We were next joined by my dad, flying in from Who-Knows-Where Oklahoma (even though there is really only one city in Oklahoma that anyone knows anything about).
And, the next day... we went monument-hopping again? (Valerie went to go visit some friends and see the Supreme Court, where she's going to be working, eventually.) So Dad and I went geo-caching. But without a GPS. So we walked and wandered and made it around the Tidal Basin.
That evening, we decorated the freshly-made (by a day or two) sugar cookies. I was asked to do an interpretive one of a friend. Can you guess what his characteristics are?
We ended the week with the rest of the family flying in for Christmas Eve. We had a first round of Christmas presents. In our family, the youngest chooses the first gift to give someone that's underneath the tree. After that person has finished opening it, and everyone has done the appropriate ooh-ing and ahh-ing, they select the next gift to open.
We finished up the evening with a photo shoot for our post-Christmas card. We purposefully didn't get them out on time this year, since the last time the six of us had been together was last Christmas (though all of us had seen everyone else, just not in a single place and time). The result was less than stunning...
...good thing that we changed it after going to the Outer Banks!
So it's been multiple months since Christmas has passed, but I can't find it in me to skip around in my (slightly) chronological ordering of things.
I might have to recall what I did through pictures, since at this point, I'm not sure...
First, it looks like, my aunt graduated with her PhD from Duquesne, so my grandparents drove up to see it (and we all drove back to DC together).
It was a mess of airport pick-ups and drop-offs, as I detailed last last time in this infographic. However, despite this, I was able to visit and re-visit some historical places in the area. For the first few days (Dec. 20th-22nd, for those of you at home who are keeping track), we played tourist with Chris, who had never been to the area.
First, Maria, Chris, and I went to Mount Vernon for a day, to see George Washington's acreage and way of life. They had a talk/show about how to dance that was both informative and hilarious; they picked on a few of the tourists to get them to dance and look silly in front of their families. (We walked in too late to be chosen, but early enough to still be amused by their antics.) We also visited Mrs. Washington. Martha was rotund and cheery (and very photogenic, despite "not knowing" what cameras were).
The next day, we visited the White House and wandered along the National Mall. (I mean, we did this multiple days, but this one was when Chris was still with us.) We peeked into some of my favorite places, such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. I like contemporary art, and this was the place for it.
We also went to the National Gallery of Art. While Maria and Chris wandered off by themselves, I was amazed by "Multiverse", a piece with a wall and ceiling full of light-emitting diodes. I must have gone back and forth on the moving walkway five times.
Another piece I enjoyed was of casts of hands in many positions (all of which made you want to mimic it with your hands).
So after the galleries, it was off to check out the Capitol building before Metro-ing back to the suburbs. We ran into a gangly group of teens that were all dressed the same, and a giant Christmas tree from Montana.
We ducked inside the Museum of Natural History in the late afternoon to see some dead, stuffed things, and a movie I was convinced was in there (but I had actually seen it at Disney many years ago). Instead, we left just as the sun was going down and saw a brilliant sunset by the Washington Monument.
The final day was spent monument-hopping (now with Valerie in tow!). We visited Washington, then World War II, then Lincoln, then Vietnam, then Korean. We covered a lot of history and a lot of marble.
Of course, no break would be complete without some cookie-making.
Then, just like that, Chris was gone, and my dad appeared from Oklahoma...
I almost can't make the excuse that school is getting in the way any more. I have fewer classes than ever (though more group projects), but I have some substantial commitments outside of classwork. Namely, I have my CA role ("Community Advisor", or head RA), my role as trip leader for a group going to Ghana over Spring Break (in less than two weeks!), my student advisor position for the Student Dormitory Council, and my peer minister role at the Lutheran University Center.
So, the point? I have a bunch of interesting stories and cool pictures to share about:
Christmas break (still haven't done that)
My Alabama visit (Roll Tide!)
Happenings around CMU
Church group funtimes
My project involving a robot (yes! and apples!)
My musical month (Camelot, Hair!, and soon The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee all in February)
And I might just gush about my fabulous Valentine's Day, solicit money for my trip to Ghana, obsess about the other trips I'm taking that are coming up, and maybe be boring and talk about the schizophrenic Pittsburgh weather.
