DC

After the Hell that's been the past two weeks at our house (major septic system troubles), the family needed to get away from it all. But because of said Hell, we had to do it on the Cheap. Not cheap . . . Cheap. Follow me? So we did what anyone in the mid-Atlantic region does when they need a Cheap weekend family getaway: we went to D.C.

Actually, Jason and I had reallyreallyreally wanted to see the Terracotta Warriors, and that's why we initially thought of taking the boys up there for a weekend. Too bad 1) it was sold out; and 2) see above paragraph. But DC has lots to do for free, so we went ahead with the weekend plans, sans the Warriors.

We managed to leave the house by 9am on Saturday --a huge feat if you know Noah and his sleep issues-- and were in the Air and Space Museum before noon. Of course, Noah was immediately bored and hungry, so we split up: Jason and Aengus explored the Air and Space while Noah and I ate and went next door to the Hirshhorn.

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed being back in an art gallery for the first time in years. It was soothing. I particularly enjoyed the Josef Albers exhibit . . . but then, I'm a sucker for studies of human perception of color. Noah seemed to really enjoy the art as well, which made me very happy.



We met back up with Jason and Aengus and headed to the Museum of Natural History. We only made it through about half of the museum before the boys were out of patience. Aengus managed to learn quite a bit about prehistory and the evolution of various animals, at least. The Hope Diamond? Not so impressive. All the other crystals and gems? Cool, but not enough to stop and read all the information about them.

After a quick photo op,



we walked up 14th Street to our hotel.



It was crazy in the lobby, but for good reason: a college curling team was on hand in the conference room, giving lessons and talks and letting people try their hand at the sport. That's right: we could actually see what it's like to curl! Later, there would be drink specials in the lobby lounge while the Olympic curling event was being televised. How awesome is that?!

Apparently, not that awesome. Not one other person in my family was interested in having a go at curling. Party poopers, the lot of them. I swear, I am in the wrong family.

Instead, Noah got on his laptop, Jason watched TV, and Aengus and I went swimming in the pool. I was pleasantly surprised by how well Aengus could swim; I'm reconsidering the lessons I had been insisting on, despite his objections.

Sunday morning, we were up, out of the hotel, and on the prowl for coffee by 11am. We stopped by the Old Post Office Pavilion, as recommended by several tour books. We got our coffee (not terribly expensive) and decided that, although I loved the architecture, the only reason to stop at this place is for a cheap bite to eat for lunch. And maybe the free view from the tower. I wouldn't know; once again, no one in my family was game for it. Losers.



We headed for the American History Museum, which I'd been talking up to Noah all week. I thought he would, at the very least, enjoy their music exhibit. I figured he'd recognize a bunch of icons of pop culture, too.

Alas, the museum sucked. It sucked big, hairy balls.

The only icons they had were C3PO, Kermit, and the ruby slippers. That's it! My kids were not interested in the history of electricity (Yeahyeahyeah, Mom, we know Edison was homeschooled. Whatever.) or transportation or the presidency or the First Ladies' gowns. I perceived some mild interest in the Star-Spangled Banner and one or two of the hands-on science exhibits. But Aengus perked up when we found the Price of Freedom exhibit (American military history), and he was able to name every single gun on display.

At this point in our story, I refer you to my previous post, entitled, "NRA."

Next, we headed over to the Holocaust Memorial. We practically ran through it, though, because the boys were not interested. I was able to impart some of the basics to Aengus (including that his birthday falls on Kristallnacht), but I would have liked to have spent two or three hours there, reading everything and contemplating it all.

We were out of there in less than 45 minutes.

Sigh. I gave up at this point and we headed home. Every day it kills me that I can't give my kids the world; what I wish for their home education, more than anything else, is to have the finances to take them out into the world, to see and experience all they can. But they're simply not interested.

Who do these people belong to? Because they surely can't have come from me.

NRA

I went to the NRA yesterday.

That's right, the N-R-fucking-A. I was a wee bit scared my blue might show.

Friends who knew me in my younger years might suspect some kind of disruptive, belligerent purpose, but no: this was purely for pleasure. Not mine, of course, but still.

You see, in the ground floor of the home office building of the National Rifle Association is the National Firearms Museum. We'd just finished touring the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, in which neither of the boys was interested, and Aengus insisted we see the Firearms Museum. Because weaponry is far more interesting than the havoc it wreaks.

At least he's getting something from Call of Duty, right?

(And by the way, I'm glad we stopped at the NRA. Aengus is generally a very happy child, but in those rooms full of thousands of guns? He was downright ecstatic. Apparently, a true-blue mother's compulsion to please her child goes at least as far as touring the N-R-motherfucking-A.)



And get this, gamerboyz: they had Luke's lightsaber, too:

Gasp!

We lost our internet service yesterday during the strong winds that blew through here. That was a challenge for the first hour or so, but by dinner time, we were all pretty pissed. It never did come back on last night, so Aengus and I played a lot of games: chess, Uno, baseball, catch, and tag (logic, number sense, gross motor skills, PE).

We also watched "Night at the Museum 2" together, then he watched TV in his room for the rest of the evening. It made my evening very quiet (Noah never talks to me; he just listens to music on his headphones, so he almost doesn't count). Aengus came down every so often for snacks or to say hi or to exclaim his the Best Bedroom Ever. :-)

I trusted him with apple slices and peanut butter up there (and gave him a little lecture about privilege and responsibility) . . . . And he came down later to tell me that he didn't spill it, but he DID accidentally stick his hand in the peanut butter.

I refer you to my last post's picture of Pigpen.

{sigh}

Life will be far too calm when he grows up.

Weekend Update

We're going to give this Blogger thing a go and see what happens. The template designs are disappointing, but until I learn how to do it myself, I'm not going to really like any of the designs.

This past weekend was a very productive one: I did some freezer cooking (my freezer's filling up!).

My new freezer. I {heart} it.








Lots of goodies, including meats and cheeses that were on sale, a lasagne, my Basil Chicken Chili, and a peanut butter pie. Mmm, goooood.








Noah had a friend over.

They're so damn cute together, it's hard to believe they raise hell. Do not be fooled.







Jason and Aengus ran cable up to Aengus's room. We rearranged and cleaned it, too, which was a monumental feat.

This is what you see when you walk into Aengus's room. When it's clean.











This is his bed (those are blankets and penguins down there). You can't see this in the pic, but under his bed is his arsenal: a few bookshelves with Nerf guns and ammo, plus a few other toys.







And this is the view from his bed. All those wonderful books? He's not interested in a damn one of them. Except Garfield. That's a step in the right direction, though, so the books stay in his room. One day he'll look at them.







If he would only let me paint the walls and lower his mattress down from that old loft bed, he'd be set. Well, other than the fridge he's asking for but I'm refusing to let him have. I know Noah has one, but Aengus is . . . well, let's just say he's not yet ready for the responsibility of having food in his room.

Remember Pigpen? That's Aengus.












At any rate, he was surprised to learn just how much work was involved in running cable from the basement, through the floor, up to the second floor and out through his wall. I believe it was an eye-opening experience for him.

Aengus also watched several shows with Jason, including some Speed Channel show that had Aengus crying with laughter. I love that sound.

Our new schedule hasn't worked out (surprise, surprise), though we haven't had much chance to make a real go of it yet. Aengus and I have managed to play more card and board games together and to work on his reading. We also discovered some fun online games, where he learned about fractions and practiced computation.

Then he opted for AddictingGames and some zombie killing.