The new memorial is truly awe-inspiring.   Hugging the tidal basin there are small waterfalls tucked into an arched rock inscribed with MLK’s most notable quotes.  The centered sculpture -said to represent the stone of hope out of the mountain of despair – is magnanimous. Just an incredible sight!

Ima and I made cookies for our neighbors today (a long standing tradition we started with our first place in Madison) Clean up was the best part

This was a perfect day… We took off with the kids and went to old town alexandria.  The boutiques were awesomely expensive and the deli where we grabbed lunch was like the Nazi soup kitchen come to life in DC.  I stepped up to the order line and started with my list: Jaythan – spicy chicken, kids – turkey and cheese no bread no condo’s, me –  quiche.  The chef – staring across the glass divide – DOES NOT MOVE  and as the line starts to back up I’m not sure what to do!! the cashier walks back to let me know that I need to order using their menu specific number system. I quickly recount – 3,6, 11.  I step sideways down the counter as our food is put together and scooted down the counter with me. I reach the end, pay, pick up my sack and squeeze out the door.

The food was AWESOME!  Would strongly recommend the deli if I had the foresight to grab a menu on my way out LOL (i guess we’ll have to go back The kids fed the ducks with the seagulls overhead going CRAZY!  we capped the day checking out million dollar row houses… 5 flights of pure delight.   ahhhh the good life…

We dropped Noah off for his 2nd day of pre-school (he is loving it!) and Ima and I struck off on our own for some much needed mommy time.  These pics, care of a daddy in the class, were the fruition of our first day.

Noah starts preschool tomorrow… sigh.  He packed his backpack – granola bar, sita the cheetah, lighting mcqueen- carefully picked out his outfit (orca shirt, grey pants, shark socks) and fell asleep telling his animals he’d see them after school.

I don’t know what our little man is going to grow into, but he continues to astound me with his active interest in animals.  We’ve moved between ocean/orca whales to ions, cheetahs and tigers.  The national zoo has hosted Team Elam 4 times in the past 3 weeks.  Each trek we discover something new.  Today the cheetahs were up and taking an incredibly active interest in their strategically placed neighbors - the zebras.

We took our first free minute here to just get lost downtown…

I woke up this morning a little homesick.  I sooo miss my girls!  Flipping through my pics and I rested on this one (from our Team Elam sendoff)  Totally made me smile