Three Women, One Man, and a Baby

No, it's not a new show about an alternative family. It just describes my recent trip. I had the privilege of visiting some former BYU roommates, McArthur and Neves, in Washington, D.C. this past weekend. I took Bronwen with me on her first cross-country adventure, and we left the male folk at home to fend for themselves. Here are a few highlights of our trip:

• A short but great visit with Rebecca, my cousin, and her two little boys. I took about 15 pictures of her two year old, Brandon, and not a single one was any good. Bummer. So you won't get to see anything from that.
• Bronwen and I alone with McArthur's car, trying to get from Alexandria, where Rebecca lives, to Reagan National Airport, where I was supposed to pick up McArthur, and Dylan (Neves' hubby). Apparently, one of the security measures in the D.C. area is that you are never really sure where you are at any given moment, nor will you reach your intended destination on the first attempt, even if you are a local! (And I thought, being raised in LA, "I'm a city girl! How hard can it be?")
• A drive out to the northwestern part of Virginia. If it had not been raining and grey, this would have been absolutely breathtaking. It was rather lovely anyway, but I didn't get any photos of this either, much to my chagrin!
• A shopping to trip to "Gabe's", a discount store akin to TJMaxx, but on a much larger scale. I've been hearing about Gabe's and drooling over the deals acquired for 16 years now. Now I know what I've been missing.
  
• Dinner at a fabulous little tavern in Upperville, VA.
• A visit to D.C.'s Eastern Market on Saturday morning to check out the international flea market, farmer's and fresh food market, and to enjoy a maple pecan french toast breakfast. Yum. There were many booths to explore with jewelry from all over the world, photography, textiles, and architectural remnants. We would have lingered longer if it hadn't been frigid (the weather report had predicted sunny and 50 degrees. Not once did we see those kind of temperatures.)
• A free concert at the Kennedy Center on the Millenium Stage. In spite of it being a standing room only crowd, it was worth it to see the Kenyan children's choir and acrobats who performed there. Bronwen made some friends while crawling around the floor under Kennedy's head. This brother and sister duo were so adorable and so into her--they cried when their parents finally said it was time to go.
• Another great dinner, this time at an Indian restaurant on Capital Hill, near McArthur's home. Since everyone else at our table had been to India multiple times, they knew the best food to order and delighted me with everything I tasted.
  
• Here's a shot of our charming hostess, McArthur. She always was the photogenic one.
• I prepped Bronwen ahead of time that she needed to be on her best behavior, as these friends have not yet made the jump into parenthood, and I did not want to be responsible for scaring them away any further. At the end of the weekend, they pronounced her a "false advertising baby," skeptical that all babies could possibly be as easy as she. Nice work, Bronwen! Our plan worked perfectly!
• The most miraculous part of the trip was that we didn't have any delayed flights, missed flights, six hour stints on the tarmac without moving, lost baggage, or screaming on airplanes. Our flights were pretty uneventful, which is a huge improvement over the last time I paid these friends a visit with baby Henry back in 2002. That was a nightmare (not the part where we actually got to be together, shopping for Neves' wedding gown--just all the traveling parts.)
• I left wanting more. Not only more of my friends, whom I see too little of these days, but of D. C. I spent the flight home dreaming up ways that we could move our family there for six months and explore all the city has to offer, then wander up and down that coast. Washington D.C. is a homeschooler's paradise, with all of the free educational places available to visit. Maybe we'll be able to swing it someday, somehow!

Anyway, I'm home now, and busy with laundry, Tiger Academy, laundry, preparing for Thanksgiving next week, and more laundry. Hopefully I'll be able to post again soon.