Reflections of Fall

2019 is almost at an end.  It has been a while since we have posted anything so here are some of our favorite memories from this autumn.

Samantha officially contracted in the Army ROTC program at UNC.  Rich got to swear her in for an awesome bonding moment. In 2021 she will be an college graduate (second degree) and an Army officer!   

Grant had a great season as goalie for the U8 Fuquay Varina Soccer team, The Menace! In a blow out final, The Menace dominated - or as Grant misspeaks "denominated" - over the opposing team. This is Grant's second championship team this year!

Cattan rules. Rich and I don't get Cattan, but everyone else does including Aunt Linda who came to visit for Thanksgiving. The kitchen table was occupied for several days looking like this. Sam's boyfriend, Mitch, will have to learn how to play to fill that fourth seat.

Run, run, get some! Getting ready for the 2020 Dopey Challenge means lots of miles now.  The autumn sky has been spectacular this year. Getting to run with Rich (when he stays with me) is a good excuse to spend time together. I started doubling up on back to back long runs and will log over 500 miles for the year - a PR!  Disney here I come.

Run, run, get some Rich!  Rich ran the Holly Springs Half Marathon in November. He discovered that the hill out of Bass Lake and up Sugg Hill Farms can really wear you down but he pushed hard for the last three miles and finished strong. Rich set a PR at just over 1:45.We spent the afternoon at Shawn and Denette's house drinking beers, eating smoked turkey and listening to Rich and Shawn strategize for Disney.

Grant turned 9 years old - wow, where did that time go? His presents include Bey Blades (metal, spinning tops that battle each other) and a 750+ piece LEGO 3-in-1 set. For the first time, Grant did all of the work himself with dad locating the parts for him as an assistant.

Look who's back! Ho Ho Ho, our mischievous elf-on-the-shelf found his way back to the Brown household getting into the LEGOs, the Bey Blades, and just about everything else of Grant's.  There must be some connection!

The holidays are here. We went to the very crowded Fuquay Varina Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. TJ is rocking the hoodies lately, yes he getting into "that" age. Even at this age, TJ is still a sweetheart.  

How How from the Y-Guides Saber Tooth Storm Troopers who marched in the Holly Springs Christmas Parade!  The lousy rain stopped just in time for thousands of people to line the parade route. The kids had a blast handing out candy to all of the spectators. 








It must be time to decorate the tree because Santa has come to town!  This was our second Fuquay Varina Christmas Parade. We had perfect seats across from The Mill to watch all the floats go by, ending of course, with and exuberant Santa on his sleigh! 

Musical Beds (or Sleepless in Fuquay)

This family has trouble sleeping their own bed. When TJ was little, like any toddler, he would wander into Lisa’s and my bedroom at o-dark-thirty to get into our bed and snuggle.  Grant became a master at not staying in his bed. He would start in his bed and then end up on the floor, underneath his mini-loft bed. After that he just started sleeping under the mini-loft altogether.  Grant’s visits to our room were frequent, often times it was several times in the night. Like me, he is an early riser so add a 5:30am visit to get mom’s iPad.

Somewhere after my deployment and I got home I struggled to sleep all night in the bed.  I’d find myself up at 2am tossing to fall back to sleep.  It did not help that Lisa has a tendency to breathe heavy (read, snore). I would end up down stairs on the couch watching my phone until about 4am-ish and then sleep for another 90 minutes until the alarm went off.  I found the couch had a certain level of comfort that I could not achieve in bed and the sleep there seemed to be the best sleep of the night.

Keep in mind that sometimes Grant would come in as I was dealing with my insomnia by heading to the couch so that two people were changing beds in the night. Sometimes it would be my turn to snore and I would chase Lisa out of bed and Grant would come in; and if Grant started snoring then I would go downstairs. That's three people switching beds.

Lately it has been Lisa’s turn to deal with the early morning fits of sleeplessness. I have rolled over at 3am to find her scrolling through her phone unable to settle down. When my alarm goes off there is a vacant spot and I go to look for Lisa in one of several places she might have crashed; Sam’s bed, the upstairs couch, in with the boys, or down on the comfy couch. Today it was the comfy couch. 

TJ has gotten much better at staying in his bed. Now 12½ he falls asleep quickly and is hard to wake up in the morning.

The only one in the family who does not play this game is Samantha.  When she goes to her room, she closes the door and is not seen again until daylight.

Dachau

During my last visit to Germany I was able to visit Dachau Concentration Camp, just outside of Munich.  

