I know, you hate the Christmas card couple who sends the lengthy note with intimate details of the entire year - how Billy was the eggplant in the school play this year...yada yada.
It can be too much. This might be too much as well. I am putting it up there anyway. I have never been so proud, or so nervous for my kid. Tonight the boys played in their piano recital, and Hollis played and SANG! It could have been disastrous - believe me, I listened to him practicing. It wasn't. He sounded so sweet, so genuine. I was so proud.
Feel free to fast forward, but do pay attention to the expressions. They are priceless!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps620S9mzBQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fmy%5Fvideos%5Fedit%3Fns%3D1%26video%5Fid%3Dps620S9mzBQ%26next%3D%252Fmy%5Fvideos%253Fpi%253D0%2526ps%253D20%2526sf%253Dadded%2526sa%253D0%2526sq&feature=player_embedded
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter
Wow, it is windy here. Jon, Jeni, Kelly and Andrew said we brought the wind with us - which makes sense. : ) Usually, it is not that windy here....but today it was super windy.
So, it was a perfect day to fly kites - which we did on the Mall. It was a great day. We picnicked, played bocce ball, threw frisbees, and flew kites. We also hid our eggs and had an egg roll and egg duals.
Here are some pix.
Andrew, Kelly (preggers with Kajsa) Mrs. Przytula, and Mr. Przytula
Kelly and Gerred
For some reason, Tillie is very "into" Quin. She calls the boys "my Howe boys" and she definitely feels they are hers. She REALLY likes Quin though, and will seek him out and call him by name.
Tillie and Quin
Smiley Quin
Jeni, Wes and Tillie
We spent the majority of our day flying kites. Who knew a kite could be so much fun?
Quin and a bunch of us in the background (Jon, Tillie, Harrison, etc)
Quin flying the kite
Quin was definitely the most into flying... and is one lucky little character. His Kite string was cut by a mishap with Hollis's kite, and got stuck on a truck 2 streets away. We recovered it, tied the string, and it was good to go. He flew it into a tree 3 times, and was able to untangle it all 3 times (with the help of Jon and Mr. P). Mrs. P brought the kites. It was a great idea!!!
Quin working hard
Jon, Wes, and the Przytulas watching the kite flying
Hollis gets a turn
Tillie loved flying her Elmo kite, but didn't care if it was in the air or not : )
Tillie
Tillie ran, and on the other end, sweet Hollis held the kite up!
In between the kite flying and frisbee, we snuggled a bit.
Hollis on Gerred
Gerred hid all our dyed eggs by the fountain in front of the National Art Museum.
Our group hunting for eggs
Hey, where is my egg?
Hollis
Wes found his egg
Wes
Tillie still searching for her egg...
Tillie
Gerred thought he was clever, putting Holly's egg in a tree, high up, out of sight in a bird's nest...
Holly
Harrison during the egg hunt
Since there was bird poo on my egg (from the nest) I told the boys to try to catch it as it rolled off the edge...
Catch my egg!
Poor egg, they didn't catch it, and it split open...
Here are the boys laughing about my egg cracking.
After the egg hunt, Przytula tradition says you dual with your eggs. Try to crack the other person's egg by tapping the ends together.
Gerred and Jon dual
Gerred must have won, because then there was a serious face off with Mr. P.
Mr. P and Gerred
After several uneventful cracks, Gerred thinks he gains the upper hand...
Wes was fascinated with the bikes, and kept playing with them.
Wes riding Quin's bike
It was a beautiful day, in spite of the wind. We were able to ride our bikes, picnic with good friends, and enjoy our beautiful capital. These are the fun times in DC!
So, it was a perfect day to fly kites - which we did on the Mall. It was a great day. We picnicked, played bocce ball, threw frisbees, and flew kites. We also hid our eggs and had an egg roll and egg duals.
Here are some pix.
