So tired.

It's not that we're getting any less sleep here. In fact, we're getting more sleep and better sleep. We even have the windows open in the apartment. Maybe it's old age, but we're certainly still tired each morning. Yesterday I lazed around until 9 while the kids watched cartoons in the other room. *yawn*

Since no one has to get up until 7 a.m. during the week our bedtimes have shifted. Going to sleep at midnight isn't uncommon for the adults, while the kids have shifted theirs to closer to 8 (the time it's actually dark outside this month) and Katherine is staying up until 9 to read.
All that aside, we're doing well. Not overly busy and just taking it easy. Nicholas's birthday is next Wednesday so I really need to get on the ball with a cake and a plan for the following Saturday. We've looked into a Nationals game but I really think that baseball will bore us all (well, except Ian) to tears. The arena football and arena soccer games don't start until 7:30 p.m. Even if we did go, that leaves the entire day free and if we do something during the day none of the kids will make it happily through a late game. I want something outdoorsy rather than a movie or an event the kids would have to sit quietly through. We have so many places to choose from but nothing has popped up as just right. Playgrounds or parks? A possibility. Maybe with a picnic. Or we could go downtown to the Children's Museum, but I'm still trying to figure out if it's open. On the website it says it's closed until 2008 but other event calendars show it having special exhibits now. Hmm. Maybe we'll just go to Baltimore. I suppose I should order a cake really soon also. He wants Spiderman or Harry Potter, go figure.
So with the gorgeous weather, we went to the National Arboretum on Saturday. Not much is growing yet and large sections were blocked off as they renovate the Bonsai house and tend to some of the open fields. One section has pillars from the former Capitol Building that looked like a wonderful place to play and take photos, but it was one of the unfortunate fenced sections. The kids played with daddy elsewhere and we did go through the herb garden which has some plants marked "Please Touch". Always a good thing. The daffodil gardens were all in bloom. Maybe I'll put up a page of photos from that outing.
Nearby to the Arboretum is where my long time friend, Patricia, lives with her husband. Tricia and I knew each other in middle school in Niamey and our paths keep crossing. Truly, one of the things I love about the DC area. Her husband, Todd, made a wonderful taco feast that even our numbers did not make a dent in. They are expecting their first child in a few weeks and then planning to move to Rhode Island next year, so it was nice to see her this weekend. Hopefully we'll get together one more time before our departure to Togo.
Sunday we had church at St Charles Borromeo here in Arlington. Now that my father isn't playing at St Michael's church (and the fact that my parents are in Mexico this week), we can wander from church to church: St Matthew's in DC, the Franciscan Monastery, Immaculate Conception. St Charles is a small church, but packed with a good mix of people. Post church we went to Landmark Mall which has a CompUSA across the street. I'm still hunting for a camera for Katherine. It's hard for me to decide because if she was resonsible for her belongings I wouldn't worry about getting a nice inexpensive digital. But inexpensive for digital still means over $100 and I can't bring myself to get her something that pricey yet. She has lost so many of her belongings in the past couple years it makes me seriously question the desire to get her anything really nice. I wanted her to have it by August, so there's still some time.
After those stores we swung by the grocery before Jeff came over. The kids mobbed him as soon as he arrived. We're going to play Cadoo, Mr. Jeff! Heard of Cadoo? It's in the Cranium family, but for the younger set. The basic idea is to get four Xs in a row and to get an X your team must successfully answer a question or get another team to guess correctly. The challenges range from simple questions to having another team guess what you make from playdough or what charade you act out. If it's a question that another team guesses, then both teams share an X space. It's a lot of fun as long as you don't have a cheater around during planning (*ahem* Rebecca).
Once the kids were in bed, Ian popped in an MST3K flick and we set up the Go board. Ian and Jeff played their first game and realized that perhaps we need to go over the tutorial again. Nicholas and I played today and against a (nearly) 5 year old, it's a lot of fun. I think my tune will change when I'm up against Ian.
Anyway, that was our weekend.