Day Four -- Afternoon: Orange, Orange & Orange

Thanks to the generosity of the Hanes family, this was the first year we took along ponchos. Good thing, too, as it trying to stay dry as the rain came and went and came again was something of a Herculean task. It did make it easier to pick out our kids amongst the crowd, at least until a number of them gave up on staying dry and choose instead to give up their ponchos and simply get wet and have fun. Dry or wet, I think we all made some great memories.

Day Four: Touring the Memorials

This year we toured the major memorials in one fell swoop on the morning of July 4. That meant an extra amount of walking around the temporary security fences all around The Mall. Our kids (not surprisingly) did a great job of pushing through the couple hours, not just absorbing the significance of the sites, but taking turns carrying the heavy collection of tarps and blankets that we brought along for that afternoon/evening when we'd set up camp and wait for the fireworks.

In the two years that I had Brodie in class and then interacted with him as an 8th grader, I was almost never able to outdo his energy and zest, but -- finally -- this walking tour did the trick. Notice his weary hunch back behind the tree. Score: Brodie -- 50; Cowells -- 1. Mission finally accomplished. (-:

Day Three: Dinner Deck Party

One of my favorite memories from DC08 is the evening about 15 of the kids and I took carryout to the row house owned by my sister Nathalie and her husband Rodney, where we ate on the splendiferous roof-top deck that Rodney and friends built. Not only did it allow me to relax with a smaller number of kids, it was yet another chance for me to show Hoosiers the "real" DC. Even more so than exploring the neighborhoods of Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle, Nat and Rod live in a classic DC neighborhood -- all row houses, almost entirely owned by African-Americans. It's the sort of neighborhood that hasn't yet been transformed by gentrification into a white yuppie enclave.

Day Three: Late Afternoon Smithsonian Free Time

Day Three: Those Hats and Glasses

The Old Post Office is a great place to get a meal. It's an authentic part of historic DC, but at the same time there are a number of shops and a small food court. We were happy to refresh and relax while we ate our late lunch there. Problem was, I forgot to warn the kids against foolish shopping. A number of them fell for the silly lures of a store that sells cheap electronic equipment; even after I saw what was happening and enlightened the others, the goobers were only too happy to ignore me and exchange good money for less-than-good various electronic accessories. But the worst purchases, in my less-than-humble opinion, were the gawd-awful hats and glasses that five otherwise-smart kids purchased. They not only bought the doggone merchandise, but then wanted to wear it around town! That was their prerogative, of course, but I refused to be seen with them, so instead of joining Ireri, Haley, Liliana and me for an adventure north of The Mall, these five headed off with the other kids and chaperones to explore whichever Smithsonian Museums attracted their attention.



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To be fair, I'm far from Mr. GQ (as AnnMarie so delighted to remind me when she was at the juniorhigh), so maybe my reaction against the hats and glasses is a sign of my lack of style. Sarah wrote recently that she still likes them. But I offer as evidence against the atrocious accessories these videos that Sarah shot of the three boys. (Something seems mucked up at the moment with embedded vids, so here's a direct link to the playlist)

Day Three: Yup, DC Does Have Crime (but not where you'd expect it)

July 3 started off well with the always-fun visit to the top of the Washington Monument, followed by the considerably less-fun visit to the Holocaust Museum. Visiting the HM is one of those must-do activities, but we all know it's not a light and frothy DC stop. Given the range of maturities and interests, some kids are able to sink themselves into the experience for a while; others struggle to appreciate the significance of what they're seeing. I think this year's kids did just about as well as they can at their age -- hopefully they'll go back again after more life experience when they'll be able to build on this visit.

Our schedule ended up dashed to pieces by the only criminal activity we experienced in DC: Matt had dropped his wallet. Autumn and couple cohorts had found it, but not knowing whose it was, turned it in to a museum employee. Soon after the girls talked to Matt and realized they'd turned in his wallet. But when the group of them went back to retrieve it, the employee adamantly claimed never to have had the wallet. This all happened just after Ms. Meagher and I had taken about 45 of the kids out, whilst Mrs. Weatherholt and Mrs. Jones were finishing up a video blog inside. So we were waiting outside for what we thought would be a few minutes... which turned into 30 minutes, then an hour. I'd left my cell on the bus because I didn't think I'd need it in the museum. So we didn't know what was happening, just that something was holding the others up. Our group was getting hot and antsy and hungry. Eventually we got word that the folks inside were muddling through the fiasco by talking to museum managers and reviewing security tape. We couldn't really leave for lunch, though, because it wasn't within walking distance and thus we all needed to leave together on the bus. As the heat-fatigue and hunger grew, the number of kids asking me when we would leave and when would we eat turned me into a sort of glassy-eyed record player: I kept saying that we were fasting in solidarity with Matt in his plight and that surely if Gandhi-ji could fast for weeks, we could handle an hour or two. The kids didn't find my comments convincing, but eventually they stopped asking. (-:

It was actually almost 3PM before we were able to leave and head to the Old Post Office for lunch. The security tape proved the employee's dishonesty, and Matt's wallet was soon delivered to us with the deepest apologies from the museum.

Here's a photo of a few of us trying to stay cool in the shade outside the museum while we waited.

Day Two: Dupont Circle

I wish I had more pics of our time exploring Dupont Circle, especially since a number of kids have told me it was their favorite part of the trip. Dupont is one of those neighborhoods that captures the cosmopolitan energy of a modern city at its best: replete with small stores (like the shop featuring Tibetan merchandise), street performers, ethnic and local restaurants, bookstores and coffee shops galore, and safe public green space to sit and people watch. The unique DC twist is the number of foreign embassies only a block or two away. It's an area that DC locals go to hang out and relax and enjoy their city, while few tourists ever walk its streets. No wonder our kids loved it.

My brother-in-law (Rod) and sister (Nathalie) joined us for the evening. The first two pics are of our kids playing bocce ball with Rod, followed by a great shot of Zach and a group shot some of the kids took with some of the street performers.

Day Two: A Few More Arlington Pics

Here's a sample of pics from our time at Arlington. I believe Hannah B. or Elyse took the first two, followed by a group shot from Mrs. Jones. The pic of the kids relaxing on the grass was taken by Sammie -- the kids were hot and tired and the bus refused to start, but they kept their spirits up and I don't remember them complaining at all. The last group shot was taken with Samuel's camera -- not sure who he roped into snapping it.