for a little guy!

^●●●Dinner with Lucinda

After the zoo, we met my friend from kindergarten (or more recently, high school) Lucinda, and her two girls, Zoe and Carly.  We didn't really have any plans.  We were going to watch a baseball game, but then tickets were more expensive than we expected, so we opted for heading down to the mall and then catching some dinner at a local pub afterwards.  Dylan and Kyle were so cute with Zoe!  They really 'took care' of her.  They helped her cross the street, they fixed her shirt when it came untied, they held her hand.  I have never seem them so attentive or sweet! Of course, Zoe is incredibly sweet little girl herself :o)

Dylan and Kyle holding Zoe's hand

Thursday, July 10th
^●●●The Monuments
 

Today, we walked around all of the Monuments.  We started by the Jefferson memorial, walked to the FDR Memorial, and then past the Lincoln Memorial.  We then soaked our tired feet in the fountains by the World War II memorial and headed home.  This was probably our longest walking day, I'm guessing we walked at least 4 miles today!

Our favorite memorial was, by far, the FDR Memorial.  I had never seen it before as it was erected after my last visit to DC.  The Memorial is divided into four chambers to represent FDR's four terms.  And each chamber has a beautiful waterfall.  We probably spent a half hour just playing around the first one!  On the walls are quotes from FDR - many of which interested me enough to make me want to find a biography about FDR to learn more about the man.  He seems really interesting!

Wednesday, July 9th
^●●●National Aquarium
After three days of touring, the kids spent most of the morning playing "Webkinz Stuffed animals" in the hotel room.  Then we headed to the National Aquarium - a very small aquarium located close to the mall.  They have exhibits demonstrating aquatic life all over the US.  A favorite were the small crocodiles that we named Snappy and MunchMunch.  They also had a shark feeding that was pretty fun to watch.

Upon leaving, a number of people asked us, "Was it worth it?"  Hard to answer... We had a great time, and spent about three hours in there.  But, you can also walk through and see everything in about half an hour.  And, as one of the few places that actually cost something in DC, this may not be a travelers first stop.  However, since we had so much time, we checked it out -- and had a great time!

Tuesday, July 8th
^●●●Stars and Butterflies

Every Tuesday at the Smithsonian, they host a free planetarium show called "The Stars Tonight".  While at the Black Hole show on Monday night, we also got some tickets to the Tuesday.  So the boys and I headed back to the Air and Space Museum to check out the show.  It was a quick view of the constellations and planets that would be visible that evening.

Afterwards, we headed back to the National History Museum.  Also on Tuesdays they have free tickets to the Butterfly exhibit.  They have around 50 feet of the museum enclosed and filled with incredible flowers and butterflies.  At first, Kyle wanted to speed through (as is his style), but I knew we couldn't re-enter.  I found the perfect way to slow him down, I gave him my camera, and he took hundred of pictures of all the butterflies he could find!

Monday, July 7
^●●●More Air and Space and National History

In the morning, Dave headed off to work, while the boys and I went back down to the Air and Space Museum to catch what we didn't get to see the first day.  After lunch, we headed over to the National History Museum (aka The Dinosaur place).  I learned over the weeks that Kyle's style is to first run very quickly through every thing.  And then, after he has quickly seen it all, we'd go back and spend a longer time at each exhibit.  So, we quickly ran through the museum, and then headed back to the dinosaurs for the rest of the day. That evening, after Dave got home from work, we went back to the Air and Space Museum and watched "Black Holes" in the planetarium

Sunday, July 6 ●●●Our first day in DC We arrived in DC in the afternoon.  After we had checked into our hotel and dropped off our bags, we walked down to the mall.  On the way, we passed by the White House - and of course, had to check it out! Almost immediately upon arriving at the Mall, the kids saw the Mall carousel, and we had to take a ride :o)  For the summer, the National Air and Space Museum is open until 7:30pm.  We arrived around 5pm, and spent the next two and a half hours exploring. I don't know who was more excited, Dave or the kids.  We got to walk through a replica of a space station, see a presentation on forces of flight, goggle at all of the space craft, and touch a moon rock.
They had a very interactive room with exhibits demonstrating forces of flight: gravity, drag, friction, etc.  The kids loved this room, and playing with all of the experiments! My favorite thing was an infrared camera they had set up.  I finally had visual proof of why I am always cold.  Dave and I stood next to each other holding hands.  His whole body burned a bright white, while mine was almost solid black!
	After the museum closed, we took the metro back to our hotel - which was almost as much fun for the kids as the museum was!