Moving out of the house.

It was tougher leaving our house than I expected.  The packers took 2 full days to pack everything we own into 2 trucks worth of space, with much of day 2 packed loose and not in crates.  If we ever see it in Jordan I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The house is still ours for two more weeks.  We’ll need to mow the lawn and collect my parents’ lamp before we pass over the keys, and hopefully the trouble with the neighbor-who-targets-us won’t continue in our absence.  Who am I kidding… with the house clearly vacant I’m sure there will be something.  I’ll just hope it’s not too bad.

Last box of odds and ends

Tandoori is safely ensconced with my parents.  The packers on day 1 stayed in the basement and kitchen.  Tandoori was hidden way in the back under Nicholas’s bed.  When the movers moved upstairs we figured it was safer for him to be elsewhere.  Even though the townhouse is new to him, it’s also quiet and my mom and the gerbil live there, so somewhat familiar.  He’s doing fine.




 With the packers gone, it was time to move on.  School finally ended the same day, and we overloaded the car for the short trip to Washington DC.  Ian booked us into the Embassy Suites on 22^nd and M Street.  We’re in two rooms down the hall from each other, Ian and I in a king executive suite and the kids in a double queen suite.

For our first day in DC I planned a free tour through Walkabout DC of five monuments.  It may seem like an odd choice for people who have lived near DC for so long, but as is common with folks who live near tourist hotspots, often you don’t take the time to see the hotspots yourself.  We meandered our long way from the hotel to the Jefferson Memorial, stopping along the way to take photos and simply enjoy our time.  


We first walked past the White House where street hockey is played on Saturday mornings.  I guess if the streets are blocked as they will be forevermore, then street hockey is as good a use of the space as any.  Nicholas had recently seen photos on Facebook of sites in DC matched with their representative image on money so he made his own attempts.  It's hard getting a decent match with short arms and a point-n-shoot camera that doesn't like focusing.


In front of the White House is the absent National Christmas Tree.


At the Washington Monument we giggled loudly while the kids did YMCA and I had to lay full out on the grass in order to get the whole monument in the photo.  Two Scotsmen offered to take a family photo, and told us we’d given them their first smile during their time in DC.  They were only in DC for the day, coming over from Scotland on one of the ships participating in the Tall Ships festival in Baltimore. 

Two awesome Scotsmen.

I so wish we’d taken a photo with them, they were friendly, charming and unique.  They encouraged us to visit Scotland especially during a particular festival (which I didn’t catch the name of, their accents were incredible). The gentleman in red was such a sight, and though they didn't give us our first smiles of the day, they certainly gave us our biggest ones.

Hanging with George Mason.

Once we made it to the Jefferson Memorial we met up with our guide and toured the Jefferson, talked about the Washington, and visited the George Mason, FDR, MLK and Lincoln Memorials.  It was years since I'd seen FDR and with the unveiling of MLK just last year they were places I wanted to visit.  FDR is a stunning tribute to our wartime president, an area for each of his terms with flowing water, lovely sculptures and engraved words of wisdom.  It's one of my favorites along the shady walk by the tidal basin.


There were loads of old people. Loads.


But not just any old people.  They were wearing Big Sky Honor Flight tshirts and parts of their military uniform.  I stopped a younger older person to ask what it meant.  The Honor Flight program honors all vets, Big Sky is primarily WWII vets, by offering every one of them a trip to Washington DC, especially to see the WWII memorial.


The day was warm but beautiful. Our tour was at 2 p.m. and lasted a couple hours, so we walked back towards the hotel and found dinner along the way.  Bobby's Burger Palace on K Street.  Communal tables, better than decent burgers, and way too many fries.  It's worth a visit.