It is eerie walking into a place that is so infamous with torture, mass murder, and genocide. Even on a warm summer's day, things still seem still.  While it is empty of anyone but tourists, one cannot walk the grounds without imagining the guards in their towers, the dogs barking, officers shouting orders and then the wretched mass of humanity that suffered and died here.  

You enter the only places left of Dachau; you enter the barracks area through the guard office through a gate that reads, "Work is Freedom," walking along the same path that so many entered through and so few ever left.  The Maintenance Building is now a museum/memorial to the victims.  Not just Jews, but Gypsies, dissidents, homosexuals, Poles, Soviets, the unwanted of the Nazi Regime. They were beaten.  They were experimented on. They were executed and incinerated. It is all there there to see. 

Although I was traveling with three others, I seemed to take all of this in alone. It seemed like a lot of people who came in groups processed it with inward reflection. I took my time trying to grasp what I already new about the Holocaust and the Concentration Camps. Through official Nazi photographs and the liberators film, all of the horrors are captured - paired with the words of the survivors.  It. Is. Hard. To. Witness.  And yet by witnessing it we help ensure genocide does not happen again.

The reconstructed barracks gives another grim display of what like was like. Men, two and three to a space originally designed to sleep one.  In fact, Dachau was built for 6,000 but housed 60,000 by the end of the war. I simply cannot imagine the despair.  That is until I walked to a guard tower where the sign showed the "kill zone" before the fence - the space where the guards could shoot prisoners who stepped into the area.  A choice many made to end their suffering.  

The flow of visitors eventually leads to the crematorium, still intact. The area around it is now a garden but with reminders of what happened 75 to 80 years ago, "Execution Wall with Blood Ditch," and "Untold Thousands Buried," and "Ash Grave of Thousands" There was so much human ash that it was simply buried after the liberation where it was found. The crematorium is now a brochure version of what it was. It is sanitized, freshly painted, and devoid of any sign that people were suffocated with poison; a death that took up to 20 minutes. Standing in that room is to stand among ghosts. Ghosts of the last moments of people who were trying to figure out what about them made others fear and hate them.

Two rooms later you step into the crematorium - the ovens.  Doors open you peer into the blackness of the ovens.  A sign tells you that many prisoners (perhaps because the guards were too lazy to drag the bodies) hung their victims in front of the ovens. This is sacred ground.  

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I told Lisa today that I was very fortunate. My good fortune comes from my family, my friends, and my career.  I was fortunate to see a place like Dachau and to bear the visions of that place in order to tell my children. While Dachau was indeed a horrible place, it reminds me to be a better human being and to be kind. Not many bad things come out of being kind to one another.

This Guy

I've Seen Stranger Things

 

I love this guy because he is always has a sense of humor. He knows how to be just-goofy-enough to get the laugh. 

 

TJ is away for the weekend and we are learning just how connected Grant is to big brother.  He has the whole house to himself; the Xbox, the iPad, the remotes and all he wants is for his brother to come home and hang out with him.

So Grant became my buddy, going to Home Depot, going to the pool, and certainly going to Dunkin' for a donut and a photo op.

TJ comes home in four hours...Grant keeps checking the time. 

STOP and NO

Lately we have been reinforcing the words, "Stop" and "No" in the house. Especially when the words come from mommy's lips. It seems strange we have to remind the boys to listen when they are spoken to at times when their behavior requires someone to say "Stop" or "No." You would think that they learned these words a long time ago.

I grew up in a house of two boys.  I was the oldest.  I know how boys can be; loud, rambunctious, and aloof to discipline. I know because Andy and I were loud, rambunctious, and aloof to discipline. In fact, Andy and I swore more, fought more, and listened less than TJ and Grant at their ages. These are facts.

My mom did her best to corral us. I would like to think that once she got a hold of us we generally listened to her. She was not above losing her tempter and not above yelling. We might have even been smacked once or twice. She did not defer to my Dad too often. Dad, bless his heart, was terrible at discipline and could never figure out how to do it with effectiveness. 

That was forty years ago and times were different.  In four decades our collective culture has changed.  First, both parents need to be engaged in raising their kids. Second, kids seem less likely to listen and respect their parents. In our case, especially Mom.  Lisa, to her credit, is a person of near-endless patience. She gives the boys every opportunity for the boys to change course before she gets upset. And what happens when she does lose her cool? The boys - TJ in particular - laughs at her. When that happens I see RED - like a STOP sign.

