Prospero Ano Nuevo Eve

Half day of work for me and Miss Kellie spent time with Kendall in the morning. They. Had playing games and watching TV. After lunch, I watched food shows and Kendall played with Zachary. Clark had a nice walk and we FaceTimed with the Abuelos and Tia Lisa and Tio Steve. I made Pan-Seared Choken and Orecchiette.

We are enjoying root beer floats and started the Smallville series. We are planning to stay up until midnight :-)

Buenas noches!

The Meatball Expert

I have all my days and dates mixed up! We can't believe it's Wednesday! I made Turkish meatballs for dinner and Kendall offered to make the meatballs. How could I refuse? He did a great job! And told me he was the go to guy to make meatballs - I love it!

He did not like the polenta but enjoyed everything else.  We watched parts of  Rocky IV and V and all of Antman.

Buenas noches!

GratiTuesday

I am back at work and Kendall at the YMCA. We certainly do miss Kevin and Diego and all the fun we enjoyed. Their passports are in the mail!  Kendall and Kevin were able to FaceTime tonight :-)

We are so grateful for Kevin and Diego's visit. Here are some of the great memories...

The three way hugs of the boys.
Kendall saying pinch me - I can't believe my brother and Diego are here.
Kendall saying I love you more and to infinity and beyond.
Kevin saying I don't know - sounding and moving just like Eduardo and falling asleep at the movies during Point Break.
Diego wanting to go to a Delaware mall on Christmas Eve, playing 'House of the Rising Sun' on Kendall's Keith Urban guitar and selfie swag and just selfies in general :-)
Myself enjoying cooking on Christmas Eve and listening to Christmas music.
Surprise regalos on Christmas morning.
Clark Kent pulling the boys on the scooter or skateboard.
Looking for snow somewhere on the East Coast.
Going to the movie premiere Point Break in 3D on Christmas Day.
Hershey Park
Washington, DC
Walking everywhere.
Just being with family.

We asked Marcus to come to see Star Wars at the IMAX in 3D on New Years Day - we are excited!

Buenas noches!

Washington, DC continued...

Diego headed to gym for a morning workout and then was the first ready to head back out for our Washington, DC adventure.  We couldn't check out late so we checked out at 9am and left our bags in the hotel.  We ate a quick bite a Jack's Deli since the lines in Starbucks were so long.

We were interested in the International Spy Museum but it takes 2 hours to complete the museum so we settled on checking out the Gift Shop. Lots of fun stuff there.  Diego saw a sign for the Crime and Punishment museum [ http://www.crimemuseum.org/ ] but we decided to see if we had time on the way back to the hotel since we had a lot of sites to see. We did not have time but when I was typing this I discovered it would have been a wild goose chase since it closed September 2015.

We had a great time in The Museum of Natural History.  We explored all the floors. Kendall even held a cockroach!  Diego had bought Triops  [ Triops ] for Kevin in Costa Rica and the didn't hatch.  We found 2 kits in the museum gift shop and each boy has one.  When Kevin gets back to Costa Rica, both Kevin and Kendall will start hatching the Triops at the same time.  Kendall is ready now!

We enjoyed eating a quick bite for lunch at a Food truck and then headed through the National Mall to the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. Finally, we made it to the White House. Again this was all on foot until it started to the rain at the White House and we needed to get back to the hotel so Kendall quickly flagged down a taxi. He had enough walking and just as Diego asked how to get a taxi, Kendall had already waved his hand :-)

We had a little bit of time just relaxing at the hotel before we picked up all the bags and walked to Union Station. It was just 2 blocks from the hotel.  The boys went to get sundaes from McDonald's and the train started boarding.  Abrazos y besos all the way around.  We watched them get through with their tickets and we headed back to the hotel to get our car.

A nice drive back with some rush hour traffic since we left at 4pm. I realized about 1/2 hour form home when our dog sitter called that I gave her the wrong dates and the dogs were solo from Saturday night until we arrived home Sunday night. But they were fine - even Clark Kent!  We are making it up to them. 

The tamales finally arrived but I hoping to have them resent.  I put all of Clark's linens in the laundry. Located the passports, found a towel and teddy bear Kevin won at Hersheypark to mail to them Tuesday.  Some dinner and since Kendall is missing Kevin and Diego, I rented the movie Max to watch On Demand.  The plot of Max is that after U.S. Marine Kyle Wincott is killed in Afghanistan, Max, his highly trained service dog, is too traumatized to remain in service. Back in the U.S., Kyle's family adopts the dog, but teenage brother Justin has problems of his own and doesn't want the animal. However, Max may be Justin's only chance to learn what really happened to his brother. With the help of a dog-savvy friend, Justin and Max begin to bond, and set out to unravel the mystery of Kyle's death.

