I got to spend most of last week with my family.  Celeste had to be in DC for work on Wednesday and Thursday so we all accompanied her and stayed with my in-laws. We spent the day on Sunday at Celeste’s brother’s house for a party with all of her family, and then on Monday I visited one of my clients in Alexandria while Celeste took the kids to Orange, VA to visit her friend Lee.

On Tuesday I drove Celeste, Erin, and my mother-in-law Patti Rogers to a tea and then took Justin for ribs at King Street Blues. After that we drove over to Arlington National Cemetery and saw the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown and then we found the grave of my high school buddy Louis Robinson (Lance Corporal, US Marines), who was killed exactly 20 years ago this month.

On Wednesday I drove Celeste to her client’s office at McPherson Square, and then went back to get Erin and Justin.  We headed over to Occoquan and had lunch with my buddy Ted before going downtown to pick up Celeste. Having the kids along allowed us to utilize the HOV lanes and get back to the in-laws’ house in about 1/2 hour.

Yesterday my oldest son Mike (formerly Michael) and I took Celeste into the city (again utilizing HOV) for her meetings and then did the tourist thing. The photo of us was taken in front of the White House on the Lafayette Park side and was shot with ye old camera phone, thus the purple hue and enormous belly on moi.  For the record I’m actually an incredibly fit tri-athlete often mistaken for Pierce Brosnan…damn crappy phone.

Anyway we started out having breakfast at the Old Ebbitt Grill, then walked over to the White House and followed that with a walk to the Bureau of Engraving & Printing where we couldn’t get a tour pass, so we went next door to the Holocaust Museum. There I found out how little Mike’s been taught about the Holocaust so despite the fact that he found it kind of boring (he described it as "lots of words and pictures") I’m definitely glad we did it.  It’s incredibly powerful and I think he’ll appreciate it all the more in coming years.

After lunch (excellent chicken salad sandwiches provided by my mother-in-law) we walked over to the World War II Memorial and then the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Memorial. After that we took a break and drove over to Union Station and walked around it and then visited the Postal Museum next door.  Once we were done there we drove over to McPherson Square and picked up Celeste.

After that we drove back to the in-laws via the HOV lanes, had a quick dinner with them and packed up the kids and headed home.  We were in our garage at the stroke of midnight.

It was a blur, but I had a blast.