Jewels of Light

The kids all left the morning of New Year's Eve. It was kind of odd to have this two bedroom apartment go from bustling with activity to dead quiet. I spent most of the day "recovering." I know they were all pretty tired from all the sight-seeing, but I was absolutely exhausted. I had to take a nap just so that I could get up before midnight to ring in the new year!

On New Year's Day, Rich and I went to the National Cathedral for an up-close tour called "Jewels of Light" which focuses on the stained glass windows. The tour guide pointed out the various styles, some traditional, some more modern. She chose a handful of windows to focus on and took us through a lot of the details that would have been lost on someone like me who knows next to nothing about the art of stained glass. She also talked a little about a few of the artists that designed and made some of the windows.

This isn't one of the windows that the tour guide talked about, but it's the only picture that came out. I'm still learning how to get good pictures in low light. They almost always come out kind of blurry for me no matter how still I hold the camera. It doesn't help that most of the windows are fairly high up so besides having trouble with the light, they're also not that close either.

There are a few other up-close tours I hope to make it to. The National Cathedral has to be one of my favorite places to visit here in DC.

Five Day Whirlwind Tour of DC

Since this was the only time that JC and Marie were able to visit us while we're here in DC, we tried to cram in as many things as possible. Since a lot of these are places that I've already been and blogged about or places that I'll be going back to, I'm just going to list the things we did each day, maybe a short sentence or two, and a few pictures. It'll probably still be a pretty long post.

Day 1:

White House Visitor Center

White House Tour - We were lucky to get this tour. The rooms we were allowed to see were all beautifully decorated for the holidays.

Washington Monument - always such a nice view of DC and the surrounding area.

Natural History Museum - If you're with JC and you go to a natural history museum, it's a given that you'll be checking out the dinosaurs.

Day 2:

Tourmobile - This bus tour takes you by most of the museums and monuments. This is a great way to see a lot of popular sites, but don't do it on a weekend. Traffic around the mall was so bad, that we ran out of time at the end and missed a couple memorials that we would have liked to have seen. These are the places we actually got out at:
  Arlington National Cemetary
  Lincoln Memorial
  Vietnam War Veterans' Memorial
   Union Station
   Jefferson Memorial

Shear Madness at The Kennedy Center - This play was so hilarious. You must see it if you have the opportunity. It's a whodunit where the audience helps in solving the crime.

Day 3:

American History Museum

A Christmas Carol at The Lansburgh Theatre - Five minutes before curtain time the fire alarm went off and the entire theatre had to be evacuated. It was a really great show. The actor who played Scrooge was phenomenal. And, pyrotechnics are always fun. I think this is the best Christmas Carol I've ever seen.

National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum - I didn't realize that these two museums are actually in the same building. This courtyard was enclosed during a major renovation. I love the way it "floats" overhead.

Day 4: We had a late start. I had wanted to take them all to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing so that they could see how our currency is printed, but it was closed for the week. I tried to substitute another activity for the morning, but everyone voted to sleep in a little instead.

Voice of America tour - We took a behind-the-scenes tour of live broadcasting in radio, TV and the internet. VoA broadcasts live around the clock. This was informative for anyone interested in broadcasting. It was fun even for someone who knows nothing about broadcasting.

Air and Space Museum

US Botanic Garden - We met Rich's brother and his family here to see the Windows to Wonderland exhibit.

National Christmas Tree

Day 5:

Library of Congress

Capitol Visitor Center - This just opened a few weeks before we were there. The same staff assistant who helped me get the White House Tour tickets also booked a tour for us at the Capitol. I hope to go back when it's less crowded and get some good pics.

Capitol Tour - The Capitol tour starts and ends in the new Visitor Center. It starts with a short orientation film, "Out of Many, One" and then takes you through parts of the Capitol. Here's a pic from Statuary Hall.

Supreme Court Building - We got to the Supreme Court Building just in time for a public lecture about the history of the building and the Court, and how cases are brought before the Court. We walked around the building and looked at a few exhibits after that. This picture is looking up one of the spiral staircases in the building.

As you can see we had a very busy five days. I don't think we could have fit anymore in there. If you're coming for a visit and you tell me that you want to see everything, I'll do my best. Just make sure you're well rested before you get here.

Christmas in New Jersey

We woke up early Christmas morning so that we could drive up to New Jersey to spend the day with Rich's family. We made really good time and got in much earlier than we'd expected. This usually happens when Rich is driving. So, before heading over to my brother-in-law's place we made a stop at Asbury Park so the kids could see the "Jersey Shore." Here are Rich and the kids standing on the boardwalk.

We spent the day with all of Rich's family. This is the first time in many years that all of Rich's brothers and sisters and their families (and even some cousins thrown in for good measure) have been together. We had such a wonderful time. Here we all are, except for my sister-in-law Debbie who took the picture. Next time, we definitely have to plan ahead and make sure there's a tripod handy. Quite a group, huh?

We would have liked to have stayed the night in Jersey and gone into New York City the following day, but at the last minute I was able to get White House Tour Tickets for the day after Christmas. So, we drove back that same night. Luckily, our tour wasn't until late morning, or we'd never have made it.

The Nutcracker

Well, it's been almost two weeks since I said I was going to work at getting caught up. I wish I had a good excuse for not getting there. I don't. But, let's see how much I can get done before the end of the month.

A couple of days before Christmas, Kristina and I went to see The Nutcracker performed by The Washington Ballet. This wasn't your ordinary Nutcracker. This version takes place in historic Washington, DC. It is sprinkled throughout with bits of American culture and iconography. For example, the Nutcracker is George Washington and the rat king is King George III. The rat soldiers are redcoats and battle it out with the Continental Army. At the end, instead of the Waltz of the Flowers, it was the Waltz of the Cherry Blossoms. Making appearances in one form or another are Frederick Douglass (prominent DC resident of the time), John Paul  Jones, Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, Miss Liberty, Anacostia Indians and Frontiersmen. The costumes and sets were so wonderful. At the end of Act I, Clara and her escort travel on a riverboat on the Potomac. At the end of Act II, Clara leaves her dream world in a hot air balloon.

I could have seen it several more times as I'm sure I missed a lot of references. Too bad it's not available on DVD.

Behind Again...Naturally

Even after five months I don't quite have the hang of this blogging thing down, do I? It seems I'm caught in a cycle of getting behind/catching up. Right now it's time to get caught up again. I'm going to try really hard to get all caught up in the next couple of days because it's going to be pretty busy around here this weekend and most of next week.

Just as I predicted the kids were all pretty exhausted by the time they left. So were we. But, we had the best  time ever. Well, I did anyway. I sure hope they did too.