day 39: destination....check

(note: it's obvious that I'm a few days behind in my daily blogging endeavor. patience with me is required :)

8:00 saw us slowly waking up. Nothing like four hours of traveling in the car with three kids to make you jump out of bed in the morning.

Breakfast was of the "continental" variety promised by the hotel flyer, which means waffles, OJ, and the weirdo desk clerk who stared at me every time I got up to get more butter or napkins from the kitchen area. Needless to say, breakfast was also of the "very rushed" variety. (no worries, I have a complaint email to the hotel chain already in the works)

9:00 saw us on the road again (Willie Nelson, anyone?). West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland quickly passed by our four tires. One quick stop for gas/lunch/potty pushed us even further into Virgina, where the DC area traffic wasn't too bad for a Saturday afternoon.

And 2:30 saw us at our destination, the 2nd to last in a row of townhouses in Fairfax, VA. For the next two days, we'd be staying at the home of someone we didn't know, the sister (Cindy) of a friend of mine (Judy). And to make it weirder, we arrived at her home before she arrived at her home. I unloaded all our things while the girls checked out the house and all the toys. Then we trekked down the hill, across the bridge, and to the park just a short minute away.

The girls were more than happy to stretch their legs and run and jump and play after being cooped up in the car so far that day.

When we walked back up the hill to the house, Miss Cindy was there with her granddaughter V, and the four girls hit it off right away. Not much later, we were back at the park, with baskets and eggs in hand, ready for a good ole' Easter egg hunt.

9:00 found us quickly gobbling down a supper of turkey, rice, and carrots and hopping into the car for some nighttime DC sightseeing. Before we knew it, the girls

and I were sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the moon perched precisely over our heads. K was thrilled to see Abe, R was worried about how many steps she'd have to climb,

and McK was just waking up after a quick nap in the car, not sure of where she was. When we finally made it up to Mr. Lincoln, McK wondered aloud, "Why is he just white?" Good question, my dear.

And quite ironic, if you really consider it, that the white marble statue commemorates the man who fought for freedom of those who were not white. Cindy showed us to the spot at the back of the memorial where we could perfectly spot JFK's flame flickering from far away. We show the girls the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial from a distance, then we were off to the FDR Monument, one of my favs.

11:00 we were done for the night, but certainly not done with our adventures for the weekend.