Vacation Blessings: Day 5

The Trip

Today was a sightseeing day. In the morning, we went into the District to see Ford's Theatre and visit the National Building Museum. Then, after a brief afternoon rest at home, we went back into the city for a tour of the West Wing.

Ford's Theatre was very interesting. we enjoyed their very nice museum, as well as a visit to the theater itself. While we were there, we watched a one-act play called One Destiny, which deals with the Lincoln Assassination from the perspective of the actors and managers at the theater. Not a bad show, though I have seen better.

The National Building Museum was gorgeous. The decor and architecture were quite impressive, as were the exhibits. The boy liked crawling around the enormous central room, which has been the home to many events from architectural continuing education classes to presidential inaugural balls. His mother and I perused the exhibits and were amused by the many offerings of the museum's outrageously expensive giftshop.

We took the requisite photos of the boy with several prominent landmarks, then went home to rest up. Wifey and I did get some rest, but the boy seemed quite out of sorts and cried a lot. We were afraid he would make a bad impression on our friend who was planning on giving us the tour.

We had pizza for dinner, then dressed in business casual and headed back into D.C. We took a little walking tour along Pennsylvania Avenue with Momma and Poppa and then met our friend at the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania around 8:20.

The West Wing was great, but it was even more fun to connect with an old friend and see how her life is going. We got some good pictures of the boy in front of the Press Room at the White House -- will enjoy those a lot when he's older.

In all, it was a wonderful day, but it left us pretty tired. We went home, cuddled up with a little bit of good-night Gilmore Girls, and went to bed quite happy.

The Blessings

Delay Averted. On the way into the city in the morning, Momma was driving. The GPS told her to take the High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane on the beltway, but she decided to go on the main highway instead. About two minutes later, we passed a several-mile-long line of cars at a dead stop in the HOV lane. We later found that they had been stopped so police could investigate shots fired at the Pentagon. Momma's split-second decision saved hours of our day and let us visit the theater and museum before heading home.

Getting to See the West Wing. As I mentioned in my last post, we had thought we wouldn't be able to visit the West Wing. So it was both unexpected and welcome when our friend was able to get us in after all.

Having a Happy Baby. I was afraid the boy would be cranky all evening, but after a good feeding and a nice nap, he was all smiles. It was great to have him with us and get to see his little eyes widen at the cars zooming by on Pennsylvania Ave.

Seeing an Old Friend. It's always a delight to me to see what God has been doing in the lives of friends I've spent time with in the past. I guess I find it so encouraging because it bears out the truth of Philippians 1:6 - "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."