Fact: Day Nine

Today we left the Martines' house, traveled 50 miles to DC, used Colleen's super-slick trick for cheap/easy parking right near the Mall, walked and walked and walked until our feet were black (we all wore flips except Jim...our feet were FILTHY and tired!), rode the Metro until we were experts and I almost didn't freak out every time Matt got close to an incoming train and did some insane trick like stood on one foot, drove around the Lincoln Memorial until we figured out how to illegally stop to see it (without having to walk an additional 4 miles to get to it), drove over the Arlington Cemetery Bridge 11 times figuring out the above illegal stop (we think the traffic markings were more guidelines than rules), drove through Delaware (all 14 miles of it), and stopped at a Holiday Inn (we're earning points) where upon checking in, we discovered that we're 2.5 blocks from the Liberty Bell. Awesome!

The only other picture of the Martines Family...Jeffrey! He was pitching a fit about something and I asked him to hold Dwight as a distraction then proceeded to pepper him with questions until he was absolutely baffled by me. That's usually the effect I have on small children.
We had an easy 55 mile drive to THIS sign. Woot!

And Dwight saw all the important sights.

Dwight in his Presidential Pose--this is inside the Washington Monument waiting to go up the elevator.
We learned that the Washington Monument is 555 feet, 5 1/4 inches tall. When we rode up, however, we were a mere 500 feet off the ground. Weak sauce.
The spot Will wanted to visit more than ANY other.
And it's been closed to visitors since 9/11/2001. It was pretty disappointing, but he was happy to see it. And we went to the International Spy Museum around the corner as a consolation. That place was awesome and mind-blowing.

From the Spy Museum, we rode the Metro to what we THOUGHT was the closest station to the White House...we got there anyway.

Then we rode the Metro all the way to Crystal City for Michael Scott's favorite "local" New York food. Dwight enjoyed it, too.
A surreptitiously-acquired photo of Jourdan and Matt on the Metro.
Jim was ready to leave the city by the time we got back to our car--it was 8:30pm and we had essentially walked for about 9 hours. And he was wanting to drive at night to avoid traffic. So he was more antsy than the rest of us to get out. Will and Jourdan REALLY wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial. So he graciously agreed to try and drive over to it. We got TO it with no problems...it was figuring out where/how/when to stop so we could get out that was the tricky part. After circling Arlington National Cemetery five times (and accidentally getting on a freeway at least twice), we had that place figured out and we were on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial! The kids sprinted up to Lincoln himself, Dwight and I stayed down to get a picture, and Jim stayed with the van so it wouldn't get towed or blown up by security. He's just generous that way.
This photo doesn't have Dwight, but it really captures the mood of the evening--it was beautiful and calm and the perfect end to our DC day.
We made it to Delaware with no problems. By this point, only Jim, Will and I were awake to enjoy it (and Dwight, of course). But we have the usual proof that we were there.
I had more than a few people baffled by me taking this shot. It is the middle pillar in a REALLY busy all-night travel stop just past the Delaware border. There were at least 30 people at 11pm getting food at the Roy Rogers. It was like it was lunch here and midnight everywhere else. Odd.
PENNSYLVANIA!!!! Dwight must be extremely happy to be in his home state. If he were going to come to America, it would make sense that he would come to a -sylvania...like PENNsylvania.
Oh we're smiling. Never you fear!
It was a crazy busy day--but SO super fun. Day Ten will find us on the outskirts of New York City. Here we go.

Fact: Day Eight (updated)

I am currently in our hotel at 2am on the night of Day Nine (really, the start of Day Ten). And this is how much I love you all--I'm still going to update this blog. We had such a super fun day on Day Eight. We started off the day in North Carolina. We made it to Virginia to our friends' house and then drove to Maryland to another friends' house. I'm going to let the pictures do most of the narrating and I'll just clarify where I need to...

WARNING! This post contains graphic pictures of an accident that MAY BE TRAUMATIC. Brace yourselves, breathe in, breathe out. Relax. It's all going to work out fine in the end. SERIOUSLY--DON'T FREAK OUT (Jimmy).

