it's good to d.c. 'ya

while my sister was anticipating a military transfer to washington d.c. which never materialized, i had promised eli a trip to see his cousins in a city which must have been intended to have been peopled by children- trains which run under the river, the building on the back of the penny, and museums so chock-full of airplanes, they're even hanging from the ceiling! of course, the city's beckoning grew no weaker to eli once we learned that his cousins were not going to be there, so we capitalized on my dad's annual trip to the puzzlingly large scale trade show for esoteric fountain pen enthusiasts held in the same city.

the view from lincoln's house.

eli compares abe's famous statue to his well known one cent visage.

all in all, to the three year old mind, the monuments turned out to be a lot of walking for a little bit of looking at some statue, so we traded most of our monument time for more museum time, although we did find a vendor at the lincoln memorial selling eli's new favorite kind of sandwich- ice cream.

we stayed with my uncle, chip, whose grandson andrew was also visiting for the weekend. both he and eli were quite pleased to learn the concept of a second cousin.

eli's two main goals at the natural history museum were to find a bison and a bunny, which we serendipitously (and may i add, somewhat randomly) found right next to each other in the same glass casing.

at this exhibit, eli got to touch an actual rock from the planet mars, which, thanks to your tax dollars, scientists have been able to conclude, feels much like the rocks common to earth.

the famous brass monkey.

among eli's "must see" aircraft was the bell x-1. dad brought a dvd copy of "the right stuff", and let eli and andrew watch chuck yeager drop the "glamorous glennis" from the modified b-29 bomb bay, then proceed to get a supersonic kick in the pants from its single rocket engine. others we had talked a lot about leading in to the trip were the wright flyer, concorde supersonic transport, space shuttle enterprise, sr-71 blackbird, boeing 707 prototype, and douglas dc-3. we came, we saw 'em all, and we were not disappointed.

the smithsonian annex at dulles airport has a nearly 200 foot high observation deck which sits right in the approch path of the north facing runways. you can see the dulles control tower on the horizon.

the f-86 sabre was another serendipitous find- of all the aircraft i had told eli to expect, the popular korean war era fighter was not among them, although he spotted it from a mile away, and took off running to the point i had trouble keeping pace.

this boeing 747 cockpit was all glassed off, much to eli's dismay since he and many of his peers in the line had hoped to get in the seats and flip some switches- which explains the glass.

john mccain: american humorist

first off, i guess i have a little explaining to do. by this point, both of you who read this blog are probably wondering about the drought of pictures lately. we recently returned from a multi-stop family trip. unfortunately, one of our family members is still stuck on the shelf in uncle caleb's old bedroom. of course, i am talking about the family camera. but not to worry, the camera will get back to us just as quickly as usps un-expedited, uninsured ground shipping without delivery confirmation can carry it- what could go wrong? 

fortunately, though i may lose my pictures, my anecdotes remain. like what happened the other day when i was walking through the airport with eli. a mounted t.v. screen was airing a news program in which presumptive republican presidential candidate john mccain was describing the duty of each american. eli's ears perked up like a deer catching the faint scent of a predator in the air. he looked at me and said, "dad, did you hear that man say, 'doodie'? that was funny, huh?"

leave it to the reps to court the impressionable pre-voter through strictly calculated potty humor. we've had to up the leftist toilet jokes in the home just to make sure our kids get a balanced upbringing- have you heard the one about nancy pelosi at the gas 'n' go restroom?

war paint

we've had to ban frozen blueberries altogether.

in his own world

talking to eli is always on his own terms. he can be responsive and involved in a conversation, but only when the mood strikes him. otherwise, he feels no obligation whatsoever to participate in any semblance of a verbal exchange, even when someone is directly addressing him. when he starts staring off into space, one can only guess where a three year old mind drifts off to. i caught a glimpse late the other night when i walked into his bedroom to find him still awake. as we often do when winding down at night, i sat next to him and reviewed the particulars of his day. i knew i was pushing him toward sleep's boundary as i watched his eyes glaze over, and his little brain retreating to some distant corner of the land of nod. suddenly, he looked at me and spoke as clearly and lucidly as ever, "dad, i think i can learn to draw an eight." apparently, he had been sizing up the rounded figure the whole time, trying to determine if an attempt at penmanship would prove worthwhile. not knowing how to respond, i told him we could try tomorrow, which seemed to satisfy him greatly. as i left his room somewhat confused, my little gladiator drifted quickly back into his arena of potential challengers to weigh the feats he was to attempt in the coming day.