Day Three

We started off the day at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
Marianne was disappointed to learn that Dorothy's ruby slippers were
visiting England for a month. We did get to see Julia Child's kitchen,
Kermit the frog and china from every First Lady. Evan especially
enjoyed the musical instruments and we all loved seeing the
Star-Spangled Banner flag!

We must have enjoyed ourselves a little too much, because we soon
realized we were running late for our tour at the Capitol. I strapped
Lavender into her sling (since we thought strollers weren't allowed on
the tour) and we headed up Capitol Hill at top speed. We were all
breathing pretty hard until John snagged us a ride on one of the
little shuttles. We made it with six minutes to spare! John thought
the driver was a volunteer and offered to tip her. She refused,
explaining that she was "a full-time employee with full benefits and a
pension." So your tax dollars helped give us a ride up the hill!

We had a great tour of the Capitol from Brandon, the very effeminate
tour guide. Afterwards we asked about getting into the House or Senate
chambers. He told us we had to go check with our Senator or
Congressman to get passes, but then added, "You might want to check at
the information desk." Fortunately, we scored passes to the Senate
for the kids and John.

Lavender and I were given the job of running back down the hill to get
the car before our parking time was up. Lavender's 16 extra pounds on
my chest was getting heavy as I hurried down the hill. I offered a
quick prayer that I would make it back in time. As I turned the
corner, I saw a pedicab. The driver offered me a ride and I figured it
must be an answer to prayer! We had a nice ride back to the car and I
was grateful to be reunited with our stroller.

Next we headed off for southern Virginia. We thought we were leaving
early enough to beat the traffic, but we still spent a lot of time
bumper to bumper.

A week or two before our trip, Marianne decided she would like to
visit SVU. So we rearranged our plans and she made an appointment for
a tour of the campus. My aunt and uncle live in the area and they
invited us to stay with them.

After the heavy traffic we had a rainstorm, but finally made it to my
uncle and aunt's lovely home, the Canary Cottage!