A Long-Weekend Trip

We spent Memorial Day visiting my Grandma. The kids call her Grandma Dorfy. Until just this past Thanksgiving they had three great grandmas, two grandmas, and one great-great aunt to keep straight, so they all have different names to help in the effort. Little One still hasn't gotten the oldest generation quite straight, but she's working on it. Grandma Dorfy lives in a retirement community outside of D.C. We took down a picnic lunch and then spent the afternoon swimming. The pool is inside a big glass room. The water temperature was measuring 82 degrees when we were there. There was no wall thermometer, but my best guess is that the air temperature was somewhere between 150 and 200 degrees. Every time we have ever been there, the life guards have had Russian or Far Eastern European accents. I am wondering if the retirement community has to bring in specially trained guards from Siberia, who have the built survival skill of enduring temperatures that would put an end to most other forms of life. They just sit there in their little pool chair watching the older people swim their laps, trying not to get splashed by my children. It's uncanny and superhuman if you ask me. I had no intention of getting in the pool on Monday. I was perfectly happy taking photos, but after about 20 minutes, I felt like my lungs were beginning to bake, so into the pool I went. My Husband actually went outside into the balmy, thunderstorm is surely coming air to cool off.

Swimming fun.

I think First Grader was beginning to feel the early effects of being boiled alive in the last picture- Monday, May 28.

My Husband was working outside of D.C. all week, so we stayed over at his hotel on Monday night.  As he headed off to his job Tuesday morning, we jumped on the subway and headed to The Mall. We walked over the Washington Monument, which is still closed from the earthquake last August. Then we explored the American and Natural History Museums.

If you click on this one, you can see some of the cracks between the block- Tuesday, May 29.

 The Oldest and Little One enjoyed holding some sort of big caterpillar at a station manned by two of the cutest old ladies I have ever seen. First Grader much preferred the gems and minerals (I did, too)- Tuesday, May 29.

Two subway pros on the ride back to our car. Little One was half asleep on my lap at that point. A tiring and very fun day- Tuesday, May 29.