The reason this bothers me is two-fold. First, Lisa should not have to lose her patience with the boys and she certainly should not be ridiculed by her 12 year old son. Second, if the boys disrespect their mom in this way then how do we get them to respect girls in the next few years as they start dating and the hormones take over? How do you get them to respect when a woman says, "No"?

I used to tickle Samantha when she was a little girl.  She'd laugh and kick and try to get free.  As soon as she said, "STOP!" I stopped what I was doing immediately.  I tried to teach the lesson that "No" means "No" and that she should not settle for anything less.  Teaching boys is the same lesson but from a much different angle. 

As we start talking about this in the larger context of "consent" I know it will be a constant, steady drum beat throughout their adolescence.  The quality of their adult relationships will be impacted on the outcome. 

This is parenting in the 21st century.

The Boys Are Back in Town

After four weeks at Camp Sea Gull, the boys are home! Sun tanned, tired, and a little anxious they greeted us with open arms when we pulled up.  Grant must have parked himself under a pine tree because he came running out of nowhere and leaped into his mom's arms.  TJ did the same.  We actually made it out of camp in an hour! It was so awesome to have the boys back.  Mom asked all of the important questions; favorite meal, best memory, what ranks did they get, how were your poops (TJ), and how was the dance?! 

They actually waited a whole hour before asking for technology! The boy's first phone call was to Samantha. God bless Sam.  She had all of the excitement and camp enthusiasm of the former counselor she was. What I appreciated most was the unprompted, "I love you" that went both ways. For the briefest of moments we were all together - even if on the phone. Lucie, on the other paw, was more happy to see Lisa come back home than the boys. Lucie bee-lined right past them but eventually got her belly rubbed.   

To their credit, both the boys and their counselors had everything packed and ready to go.  Everything fit well into the van for the ride home.  Once we got home, Lisa had me back the van up to the garage where every bag was opened and dumped onto the floor. The back of the van vomited dirty clothes, stinky shoes, musty towels, and - stuff.  Lisa packed as much as she could and lugged it down to the Laundromat for them to clean, fold, and return in less than a day...  Smartest. Move. Ever! It didn't take long for the boys to fall into their routine.  TJ started playing Fortnite and Grant watched Youtube. Grant convinced us to a game of Uno Attack! and after TJ dominated two games in a row it was time for bed.  They were exhausted.  They crashed hard at 9pm, happily sleeping in the same room together, one on the top bunk the other snoozing on the bottom; mom didn't even get chance to cuddle.

BNAWTK

Last year we posted a story right around this time called DWTK - Disney Without The Kids - our weekend get away to Orlando without the boys while they were at camp.  This year we went to Nashville, TN, for the long 4th of July weekend.

I really like Nashville, Tennessee.  I really like it when I can go there with Lisa without the responsibility of keeping the kids engaged/entertained. Nashville is a grown-ups town.  This year's trip without the kids took us to Nashville because Betty had not seen her sister, Janet, in several years.  It just made good sense to have all of us go together so the sisters could catch up on their genealogy and family heirlooms and Lisa and I could go out on the town.

Lisa found us a 5k race in downtown Nashville. On Thursday morning there was every flavor of U.S.A. and Red, White, and Blue in the race from tutus to face paint to socks warming up to run.  Once again, I could not help myself at the start line.  I yelled my line, "Run, run, get some!" and took off at a dash past the bulk of the crowd.   I don't know why, but I feel the need to push myself in these races. I noticed that the race was going down hill for a long, long time. We ran long the famous Music Row where all of the major country music recording offices and studios are and then started the loop back.  What goes down must go back up and the long two mile down hill portion of the race meant that the one mile back to the finish was all up hill!  I strained my hamstring (again) because I pushed hard - hard enough to finish 3rd Place in my age group! Lisa even finished 17th out of 70 in her age group!

We spent a good part of the day walking around Broadway, which was shut down to vehicle traffic for the day. We hit boot shops, hat stores, and souvenir shops while we waited for the midday rain to pass. Who wore it best? Lisa, of course.

That evening we headed to Broadway, home of famous honky-tonk bars like Nudie's, Tootsie's, the Whiskey Bent and other.  Every bar was at least three floors and each floor had it's own band. The windows were open onto the streets and the music poured out on the crowds. I love live music when it is loud and rowdy.  This was sensory overload.  There is so much music that if your don't like the sound of particular band then you just change bars (or floors) like changing the dial on a radio and bam there is a new sound! Some places were packed to the rafters and others only had a few people listening. Lisa and I just floated from one place to another.

