Thanksgiving 2009
| We were happy to serve as Thanksgiving HQ this year for David and Ian from Seattle, Nick from Orlando, and Harry and Elle from Highland Park. David and Ian insisted that they wanted to take on the preparation of the Thanksgiving dinner. After a minimal amount of protesting, we caved to the request. David started early Thanksgiving morning with some help from Robert. |
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While things were slowly simmering, there was a boys contest to see how many plastic dominoes Robert's cars could crash through while still making both loops. Hard to see in this shot: the car made it and in the process launched the stack of domino's up into the air when it crashed through the final barrier. (Did I mention Robert was joined by Nick and Ian...) After the cars were cleaned up and the stove turned off, the guests headed into to DC for a Segway tour with Segs in the City. They gave the tour high marks but mentioned it was kind of hard to stand still that long. |
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| After a fantastic dinner, it was time for some serious tower building. Robert requested a whole city, starting with the air port. This skyscraper was 9 stories (I think). Robert did an admirable job keeping Ian and Nick busy and David, Harry and Elle entertained. |
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| The weather was pretty nice and we opted to tour the George Washington Masonic Memorial (known to us as Castle Roberto). It was interestingly different from the last tour. They were no longer trying to wrap themselves in mystery; I think Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol and Nicolas Cage's National Treasure influences made them want to be more clear and factual about their history and lack of any conspiracies. |
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| They were very concerned the last time we took the tour about letting us see the Arc for too long. The tour guide on our first tour told everyone to ready their cameras because he could only open the curtains for 10 seconds. This time, the curtains were open the whole time. And the tour guide carefully explained that the Masons are not that old, but have adopted trappings of older cultures. |
| And I think, because it was warmer than 20 degrees, they let us outside at the top. The view as spectacular on such a clear day (that's our house with the black roof next to the huge monstrosity built next to us). |
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| Since it was such a pretty day, there was baseball game in the back yard. Well... Audry Joy's backyard. Her yard is better for baseball with it's lack of trees. (And they were out of town for the holidays.) The boys were very good about taking turns as pitcher, batter and catcher (but Robert seems to most enjoy being pitcher). |
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| We rounded out the day with a trip to Mount Vernon. The line for the Mansion was longer than we were willing to deal with, but we toured some of the grounds, enjoyed the view and ran races up the hillside. |
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| Back at Thanksgiving HQ, Ian picked up a few pointers from Nick on guitar cords -- if only we had a piano, Ian could have reciprocated. Robert was soaking it all in, but happy to share is guitar. |
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| The next day, Robert led a game of tag down to the river (we mostly avoided running into others out enjoying the weather). I was hoping for Party Parrots or the glass organ guy, but I think it was a bit cold for them. We did come across Curtis Blues who invited Robert (and the rest of his age set) to join him. |
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We were sad to see everyone head back to their respective homes after such a fun couple of days and we look forward to seeing them again soon. | |
Vacation notes:
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