Purse Full of Curlers: The Hoovers Come to Washington

As you know, the good doctor has been here for a couple of weeks, and last weekend, his wife and children drove up to visit. On Saturday, we agreed to show them the sights and take them to the museums on the Mall in DC. First of all, it was a gosh darn BEAUTIFUL day. Warm and sunny with a nice breeze, the only complaint was the pollen count, and the only complainers were the doctor and MSH.

We started by getting tickets for the Washington Monument and the Holocaust Museum. For some reason, the nine-year-old was very excited about the Holocaust Museum. After getting bumped to the special short line for members and government employees at the museum, we got tickets for 11:30; our Washington Monument tickets were for 12:30. We went ahead and toured the children's section of the Holocaust Museum and made our plans for the rest of the day. For some reason, we were all starving at 10:30 in the morning, so we walked down to the Old Post Office and had lunch. The kids found a photo kiosk where they could pose while shaking hands with George W. Bush, even the good doctor posed for a shot. They also found a little electronics/souvenir store. Somehow, their dad got out of there without spending ALL of his money.

Next we stopped by the Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs, then dragged the kids up to the top of the Washington Monument, through the World War II Memorial, and the Lincoln Monument. Their favorite part of this particular spot wasn't the huge statue of Lincoln or the interesting items posted on the inside of the building, but rather a portion of the top level where it looked like, when they jumped down to the next level only a couple of feet below, that they had actually jumped 20 feet down to the ground below. We also stumbled upon the newest memorial, the Korean War Memorial with the wall engraved with "Freedom Isn't Free."

Finally, we made our way back to the Holocaust Museum. On the 3rd floor, which is the second level of the tour, there is a video. MSH, the good doctor and Mrs. Doctor watched the video, while I tried to keep the children from seeing the more disturbing parts of the exhibit. Apparently, the video is so disturbing and graphic, the good parents decided not to subject the boys to the rest of what could potentially have been a traumatic visit for the children, so we hightailed it out of there and went back to the safety of the Natural History Museum to see the monkeys and rocks. After spending about 7 hours downtown, we headed back to the apartment the doctors have rented for the month and changed for dinner at Positano's, one of our favorite restaurants ever. MSH and TGD had the cioppino, Mrs. TGD had the chicken parmesan, and I had the best veal I've ever tasted. The chef made a special spaghetti and meatballs for the boys and we all shared appetizers of Eggplant Bruschetta and White Pizza. After dinner, we walked to the Ben & Jerry's for dessert.

All-in-all it was a wonderful, fun, beautiful, sweet day, but the best part of all was the J-boys. Here they are posing for me. See how blue the sky is and how cute those guys are? Oh, I just wanted to keep them.

This is J1; he's eleven, and he's totally one of the coolest kids ever.

This is J2; he's 9. He's so smart and kind.

And this is J3; he's 5. He's absolutely adorable and so sweet.

Now, I think that J1 connected more with MSH because MSH is cool and manly, but he was still really sweet to me and included me in all the fun. J2 & J3 became my attachments on the trip, each holding one of my hands, picking dandelions for me to wear in the button holes on my shirt, and wanting to sit next to me at dinner. J3 even gave me one of the rocks he collected on the Mall to remember him by. All 3 had the cutest stories, sweet dispositions, curious minds, and awesome personalities. They will all grow up to be heart-breakers.