I love this picture. The end of Day Seven was the first time on our trip that we have been cold enough to need jackets. Will has always loved Jim's jackets. I woke up this morning and found him curled up asleep using it as his blanket. Probably his best night's sleep on this whole trip!
I tried to get Dwight balanced on my arm to be like the bird...but he was too top heavy (or I'm just a terrible balancer).

This is at the Woodburys house. We knew the Woodburys at Edwards Air Force Base in California 4 years ago. They were in our ward and Jamie is the friend that helped set up our preschool co-op. In my preschool now, I still use the curriculum she set up way back then.

At my request, Rachel took Dwight and gave him a tour of the Woodbury's yard. And a zillionth of a second after this pictures was snapped, Will came running over to the swing not knowing that Dwight was already ON the swing...and a horrible accident occurred.
Creed: He was drunk as a skunk, he was flying down Route 6. He slides under an 18 wheeler. Pop. It snaps right off.
Dwight: That is the way to go. Instant death. Very smart.
Creed: You know a human can go on living for several hours after being decapitated.
Dwight: You're thinking of a chicken.
Creed: What did I say?
This is the graphic picture (obviously) to which I was referring at the beginning of the post. Rachel about had heart palpitations, Will felt awful.
His cappa was detated from his head.

If my head ever comes off, I would like you to put it on ice.
When I die, I wanna be frozen. And if they have to freeze me in pieces, so be it. I will wake up stronger than ever because I will have used that time to figure out exactly why I died and what moves I could have used to defend myself better now that I know what hold he had me in.
Luckily we had Jim the nurse with us. He performed a re-attachment with Crazy Glue and a choke hold (at least 45 seconds according to the package). And Dwight continues on our journey relatively unscathed (the biggest change for Dwight is that he doesn't get to go back and live with Jimmy after our trip--a new Dwight will be moving from nbc.com to Provo to hang out with Jimmy and seam-around-the-neck Dwight will now live in Show Low with us).

Here's Jamie and me together. It was so fun to spend an hour catching up on old times. I asked Spencer, her 4 year-old boy to take our picture. I gave him a quick tutorial on how to use my camera and we got this cute one out of his photo shoot.
We also got this...
...and this. Awesome job, Spencer!
Will & Spencer posing together (Matt was too busy playing with the t-ball set out back).
Dwight on the map at the Welcome Center in Maryland.
Jourdan and Dwight feel welcomed...
Driving through Maryland to Leonardtown, we saw this sewage truck. The declaration "Sewage Only" makes perfect sense. The end of the slogan "We Take it All" makes perfect sense. The middle line is utterly baffling "Every Body's Gottta Take a Little".
Seriously, what were they thinking? At the very least, shouldn't it be "Everybody"??? If it's "Every Body", what is the little they've gotta take? And of all the slogans in the entire world, WHY WAS THIS THE PERFECT ONE???

We made it in the early afternoon to the Martines' house. They are also friends from Edwards Air Force Base back in the day. Colleen was one of the first people I met in our ward. And Tara and her family live about an hour from Colleen so she drove down and met us so we could have a little reunion together! This is the three of us old friends. Also, it's the ONLY PICTURE I TOOK!! All our kids got along like houses on fire, they sort-of-remember-each-other and they had a really super time together (Will asked if Colleen's boy Eric was available for adoption and went to cub scouts with Eric, teaching him the cub scout promise on the way)...and we never took their picture together.


Tara had to leave in the early evening to get to a meeting, but it was so fun to see her. It's like we were never apart! We spent a lovely evening with Colleen, Mike, and their kids (and Colleen's parents whom we have met before and love--so it was a blast to see them, too). Jim changed the oil in our van in the front driveway, Will helped Eric get through his first cub scout experience, Colleen and I schemed on how we can get our families to be neighbors (or maybe even share a house to help cut down on expenses), Matt played the Wii (typical), and Rachel played with Chelsea (who has grown into such an adorable girl!).

We also got some supplies we need for a super-exciting event we plan to be part of on Saturday in New York City.

Then we stayed up talking until it was way too late to post these pictures. And the day was perfect.