Fun with Texans

Over the weekend, we were visited by our good friends Tracy, Kevin, and Shane, who are doing a big Summer 2010 Tour of the Northeast.  They arrived Friday night and there was lots of catching up over jambalaya, a short walk around town, and a quick stop at Shoes.  Daphne was thrilled to have Shane around.  He is a real live teenager after all, and she thinks teenagers are the biggest rock stars there are.  Shane is awesome and treated her like his little sister immediately, patiently doing his best to answer 1001 crazy Daphne questions, mostly about science.

My friends are insane, and spent the enitre day Saturday in DC, walking 12 miles in the 103 degree heat, along with every cub and boy scout in the United States as it is their 100th anniversary and they had a big to-do about it in our nation's capitol.  On Sunday, we went in with them.  We decided to take Metro, which was pure torture.  The boy scouts apparently all made that same decision, so they joined us on the train.  We were packed in there like sardines and the AC was taking the day off, so it was like an oven until they all got off at Smithsonian station.  Then it was more like a green house. 

We stayed on to Eastern Market.  Above, you can see Daphne and Shane taking the escalator straight into what looks like the sun, and it might as well have been, as hot as it was.  We had brunch at a place called Banana-something in Capitol Hill (yum!), and then went to Eastern Market where it was really too hot to shop, but Kev and I found a dresser!  Woohoo!  Goodbye plastic bins from Target!   

Then it was back to Smithsonian because we promised Daphne she could go see the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History.  Unfortunately, all the boy scouts were promised the same, so it was pretty crowded.  But we still had a good time, and Daphne got to be a paleontologist and search for various bones and teeth and things hidden in some rocks:

Here are our friends on the National Mall, with the Capitol building in the background, and Daphne too, apparently still searching for bones and teeth and things in the dirt there.  She handed me a small rock and said please put this bird tooth in your purse, mom.  Then it was time to head home.

 As the train came out from the tunnel a few stops from ours, we saw that it was raining, which was a very very happy sight.  When we got off the train, the rain was over and it was about 25 degrees cooler than when we got on in the District.  Daphne fell asleep on the train.  A big day for a little Peanut.

In the evening, we went for Indian food at Angeethi, which was delicious as usual.  Murgh Makhini.  Medium spicy.  I'm telling you.  You won't regret it.

Our friends left this morning for a few days in New York City, and then a stop in Philly before heading back here next weekend for one more day before going home.  Daphne is missing her buddy Shane and I am missing having my friends here.  It was a good weekend.  Hope yours was too.