Washington D.C.

Have you ever written a blog post, edited pictures, and then realized two months later that you never hit "publish"?  Yeeeaaaahhh.... 

Our family recently spent an impromtu long weekend in Washington D.C.  Josh had a work-ish thing to do for a couple of day, and Caroline and I tagged along.

The work-ish thing was actually pretty cool.  Nickelodeon puts on an annual Worldwide Day of Play and shuts down its programming for the afternoon, encouraging kids to get outside and play.  And the actual event is in front of the White House on the ellipse. 

Josh's company, who produces lawn and garden products, had a booth there and gave away mini-greenhouses.  Their booth was next to a big Zumba party, near a PGA activity involving "golfing" into a dinosaur's mouth, and down the way from the stars of iCarly.

We were shocked that anyone would bother with the greenhouses, quite frankly.  But they did.  5,000 kids went home with them.

Anyway.

We got into town Friday morning, and embraced the rain.  I bought a child-sized raincoat because it was all I could find on short notice.  We walked down to the Air and Space Museum and checked out the planes, then headed out to dinner at a pizza place behind the Capital.

The wetness on Josh's pants cracked me up... who manages to keep their knees dry only?

We were making the trek back to our hotel after dinner, when...

The clouds parted.  The rain stopped.  The sun shone magnificently on the Capital.  And we got to witness the sunset overlooking the Washington Monument. 

Further highlights:

• Breakfast with one of my very oldest friends, Rachel.
• Exploring the Newseum.  American history as told through newpapers, television coverage, photographs.  It rocks. 
• Enjoying a visit with Jamie, my friend from college.
• Watching the Michigan game at an alumni bar in town.  We work vacation time around football games in our family.
• Visiting the monuments.  At night.  The very best time to visit them.  Who needs regular bedtimes where there are sights to see?
• Arlington Cemetery.  I was there as a kid and remembered NONE of it.  So it was worth another visit.  There's nothing like viewing row upon row of those little white stones.
• Lunching in Georgetown.
• And taking a solo bike ride around town, courtesy of a public co-op bicycle system.