Best Laid Plans ...

There is no way to get to Puerto Rico from Utah.  Certainly not without long layovers somewhere.

So when Brent found out he was going to a meeting in Puerto Rico, he started looking at where the layovers would occur.  We could stay a while in Florida.  We could stay a while in Atlanta.  We could stay a while in New York City, or Chicago.   Or Baltimore.

Now granted, Florida and New York City did catch our attention, but the opportunity to spend time with family in Baltimore trumped all.  Besides, we still had not had a chance to get in to Washington D.C. in our limited trips out there.  The one time we went, though we flew into DC, we never really got to see it.  The next time the government was on sequestered shut down and all the places we wanted to visit were closed.  Third times a charm, right?

Well, almost WRONG.

We flew in Saturday afternoon, March 1; got our car rental, checked into the hotel, and then drove over to Sean's house to meet his family and follow them to the restaurant they had selected for us to have dinner at.  I love the way they find local places to take us - not the run-of-the-mill, found in every shopping center lot, kinds of restaurants.   Saturday night was no exception.   They introduced us to the Greenhouse Grill Diner.  The place was busy, but we had a fun time visiting while waiting to be seated and again as we had dinner.  Those kids are growing up so fast!  I feel like I’m really missing out on their lives.  

Sean Tyler (Jr) is over two now and still very shy around us.  By the time we left the following week, he had warmed up considerably, but I worry he will have forgotten us again by the time we see him the end of August.

 Jake's 7.  His smile still lights up the world, and is excited to show off his missing teeth.

 Nick can find the unusual in the most usual.  I love his creative mind!

Tabatha turned 17 in March!  17!  It was so fun to see her again.  She is totally into everything that goes with being a young woman at her age.  And she is a gifted artist and writer, with a whole lot of other talents waiting to be shared!

(One more photo of Sean Tyler, just for good measure)

 

 Sunday morning we went to church with Sean and his little family.  Nick is in charge of recruiting men to help pass the Sacrament since there are only a couple of Deacons in their ward.  He asked Brent if he would help with it.  Brent confirmed that was okay with the Bishop and then went to the front to join his oldest grandson in administering the ordinance of the Sacrament in the Glen Burnie Second Ward.  That was a great opportunity.

Then, later, Jake was supposed to give the Thirteenth Article of Faith in Primary.  I guess sometime in his talking to me, I had agreed to help him give it.  (Linzy works Saturdays and Sundays so she wasn’t there to help.)   I’m a little difficult in remembering, it would appear.   So I was sitting in Relief Society waiting for that meeting to start when someone came to the door and pulled me out.  She told me Nick was waiting for me to come help him.  Sean had told me he did this at the end of the meetings, so I was not prepared to even be in watching him yet, let alone helping him give it.  I just love how things like that fly out of my brain the minute I’m put on the spot.   I completely could not remember anything beyond “I Believe…” and couldn’t even find it on my scriptures.  Ach!  

Finally, one of the teachers came to our rescue.  “It’s on the poster behind you,” she softly pointed out.  A poster.  Behind us!  Oh, that makes perfect sense.  Of course and thank you, thank you, thank you!   We got him through it (though I suspect he really had it memorized.)   Brent came to get me from Relief Society to go watch him about fifteen minutes before the end of the meetings.  I felt so bad he and Sean missed it, but was grateful he had asked for me to be there.  I miss those kinds of opportunities with them living so far away.

We had a great relaxing Sunday afternoon.  It was nice to not have any responsibilities for just that day.   

 

Jake and Buttercup, the cat

Nick and his Lego creation

I played some games with the kids.   

I took pictures with my camera and we just enjoyed being together.  

Sean smoked a couple of chickens in his smoker and Tabatha helped him prepare a Sunday dinner for us.  Everything tasted wonderful.

There had been a lot of reports of a winter storm on its way to the area.  By evening the kids had received notification that school had been closed and then Sean got word that the government closed down as well, so he didn’t have to drive down to Virginia to start his work week that night. 

It also meant we would not be going into Washington D.C. on Monday.  Really?????

So Monday we slept in.  We woke up to about five inches of snow with a layer of ice underneath and no promise of any warmth in the forecast for the next day or two.  We ate breakfast in the hotel, and I exercised on the hotel equipment.  Unfortunately, they only had an outdoor pool or I would definitely have found a way to go swimming and soaking in a hot tub. 

By early afternoon we ventured out and found only wet roads most of the way to Sean’s house.  They do know how to use salt in D.C. area, apparently.  The freeway looked like it was still slick but at least the main roads were just wet.  We got Linzy and went to Costco and stocked up on the supplies necessary for my homemade clam chowder, returning back to their place to roll up my sleeves and make my family soup for dinner.  I liked Monday.  I liked the peace and the relaxation it brought.   I liked being forced to take a day off.  Wish they would do that around here when it snows!

Okay, by Tuesday, March 4, the roads had at least been cleared.  It was still below freezing all day but we were able to make it down to D.C.   Sean had driven down to work the night before but made arrangements to take a half day off and come into town to join us at the Washington Mall.   Linzy and the kids bowed out.  Nick had a bad cough, Tabatha wasn’t feeling well, and it was just too cold to have Sean Tyler out in it.   So we debated staying local with the kids but decided it would be the one opportunity we had to get into the nation’s Capitol, so we took it.

It was icy.  It was kind of cold, but without wind it was bearable.  The biggest problem was the traffic!  Yikes!  And they kept shutting off streets so men could knock the ice off the roofs of the high rises and let it come crashing to the ground.  We finally just ditched the car into the first empty parking garage we could find.  It ended up costing us nearly $40 for about three hours, but it was worth it to finally just park the car and get to the mall.  That was at about the halfway mark – near the Washington Monument. 

We walked from there down to the Lincoln Memorial, spending some time in the World War II Monument on the way. 

Sean joined us when we got to the Lincoln Memorial and walked with us back up to the White House and then joined us for a late lunch in a food court in the same place where the car was parked, before we returned to Baltimore and Sean to his assigned post in Virginia.   I was grateful for the time we got to spend with Sean, at least.  It was fun to hear him talk about the area and the things he enjoys there.

We did not have time to go to any of the museums.  We hardly saw the Capitol Building. But we did get to see ice being chipped off the steps to the Lincoln Memorial and we did get to see the squirrels burrowing in the snow. 

Photo by Brent Loveridge

The sun was shining through thin clouds, and when I went into the restroom at the Washington Memorial I got to share the place with a woman sleeping on the floor.  I tried to be quiet and leave her to the warm spot she had found.

There were robins searching for seeds in the snow, and there were buds on the trees – proof that spring was coming in spite of the weather.  On top of the White House, men were walking around, peering down at us, the visitors, through their scopes.  I guess the President was out of town, because Sean said they had removed one layer of the outer barriers they usually have in place, allowing us a tiny bit closer access to viewing the building.  He showed us the area where he got to shake hands with President Obama a few years ago as he represented his unit at a military function there.  Of course, we could only view it from a long ways away.

My other 47 photos from D.C. are posted here.

That evening, we joined Linzy and the kids for dinner at another local diner – Paradise Burger – in the Glen Burnie area.  I know it’s crazy, but I lugged the camera there as well.  We see these kids so rarely I just wanted to take every opportunity I could to get photos to bring home with me.

It had been a long day, and we had to be to the airport early in the morning, so we returned to the hotel directly from the restaurant, looking forward to being back with these kids after a few days in (hopefully) a very sunny, warm Puerto Rico.   (Will post that in the next day or two)