Andrew, Kelly (preggers with Kajsa) Mrs. Przytula, and Mr. Przytula
Kelly and Gerred
For some reason, Tillie is very "into" Quin. She calls the boys "my Howe boys" and she definitely feels they are hers. She REALLY likes Quin though, and will seek him out and call him by name.
Tillie and Quin
Smiley Quin
Jeni, Wes and Tillie
We spent the majority of our day flying kites. Who knew a kite could be so much fun?
Quin and a bunch of us in the background (Jon, Tillie, Harrison, etc)
Quin flying the kite
Quin was definitely the most into flying... and is one lucky little character. His Kite string was cut by a mishap with Hollis's kite, and got stuck on a truck 2 streets away. We recovered it, tied the string, and it was good to go. He flew it into a tree 3 times, and was able to untangle it all 3 times (with the help of Jon and Mr. P). Mrs. P brought the kites. It was a great idea!!!
Quin working hard
Jon, Wes, and the Przytulas watching the kite flying
Hollis gets a turn
Tillie loved flying her Elmo kite, but didn't care if it was in the air or not : )
Tillie
Tillie ran, and on the other end, sweet Hollis held the kite up!
In between the kite flying and frisbee, we snuggled a bit.
Hollis on Gerred
Gerred hid all our dyed eggs by the fountain in front of the National Art Museum.
Our group hunting for eggs
Hey, where is my egg?
Hollis
Wes found his egg
Wes
Tillie still searching for her egg...
Tillie
Gerred thought he was clever, putting Holly's egg in a tree, high up, out of sight in a bird's nest...
Holly
Harrison during the egg hunt
Since there was bird poo on my egg (from the nest) I told the boys to try to catch it as it rolled off the edge...
Catch my egg!
Poor egg, they didn't catch it, and it split open...
Here are the boys laughing about my egg cracking.
After the egg hunt, Przytula tradition says you dual with your eggs. Try to crack the other person's egg by tapping the ends together.
Gerred and Jon dual
Gerred must have won, because then there was a serious face off with Mr. P.
Mr. P and Gerred
After several uneventful cracks, Gerred thinks he gains the upper hand...
Wes was fascinated with the bikes, and kept playing with them.
Wes riding Quin's bike
It was a beautiful day, in spite of the wind. We were able to ride our bikes, picnic with good friends, and enjoy our beautiful capital. These are the fun times in DC!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Cherry blossoms
We ate too much at dinner, so we decided to take a walk. Our dinner was at Church - St. Peter's - which is 2nd street. So, we walked toward the Mall, and the cherry blossoms. We live in DC, it has been the week of the cherry blossoms - Cherry blossom festival, Kite flying, parading, etc, and we haven't even taken advantage. Our last ditch effort was to walk and look after gorging ourselves at the Church potluck.
The mall is only a few blocks from Church. It was a beautiful evening. For once, the boys were feeling photogenic. "Take a picture of me doing this.."
Here are several Howe boys amongst the beautiful cherry blossoms.
As we walked, and looked at the beautiful historic buildings surrounding us, we felt for the first time like we live here, and are not just visiting.
The boys were jumping off of steps and an AP photographer took some photos of them. Keep your eyes posted for a Howe child in an AP photo in the newspaper in front of a government building in DC. Wouldn't that be cool!
Side note:
Gerred and I were driving around the Mall area during the week of Cherry Blossom festivities and noticed a crowd of people, balloons, tents, etc. Obviously something fun was happening, and we were unaware of what was going on. At a stop light, I suggested we ask someone, and at that moment we both glanced out the window and saw some crowd control workers gathered on a street corner. I was just about to roll down my window and ask them what was going on, when I noticed they were all signing to each other. I turned to Gerred and said "Well, I guess we can't shout at them." We both started laughing so hard at the absurdity of me trying to shout out to the obviously hearing impaired crowd control workers as we were momentarily stopped at a light...oh my. Probably not PC, but funny, anyway. We never did find out what was going on.
