The Garbers Come to Washington

Yay!  More visitors!

One of the toughest parts about coming to DC for the year was taking the kids away from their wonderful grandparents.  Every kid should be able to go visit their grandparents and see cows, ride tractors and chase deer off several acres of beautiful land tucked against the mountains.  So being in the urban sprawl that is the DC area, it was great to have a little piece of home visit us.  Jenn's parents came to visit for a full week....and I emphasize the word full.  Every day we spent seeng the sights, wrangling squirrely kids and enjoying great food and company.  All while I was working a swing shift (4 pm - 12 am).  The following is what I can remember about our itinerary.

Tuesday
Jenn's parents arrived in the evening after I had gone to work.  They picked them up at the Metro station, and the kids were so excited to see them.  Jonah loved the minivan we rented for their visit, because it meant Nana and Pop-Pop were right there to make his car rides much more interesting than normal.

Wednesday

Newseum--just for you, Steph!  

With our babysitter coming on Wednesday, we were able to visit some of the more kid-unfriendly museums around DC.  Jenn folks suggested the Newseum and it was fantastic.  I'd never even heard of it with the amazing suite of museums available to us here.   A huge six-story museum dedicated to journalism and its affect on American history.  It has a large piece of the Berlin Wall, the radio tower from the 1st World Trade Center Tower and a tribute to Pulitzer Prize winning photos that made for a very powerful and sobering experience.   After a fun lunch where we saw an old college friend of Jenn's (crazy small world!) I had to get home to go to work.  Sigh...

The rest of the day we (meaning Jenn and her parents) was spent at the Museum of American History.  Philip and I had been there before a few weeks ago, but there's always something new to see.  We hit the highlights of the museum, and then headed home to relieve the babysitter.

Thursday

Now that we're babysitter-less, we set our sights on more kid-friendly venues.  First-up: The zoo.  Thanks to the Nelsons, we have a full year of free parking at our zoo visits.  Which is especially great since we can't see the zoo all in one visit.  This was our third visit and yet we found ourselves in an area of the zoo we'd never been.  There's a long path that goes by several exotic birds (yes flamingoes Jules!) and everybody had a good time.  In fact, the path was so long and out of the way, we only had enough time to quickly peek at the lions, tigers and panda bears before leaving in time for naps.

I had 15 minutes to change for work.  By the time I left for work, every single person in our was fast asleep.  Sigh...

Friday
After three nights of swing shift and just over five hours of sleep on top of a full day of sight-seeing, I was beat like a drum.   So I stayed home with the kids while Jenn and her folks went to visit the Manassas Battlefield/Battle of Bull Run.  I almost wish I'd powered through because they came back from the visit with a lot of great stories and I could only contribute a mildly funny poop story.  Who knows, if I'd gone, maybe Brynn could have charged a trench with her brother gripped firmly in tow.

Saturday
 
My favorite day of the whole week.  With my last swing shift coming tonight, I decided to power through another busy day.  The agenda: Mount Vernon.   Located exactly six minutes away from our house (which is actually on some of George Washignton's old property), I thought this was a minor out of the way sight seeing event, we'll be back by lunch.  Wrong.

Mount Vernon is AMAZING.  They keep the fields on a seven year crop rotation like George Washington did.  They have livestock like lambs, pigs (including one very lazy/looked dead piglet) and chickens.   They have cherry trees.  George and Martha Washington are buried there.  Lots of room for kids to run around and get tired.  That's a recipe for a successful family day out.  We dragged ourselves away after three hours, and Jenn went back later that day to pick up her parents, who were having too good of a time to leave when we did.  If you come to visit us, we're going to Mount Vernon, end of story.  Now on to my last shift.

Sunday

"You said there's what in here?"

Oh yeah, it's Easter!  Kids have to find eggs and get a  basket.  Crap, I haven't planned anything!  Thankfully, my wife and mother-in-law are more than on top of it.  A basket is waiting on the fireplace mantel.  Candy is in the pantry.  Bunny-shaped pancakes.  After 8.5 years of marriage I should know my wife always has it covered.  I'm just along for the ride.

Brynn wasted no time.

We had a fantastic day around the house, topped off by bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, deviled eggs and Jenn's patentedly delicious mashed potatoes.  Time for a glorious food coma....

Monday
After going to bed at a reasonable time for the first time in almost a week, I was refreshed and ready for a long walk about the DC area.  Jenn's mom had worked out a personal tour of the capitol with the Wyoming senator's office.  Wyoming is a great state.  There's like five people per elected official so we found ourselves in the senator's office ready for a personal tour of the Captiol Building from a fellow Wyomingite.  It was fantastic!  This was my third tour and this one was easily the best.  The key was that FINALLY someone knew where the second Wyoming statue was.

If you haven't gone to the Capitol Building, let me explain.  Every state has two statues in the Captiol Building, based on someone famous from your state.  The first Wyoming statue is in the main building as you line up for the tour.  NO ONE knows where the second statue is.  I have actually temporarily left the tour group to try and find the second.  When the tour guide asked us what state everyone was from, she actually said, "What?" when I said Wyoming.  Luckily, our Wyoming tour guide found the second statue in an obscure corner of the building reserved for Millard Fillmore's secretary's assistant, or something like that.  With a four year question finally answered and my body exhausted from a long day of walking I again slept amazing.

Tuesday
On our last day with Jenn's parents, we had yet another great day planned.  Roy and I went to the Air and Space museum near Dulles and we had a babysitter coming over so all four of us can go out to dinner at a great seafood restaurant right on the water.  Or so we thought...

Construction on the beltway was rough and confused the poor Garmin Lady, so it took an extra half hour to get there.  Thankfully, the road groutchiness faded away pretty quickly once we got there.  The largest museum in the world, it holds the Enola Gay, the SR-71 Blackbird and as of just a few days ago, the Space Shuttle Discovery along with hundreds of other planes.  Good thing I brought my walking shoes!  As if this weren't already a perfect venue for an aerospace engineer and an engine lover, the planes are restored in the Paul E. Garber facility, Roy's brother (well not exactly, just coincidence they share a name).

Halfway through the trip though, I got a text from Jenn saying our babysitter was sick.  No more going out to dinner.  Thankfully with two great cooks in the house, a trip to Whole Foods was all we needed to have a nearly-gourmet meal at home once the kids went to bed.  Crab, salmon and steak appeared on our table and we had a great final evening.  We toasted to an amazing week and to the very best in-laws I could have ever hoped for.  Sigh...