2024 is off a busy start with Lucy and Ben back in school and we were grateful to have Lilly for one more week of her winter break. She wanted to see at least one museum and/or DC site before she headed back to school. We originally set out to see one museum a day for the entire week, but that didn't happen. We did manage to get a quick strike at the Native American Museum, however, and it was awesome, near the top of my list. The building really intrigued me. It is said to evoke a natural landscape that had been shaped by wind and water. The interior is no less spectacular! The domed ceiling in the entryway and the prism window that reflects the light around the space gives the visitor a sense of wonder. Lilly and I wandered around the exhibits learning of not only of the distant past, but some surprisingly current issues between the Native Americans and the Federal Gov. All in all, if you get a chance to check it out, well worth it.
With it being a chilly day, we decided we needed some coffee and while walking to the nearest Starbucks we ducked into the Botanical Gardens to warm up and check out the leftover poinsettia display.
Lilly was home just about a month. Just long enough to completely trash her room. She said there was a method to her madness and I am sure she is correct, but this hurt my eyes. I just kept shutting the door. She came home with one duffle bag and needs a giant suitcase for the return. We gave her one of our beat up travel ones and told her to dispose of it when she got back to school.
One of Ben's best friends from Japan arrived the night before Lilly was to fly back to LA. He is in town to meet up with his mother Julie, who will be arriving from overseas just after Lilly leaves. They will both be with us throughout the weekend - YAY!!! Cooper is playing in the All American Bowl game which is an annual high school football all-star game. We are all pretty excited for him and hope he does well!
Since he took a great nap on the plane, we decided to take him out to eat and Lilly got to pick the place since it would be her last dinner with us for a while. She picked yakiniku, one of our favorites from Japan (cooking over a fire at the table). Jim found an awesome place in Mosaic shopping center and it did not disappoint!
We had about 24 hours left with Lilly before we had to send her back to CA. So we tried to cram in as much love and family time as we could. I am sure she will be excited to be back at school, but we do hope she misses us enough to be sad if she doesn't see us until moveout day in June.
Sadly, the time to drop her off at the airport arrived and we stuck around way longer than she probably wanted us to. But that is what families do - embarrass you - right?
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| By this point she is saying - Leave already!! |
I had to turn Lilly's room around pretty quickly because Cooper's mom and one of my bestie's was arriving the next day. I had some help as I tidied up Lilly's rooom. I told Lilly it was because they missed her, but I really think it was probably close to feeding time and since I was in that room, they came in to remind me to feed them 😄.
Thank goodness Julie and Cooper were with us the rest of the weekend, because they really kept us in good spirits and laughing so much we couldn't focus on the fact that Lilly was gone. If there is one thing I have learned since Lilly has left for school, it pays to have someone come in within 24 hours of her departure to really keep everyone from falling into the dumps. So thank you Julie and Cooper!!!
Once Julie made it to our house, we let her take a shower and then we headed over to check out the BIG FLEA. It is billed as the "Mid-Atlantic's largest indoor flea market". Well, it was pretty big, but all in all we didn't find anything we couldn't live without.
Julie and Cooper left us the next day to go hang with her sister and then to fly to San Antonio to watch Cooper play in the All-Star football games. So this is proof that we aren't the only crazy people out there who will go to great lengths to watch our kids play sports!
We are now two weeks into January and Jim has gotten the home improvement bug. Our backyard is in DIRE need of a facelift. I don't know if it is all the rain we have had, or if Wesley's running around is causing problems or if it just looks like this every winter, but the mud pit that is the area at the bottom of our deck steps is killing us. After several trips up to the local landscaping store, Jim pulled the trigger and bought some materials. Here we go! First thing we had to clear out our path. Then he dug it out and laid the cloth down. Next came the gravel and finally the flagstone and river rock. We were able to get most of it complete before the rain settled in. It is a work in progress but we are happy to cut down on some of the mud being tracked into the house.
We also got some more snow! The weather forecasters couldn't decide on how much we were getting. At first it was just a dusting, then up to 6" but in reality I think we ended up with about 3". Just enough for the kids to get excited about heading to a ski resort.
Wesley loved tromping around in it, Yoshi - not so much!
We have a ski trip planned for Presidents Day Weekend, but since the area had just gotten a fresh dump, we decided to take a daytrip up to Round Top Mountain and see if the East Coast Skiing had gotten any better while we were in Japan. It was a fun day, but sadly it wasn't up to the J-Pow standards. I am not sure where we will have to go to see the kind of snow conditions that we had for the last 4 years.
After our quick day trip, we hurried back to Falls Church to host some of Jim's family for dinner. His parents and sister Sallie joined us along with Mary Catherine and her family for dinner. The highlight was watching some football in the basement snuggled up under the kotatsu. We may have created a couple of kotatsu monsters!!
While it is always fun to host the family, the real reason everyone was here was to join us at the Japanese Embassy where Jim would be recognized and awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon for his contributions to the USA/Japan Alliance while working as the Deputy Commander of USForces Japan. It was a huge honor and we were excited that several of our friends from Japan were also able to join us.
January wasn't all fun and games. Through Ben's Boy Scout troop, we had an opportunity to assist with setting up an apartment with household goods and furniture for an Afghan refugee family that had recently been relocated to the area from. It is amazing how the community has come together to provide for these families in need.
I will close up January with an event that was supposed to happen in December, but due to scheduling conflicts was pushed to January. The football team handed out its awards and Ben received not only his varisty letter but also recognition for being a student athlete with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher for the whole season. Yay Ben! Now bring on the spring sports!!
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