The mall is only a few blocks from Church. It was a beautiful evening. For once, the boys were feeling photogenic. "Take a picture of me doing this.."
Here are several Howe boys amongst the beautiful cherry blossoms.
As we walked, and looked at the beautiful historic buildings surrounding us, we felt for the first time like we live here, and are not just visiting.
The boys were jumping off of steps and an AP photographer took some photos of them. Keep your eyes posted for a Howe child in an AP photo in the newspaper in front of a government building in DC. Wouldn't that be cool!
Side note:
Gerred and I were driving around the Mall area during the week of Cherry Blossom festivities and noticed a crowd of people, balloons, tents, etc. Obviously something fun was happening, and we were unaware of what was going on. At a stop light, I suggested we ask someone, and at that moment we both glanced out the window and saw some crowd control workers gathered on a street corner. I was just about to roll down my window and ask them what was going on, when I noticed they were all signing to each other. I turned to Gerred and said "Well, I guess we can't shout at them." We both started laughing so hard at the absurdity of me trying to shout out to the obviously hearing impaired crowd control workers as we were momentarily stopped at a light...oh my. Probably not PC, but funny, anyway. We never did find out what was going on.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
DMV
Does that stand for DAMN MOTOR VEHICLE? I don't care where you live, getting tags for your car, and a new license is a PAIN!!! In Kansas City, I think the workers are screened for nastiness. If you aren't bitchy enough, you don't get the job.
In DC, I would not say the workers are pleasant. No, they are more impervious. There is a line to get a #. Not kidding. I waited in line for about 30 minutes, just to get a number to wait for a person to help me. Ouch. I knew I was in trouble at that point.
Once I got to the front, the people giving out the numbers had a comic routine down - "ummmm is she diggin in her bag fo some in-fo-mation? Dit nt she see the sign that sai, Have all yo in-fo-mation out when you get to the front of the line?" I was just trying to get my old id out of the plastic sleeve in my wallet, JEEZE! At least they were good natured, and laughing about it...at my expense.
That was DAY 1 at the DMV. I was denied the new car tags because my name is not on the title.
DAY 2:
Gerred needed his license as well, so we went extra early on Sat. morning to be 1st so we could breeze out of there. We left the boys at home, because we were going to be 1st, and it was only going to take an hour, hour and 1/2 at most....
Gerred failed the eye exam. After 38 years, 24 of them driving, he doesn't pass the eye exam. Our choices were limited. We could: Have Gerred take a day off work, get an eye exam, get car tags, etc... hopefully in the same day. But, our temp DC parking tag was expiring, so, we walked around Georgetown until we found an eye place open. We walked in, they squeezed him in, signed his papers, made his glasses, and after dropping about $1000, off we went to wait in line - AGAIN - for a #.
8 hours later....we got our car tags.
Whew what a day.
At least Gerred looks very GQ in his new specs!!!
In DC, I would not say the workers are pleasant. No, they are more impervious. There is a line to get a #. Not kidding. I waited in line for about 30 minutes, just to get a number to wait for a person to help me. Ouch. I knew I was in trouble at that point.
Once I got to the front, the people giving out the numbers had a comic routine down - "ummmm is she diggin in her bag fo some in-fo-mation? Dit nt she see the sign that sai, Have all yo in-fo-mation out when you get to the front of the line?" I was just trying to get my old id out of the plastic sleeve in my wallet, JEEZE! At least they were good natured, and laughing about it...at my expense.
That was DAY 1 at the DMV. I was denied the new car tags because my name is not on the title.
DAY 2:
Gerred needed his license as well, so we went extra early on Sat. morning to be 1st so we could breeze out of there. We left the boys at home, because we were going to be 1st, and it was only going to take an hour, hour and 1/2 at most....
