Matthew's visit- DC edition

Well, my last post was kind of depressing perhaps, but take comfort in the fact that the depressing day of work came after 4 days off and a most excellent weekend.

My baby brother is not so little anymore, and in honor of his 18th birthday and upcoming high school graduation, we decided to fly him out to visit us. It was a selfish gift perhaps, as we probably like having visitors more than they like being here, but we did it anyway. He flew into Philly on Wednesday (his birthday) and got in right about the time I was getting off work. We went to our apartment and he got to open his birthday present... Flyers tickets!!

That boy is wild about hockey, so it was a special treat (courtesy of my parents). Since it was getting late, we just went to bed so we could get up the next morning and head down to DC.

Before I get too far into this, I should mention that the weather was absolutely GORGEOUS the whole time he was here. DC was no exception. Matthew had never been to DC before, so we went for a classic overview of the National Mall. We started with a tour of the Library of Congress, and walked around the Capital.

Then we headed down and popped into some of the Smithsonian museums. We went in the Air and Space Museum. One of my favorite things we saw was the Hall of Mammals in the Natural History Museum.

We also saw the Hope Diamond while we were there. And of course we went into the American History Museum for a peek at Dorothy's ruby red slippers, the Star Spangled Banner, and the hat of my beloved Abraham Lincoln.

After our little museum foray, we stopped for a bit of ice cream and a sit down. Thinking we might enjoy some shade from the trees, we plopped down on the grass. Then some bird poop plopped down on Matthew's shoulder. He handled it all quite gracefully (I would've cried and let it ruin the whole day).

After the little bird poop incident, we made our way up to the White House, and back down and around the various monuments (WWII, Vietnam, Lincoln Memorial, Korea, FDR, and Jefferson). If you haven't been to DC, let me assure you that all of this is quite the walk. It just happens to be Cherry Blossom time, and the blossoms were sure blooming in DC. The walk around the Tidal Basin was stunning, and a perfect end to the day. We drove our tired bodies back home and fell into bed.