Daely came! Daely came!

Ok, so I promised I would over the weekend, but you know how weekends can be... So here's my update (sans pics--I'll get them up someday soon, I promise).

Tuesday Mar 6 I picked up my niece from the airport (Daely is 22, so she's really fun to hang out with). We went to dinner, then made it home in time to watch Gilmore Girls (yay!). I showed her the basement where she would be staying, and she agreed that it was very cool.

Wednesday Mar 7 we got up early and went to the Savage Train Station to catch the last train into DC. No problems, but it did snow. Not a lot, but my niece comes from CA and what happens? It snows. I asked her if she wanted to walk to the Mall or take the Metro, and she left it up to me, so we walked. I love how quiet it gets when it snows. And there were very few people out and about as we walked from Union Station to the Washington Monument. We were able to get tickets to go up--my first time, since ususally they're out of tickets by the time I get there. It was really nice. I took pictures from all four sides. Very cool. We came down and walked over to the new WWII monument (it's very beautiful, if you haven't had a chance to go there yet). I took pictures of the states I have affections for (California, Maryland), and we walked around. Then we went over to the Lincoln Memorial, which for the first time I've been there in years there was no scaffolding inside--Yay!! After which we walked over to the Natural History Museum for lunch (mistake!--way too pricy for the food we recieved), then went through that museum. When we were finished, we had enough time to head over to the castle before taking the Metro back to Union Station and catching the train home. That night we had tickets to Medieval Times (yay! again!), since Daely has never been (I quite like it, although for real jousting go to MDRF). We had a few moments upon arrival so she bought shoes and I bought a new cell phone/palm pilot (so I don't have to carry around two separate things anymore). Daely helped me pick it out. We arrived back home quite tired so we crashed.

Thursday Mar 8 We didn't get up quite so early today, but I still needed to pack for the weekend. We left about 10:00 or so, and drove up to Hershey PA. The amusement park was closed (for winter), but the museum and Cocolate World were open. Can you say CHOCOLATE?? Daely's two favorite things are chocolate and cheese. Not together. I think... We wandered around for a bit and I bought lots of chocolate (and now you all want to be my friend, don't you?). I also found a couple of Navajo-made dolls at the museum gift shop, and a way too cool t-shirt "Chocolate is so hot" When finished, we drove up to my sister Beckie's in East Stroudsburg where we managed to arrive just as the kids were supposed to leave for swim lessons. Oh yeah, they were quite excited to see us.

Friday Mar 9 We slept in a little--the girls didn't let us sleep in *too* much (but that's ok). Of course, Collin had to watch his cartoons. Very important when you're 2. Bonnie didn't have school, but Malena needed to go to preschool (something I'm sure mothers understand). So we dropped her off and did a little shopping. I bought a lawn mower at Lowes (don't ask me why I have to go to PA to buy stuff for my house). We stopped by the mall as well, for dresses for the girls for Easter. Which of course they had to wear on Sunday, but that's another story. We picked up Malena and went to McDonalds for lunch (something I don't normally do, having a carefully instilled prejudice against the place, but you know, it wasn't too bad). The kids got to play in the play room, which they loved, but once they started getting too squirrelly, we had to leave.

That evening Daely and I drove into New York City to see Wicked on Broadway. I'd seen it a couple years earlier with Beckie, but Daely had never seen it (and if you've seen her LJ, you know how obsessed she is with it). There was a little snafu with the tickets (curse Ticketmaster!), but the manager, once he realized just how far out of state we were from, arranged for us to have seats in the back of the orchestra. Felt a little bad about that, but the seats were actually quite good. And the production was very good. Daely loved it. Me, I already loved it. though I think the Boq we had the first time did a better job of convincing me he was in love with Galinda.

Saturday Mar 10 we slept in. Daely slept in until noon. Malena kept asking me, "When is my cousin going to wake up?" Beckie had her women's conference that day, so she didn't get home until about 2:00, but that was fine. Daely played Super Mario with the girls, Collin puttered around the back yard, and I read the book I found at the mall the day before (nope, not a book-group book, a sci-fi book). Very calm. I think there was a shopping excursion at some point (I think we took the girls with us to put gas in my car so I wouldn't need to do that on Sunday), but over all it was a calm, hang-out sort of day.

Sunday Mar 11 was church. Up and ready for church, listen to Malena have a fit because her mom wanted to save the Easter dress for Easter (silly mom!), see Malena in her pretty Easter dress because mom got tired of listening to it (and I can't really blame her for that), then off to church. The girls were very well-behaved, Collin escaped once, but we got him back without too much disruption, and my sister teaches Gospel Essentials so we went to her lesson (which was very good). Then time for RS and home for lunch. I'd brought pizza from home--colored pizza--and the girls (incl Daely and me) loved it! Beckie thought it was weird, blue and red pizza crust, orange, red, pink, and green pizza sauce, but at least the cheese was normal colored :) After lunch we kissed Collin good-bye before he went down for his nap, then walked the girls round the block. then it was time to go. Daely drove back (in record time, I might add).

Monday Mar 12 Today we slept in a bit too, but not too much. We drove into DC, to the National Cathedral, and walked around for a bit (and I hit the gift store--HARD). We went to the National Zoo, and got to see all the animals we wanted too. I got to see the baby panda! Yes, I have pictures; he's just so cute! I wanted to see the baby giraffe (well, 5-year old giraffe), but that family is in Florida while they renovate their pen. So we walked back to the car, hitting another gift shop along the way, and then driving up through Rock Creek Park to the DC Temple. Which of course is closed on Mondays, but the Visitor's Center is always open. We were in time to watch The Testaments, which they just started playing again that day. It's about the life of Christ and corresponding events here on the American continent. It's very good, I highly recommend it. For Tuesday we had the idea to return to DC to tour the Holocaust Musem, but on the way home Daely asked if we could just stay home instead. Which was fine by me--I was up for taking her wherever she wanted to go, but I know I was tired, and I'm certain I wore her out, poor thing!

Tuesday Mar 13 Daely's last day :( Not a whole lot to today--I caught up on most of my tv shows while Daely slept in. We watched a movie, and she helped me switch out a light bulb. then we put my new lawn mower together and tried it out (did I mention the weather was warm and beautiful by now? The snow was all melted). I made dinner (yes, I can cook when I put my mind to it!), and then sadly drove her to the airport. She'd been getting homesick, though, so she was glad to return home. It was a very good trip. She's already promised to come back in a couple years (she already has her trip for next year planned out--Utah, I think).