Air, Space and Art

Rejuvenated after a blissful night in our wonderful hotel-smart thinking Bill changed our wake-up call from 8 to 9 so we could rest-we headed out for our second day on the mall. We started at the Smithsonian Castle because the boys really wanted to see where the movie "Night at the Smithsonian" was set. Pop-culture has such an enormous impact on society and it was evident when we discovered just how much D.C. is using that movie as a promotional tool to draw in more visitors to the city. Every single museum has merchandise to purchase and/or is showing the movie in one of their IMAX theaters. The castle has part of the movie set still set up, where the bad Egyptian guy has a pile of treasure surrounding his "throne" (Archie Bunkers' chair). The boys were totally excited to see the set and really want to re-watch the movie now. After walking through the beautiful gardens that surround the castle, we walked the the National Air and Space Museum. It was an incredible hit with the kids. They loved every inch of the place. They could not believe that they saw the actual Wright brothers plane or real missiles. Williams one request was wanting to do the simulator rides. Romney was big enough for the one that makes it look like you are flying in a plane. William and Bill, however, were both tall enough and brave enough to hit the one that lets you fly the plane or act as a gunner in a plane. My guess is that it isn't hard to figure out who chose which job, if you have spent more than 15 minutes in conversation with either one of them.
After burning out at the Air and Space Museum, the boys very politely humored me and let me enjoy walking around the Hirschhorn Museum of Modern Art. I am actually not sure if they were being polite or just trying to find a place to get out of the rain storm that started up seconds after stepping out of the NASM and my museum was the closest to get to. Either way I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Modern art is my personal favorite genre. Romney was enjoying himself as well. Almost a bit too much as he was having a hard time distinguishing the Art from everyday objects. One of the exhibits consisted of broken glass cubes and fex-ex boxes, and they were sitting in the middle of the hallway surrounded by a line of masking tape that squared them off on the floor. Romney thought that they looked just right to climb up on and started toward them setting off an alarm. Luckily, he was stopped in time and we had a funny discussion about the fact that they were art. Apparently Romney was not the only one to confuse them for something insignificant as the alarm sounded at least 20 more times before we left.
My favorite part of the exhibit was this guy. He was positioned in a corner and is made of fiberglass and covered in some kind of resin. He looked absolutely lifelike. If had stood up (which he looked like he might do at any moment) he would have been 15-20 feet tall. It appeared as if someone had captured a giant and stripped him down and placed him in a corner for all of the tourists to gawk at like an animal in the zoo. He was stunning.

The kids were totally museum-ed out and needed a break, so Bill and I decided we would take the metro to White Flint Mall in Maryland and let the kids play at Dave and Busters and we could grab some dinner there. It was mostly uneventful, except for the metro station on the way back to the hotel. While we were waiting for our train, the boys saw and chased and caught their first lightning bugs. Quite exciting, and a lovely way to wrap up day 2.

DC Adventure-Part I

Washington DC--the very words conjure up romantic notions of fore-fathers and stately monuments--tributes to the American vision. However, for me, the city holds memories of teenage years; walking around the mall (which I disappointingly found out at 14 did NOT include any stores) killing a hot summer day waiting for a Guns and Roses concert to start, or jumping on the Metro and exiting at Crystal City to find out what wondrous adventures could be awaiting at a place with such a glorious name. Memories of field trips; glorious days off from school with my high school friends and later, bumming around museums as a college student out of money.

16 years later. . .

I have returned, but this time not as a girl trying to find her way in life but as a woman with 2 kids and a (very sexy) husband trying to find her way around a city she barely remembers. After a very easy flight (no complaints from either of said children), we arrived to be greeted by our old friend humidity! Good news: I remembered that old friend and tied down my hair before it could grow to astronomical proportions and the dry spots on my skin have already disappeared. I have also sweat off any water weight I may have been carrying around. Bad news: I forgot just how much the temperature doesn't change even when the sun has set and the moon has risen.
More good news: We were able to fly into Reagan National Airport, which I have never done, and had amazing views as we approached the airport. Also, that airport has a metro stop so we were able to save taxi fare to the hotel. Bad news: The hotel was about 1/2 mile away up hill (in the humid heat) from the closest metro station and the kids were already tired and hot and sick of lugging around suitcases. Good news: They hung in there and our hotel is most awesome. It is a 4 star historic hotel and I LOVE it. After taking a moment in the hotel to drop of our bags and towel off from being outside (ewww....) we headed back out and hit the mall (my kids were prepped that there would not be any cool stores at this "mall") and spent a very fast half hour perusing the Natural History Museum before they kicked us out at closing time.

We are pooped and happy and ready for bed in order to start day 2 of our Washington DC adventure. Maybe this trip I will actually make it to some of those monuments I missed in my teens. . .