Gerred failed the eye exam. After 38 years, 24 of them driving, he doesn't pass the eye exam. Our choices were limited. We could: Have Gerred take a day off work, get an eye exam, get car tags, etc... hopefully in the same day. But, our temp DC parking tag was expiring, so, we walked around Georgetown until we found an eye place open. We walked in, they squeezed him in, signed his papers, made his glasses, and after dropping about $1000, off we went to wait in line - AGAIN - for a #.
8 hours later....we got our car tags.
Whew what a day.
At least Gerred looks very GQ in his new specs!!!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Harrison's Birthday!!!
Our big boy is 11! Wow. I don't feel old enough to have an 11 year old. He is so excited to be 11, and pushing the independence like mad! Wants to go to the store by himself - offers to go all the time. I gave him my extra VIC card (like your Price Chopper cards) and he keeps it in his wallet. He loves to use it, and often asks if I need him to go with me to the store so he can offer it up at the register. Funny! We gave him a cell phone for his birthday - to go along with the independence. It may sound like a bad idea, but it has come in quite handy already. I feel better with him "running errands" or walking around Eastern Market with his friends with the cell phone. That way, I can always contact him, and believe me, it is still a novelty, so he is more than happy to text me back at this point.
For his birthday, we had 3 of his classmates over to spend the night, and we went to the DC United (our local pro soccer team) home opener. It was so cool. The stadium is a mile away, so we walked from our house (can you imagine walking to a Royal's game, or a Cheif's?). The kids were really nice boys, and were a lot of fun to be around. Here are some of the pics from that night.
Party Boys:
Harrison, Matthew, Alex, Jack
We think we are funny, adding Smell to the list:
No Evil Here, no mischief either!
They would not let me take a normal picture. All of the pictures are of goofy faces, moving boys, etc. Darn it...just make Mom happy and let me take a picture, darn it!
Everyone, minus Quin, who was being too goofy!
Walking to the game in the misty weather....
In our Alley
this is around the corner from our house...
Of course, what game is complete without noise makers? We were there early enough to take ALL the noise makers from the seats surrounding us, which made us extra noisy and extra great fans. I wish I had invested in ear plugs!
It was all fun until the rowdy (drunk) crowd started falling on us. We ended up having to move back, after the same guy fell on Jack for the 3rd time.
At least it was a bunch of happy drunks, and no bitter brawling. The only violent act we witnesses was a stuffed Piglet doll (not sure of the connection to DC United, or soccer) that the crowd tossed and eventually just Piglet parts were going up in the air. An ear here, a head there, the body, etc.
After plenty of banging, the noise makers find other uses...
I am THE WALRUS - Ku ku kachoo!
The kid on the left is Matthew, he has 5 siblings. His Dad (who is in his mid to late 40s maybe early 50s) rode a skateboard to school today to pick up the kids.
: ) He proudly hefted it up and said "My carbon foot print" when I congratulated him on a successful ride. I like him!
All is well! Sleepy party boys!
The 3 boys Harrison had over were delightful. I laughed a lot. 11 year olds are interesting, and Harrison chose well.
For his birthday, we had 3 of his classmates over to spend the night, and we went to the DC United (our local pro soccer team) home opener. It was so cool. The stadium is a mile away, so we walked from our house (can you imagine walking to a Royal's game, or a Cheif's?). The kids were really nice boys, and were a lot of fun to be around. Here are some of the pics from that night.
Party Boys:
Harrison, Matthew, Alex, Jack
We think we are funny, adding Smell to the list:
No Evil Here, no mischief either!
They would not let me take a normal picture. All of the pictures are of goofy faces, moving boys, etc. Darn it...just make Mom happy and let me take a picture, darn it!
Everyone, minus Quin, who was being too goofy!
Walking to the game in the misty weather....
In our Alley
this is around the corner from our house...
Of course, what game is complete without noise makers? We were there early enough to take ALL the noise makers from the seats surrounding us, which made us extra noisy and extra great fans. I wish I had invested in ear plugs!
