Home safe & sound... plus B's journal!

The drive home yesterday from DC was pretty uneventful, which is good :) B was definitely tired- he even fell asleep in the car within about 20 minutes of getting on the road, which is unheard-of behaviour for him. He had a tantrum at one point, but we gave it some time & he came back to earth. HP book 6 on tape was a life-saver. We listened to it for most of the 8-hour trip home. Once we had unpacked the car & I got the first load of wash in, we made a beeline for our favourite japanese restaurant for dinner. I most definitely felt more human after that meal :) B was very happy to be home, but it was clear that the transition was difficult for him. He had a terrible time settling into bed last night, didn't want any of his usual bedtime activities, like reading aloud to him, & finally settled for a "quick minute" with me. I put the fan on him, which often helps him to relax, & didn't leave until I was sure he was asleep. C & I compared notes on how easy it is (usually) for B to arrive at a new place, but very difficult to arrive home. Today he's doing better, although having dad home is a major bonus :) They mowed the lawn first thing then went to pick-up a sail C was having mended & hit the bakery on the way home. I grocery-shopped & we had japanese food (home-made) for lunch. As it turns out, our neighbour's son, B's age, needed an emergency appendectomy last Monday, so B is next door keeping him company by teaching him how to play the pokemon TCG- dad's idea :)

I thought it would be fun to put B's travel journal in here to share- he has a neat turn of phrase & an interesting perspective on things. All but two entries were typed entirely by B, & I have included some of the photos he chose for his journal as well.


A Tour of Washington DC with Rufus

6/15/06
I can say 3 things about the Air and Space museum.
1. They have some pretty cool missiles
2. Most of it was not boring
3. Cray ( the super computer ) was one of my favorite exhibits.
I also liked the WW2 exhibit and the Cessna.

6/16/06
The spy museum was awesome! My favorite things were: The thing where you could go through the duct and spy on people and the gift shop.
After a lunch at the spy city cafe we sat down and sunbathed by the hotel pool. And that’s pretty much what happened today.



6/17/06
Today we went to the national mall, it was quite a sight. We started at the Lincoln Memorial. We got to see a bunch of cool things including: the place where Martin Luther King Jr. stood when he had his famous I Have A Dream speech, the Gettysburgh Address and the statue of Abraham Lincoln ( it was amazingly big! ). The Washington Monument was pretty cool too ( we didn’t actually go up to it ). Did you know that in Washington D.C. no building can be taller than the Washington Monument? Then we walked back to the hotel ( after stopping at the Hirschorn for lunch ).



6/18/06
Here is Rufus at the Museum of Natural History next to a statue from Easter Island. My favorite part of the museum was the geology section ( it had an exhibit where you could jump and a seismograph would pick up the jump ). The gift shop wasn’t so exciting but they did have ice cream ( I had chocolate). The afternoon was pretty quiet. Me & dad went in the pool & swam around for a bit. We gave dad his Father’s Day present first thing in the morning & he used it in his pokemon card battles.



6/19/06
At long last we have seen a naked mole rat! This photo was taken at the National Zoo. Personally I thought they were cute, the reason I think this is because they scurried backward and forward through their tubes and they were so fast that mom kept getting pictures of their butts! At the gift shop we found a new friend! Another plush naked mole rat that we named Genki. After that we took the metro to the hotel and had a swim.



6/20/06
Today we went to the American History Museum. In the picture above (that’s me with the rat tail) I participated in a hands-on science experiment about dry ice, carbon dioxide and acids & bases. I also did an experiment about detecting polio using antibodies. And also in that science place I measured distance with a laser. We got to see Abraham Lincoln’s hat and Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. After that we took a look at the Asian art museums (it was mom’s idea). Back at the hotel we took a swim & me & mom watched Kim Possible.