The 4th of July ended with us going down to the Cumberland River and watching what is probably the biggest fireworks display in the country. For 30 minutes without pause the sky over Nashville exploded.  They even managed to have fireworks in the water! The noise was deafening and you felt every concussion reverberate in your bones.  It was an amazing experience - one that I would bring the kids to see someday. 

On Saturday we visited Franklin, TN - a small, turn of the 20th century town just south of Nashville.  One of the things I love about these towns is how much they are alike, no matter where you go. Yes, Franklin definitely has a Southern flare and charm - but the architecture and feel of Main Street is the same as Skaneateles, NY, or Asheville, NC, or Morgantown, WV.  Franklin had some great shops - including a spice shop where we bought about $25 in different spices, rubs, and 'toppings'. 

While I like  my live music loud and rowdy, like likes hers "unplugged" and intimate. She got us tickets to The Listening Room, a small venue for up-and-coming artists to play short sets.  Three very talented singer-song writers provided a great evening of love songs, fun songs, and heart break songs. Who knows, maybe Bonner Black, Katie Mae Smith, and AJ Kross will make it big someday and we can say we saw them before they were famous!  This was definitely a good way to end our visit to Nashville's night life.

Our trip was complete with a visit to the Loveless Café and Motel - a Nashville staple for good, home cooked food and laidback atmosphere.  The Loveless Café is a time capsule of memorabilia from a time when people didn't have Hampton Inns, Panera Bread, and Chik-fil-A to go to.  Truly amazing biscuits.

It was good to spend time with Janet and Bob and Betty to got through the family history; family Bibles, furniture, photos - all ties to Lisa's ancestry.  Lisa got a copy from her grandparent's honeymoon trip - with a "sassy" Grandma Grimley waving to the camera. Both sisters are so into genealogy that there are terabytes of data for their children to go through for years. And like those items from decades or centuries ago, this journal helps tell the story of this family in the 21st century.

My travel partner to destinations like Nashville and Orlando is my partner in this wonderful life we share.  I could not have enjoyed this trip without Lisa.

The Brown's Blackboard

A look back at some of our favorite blackboard drawings...

Grant's Awesome Weekend - Two Years in a Row

Grant and I spent a great weekend in Arapahoe, NC the other weekend for our Second Year Spring Outing with Y-Guides.Grant is now a master of Y-Guides and Camp Sea Gull - having completed a full, four week session of Camp Sea Gull last year and ins and outs of being in part of a Tribe. 

We did not attend Spring Outing with the rest of the Tribe this year because I had a commitment on the scheduled date.  This meant Grant, a.k.a. Red Falcon and I, a.k.a. Road Runner, spent most of the time by ourselves.  We even avoided the cabins in favor of camp staff room!
 
This year's theme was Under the Big Top. We dressed up in our best Ring Master gear and listened to the sound track of The Greatest Showman while watching fireworks.

We really enjoyed ourselves going out to The Point, riding around on our bikes, and completing almost all of the activities in half a day.  He benefits from having an older brother who is equally adventurous and equally into the 'Camp' experience who glamorizes going down the zip line, shooting BB guns, and a dozen other activities. It is easy for Grant to feel at home there.

I have written before - the two boys are so different in their composure and attitudes while being so much alike - and like their sister - when it comes to mannerisms and affect.  I can see and hear certain strains in the sayings and behaviors that are similar to all three children; both good and bad.

Grant continues to be his own person and not a reflection of TJ or Sam.  I love that about him - and all of them - their individuality shines through.  Grant is a funny, funny dude, a clown with an off beat sense of humor and the ability to let loose from time to time.

Time away from mom is a good thing for Grant.  Mom is easier and more fun at home, but dad is the adventurer when we are away.   

 

Sorry for the Enconvenice

TJ, by the time you are reading this on the blog I will bet that years have gone by since this happened.  I am sure we have long forgotten the incident.  I would like to say that I am sorry about posting this but it was just too darn cute not to share it.

Lisa and I went out for a walk the other night and came to a note on the blackboard.  It read, 

"Caution poop did not go down. Sorry. Use upstairs please. Sorry for the enconvenice - TJ"

TJ, as we have posted before, poops once every few days and when he does it is usually massive.  If Lisa or I find it "stuck" we usually exclaim, "oh my God," with a snicker and flush.  We will usually find the other person to show it off.  This is immediately followed with a promise to add more fiber to the boy's diet.  