It was all fun until the rowdy (drunk) crowd started falling on us. We ended up having to move back, after the same guy fell on Jack for the 3rd time.
At least it was a bunch of happy drunks, and no bitter brawling. The only violent act we witnesses was a stuffed Piglet doll (not sure of the connection to DC United, or soccer) that the crowd tossed and eventually just Piglet parts were going up in the air. An ear here, a head there, the body, etc.
After plenty of banging, the noise makers find other uses...
I am THE WALRUS - Ku ku kachoo!
The kid on the left is Matthew, he has 5 siblings. His Dad (who is in his mid to late 40s maybe early 50s) rode a skateboard to school today to pick up the kids.
: ) He proudly hefted it up and said "My carbon foot print" when I congratulated him on a successful ride. I like him!
All is well! Sleepy party boys!
The 3 boys Harrison had over were delightful. I laughed a lot. 11 year olds are interesting, and Harrison chose well.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Visitors
We have officially received visitors! Yeah!
Our first visitor was Tessa Smith. Tessa flew in to Baltimore to attend a Leadership conference in DC. I was able to meet her at the airport (despite horrendous traffic on the way to Baltimore) and spend about 1/2 hour with her. Tessa was nice enough to let me hang out with her, even though it was probably embarrassing for her.
Holly and Tessa
On Monday, I ate lunch with Sandie McCray. I met Sandie somewhere in Virginia, at some mall. Couldn't tell you which mall, or which direction. I plugged an address in, gripped the wheel and drove. (I am so reliant on my stinky GPS, I can't even get out of Capitol Hill without it, and I never know which direction I am driving). Capitol Hill traffic is not so bad, but going anywhere else is still tricky for me.
It was so lovely to see Sandie, and fun to catch up on Faith Formation happenings and other Viso stuff. We had a really nice long meal, and visited for hours!
Last Wednesday we had our first official visitors to our new pad - the Sarsons (minus Julie : ( ). Dave, his Mom Marcella, and the kids met us at our house, and we walked all over Capitol Hill. We ended up in Lincoln Park for a typical kids versus adults game of kickball. It was fun that Grammy Marcella played and helped the adults kick butt!
We went to dinner at a place called Matchbox - a hip place on 8th street. The kids sat in a booth by themselves, behaved perfectly, and even organized themselves and ordered on their own. I could tell the waiter was not excited about serving a group of rowdy kids, but they were so great, he told us after dinner that they were the best behaved kids. What a compliment considering that my 3 rowdy boys + Jay Sarson could have been a disaster. No food hurled, no hitting, no fighting. It was great. Maybe it was the long walk and the kickball/football that wore them down and kept them submissive.
Unfortunately, I did not take a single picture. I am bummed about that. However, better than a picture of our sweaty mugs, Kara Sarson sent us this picture the next day. It is amazing!!!
Our new good luck charm
We printed it out, and we carry it with us to watch the Jayhawks play.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Thanks Kara!!!!
Our first visitor was Tessa Smith. Tessa flew in to Baltimore to attend a Leadership conference in DC. I was able to meet her at the airport (despite horrendous traffic on the way to Baltimore) and spend about 1/2 hour with her. Tessa was nice enough to let me hang out with her, even though it was probably embarrassing for her.
Holly and Tessa
On Monday, I ate lunch with Sandie McCray. I met Sandie somewhere in Virginia, at some mall. Couldn't tell you which mall, or which direction. I plugged an address in, gripped the wheel and drove. (I am so reliant on my stinky GPS, I can't even get out of Capitol Hill without it, and I never know which direction I am driving). Capitol Hill traffic is not so bad, but going anywhere else is still tricky for me.
It was so lovely to see Sandie, and fun to catch up on Faith Formation happenings and other Viso stuff. We had a really nice long meal, and visited for hours!
