Well, this past week was spring break for Hillary. She studied and went to school all day for the first three days and Claire and had fun playing outside and watching Grandpa Griffin's puppet shows on his blogs and YouTube Claire LOVES watching him tell stories especially the three little pigs. But then on Thursday we took a much needed break and drove to Washington D.C. to spend a few days with Sarah and Rich and so I could “see the sights” (I have never been to D.C.). Let me just say here before going on that the Bindrups rock. It is really that simple. They Rock.
We got to D.C. early in the afternoon on Thursday, and other than a slight misdirection on our GPS (it wanted me to flip a U turn in the middle of a 12 lane freeway) we arrived without too much trouble. In fact we drove right into downtown D.C. and were able to park right in front of the Washington monument. This was probably due to the fact that it was 2:30pm on a Thursday and it was raining, but nonetheless it was a great stroke of luck. So we looked at the Washington monument and then went to the Museum of American History for about an hour. It was pretty neat to look around…they had all sorts of interesting stuff from Rick Flaire’s blue shiny cape and boots to Violins made by the Stadivari and Amati families to Lincoln’s top hat. Claire, in particular enjoyed the Dumbo car and looking at the original Jim Henson Muppets.
At about 3:30/4:00 we loaded back up and drove out to the Bindrup’s place. We arrived with only a minor incident. We are on our merry little way when, as is common here in the east, especially around big cities, we encounter a toll road. As with most toll roads they have various lanes you can pass through there are the “E-Z pass” lanes, the “exact change” lanes, the “cash only” lanes and the “full service” lanes. Well we don’t have an E-Z pass and we don’t have any coins or cash on us so we get in the “full service” lane so we can pay with our credit card. Well, we get up to the window and I go to hand the lady my card. She just looks at me like “What is that?” and after a brief moment of uncomfortable silence she briskly says “we don’t take cards…” and then with a slightly slower enunciation and a heavier emphasis provides the clarification of “cash only” followed with the raised-one-eyebrow-and-slightly-pursed-and-downturned-lip-expression that says: “you moron.”
So I respond with the verbal expression “oh” followed with the slower explanation of “well, we don’t have any cash” accompanied with the double-raised-eyebrow-slight-head-tilt-with-slightly-parted-lips expression that says: “which is why we are in the FULL SERVICE lane” and “you’re the moron; thank you very much.”
To which she responds with the audible sigh of “huhhh” accompanied with a half eye roll. And hands me a bill which I “have to mail in with payment within 10 days or they will asses a $25 fee and possibly impound my vehicle.” I say “ok, thank you,” drive through the gate and then turn and roll my eyes to Hillary and say “Full Service my bum.” (We are trying to stop using the word butt/arse because Claire is starting to repeat things we say and when I say “we” I mean “me” since I’m the only one who has used those words previously). The toll was a $1.25.
We get to the Bindrups and are greeted by Sarah. Again let me reiterate that the Bindrups Rock. Claire was hesitant at first but once Sarah pulled out some toys from the closet and gave her a little bottle of nail polish Claire was an instant Sarah fan. Sarah had cooked us a fantastic Smith style meal – meat, potatoes, roles and other stuff like salad. It was delicious, hearty and completely satisfying. Rich cleared our plates and did the dishes and then to Claire’s great enjoyment found and watched TWO episodes of the Dora the Explorer with her on Netfilx. This pretty much ensured that Rich is Claire favorite. In fact she has already said she wants to go back to Cousin Sarah and Rich’s house. I can’t blame her. Hillary and I particularly enjoyed our conversations with the Bindrups.
Friday we spent exploring D.C. we went to the National Zoo (Claire loved the Zoo) and then we rode the Metro to downtown (Claire loved the metro too) where we saw the White House, the Lincoln memorial, the Smithsonian Castle, the National Gallery of Art and a bunch of other things in-between (Claire fell asleep in her stroller). We went to the National Catherdral the next day and then we came home.
We didn’t get to see everything, obviously, there is a ton of stuff, but it was fun to see what we did see and it is always fun to see family and talk and reminisces about things. Among other things we still need to see the Shakespeare library and the National Archives and the Library of Congress…all things which I wanted to see but just ran out of time this go-around. But, that just means we get to go back.
Of course we forgot our camera but here are a few pics I took on my phone:
