How was the trip?
It was so cool to see this side of the family--my aunt and uncle, plus our first cousins (dad's three nephews, Peter, Paul, and Matthew) and their kids. Pete's family we know the best, as they used to live in the suburbs, but moved to Atlanta about 5 or 6 years ago. Paul was the one getting married, and I had never even met his kids from his first marriage, and they're college age. And Matt has four kids, two with his ex-wife, and two with his girlfriend. I met his oldest a few years ago, and just met the two youngest last weekend. (His other son is out of the country, so couldn't make it--I don't think I've ever met him). So, that was cool to finally meet these guys. And the boys (dad's nephews) are always entertaining.
And I always like talking to my aunt and uncle. They met at the university where I work now. So, when my brother and I arrived, Uncle Pete patted the chair next to him and said, "tell me about the university." And I joked, "well, it was founded in 1892..."
Paul's new wife is gorgeous. Like, her picture is in the dictionary next to the word. She's a prosecutor, and later in the weekend, I said to Hugh, "she's a prosecutie!" citing Arrested Development. She doesn't speak English, so someone always had to translate, which was cool, but a little awkward. And it made me feel bad that I never really learned Spanish, despite taking four years in high school. Some of her family also came up from Colombia, and some of them spoke a little English--her uncle even invited us down to Colombia and offered a place to stay. Which may have just been the "right" thing to do for family, but still, it was very sweet. Anyway, the wedding was in English and Spanish, and very beautiful. There was a lovely part in the service that I’ve never seen before; both the bride and groom asked for their in-law’s blessing “give me your blessing now that I may enter your family”. And then the parents would answer, “daughter/son, we welcome you with all of our hearts.” And the reception was great fun--good food, lovely toasts, but the room was damn hot! So a little uncomfortable.
And the rest of the time was spent sight-seeing. Saturday before the wedding Hugh and I went into The District (as the locals call it) and saw the memorials: WWII, the FDR, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Lincoln. Frankly, I could have done without the Lincoln, as we had seen it when were in DC when I was 10, but we were right there, so we went. And then we had to haul tail back to Maryland to make the wedding. These memorials are all outside, by the way, so we chose to do it on Saturday, which was the coolest day (only about 95 degrees). Sunday we headed to our other hotel in the district, and saw the Espionage Museum, and the US Archives, were we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Pretty groovy. I did geek out a little bit. I insisted on going into the store, which was closing in five minutes. I bought myself a little Hollinger Box (perfect size for my business cards), and then magnets of the Declaration to give to my students. Monday we went to the National Gallery of Art, and the Holocaust Museum, and then took a walk around Georgetown--the university and the area. Uncle Pete used to teach at Georgetown, so that was cool to see a bit of it finally.
Tuesday we had to choose carefully, as we only had a few hours. I had mentioned before the trip that I wanted to see the Library of Congress, which Hugh wasn't keen on, but was willing to go. I sensed that was his opinion of the Holocaust Museum as well, so I didn't push the LC. We decided on an art museum instead, only to get there and find that they were closed! And then we didn't have time to do anything else, though we were in the White House area, so we took a picture of that, and then grabbed lunch and were off to the airport. There we were delayed for six hours, thanks to heavy rainstorms in Chicago. Two hours in the airport, four hours on the plane, on the tarmac, waiting to find out if Chicago was even accepting flights. Whee. They couldn’t have found that out before everyone boarded the plane?! Ridiculous. And then, they were only selling snacks, not handing them out. Not cool.
So, other than Tuesday, it was a great time! My pictures didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, but here are a few (sorry, I tried to shrink them, but it didn't seem to work. I'll continue to work on it):
Viancy and Paul:
Korean War Memorial:
at the FDR memorial:
The Mother Ship (cue heavenly choir):
in Georgetown:
And I always like talking to my aunt and uncle. They met at the university where I work now. So, when my brother and I arrived, Uncle Pete patted the chair next to him and said, "tell me about the university." And I joked, "well, it was founded in 1892..."
Paul's new wife is gorgeous. Like, her picture is in the dictionary next to the word. She's a prosecutor, and later in the weekend, I said to Hugh, "she's a prosecutie!" citing Arrested Development. She doesn't speak English, so someone always had to translate, which was cool, but a little awkward. And it made me feel bad that I never really learned Spanish, despite taking four years in high school. Some of her family also came up from Colombia, and some of them spoke a little English--her uncle even invited us down to Colombia and offered a place to stay. Which may have just been the "right" thing to do for family, but still, it was very sweet. Anyway, the wedding was in English and Spanish, and very beautiful. There was a lovely part in the service that I’ve never seen before; both the bride and groom asked for their in-law’s blessing “give me your blessing now that I may enter your family”. And then the parents would answer, “daughter/son, we welcome you with all of our hearts.” And the reception was great fun--good food, lovely toasts, but the room was damn hot! So a little uncomfortable.
And the rest of the time was spent sight-seeing. Saturday before the wedding Hugh and I went into The District (as the locals call it) and saw the memorials: WWII, the FDR, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Lincoln. Frankly, I could have done without the Lincoln, as we had seen it when were in DC when I was 10, but we were right there, so we went. And then we had to haul tail back to Maryland to make the wedding. These memorials are all outside, by the way, so we chose to do it on Saturday, which was the coolest day (only about 95 degrees). Sunday we headed to our other hotel in the district, and saw the Espionage Museum, and the US Archives, were we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Pretty groovy. I did geek out a little bit. I insisted on going into the store, which was closing in five minutes. I bought myself a little Hollinger Box (perfect size for my business cards), and then magnets of the Declaration to give to my students. Monday we went to the National Gallery of Art, and the Holocaust Museum, and then took a walk around Georgetown--the university and the area. Uncle Pete used to teach at Georgetown, so that was cool to see a bit of it finally.
Tuesday we had to choose carefully, as we only had a few hours. I had mentioned before the trip that I wanted to see the Library of Congress, which Hugh wasn't keen on, but was willing to go. I sensed that was his opinion of the Holocaust Museum as well, so I didn't push the LC. We decided on an art museum instead, only to get there and find that they were closed! And then we didn't have time to do anything else, though we were in the White House area, so we took a picture of that, and then grabbed lunch and were off to the airport. There we were delayed for six hours, thanks to heavy rainstorms in Chicago. Two hours in the airport, four hours on the plane, on the tarmac, waiting to find out if Chicago was even accepting flights. Whee. They couldn’t have found that out before everyone boarded the plane?! Ridiculous. And then, they were only selling snacks, not handing them out. Not cool.
So, other than Tuesday, it was a great time! My pictures didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, but here are a few (sorry, I tried to shrink them, but it didn't seem to work. I'll continue to work on it):
Viancy and Paul:
Korean War Memorial:
at the FDR memorial:
The Mother Ship (cue heavenly choir):
in Georgetown: