I believe!

Let’s try this again.

I’m going to attempt to pick up where I left off.  I wouldn’t say that my enthusiasm for blogging is renewed, but it outweighs my desire to not get too far behind!  I can also say that consistent blogging has been key to having any idea what day or date it is!

When I mentioned yesterday that the night before had wild weather, this was the radar picture when we went to bed:

We woke up in the morning and checked the weather.  It was raining when we woke up, and there was supposed to be a break from about 9-Noon and then it was supposed to start raining again.  We decided to make a run for it and picked out some museums (indoor) and the transportation necessary to get there.  When we headed out, it was still raining really hard and there was enough water running down the street to soak our feet as we walked up to meet the bus.  Weather-wise, it rained on us all the way to the museum and then never started again the entire day!  Praise God!

On our way into town, I realized just how badly I have failed as a parent.  We were headed to the American History Museum (Smithsonian) and I asked Trista, “Do you want to see Dorothy’s red slippers?  The real ones?!”

Blank stare.

I start clicking my heels, “There’s no place like home!  There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home!”

Blank stare.  No clue what I was talking about.  No Dorothy, no tin man, no wizard, no wicked witch of the west.  NADA.  Guess what we’ll be watching when we get home?

We got downtown and headed to the museum.  We ended up spending a lot more time here than we had planned.  Some of the highlights were Julia Child’s Kitchen, a big section of the Berlin wall, the transportation section with all of the cars and trains, the Bat Mobile and the First Ladies’ Inauguration gowns!

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There was a hands on section about everyday, household objects.  There were screens and you stood in front of them and made selections by moving your hands.  You could select an outfit from any of a number of time periods and then line up your face and move it around as you moved.  Below are Levi, Trista and John! (Levi picked his all on his own!)

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Also in that section, there was a Price is Right Game and Levi and I took on John.  We won our round and then we won our showcase from 1855.  We learned that a tin bath tub, a new cooking stove and a gold necklace would cost $53 in 1855.  We bid $50 and beat John!

It was nearly 3pm when we left and by this point we were STARVING.  We had a quick breakfast before we left and we had a small snack around 12 and it was time to eat again.  We went to the café and they had very, very few Gluten Free options (shame on you, Smithsonian), so we headed out in search of food.  John found another restaurant that he really wanted to try.  It is called Wicked Waffle and it is truly amazing.  They have Gluten Free Waffles, cooked on dedicated Gluten Free equipment and when we walked in and started looking at the menu, having said NOTHING, the lady working there said, “Are any of you gluten free?”  We told her we were and she said, “Well, then there are four things on the menu that you can’t have…”  They make the most incredible sandwiches on waffles!

We left full and that is when all the trouble started…

Now, I don’t want to be caught complaining, because I was so happy that we weren’t getting rained on, but that meant that the humidity was through the roof!  We started walking and John sees this bus and he flags the driver and we get on.  I’m looking at him and wondering where on earth we are going.  We had taken a taxi up to the restaurant because there weren’t any bus stops close to it and now we have walked about a block and we are back on a bus?  Finally, we realize that this bus is taking us farther and farther away from anywhere we need to be.  John has us get off at a random stop, under an overpass, I dunno where.  We stop and pull out some maps.  I can not play poker.  John keeps asking me, “What?”  I am trying not to start a fight, but I am really ready to strangle him.  Finally, he realizes that there are multiple Circulator lines and then says to me, “Oh, we should have gotten off on the next stop.”  Great.  So we start walking.  And we walk down one street and up the next street and up a hill and down another street until he says, “Welcome to Georgetown.”  We wait for the bus for what feels like forever (side note, while we are standing there, this incredibly good looking Uber driver pulls up to pick up a couple standing near us.  I looked at John and said, “I want to take an Uber.”  He said, “Oh, do you?” I just smiled and said, “Well not any Uber.  I just want to take THAT Uber.”) Anyway when we finally get on, I recognize the bus driver.  I had a hat on and I tried to avoid her gaze, but it was too late.  “Didn’t I just drop you off?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Where you all tryin’ to go?”

I confessed what happened, perhaps throwing John a teeny tiny bit under the bus, and she says, “I got you.  I’ll tell you when to get off!”

I thanked her and took my seat.  We road all the way back to where we [now] knew we needed to get off, but as soon as she stopped and people started to get off she yelled, “FAMILY!  THIS IS YO’ STOP!”

I thanked her again and as we stepped off the bus she hollered after John, “And quit taking her on all these crazy bus rides!”

I wish that I could say that this was the only time John put us on the wrong bus/subway train/bus today, but sadly it was not. 

Once we got on the correct bus, we went over to see some monuments and memorials.  We started at Jefferson and it was pretty cool.  John has never been to DC before and I went in 8^th grade which was nearly a quarter of a century ago and I had forgotten just how big these monuments are.  The kids didn’t dig it quite as much, but it really is a sight to see. After that we realized how late it was getting and that we ought to head back before dark.

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We found some dinner as the sun was setting and got just a taste of DC after dark.  We ended up right by Ford’s theater, so we walked about a half a block to take a picture of it and the house across the street where Lincoln died.  Of all the things we saw in 8^th grade, this was one that I actually remembered. 

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We told the kids about the significance and made our way back to the subway, which we boarded going the wrong direction, got off at the next stop, went up, across to the other side and back down to board the correct train, going the correct way.  We got back to our stop and headed out to the bus where we again boarded the right bus in the wrong direction, but the bus driver caught it immediately and we stepped back off to wait for the right bus going the right direction!  We finally got back to our RV and headed to bed.

Today, we decided to hang out around the RV and get caught up with stuff.  Work stuff, school stuff, laundry, etc.  The boys took the bus to the grocery store to get a couple of groceries, went into the Home Depot for a couple of things, and got this handsome stud a haircut.

Trista and I stayed in the RV working.  We got new neighbors, on the driver’s side (LOL) and as they were pulling in we realized they were from COLORADO!  Trista and I opened the window and chatted with them briefly.

When the guys got back, Trista and I were still working and John started a project to fix one of our blinds outside on the table, while Levi got dressed up and played again in his private quarry. 

Around 6pm I was in the middle of fixing dinner when Levi opened the door and said, “The tractor is coming!!”  We knew something about tractor rides here, so we put our shoes on and headed outside.  No joke, Santa Claus pulls up on a bright red tractor (looks like Tractor Mac if you know the books), smoking a pipe, the whole thing.  He pulls right up in front of our RV and waves for us to jump on, so we did!  A few doors down from us another family jumps on and we rode all through the park – twice!  Levi said to me, “I think that really is Santa!”  I can tell you honestly, I really think that is Santa!  At the start of the second lap, we saw a fox right by the side of the road.  He was noticed by a number of people and started to run as I got my camera out.  Trista and I decided to play the license plate game during the second lap through the park. This is a big RV park, but it is the off-season and there are lots of open spaces.  Even still, Trista and I counted RVs from 29 states + DC, two Canadian provinces and Sweden(!)!

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We came back to eat dinner and managed to squeak in about 20 minutes of pool time before it closed.  The kids are in bed and John and I are still up doing stuff, because life doesn’t stop when you’re living on the road!