Last Wednesday we had our first official visitors to our new pad - the Sarsons (minus Julie : ( ). Dave, his Mom Marcella, and the kids met us at our house, and we walked all over Capitol Hill. We ended up in Lincoln Park for a typical kids versus adults game of kickball. It was fun that Grammy Marcella played and helped the adults kick butt!
We went to dinner at a place called Matchbox - a hip place on 8th street. The kids sat in a booth by themselves, behaved perfectly, and even organized themselves and ordered on their own. I could tell the waiter was not excited about serving a group of rowdy kids, but they were so great, he told us after dinner that they were the best behaved kids. What a compliment considering that my 3 rowdy boys + Jay Sarson could have been a disaster. No food hurled, no hitting, no fighting. It was great. Maybe it was the long walk and the kickball/football that wore them down and kept them submissive.
Unfortunately, I did not take a single picture. I am bummed about that. However, better than a picture of our sweaty mugs, Kara Sarson sent us this picture the next day. It is amazing!!!
Our new good luck charm
We printed it out, and we carry it with us to watch the Jayhawks play.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Thanks Kara!!!!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Field trips
One of the advantages of living in an historical city like this is the opportunity to visit museums and sights. We have been here for almost one month, and haven't really taken advantage - except 2 school field trips I had the privilege of attending.
The first was a trip to Lincoln's cottage - his "camp David" - which he spent every summer except his first in office. The cottage is North of town (I think) and is located next to a retirement home for soldiers which is still in operation today. There is also a huge cemetary on the grounds, with civil war soldiers. It was quite impressive to look at all of the uniform headstones - and there are a ton.
We learned that Lincoln rode a horse into town everyday to work from the cottage, and that his favorite things to do were to play with his sons on the lawn, and spend time with the soldiers. Lincoln is highly revered, still, and since it is the 200th year there were a ton of activities about President Lincoln.
The cottage itself was a little disappointing. Our tour guide was really strange (reminded me of Eugene from Grease) and did not talk about the things that I was interested in. He was so annoying, in fact, that it was difficult to listen to him at all, and the kids were doing very accurate impressions of him halfway through the tour.
Here are some pics of the cottage, and the 5th grade class.
Harrison's 5th grade class outside the Lincoln cabin
Harrison's buddy Jack
The kids were participating in a reenactment of Lincoln's cabinet making the decision about the emancipation.
Harrison's head wasn't quite big enough.
Apparently they don't have the lice problem at this school we had at Vis...still, I refrained from wearing one of the hats on principle. : )
5th Grade class on the steps of Lincoln's summer cottage, where Abe played checkers with the soldiers and overlooked the lawn where his sons played.
The next week, the 3,4 and 5th graders from St. Peter's went on a field trip to Ford's Theater to watch a play. The play was a 2 man deal where the actors reenacted the days following the assassination of President Lincoln. It was pretty good, although I am not sure how much the kids understood. The language was old for them, I think.
We walked to the metro from school, and I had a group of 4 3rd graders - cuties! We played games along the way.
Antonio, Nat, Quin and Andy at school getting ready to leave
Waiting for the metro in the station
It was pretty nerve wracking being responsible for 4 squirelly boys in the metro. It was also my 2nd time to ride the metro, and I had no idea where we were supposed to go, and the groups were a bit scattered...so, I had to ask the 9 year olds in my group where to go. Luckily, little Andy is quite the authority on metro riding. I kept asking "Are you sure that is where we are supposed to stand?" and "Are you sure we aren't supposed to get on the other train?" Andy was so funny, and said "Trust me, I know what I am doing. I ride the metro all the time."
I guess we will be that confident some day.
We made it on the right one... thanks to Andy.
