A 4-Day Weekend

I heard the front door open. It was only 8:15 a.m., Thursday, June 19.

"Curtis?" I called out. What on earth is he doing home? 
"The power was out today at work. I looked for someone—anyone—but no one was in sight, so I came home."

So we took advantage of the day together! The Relief Society in our ward sent out a list of fun summer activities in the area. Lazy 5 Ranch, a private animal ranch in Mooresville, caught our eye. We toured the park along this 3.5-mile path, feeding animals through your car window. We fed all kinds of animals, including ostriches, emus, zebras, camels, llamas, pot-bellied pigs, antelope, blackbuck, elk, deer, water buffalo, longhorns, giraffes (Curtis had to stand out of the car window to reach them!), and a rhino (Well, we didn't feed the rhino, but he was still pretty neat to see!). I was terrified of being eaten, but Sebastian made friends with many of the llamas.

Trying to hold still for Mr. Ostrich

I started off with Sebastian in the back seat, but you can clearly see that I'm out of my comfort zone. Curtis "let" me drive and risked his own life to let Sebastian get up close and personal with the animals. 

Sebastian posing with Mr. Llama

And here's a video so you can see how excited Sebastian really was!

Relaxing after lunch

Livia enjoying the sun

It was definitely a welcome and unexpected surprise to spend the day with Dad. If only he could skip out on work more often . . .

. . . and then Friday came.

"Coming. No power again." I got the text at 7:56 a.m. Within three hours, we were on the road bound for Washington, D.C. I wouldn't consider us the epitome of spontaneity, but whoever you are, Mr. Spontaneous, we gave you a run for your money this weekend.

It takes six hours to drive from Charlotte to Washington, D.C., but with all the stops we needed to make, it took us the rest of the day. My dear friend Emma, whom I taught English in Ukraine with, conveniently lives just outside of D.C. We had a delicious pancake dinner at her home and met her husband, Kevin, and her six-month-old daughter, Evelyn, before we retired to our hotel for the evening.

Emma and I holding our babies (June 20, 2013)

Pretty much the only thing I wanted to see in D.C. was the International Spy Museum. Ever since Curtis and I started watching "Alias" three years ago, I've wanted to be Agent Sydney Bristow. Right now, we are following Annie Walker in the new season of "Covert Affairs." We almost exclusively watch spy/action movies and TV shows. In fact, we shared our first kiss during the steamy scene in The Bourne Identity. And we've decided that, if it weren't for my abominable relationship with running, I would make the perfect spy. It turns out, Sebastian would not.

Can you find Sebastian? (International Spy Museum)

Spies don't generally smile and wave as they covertly navigate the ducts. We could easily have spent all day perusing this museum, but as luck would have it, they don't allow strollers. We got through maybe four of the seven exhibits. I was in the middle of learning about code breaking when Sebastian let us know that he was done.

Thinking Sebastian would love the big elephant and fossils, we decided to try out the National Museum of Natural History. Nope. At least there were ducts at the Spy Museum . . .

Time to move on to something more interesting: airplanes!  Sebastian actually loved the National Air and Space Museum. He pulled us to every exhibit that you could go inside: a few cockpits and a vintage airliner. Curtis had a good time too. While the boys enjoyed the planes, Livia and I enjoyed the Time and Navigation exhibit. In case you were going to ask, I think a sextant would make a fascinating birthday gift.

Lovin' the planes! (National Air and Space Museum)

By far, however, Sebastian treasured his time outside, running up and down the Mall, chasing pigeons. And he deserved it after all the driving we did the day before . . . and all the driving we would do the next.

Hooray for independence! (Washington Monument)

Our little world traveler (National Mall)

Chasing the pigeons (National Mall)

In front of the United States Capitol (National Mall)

That evening, we savored authentic D.O.C. Neapolitan pizza at 2Amys and drove through D.C. one last time in the night light. We sure got a kick out of all the cars parked in front of the "No Parking" signs along Embassy Row. Available evening parking hours or abuse of diplomatic immunity?

Curtis and I first met on the East Coast, and being in D.C. allowed us to reminisce on that time. It's hard to decide the best part of the weekend. But perhaps we don't have to decide. We can love it all. We got to do something spontaneous, do something different, do something fun, do something together, and eat pizza (I mean, come on!).