Too busy to blog...

So clearly I'm not keeping up with the blog very well, but at least I'm getting the pictures on facebook and that tells a lot of the story. I think I ended last with Monopoly...and that seems like eons ago. The next day in Virginia was so lovely and relaxing. The guys went to play golf while Cheryl, Anna Kate and I went to lunch and shopped. We all met up for dinner then went home to get organized since we would be leaving early in the morning.

Cheryl served breakfast at 8:00am and we were out the door since we had a 10:30 tour time at Monticello in Charlottesville. We really enjoyed that and spent about two hours there. Then we were on the road again. It was about a three-hour drive to Washington DC so we got here about 3:30pm. Todd dropped us off at the hotel and then went to return our rental car while I got us checked in. I love our hotel. We are staying at the Mayflower which is a gorgeous historic hotel. FDR stayed here while he was waiting to move into the White House and there are lots of other neat facts about it. I picked this hotel because we are able to get a significant discount due to a Friends and Family rate through Marriott. We had requested connecting rooms but when I went to check in they said our rooms were not ready yet but she would look to see if she could find another place to put us. Well she did -- in a suite. We have two bedrooms, two living areas, three TVs. Amazing. So far we have had amazing accommodations and done it all fairly inexpensively. It will be a bit of a shock in New York when we are all in one room for the first time! Two queens and roll away with all of our luggage will be pretty tight.

The other thing that has been incredibly lucky so far that is about to change dramatically is the weather. The past 5 days have been in the 80s and have made touring actually quite refreshing. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the upper 90s. Well, that's what we were expecting anyway so the cool weather was really a pleasant surprise. We were very thankful for it.

You can pretty much follow our trail through our pictures. After e got settled in we rested about an hour before we took a twilight tour of the major monuments and memorials. The next morning we had to get up early for a tour of the White House. After that we did the National Archives and then the Holocaust Museum. We came back to rest then went to dinner at Bucca Di Beppo's. Got home about midnight. The best thing was going to bed knowing we had no set wake-up time and we all agreed to sleep in. Which we did. Until about 11:00am. We had nothing on the agenda all day except fireworks so we got out exploring and ended up at the International Spy Museum. Todd and I would have stayed there much longer but the kids are (understandably) starting to tire of museums.

Tonight we watched the fireworks while sitting at the foot of the Washington Monument and looking toward the Lincoln Memorial. It was an amazing experience...just so sentimental and patriotic feeling. All of these things are even more meaningful to me after taking that American Government class at TU last fall. We were of course expecting a big finale but it was truly beyond anything you could anticipate. I will always treasure that experience and fondly remember it every 4th of July from now on.

Tomorrow is also a completely open day that we will plan out in the morning. Tuesday, our last full day here, will be pretty busy though. We are supposed to arrive by noon at Senator Inhoff's office and meet up with someone who will give us a tour of the Capitol. After that we have a tour of the Library of Congress then we have tickets to go up to the top of the Washington Monument. After that we will need to come home to pack since we will catch a train to New York on Wednesday morning which is also Josh's 15th birthday!

Earlier I told you some thoughts about traveling with teenagers -- here are some things I love about it: 1) They have learned about so much of these things in school so it has been fun to watch them put all the pieces together and have discussions about interesting things; 2) They have their own sense of humor and contribute their own perspective to things which creates a more multi-faceted experience than when they are younger; 3) When we are at home they all go their different directions so I truly value this time with them, no matter what we're doing.

Everything has gone as well as it possibly could, but that still doesn't mean it is just perfect all the time. The kids bicker sometimes, people get grouchy when they are hungry or tired, I worry if the kids are having fun, Anna Kate and Josh have told me they are homesick, and we all have good moods and bad moods and all different times. But think about your household over a two-week period of time and that's a all pretty normal whether you are traveling or not-- it's just a little more magnified when you're together 24 hours a day. Still, the overriding feeling is one of excitement and exhilaration as we experience this great adventure together.