DC bookends: Grandma Eula and Uncle Nate

The purpose of our trip back east was family. We had missed the 100 year birthday party for my grandma Eula and I had just plain missed my best friend uncle Nate. Grandma Eula is 102 and may we all have the same spark when we are in our hundreds- heck in our eighties! It was very special to be able to visit with her and she enjoyed seeing the kids- especially Wilder, her "soulmate".

On a previous trip Angus had come to the Squire's pub for lunch and recommended it. Spot on Angus!

Feeding the Belle Meade turtles is always a favorite.

To eat in the formal dining room one must have a jacket. Lucky for me they have a closet of loaners, and Luca found himself a nice little clip on number. (keep your Forrest Gump jokes to yourself!)

Luca and Wilder went over to the pool table later that evening and took over 150$ from the assisted living residents who at first were heard to say things like "well aren't you two little darlings" but later mentioned some quite unprintable things. Needless to say we left in the cover of darkness.

After Washington we drove to Philadelphia, the land of made up names. Wissahickon? really? where were you when I needed names for my first born?

We came to see Nate, Cerys, Calvin, and Naomi. Its nice to see pictures of your friend's kids but seeing them live is where its at. Here we are waiting for the train to the phillies game.

Here we are at the phillies game (logical procession don't you think?)

The phanatic came down to visit marking the closest I have ever been to a major league mascot. 

Here is Wilder and the phanatic, she claimed the armpit was "not that bad smelling."

Mike Simpson has said that people get the wrong impression of New Zealand and upon hearing that he is from there will ask if he knows (fill in the name of a random person they once met). This is annoying because he usually has to answer "you know New Zealand has over 4 million people... and yes I do know that person they are the friend of my father's barber's tax consultant."
I'm now worried that Mike will have the same perception of the states as I said upon leaving Venezuela: "hey we might be going to a game in Philly."
Yep- he was there.

Free sunglasses day- free beer day. I'll take two

Oh I do love a ball game

Lisa and Cerys

Luca and Calvin

Wilder and Naomi

Tired on the train ride back- it was free tshirt day as well. (lots of giveaways as the phillies are currently doing worse than the rockies)

The next day Calvin and Nate took us out to see some sites.

Looking for the liberty bell.

Here we are in the room where 100 hot sweaty men wrote the declaration of Independance. No AC and the windows closed so the press corps couldn't tweet the proceedings.

Taking a break- Luca still in his phillies shirt from the day before.

At the Ben Franklin Institute, where a sandwich company was sponsoring free admissions day.

Let's just say that free day at the institute is popular and we weren't the only ones there. Crazy inside- great people watching though.

Cold beers after walking all over sure go down easy. So good to see you Nate.

Calvin and Naomi will be eagerly awaiting Wilder's next visit and the pony rides.

So the magic journey ends in Philly and we caught the plane to Colorado the next day to be come regular old Americans. 

I think though that we will remain fun loving adventures and I'll likely keep writing about it as well. Hey, no one is making you read these.

Washington DC

None of the Isoms had ever been to the capitol and decided a few days would serve us well. It is an impressive place- the stone work on the buildings alone would have made the trip worthwhile but add the monuments, museums, and parks and it was something else.

We were able to take the metro and just walk around- so nice after not having this option in Caracas. Walking a city is great and you never know who you will run into. Einstein for example, or as the kids say: Jim!

Nerd Alert.

We are pretty sure we saw President Obama, a helicopter landed and took off, clearly he was in one of them. In either case we know he was busy and will forgive his not inviting us to tea.

Today was the day the supreme court made its decision that marriage is marriage and we heard that later that evening the house was lit up rainbow- that would have been cool to see. White was quite impressive as well.

 

I was keen to see the different memorials and share that with the kids. I found that finding the right words was difficult once there. The Vietnam war memorial as beautiful but has 58,000 names of soldiers killed. Trying to come up with a sensible way of explaining why they had to die and why we have our freedoms and why war isn't the answer proved tough. 

Luca decided Lincoln is his favorite president, asked him why he said "he ended slavery". I'm cool with that. He then added "also, he kept important papers in his hat."

He is getting quite big- almost as tall as the Washington monument. (and you gotta love the patriotic caracas shirt)

Me and Wilder is like peas and carrots. I realized after saying this line that she had not seen the movie Forrest Gump yet- bad parenting on my part.

Simon Bolivar sighting!!! (In Venezuela this guy is everywhere)

This one is for June, headquarters of the daughters of the revolution.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. 

FDR memorial.

I have wanted to visit this place since I was a kid- so cool to finally get to see the Smithsonian Air and Space museum and feel like a kid again.

Luca and I doing a little shopping, Lisa vetoed my idea of matching family space suits.

Thanks Washington, great time and a good reminder to all of us to buff up on our history.