Washington, D.C.

NYC to Washington DC Amtrak train
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2008-12-10

This was our departure day from New York City and we both reluctantly headed downtown with our luggage to Penn Street Station to catch our 11:30am Amtrak train to Washington DC. We had thoroughly enjoyed our time in New York and both fully committed to returning some day soon. The train ride was another smooth journey. Ian worked on the journals while Lori finished her Harry Potter book, which had a sad but fitting ending. She is looking forward to seeing the 6^th Harry Potter movie this coming July and finishing the series as some point in 2010. As we were meeting Megan at her work at 5 pm, the train arrived into Union Station at 3 pm and the weather was not the best, we waited in Union Station for awhile. Megan works just near the White House, so while we were waiting for her to finish up work, we wondered there and saw the seating that was being built for the Ingurgitation in January as well as the Christmas lights. We took the Metro home with Megan. While it was during rush hour and crowded, it was by no means as packed as the tube in London, but was more crowded then the trams in Melbourne. We picked John Michael up from day care and as we were starving (we had our usual sandwiches for lunch and treated ourselves to some M&Ms), we stopped by Five guys, a local burger joint, on the way home. The four of us enjoyed the hamburgers and John Michael made such to get some of his moms. John was still at work and did not arrive home until later. Lori enjoyed helping Megan get John Michael to bed and helped with his bath. When John arrived home, we visited for awhile, had some ice cream and John and Megan quickly faded from a long day of work and being up with John Michael late the night before.

He had us chasing balls up and down the stairs as well as running in front and behind him with various things on wheels. We were both happy when Megan arrived home.

Washington DC Centreville John Michael
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2008-12-11

As Lori and Ian have not had much opportunity to spend time with John Michael, they volunteered to watch him for the day instead of him going to day care. Fortunately, John did not have to leave for work until 11 am, so we did not have an early rise. We spent a little while playing with John Michael after John left before feeding him his lunch of broccoli and peas. We were lucky and he took a three and a half hour nap. Ian and I spent that time working on the journal and various admin as well as checking in on him and making sure he was ok. Unfortunately, it was raining most of the day and we were unable to take John Michael to the near by park. He kept us both entertained inside and gave us both a work out once he was awake. He had us chasing balls up and down the stairs as well as running in front and behind him with various things on wheels. We were both happy when Megan arrived home. Sue had been to visit the week before we arrived and left beef stew in the fridge for us. We heated that up for dinner. It was the same routine again that night of getting John Michael ready for bed and then visiting and ice cream.

Washington DC Nannie, Lori, John Michael, Megan and Ian
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2008-12-12

We had hoped to have tickets to the White House tour for this day, but we were unable to get them. Since 2001, the tours have to be booked through Congressmen and have to be arranged up to 6 months in advance. While Lori had tried to secure tickets in August, it still did not prove early enough. When Lori and Ian are back in Washington D.C. in April to visit Megan and John’s new edition (they are expecting another boy in early March) they are hoping to get to take this tour. It was Megan’s Friday off work and she and John went for a pregnancy check up in the morning. After that John went to work and the four of us drove to Wheaton, Maryland to visit Nannie, Lori’s mom’s mom, for lunch. Nannie treated us to a big lunch of spaghetti, meatballs, corn, peas and garlic bread. She even made brownies for us for lunch. We got to spend some time visiting and got to see her new basement screen door. We headed home and Megan got dinner ready; another meal partially complements of Lori’s mom. Megan invited Angie, her husband, Daniel, and their twin 2 years, Isobelle and Alyssa, for dinner. Angie was Megan’s college roommate at Texas A & M, so Lori knew her quiet well and had not seen her in several years. It was a bust dinner as you can image with all the kids, but very tasty with chicken linguine, green beans, mash potatoes and bread. After dinner, the Wiggles nursey rhyme video was put on for the kids and dancing and playing soon followed. It was good to visit with Angie and Daniel, who are also expecting another baby (girl) in early May.

Washington DC Centreville dinner with Angie, Daniel, Alyssa and Isabelle
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2008-12-13

Our last day in D.C., John had the day off, so all of us piled into the mini van and spent most of the day shopping at a near by outlet. We all had Christmas shopping to finish up and managed to get a majority of it done. John Michael behaved very well and took a nap through some of it. He and Ian managed to befriend a cute five year old in one of the stores that played with them for awhile and was impressed by Ian’s accent and big nose! You have to love the honesty of kids. For dinner that night, we met Lori’s friend’s Stephanie and Sergio for dinner. Their mother in law babysat, so Mila did not make it to dinner. Jim, Stephanie’s brother, joined Megan, John and John Michael and us at the Spicy Bowl. We had a good time visiting with everyone and hearing about the weeks since the wedding, as Stephanie, Sergio and Mila had attended. Lori and Ian also enjoying what turned out to be a very spicy Tom Yum, green Thai curry and beef scheqhan. Unfortunately, they were spending all their time during their visit to Houston in Bay City, so Lori and Ian would not be able to see them again until April when they were back in D.C.