Just joking, this one was way better. First off, it was awesome to get to go back to Seattle and see friends and family. It actually worked great when I was there and I was able to visit a lot of people in a fairly short amount of time. In 6 days I was able to see Patrick's grandparents, my Grandma Yantis and Aunt Susy, all of the Preedy's side of the family, and hung out with my amazing friends Steve, Jessica, Josh, and Kevin. Shout out to Steve and Jessica: Congrats on getting engaged!!!! I am so excited for those two. A-Dorable.
At the end of all of that, I hopped back on the jet to the East side, but this time took my parents and sister with me! They came out for 10 days and boy howdy, did we do a lot in those 10 days.
Emma's Family Goes To Washington
Here is a rough break-down of what we did while my family was over in the DC area, with pictures! Hooray!
Patrick and I got a queen size air mattress for Hilma to sleep on while she was staying with us, and Patrick's parents were generous enough to offer their guest bedroom to my parents while they were here. Patrick's parents' house is so beautiful and big and clean- my parents were able to have their own bathroom and everything!
My mom, sister, and I were all sick with colds on the first couple days. Mom had hers first, so she was recovered the soonest, and Hilma had hers the longest, so she was pretty wiped for a lot of the trip, unfortunately. The DC area got a TON of snow the weekend before we left, (2 feet... Seriously!) so we weren't able to do much the first day due to the road conditions.
I took the fam out to the Dulles Town Center mall next to Patrick's parents' house the first day so that we could go do something without actually having to go very far. That worked out pretty well because we got some books for the little kids that we'd be seeing around Christmas. I also got a sweet hair-band out of the deal. Thanks Mom and Dad!
The next day we hit the National Mall for the first time. It was neat to see the Mall with snow everywhere, and little snow men from the people playing in it. Someone clever even made a snow-Capitol building. I took the family to the Old Post Office Tower, which I am glad to say is still not a big tourist trap. It has a wonderful view of all of the Mall from the bell tower, a food court in the bottom that often has live music, and a pretty atrium interior. Also, it is free and doesn't have a line to get up in the tower, unlike the Washington Monument. I really like taking people there. We also went to the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art.
On Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Baltimore, where we had a nice family Christmas. We got to be with my Aunt Kathy, Uncle Kurt, cousins Mary and Sadie and their husbands, Sadie's baby boy Eddie, Mary's dog Zeke, my Aunt and Uncle's dog Sammie, the neighbor dog they were sitting for Chloe, and my cousin Dave with his toddler Tanner. It was a packed house, with excellent food, and plenty of entertainment (a house full of babies and large dogs... we had a few exciting moments!!!).
Christmas day was such a treat because we got to watch my little almost-three-year-old niece Rylan open Christmas presents. She was so good too- very gracious when other people were opening their presents, and not greedy at all. I was pretty happy though that she seemed to like the Disney Princess Tea Set I picked out for her best. Or maybe second best, next to the plastic tool set she got! Hahhaaha! I also happened to get little baby Escher a plush tool set, which worked out great with Rylan getting to have her big girl tools and Escher still getting to be part of the action. I've always loved giving presents! It's even more exciting to give them to kids. It was really nice to finally have a Christmas with Patrick again. I was very sad to be away from him last year for Christmas. This year was probably a lot better for him.
On Saturday everyone went to the Air and Space Museum - Hazy Center, which is the awesome giant museum out at Dulles Airport. It has tons of planes, and a space section with a shuttle, missiles, and satellites, among other things.
We went back to the National Mall on Sunday, this time with the Klocks (minus Escher, who got to be babysat by his Grandma and Grandpa), and got to see much more of the Mall. We started out at the American History Museum, then split up and my family went to see the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and then up to Chinatown, where we ate Tapas at La Tasca, saw the Portrait Gallery, then saw the outside of Ford's Theatre. (We got there just after it closed and didn't get to tour it).
On Monday we (everyone but Patrick's dad, who had to go back to work) went to Mt. Vernon, which was George and Martha Washington's home. I had never been there before, and it was absolutely beautiful. Except for the fact that it was FREEZING. My fingers were frozen, even inside of my gloves.
Tuesday my family went to the National Mall one last time, and Hilma and I got to meet up with Dani (one of my friends from grad school, whom Hilma met at the wedding) for coffee. First we were going to go to the Archives, but the wind was bitter cold (worse even than at Mt. Vernon) and there was a line around the corner which we didn't really feel like standing in.
Instead I walked us through the sculpture garden, then over to the Botanical Gardens, which I figured was a good choice, being that it is controlled to simulate much warmer climates, and somewhere my parents haven't been yet. As advertised, I brought my family to a nice warm environment, which happily also had neat things to look at. The orchids were especially beautiful and fragrant.
My dad really wanted to walk up the steps of the Capitol building, because he never actually got to walk very close to it in the past. Unfortunately I don't think you are allowed to walk up the steps anymore: I didn't bother asking the guard armed with a semi-automatic weapon that was blocking the gated-off steps. hahhaha. We got some great pictures in front of the Capitol still, and Dad really liked getting to be up close to it finally.
I took my parents to the Library of Congress next, but Hilma and I were meeting with Dani then, so Hilma didn't get to see inside it. Mom and Dad really liked it though; Mom said it was the prettiest building on the Mall, so I am glad I was able to lead them to it. Hilma and I had a good time catching up with Dani, even though it was wicked cold. Apparently at this point the Capitol building had a gun scare, which stranded Mom and Dad on the wrong side of the mall. They had to walk a long ways to get around it and meet back up with us. Apparently someone called in and said that there was a guy with a gun on a tour bus, but it turned out to be some Metro worker or something.
Wednesday morning Mom, Dad, and Hilma flew back out. Patrick and I drove them back to Baltimore Airport. The rest of the week we spent hanging out with Patrick's side of the family, eating delicious meals (which I now need to exercise off), and other fun activities. Steve and Mellisa took us to see Avatar in 3D, which was really fun and entertaining!! We also made an awesome gingerbread house, and I got to learn about Dora, Ni Hao Kai-Lan, Wonderpets, and other favorite cartoons. hahah!
Many more pictures from Christmas 2009 are here on my Picasa site.
1 comment:
Hey Emma!
It was great to see you over break! I actually remember going to the Old Post Office building while on the DC basketball trip and taking pretty much the same pic you have of the washington monument. Cool building! Hope all is going well, best of luck with your new job!
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