It is an endearing side to a boy who knows that someone has to go in an get it unstuck and is a little embarrassed and a little apologetic about the whole incident.   

Catch Me if You Can

I am still giving everything I can to support my Soldiers, the mission, and the future of the Army.  The extra time it take for mid-week phone calls, dozens of emails a day, and travel away from home is merely something that is part of our lives.  It is required because this job cannot be accomplished in one weekend a month and a couple of weeks in the summer.
One of my requirements is to take the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), twice a year.  The test included two minutes of Push-Ups, two minutes of Sit-Ups, and a two mile run.  Points are awarded for the number correctly completed, on a scale of 0 to 100 for each event.  The most someone can get is 300 points.  And, yes, there are age categories.  I believe it is important to keep physically fit.  As an officer and as senior leader, Soldiers look at me and gauge me through this lens - one lens of many - but one they can compare themselves to.   

When I took command eighteen months ago I took the APFT when I was in top condition.  I easily maxed out all of the events.  However, during the run there was a younger officer who was running ahead of me.  A mile into the run I thought I might be able to catch him.  With a half mile to go I knew I could close on him, and in the process have a little fun. 

I ran up behind him, where he couldn't see me.  I began to taunt him.  He ran faster.  I ran up along side of him.  He pushed harder.  I caught him again and this time I slyly said, "See you at the finish line," and took off at a dead sprint to beat him.  He did not like getting beat by an 'old man' and waited until our next APFT together. 

That was this morning.

There was a murmur and acknowledgement throughout the unit that the young stud and the old man were competing.  We each maxed out our Push-Ups.  We each maxed out our Sit-Ups.  We moved to the start of the run.  There was trash talk and people rooting for one or the other.  The group made space for us to start side by side.  We took off at a hard run.  With a good breeze to our backs we quickly got out in the front three.  We stayed together for a mile and half, side by side, pushing each other to keep pace, but neither willing to make a move as to not burn out too soon. 

The course was a mile out and a mile back, so the mile back was into the wind.  He pulled an arms length ahead of me at the 1 1/2 mile mark and then fell back about 50 feet.  By now I felt I could maintain my pace all the way to the finish but I didn't know if he could find one last burst.  I got my answer was he drove hard past me and stayed about 50-100 feet in front of me but never pulled away. 

People were cheering and screaming at the finish line.  Why not go for it? So I kicked in to sprint mode and blew by him.  I didn't say anything because I was afraid I'd lose my breathing pattern and burn out.  At the finish it wasn't even close.  I beat him and kept my bragging rights.

I love that friendly competition.  It is good for morale. I like being my age and beating people half my age. It is good for my morale.

Good Choices

TJ has been slowly entering the dark, moody, confusing territory that is adolescence so when bright rays of goodness show through they need to be shared.  

Puberty (pre-puberty in this case) is difficult, even with a  good kid like TJ.  There are moments when he is sullen and combative.  He talks back to his mother, antagonizes his brother, and ignores me.  He is trying to figure his way from being a boy to being a young man.  

This period is full of bad choices and decisions.  However -
"Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment."

The other day we had an instance of good judgement.

TJ went off on his bike with his friends on a beautiful Tuesday evening.  We are fortunate to live in a neighborhood where the kids can take off on their bikes and be safe; someone always appears to be watching out for the general welfare of South Lakes.  And when they do see something amiss they post it on Facebook for a good public shaming.

TJ went off with his friends with a hard-time of 6:45 to be home for dinner.  The buddies he hangs out with are good kids so when TJ came home early I was a little confused.  He initially shrugged it off saying he just didn't feel like hanging with them.  A little while later he came to me and said that he made a good decision.  He said that the boys wanted to enter the new High School that is under construction right next to our development.  He said he knew it was wrong to enter into the building and he left before they got caught.

It's a strange time in his life to navigate; live by your parents rules or follow the crowd.  TJ is slowly coming to the point where our rules and expectations are becoming his.  Yes, there is a long way to go between 12 years old and manhood but he is off to a good start.

 

Spring Break 2019

We have crossed the line where Disney is our only destination for vacations.  After years of wrangling TJ and Grant and overcoming their exuberance of wanting everything in any gift shop they come upon we felt it was time to go on a vacation to a destination that didn't include roller coasters or water slides or themed characters.

Lisa booked an Air B&B near Howard University in Washington D.C. and we drove up with Betty to tour the Capitol for three and half days.  We could not have asked for better weather, better behavior from the boys, or better opportunities to see some truly special sights.