Our group outside Ford's theater
In front of Abe
Inside the theater waiting for the play to start
Boys with Abe
Lincoln's box where the assassination took place
Apparently the box has been untouched for the most part - which I find interesting since Ford's theater was abandoned for years, then was used for offices, and something else before being restored to its original state. During the play, we learned that John Wilkes Booth was an esteemed actor, and therefore had free run of the theater that night because he was "known", which provided him easy access to the box, and allowed him to carry out his plot without anyone really stopping him. He had been "hanging" around the theater earlier in the day, doctored the wall of the booth, so that he could lock it from the inside, and also wrote a letter and gave it to one of the stage hands that would have been incriminating had the stage hand read it early enough. Instead the stage hand followed Booth's instructions which were to take the note to the post in the morning.
I couldn't contain them any longer. They turned into monkeys on the way back.
It was a fun trip! One of many to come, I hope.
The first was a trip to Lincoln's cottage - his "camp David" - which he spent every summer except his first in office. The cottage is North of town (I think) and is located next to a retirement home for soldiers which is still in operation today. There is also a huge cemetary on the grounds, with civil war soldiers. It was quite impressive to look at all of the uniform headstones - and there are a ton.
We learned that Lincoln rode a horse into town everyday to work from the cottage, and that his favorite things to do were to play with his sons on the lawn, and spend time with the soldiers. Lincoln is highly revered, still, and since it is the 200th year there were a ton of activities about President Lincoln.
The cottage itself was a little disappointing. Our tour guide was really strange (reminded me of Eugene from Grease) and did not talk about the things that I was interested in. He was so annoying, in fact, that it was difficult to listen to him at all, and the kids were doing very accurate impressions of him halfway through the tour.
Here are some pics of the cottage, and the 5th grade class.
Harrison's 5th grade class outside the Lincoln cabin
Harrison's buddy Jack
The kids were participating in a reenactment of Lincoln's cabinet making the decision about the emancipation.
Harrison's head wasn't quite big enough.
Apparently they don't have the lice problem at this school we had at Vis...still, I refrained from wearing one of the hats on principle. : )
5th Grade class on the steps of Lincoln's summer cottage, where Abe played checkers with the soldiers and overlooked the lawn where his sons played.
The next week, the 3,4 and 5th graders from St. Peter's went on a field trip to Ford's Theater to watch a play. The play was a 2 man deal where the actors reenacted the days following the assassination of President Lincoln. It was pretty good, although I am not sure how much the kids understood. The language was old for them, I think.
We walked to the metro from school, and I had a group of 4 3rd graders - cuties! We played games along the way.
Antonio, Nat, Quin and Andy at school getting ready to leave
Waiting for the metro in the station
It was pretty nerve wracking being responsible for 4 squirelly boys in the metro. It was also my 2nd time to ride the metro, and I had no idea where we were supposed to go, and the groups were a bit scattered...so, I had to ask the 9 year olds in my group where to go. Luckily, little Andy is quite the authority on metro riding. I kept asking "Are you sure that is where we are supposed to stand?" and "Are you sure we aren't supposed to get on the other train?" Andy was so funny, and said "Trust me, I know what I am doing. I ride the metro all the time."
I guess we will be that confident some day.
We made it on the right one... thanks to Andy.
Our group outside Ford's theater
In front of Abe
Inside the theater waiting for the play to start
Boys with Abe
Lincoln's box where the assassination took place
Apparently the box has been untouched for the most part - which I find interesting since Ford's theater was abandoned for years, then was used for offices, and something else before being restored to its original state. During the play, we learned that John Wilkes Booth was an esteemed actor, and therefore had free run of the theater that night because he was "known", which provided him easy access to the box, and allowed him to carry out his plot without anyone really stopping him. He had been "hanging" around the theater earlier in the day, doctored the wall of the booth, so that he could lock it from the inside, and also wrote a letter and gave it to one of the stage hands that would have been incriminating had the stage hand read it early enough. Instead the stage hand followed Booth's instructions which were to take the note to the post in the morning.
I couldn't contain them any longer. They turned into monkeys on the way back.
It was a fun trip! One of many to come, I hope.
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