The Afternoon in Alexandria

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Wednesday morning already!  We didn’t sleep in quite as late as the day before.  The plan was to take the boys to a skateboard park in Alexandria, VA and tour the George Washington Masonic National Memorial which is also in Alexandria (aka the “Tall” building!!).

The younger boys wanted to stay at Lenny & Erica’s.  They haven’t been into skateboarding as much lately as the older boys.  With the older boys gone, they would get to play the video games, practice their card tricks and play with Olivia and Felicia in peace!

This may have been the highlight of the trip for him.

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Of course the feeling is mutual!  The older boys were glad to have the younger boys out of their hair.  Teddy & I were a little disappointed – we really wanted to drag them along to places they didn’t want to visit – NOT!! 

Better yet, we decided to take Joey & Justin to the skate park and let them skateboard while we toured the Masonic Memorial.  It worked out perfectly.  They were literally within a mile of each other.   The skate park was on City property and maintained by the City along with a couple local sponsors.  The idea of that is so awesome.  I wish Savannah had a city skate park – I’m sure the boys do too.

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Teddy and I headed over to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.  He was so excited!  It was kind of cute how he stared at the impressive building as we drove up the hill to the parking lot.  This may have been the highlight of the trip for him. Actually, Teddy didn’t expect me to go with him.  After all, the Masonic Memorial doesn’t interest me in the slightest.  But I didn’t want Teddy to experience it alone.   Besides, who would take all the pictures?  J

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As we entered the Memorial and walked around the main floor, I snapped several pictures.  I went so far as to lie on the floor to get shots of the ceiling.  The murals and stained glass were amazing.  The marble columns were massive.   I didn’t realize that this memorial would contain so much.  There were several rooms of memorabilia, paintings, authentic Mason pins and tools. 

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I felt like the “staff” photographer.  As we went from room to room Teddy would stop and read the placard and informational plaques on each display.  I just followed along and took pictures when he asked me to (and a few he didn’t).    It was kind of fun.  I experimented with different settings on the camera.  Taking pictures of the memorabilia through glass displays was a challenge.  (I’m not really a photographer; I just play one on T.V.!) 

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Time passed quickly while we toured the Memorial.  We expected to be there for only an hour.  One hour turned into two hours.  Teddy could have stayed longer; we kind of rushed through a few of the exhibits.  He wants to go back again soon; hopefully with his brother.

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We went outside and Teddy posed in front of the building for a few more photos.  In order for me to get a good shot of him in front of the building and the Masonic Emblem, I had to walk down the hill (and about 25 stairs),  & stand in the 90° heat.  Then I had to climb back up the 25 stairs to get to the van.  It was soooo hot!!  (I’m thinking that this whole day racked me up a bunch of good wife points.) 

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I was happy to be back in the van with the air conditioning blasting.  We drove back to the skate park to pick up the boys.  They were ready to go when we arrived.  Their shirts were wringing wet with sweat and they were starving and thirsty!!

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We grabbed lunch at Wendy’s.  Then the boys settled in the back of the van with their music of choice.  Teddy maneuvered the van slowly back to Clarksburg in the heavy traffic.  This time we would finally make it back to Lenny & Erica’s for our family sit down dinner.