 

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and took the boys down to Ford's Theater - 154 years to the day that Abraham Lincoln was shot there - and to the National Mall just to see the sights and let them "get their sillies out" after a long drive up I-95.  DC is full of school trips this time of year.  There were hundreds of High School and Middle Schoolers all over - clearly something we had not planned on.  Washington is also awash with electric, motorized, scooters that people rent to get around.  TJ - clearly drawn to a new 'thing" had to be pulled away from them often. We got up close to the Washington Monument and the World War II Memorial before heading back to the house for dinner. 

On Monday, we went to the National Archives to see the nation’s founding documents; The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The military is allowed special access and when we arrived we were ushered into a tour group that had space for five more people!  We saw an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation - rarely viewed by the public - made available because of the anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. Walking into the rotunda we were a small group in there before the doors opened to the public. 

There is awe seeing those documents.  I have not viewed them in over 30 years.  I saw them - this time, for the first time since I took my oath of office as an Army officer.  Hard to imagine that I have waited until the end of my career see the document(s) I have sworn to defend with my life. 

Grant, always the clown asked the docent where the Declaration of Independence was signed.  The docent was an eighty-something year old retiree and an expert on these documents - very stoic and reverent.  He replied, "Yes, in Philadelphia."  Grant corrected him, "No, at the bottom."  And his parents groaned. 

I do believe that the boys understood the importance of what they saw and I hope they return some day as men to see them again, only with a greater understanding of their importance.

We hustled over to Senator Thom Tillis' office for a guided tour of the capitol building.  Our guide turned out to be the brother of a Fuquay Varina, NC police officer.  We took a cool "subway" ride under the senate office buildings to the capitol.  It was much like Disney's People Mover - maybe there are rides after all.  

We took some great pictures from the House Majority Leaders patio, inside the rotunda, the old senate chambers, and of lots of statues. 

 

We had a great dinner with Lisa's cousins, Eileen and Kathleen downtown before calling it a night.  We walked over 9 miles with another full day in the morning. 

On Tuesday, we took a tour of the White House with my former ROTC student, now a Major in the Army.  She was able to get us into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.  It is a fantastic piece of living history that houses the former offices of the Secretary of War and the podium that JFK gave his inaugural address from and well as the current office of the National Security Council. 

The boys got spoiled by a Navy Master Chief who runs the Navy Mess for the White House.  She gave them a case of Hershey's Kisses and M&Ms with the presidential seal on them.  Give a kid chocolate and you make a friend. Give a kid a crate of chocolate and you make a memory for life!

On Wednesday, TJ and I took a "destination run" down the National Mall and up to the Capitol Building. That is a memory we will always share and he can tell his children some day, "Hey, I ran on this road...with your grandfather," extending a long running family joke (pun intended). 

We also spent the day in the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the National Portrait Gallery.  The boys showed respect in seeing the Star Spangled Banner, and stood on a section of the Mother Road, Route 66 and Lisa gawked at the presidential portraits and the peculiar portrait of Michelle Obama. 

In the afternoon we visited the Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and World War II Memorial. While Lisa made the most of the lighting to use her camera, we tried to explain the importance of these places in a context that would make sense to the boys. War monuments and statues are just things to see without the stories behind them, even if they are told at the surface level as you walk by them. This vacation was about giving the boys an appreciation for our history and I believe they took away the important part.  

In the evening, Lisa took the boys on a night bus tour of the city while I attended to some business.  I finished early enough to go down to the Jefferson Memorial after dark but still busy with dozens of tourists.  It was my first visit to the Jefferson Memorial and it didn't disappoint me.  Jefferson looms large, looking out over the Tidal Basin surrounded by his most important works.  I discovered that Jefferson believed the Constitution was a living document, stating, "As new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change with the circumstances, institutions must also advance to keep pace with the times." Well, I learned something. 

On Thursday we packed up, cleaned up, and drove across to Virginia to visit with Lisa's friend, Tina.  They were roommates at USD and Tina was the maid-of-honor at our wedding.  The kids played for a hour or so while they caught up and then we hit I-95 south past Petersburg, VA, and a quick right hand turn on I-85 to pick up Samantha for Easter break.

A week later and we are still reflecting on the things we saw and did.  TJ was watching one of his favorite shows, "Madam Secretary" and looked for places in DC on the show where he was.  I am glad the kids can say, "I was there!" with enthusiasm.  I am glad the kids got to share the trip with their Grandmother, who loves the tradition, the majesty, and honor of the nation's capitol.

Good trip.