July in Words and (lousy) Pictures

I have given myself permission not to feel creative, photographically speaking, until both boys are in school for a full day next year. I am not sure if that is to assuage my guilt about not picking up my camera or about not feeling very creative at the moment. Either way, my nice camera has been collecting dust in the closet ever since the Ireland/England trip and we have been downgraded to iphone camera snapshots for the month of July. The lack of any decent photos has made me not want to post anything about our adventures this month. Or perhaps I am just feeling unmotivated in general. It really is a terrible Catch-22 ( I like the German word better "Teufelskreis" or Devils' Circle, which really describes the whole process better.)

This month has been a more challenging one with the kids home all day. They fought non-stop (A bit out of character for them. Sure they argue, but never this intensely) for the first couple of weeks. William then had an amazing vacation to Yellowstone with his Aunt Annie and his cousin Quentin. He had all kinds of adventures rafting on white water rapids and scaling rock walls (like a mountain goat, until it was time to come down). On the upside, he did get a bit homesick and was glad to see all of us when he returned--even his younger brother, and the fighting is back at a "normal" level.

Since it is July in Utah, the weather is HOT! Trying to beat the heat is the name of the game, with out going stir crazy indoors. We have lived in Salt Lake longer than I have lived anywhere in my entire life (same goes for Bill) and I have to say when it comes to indoor activities in Utah between the cold winters and the scorching summers -- been there, done that! I am usually quite the go getter and take the kids all kinds of cool places. I used to hide the fact that the activities were actually to entertain me so I didn't loose my mind in the house all day under the guise of "entertaining the kids". However, I have run out of new things to do in this not so big city, and have been forced (out of sheer boredom) to explore the place I haven't been-- the great outdoors. (Shudder!) The only place that is not life threatening to be outside for hours in the heat is in the mountains and the boys and I have headed there a few times to search out easy hikes to cool destinations just so we aren't all inside.

Our first hike we took Bill and headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to the destination we had wanted to hike on Father's Day, but had been rained out. We drove up to the Albion Basin and did what everyone told us was an easy hike to Cecret Lake. William couldn't get over the fact that someone had spelled "secret" wrong and was a bit perturbed by this oversight. Romney was excited to go until about 2 minutes into the hike when he slipped while trying to balance walk a fallen tree and cut his leg. Lucky for him, his Mama has bit of experience taking care of active boys and had some band-aids in the car. Also very lucky was the fact that we were still very close to the parking lot where the band-aids were living in the glove box and Daddy could run back for them and rescue Romney. Bloody leg fixed, we kept going (with the promise of ice-cream afterwards) up the hill where our easy hike turned into a mildly challenging hike in no time. Steep switch backs and loose gravel make this "kids" hike more than I was thinking we would face, but the kids did fabulously and we made it up in no time. The payoff was a beautiful mountain lake with stunning views and 75 degree weather. Worth it! (Never thought I would say that about any hike!)



Our next hike was less challenging than I expected. This time it was up Big Cottonwood Canyon and I think the term "hike" may be a little strong. . . more like nature walk around Silver lake. The lake was very stagnant which made a perfect breeding ground for horseflies, dragonflies and mosquitoes. We took a quick walk around the one mile long boardwalk. Where we found a trail leading up to two different lakes. I was excited to try the trails, if for no other reason than to leave some of the bugs behind, but the boys weren't interested and we stayed on the boardwalk path. The payoff from this hike-- lovely mountain views and the opportunity afterwards to drive up to Snowbird and use the free passes to the Alpine Slide we had left over from our rainy Father's Day weekend.

So other than lots and lots of play-dates for the boys with friends,a comic book class William took with his two best friends, swimming lessons for Romney, and Real game/fireworks watching for the boys. . . that is what we have been up to this month.

Bonus video: They boys watching fireworks on pioneer day. Bill says this is what happens for the entire 20 minute show. I wouldn't know, since I haven't watched a fireworks show in years. (Crowds+Heat=unhappy Mom)

Man's Red Flower

What is it with men and combustion? Things that blow up and/or light up on fire excite my boys. William and Romney have been asking if we could get some fireworks for the 4th of July since those pesky little tent-stands started popping up in parking lots around town. Our compromise--the 3 s'-- snapits, smokebombs and sparklers. They were thrilled.
I am not sure if they were more excited about playing with "man's red flower" or staying up late, either way, they were in little boys heaven; running from one end of the yard to another screaming with delight. We sat on our porch steps as Bill lit sparklers and I enjoyed the illegal fireworks display compliments of the rednecks who light-up the contraband in the west desert.
It brought back memories of my childhood in New Mexico. Sitting on my grandparents porch, lighting fireworks with my siblings and visiting cousins - watching the fireworks from all over town from the view on the hill.