Friday and Saturday - Spring Break

Friday

I'm a little behind on posting to my blog so I thought I would quickly fill the gap of our fun trip to WDC. Friday, we had another one of our layed back starts by waking up late, hanging out, eating a great breakfast and slowly plan our day. We went to the National Portrait Gallery which I heard was closed for 5 years for renovation and just opened last year. The funny thing is, is that Doug had never been to it. It was clearly a day long adventure but because we had Benjamin, who was bored, we spent a couple of hours plus lunch. I had to prod Katie along because she wanted to look at and read every single portrait which could have taken weeks. We didn't even get to the American Art Museum which was connected to the same museum.

Colbert
The highlight and the only reason David came along was because of the Stephen Colbert portrait. I was expecting some great painting but it was a digital photo stuck between the Men's and Women's bathroom in a little alcove. However, it seemed to get a ton of attention and lots of photos. I laughed at David because he practically ran to the photo and took a dozen photos. My photo is from the website and probably better than David's. I still don't know what the big hype is about Colbert but the website link clarifies it all.

Our next adventure was to the Library of Congress. Doug wanted to go the American Indian Museum but we all talked him out of it....we went into it the first day and we have all been there except Doug. Being a Librarian, I had to go to the LOC. David talked us out of the tour which was a good thing because we were all tired and it was probably a 45 minute tour -- I don't think we would have lasted. So, we made went inside and saw it. I had NO IDEA that it was so beautiful! Next trip I'm going to get a research pass to go inside the rooms and look around. Plus, I want to go to the basement and get free books for RHSM's library. Yes, Free! Apparently, I have to contact Jim Matheson to get approval but I don't think it will be too much of a problem since Doug knows him and he lives down the street in our neighborhood. :)

Joe and Cathy came in to DC and we had another fabulous dinner. The best part about it was Doug's molten quadruple chocolate brownies. Ok, they weren't suppose to be molten but we all said to take them out andthey weren't quite finished baking. After dinner they were still warm and they dripped with chocolate. They were the BEST brownies I've ever had! GORDO is not the right word - MUY GORDO!

SATURDAY

Wine outing - I jaunted out with the wine connoisseur, Bob, to two different wine stores. One in Alexandria. which carried about 3000 bottles of wine. It was the Home Depot of wine stores. It was so overwhelming for both of us that we got help, advice and recommendations on the different reds. It was very helpful to me... and I got to try a little which wasn't that great but I found out that I didn't like Bordeaux because it wasn't very bold or full. (I felt so ignorant). I bought a few bottles and then we headed out to Arlington to go to a small wine store that Bob frequents. (I get so lost driving in DC, I felt like we went in a big circle - I don't know how anyone drives there?)

The second wine store was very quaint and about the size of our wine store in Utah except it had an exquisite array of cheese. I trusted Bob on this one because he is the pro. He knows the owner who flies all over the world finding and learning about wines. So, when he recommends something, you don't need to boc (sp?). Again, I bought more wine to bring back to SLC, the forbidden city. I noticed that there were a few bottles, that I buy in SLC, and they were almost half the price in Virginia which is ONE of the reasons I bought it here and brought it back. Bob had a special box that can be checked in at the airport. I'll have to keep it for further use. Although, I only bought it because I know Bob is the pro on wine (Someone that has a walk-in 3000 bottle wine cellar), and it's hard to choose on my own.

Poor Benjamin -
When I got back to the house, I heard that Ben had thrown up twice because of Bob's scrambled eggs he made Ben. MaryBeth assumed that Ben made himself sick from the eggs that he didn't like but ate, in the morning. Normally, I would think the same however, Ben never makes himself throw up and, when he says he is sick or something hurts, he really is sick. There have been a ton of times when he says his stomach hurts and I tell him to sit on the toilet, or he'll be ok -- not much later he throws up (once in the car). A couple of years ago he complained about a hurt knee, I thought he fell down at bowling because it was really bruised and swollen. The next day it was almost better. But, a day later he complained about his ankle hurting and not being able to walk, so I looked at it and it was all bruised and swollen. I ended out taking him to Instacare and he had some 4 week virus (not contagious) that is similar to arthritis and causes bruising and inflammation. He had to have blood testing for the next 4 weeks and endure needles, joint pain and inflammation. I felt like a terrible mother the first few days because I thought he was faking. Fortunately, his 1st grade teacher knew exactly what it was because her daughter had it (the doctor's didn't know what it was with her -- Ben's doctor knew right away).

To make a long story short -- Ben had the flu. he threw up a bunch of times in DC, and once on the plane (thank goodness he knew ahead of time and thank goodness for barf bags). He seems to be better today because he ate two bowls of cereal -- but, might be sick at the other end :(