Happy Inauguration Day!

We are fresh back from our trip to Washington, D.C., where Obamamania is going on. There were no lack of Obama souvenirs and "I Love Michelle" T-Shirts, though we passed on the shirts. We were in D.C. area over the holidays for our nephew Carl's wedding. It was great and we hope that Carl and Allie enjoyed it - we sure did! It was hit and miss doing things with the family, especially because we drag around three opinionated little people everywhere we go, but we had a lot of fun. The weather for the first couple days was awesome - in the 60s and then it turned bitter cold, with a windstorm to boot. So when the kids became fascinated with the ice in the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial and Lael stuck her foot entirely in the water, we sure heard about it. There were many other misadventures,like missing the family photos at the reception and Lael throwing up in the rental car as we were getting out at the airport (which cost us a $100 cleaning fee by the way), but overall we had a great time. We stayed in Alexandria for the first week, which was awesome. Then we stayed with friends, including the Fennimores. It was great to see them and fun to catch up, even if it was brief. So thanks for letting us stay with you! We saw lots of the national sites and Erik's sister Lynn set up a tour of the Capitol for us. Henry loved the trains at the Arboretum. The kids got to ride a carousel on the Mall on one of the warm evenings. We went to the Spy Museum and saw Ford's Theater and the house where Lincoln died. We about froze to death while watching the changing of the guard at Arlingon Cemetary. We saw the breathtaking view of the Potomac from Mt. Vernon. We visited both Air and Space Museums - Oliver's favorite experience was a simulated flight. Lael got to paint on a real canvas with a real artist at the Torpedo Art Center, which was awesome. One of my favorite events was New Year's Eve at the National Patent Office. We went out to dinner with the Lambs at a funky restaurant in Alexandria and we got to the Patent Office as they were wrapping things up, so the clowns kept shoving balloons at the kids and we ended up with way too many. They even made a leash for Henry's balloon slug and a sword holder that Oliver used around his head (something that would only be a good idea with a balloon sword). Then we went to a magic show that Henry wouldn't sit for and had to walk the 12 blocks back to the hotel since the buses were all full and Lael walked into a post office box and we had to hear about it all the way back. Sorry if we wore you out Melanie! Anyway, it was lots of fun to see the sites but it was even more fun to be with family and friends. Oliver and Lael had fun with the friends we stayed with and can never get enough of their cousin Melanie. So we are headed out to see the Lambs (at least the ones still at home) next month and to go with Melanie to Disneyland for Lael's 6th birthday.