Buenas noches!

 

Washington, District of Columbia

The boys played a bit in the morning taking Clark to the park before we left for Washington, DC. I tried to fix the chain on Kendall's hybrid bike. This is the second time it has come off and Kendall and I have discussed 'operator error.' He told me it happened when he crashed :-(  Last time we took the bike to Bike Line to have it fixed.  I have not had a bike hitch added to our car yet so I was trying to fix it in the garage.  I watched a youtube video and ended up with a lot of grease on my hands.  Diego took a look at it when the boys came back and we are happy to say it is now fixed - gracias Diego!  The bike tires just need air now - a piece of cake! We took a picture to remember how the chain should be attached for next time :-0

For Christmas, I had given Diego a Red Sand Project Toolkit.  The Red Sand Project [ Red Sand Project ] is an activist artwork that uses participatory sidewalk interventions, earthwork installations, and convenings to create opportunities for people to question, to connect and to take action against human trafficking.  I ordered 4 kits, we each did one and he is taking 2 back to Costa Rica. 

We packed up including lots of science stuff (making snow also!) for the kids in the Seeds/Roots of Hope program with Diego and headed to Washington, DC around lunch time with lunch packed for the car. We did make a quick stop at CVS for some drinks.  We hit the heading home weekend traffic but arrived to DC about 3:30pm. The drive was uneventful except a lot of cars on the road, a few accidents, seeing Baltimore from the highway and going through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. - I was the only one who stayed awake for the entire trip.  A good thing since I was the driver! 

Diego asked why our nation's capitol is called Washington, District of Columbia and I had to look it up How did Washington DC get its name?

Before Washington, D.C., became America’s capital in 1800, the Congress met in a number of different locations, including Baltimore, Trenton and New York City. After years of debate by the new nation’s leaders about the selection of a permanent seat of government, Congress passed the Residence Act in July 1790, which declared that the capital would be situated somewhere along the Potomac River and granted President George Washington the power to choose the final site. The president also was given the authority to appoint three commissioners to oversee the federal city’s development, and a deadline of December 1800 was established for the completion of a legislative hall for Congress and residence for the chief executive.

In January 1791, George Washington announced his choice for the federal district: 100 square miles of land ceded by Maryland and Virginia (in 1846, the Virginia land was returned to the state, shrinking the district by a third). In September 1791, the commissioners named the federal city in honor of Washington and dubbed the district in which it was located the Territory of Columbia. The name Columbia, derived from explorer Christopher Columbus, was used during the American Revolution era as a patriotic reference for the United States (In 1871, the Territory of Columbia officially was renamed District of Columbia.) Meanwhile, in the spring of 1791, the president hired French-born architect and engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant to lay out the capital city. L’Enfant, who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, created a design that featured wide avenues and open spaces; however, he clashed with George Washington’s commissioners as well as local landowners and was forced to resign from the project after less than a year. L’Enfant’s design was revised by later planners.

Our hotel, Hotel George , was wonderful. We had to wait a bit to check in since our room was not ready.  It was then Diego realized their passports were in the top drawer of the dresser in Clark's room.  Luckily, they did not need them for the train ride to Virginia since he had alternate identification and I can mail them when we returned.  We checked out our room -  a cool suite with 2 queen beds and a pull out sofa.  Next stop - the free cocktail hour - white wine for Diego and myself and hot chocolate for the boys.  And then... exploring DC :-0

We were in search of the National Gallery of Art Ice Rink. On the way, we saw the Capitol Building, the National Archives and Chinatown. We made it to the Ice Rink for the 7 to 9pm session. We waited in line for tickets and skates.  We had a good hour before it started to sprinkle and then downpour. We missed the last hour of skating from the rain but we had lots of fun though.  I added a selfie photo of myself since I took all the photos and didn't skate. Next time :-)

NGA Ice Rink

We found a Sports Bar open for a quick bite and then walked back to the hotel stopping at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on the way and passing through Georgetown Law Center.  And so many courthouses.

And all this on foot - we are tired, wet and happy.  We changed into pajamas and enjoyed the flat screen TV.

Buenas!