Washington

We've spent the last several days in Washington DC. The traditional stuff--White House, Treasury, Congress, etc--we either skipped as not interesting enough for our young audience, or were unable to get tickets to view. However, we spent a couple days touring some of the Smithsonian, specifically the Air and Space museum and the natural history museum.

It's been very humid, and hot enough to feel oppressive. On evening, while out for a walk and dinner, we chanced upon a plaza filled with parents and kids. We soon discovered that it was like the Grove fountain in Boise and both boys immediately took advantage of the opportunity to get a little wet (read: completely soaked).

Finally, we dropped by the Air and Space branch by the airport and gawped at fighter jets, ultralights, and the space shuttle Discovery.

Unfortunately, we missed our flight because I translated time zones incorrectly. :-( Fortunately, the wonderful folks at Ethiopian Airlines helped us correct the problem and booked us on the next flight out, the next morning, as well as helping us find accommodations. It was about as pleasant a disaster as could be arranged, and not even too expensive. :-) So, we'll be flying out in about two hours, as I write this, and will be in Harare at our new home tomorrow by 2:00.

Hot days

The weather here in Nevada has been rather pleasant, for summer in this state. We've been treated to temps in the 80s and 90s mostly, only going well above 100 a couple times so far.

Michael even spent a couple mornings practicing his golf stroke

It's still been hot by our standards, though, so the boys have been enjoying daily water fun, air conditioning (thank goodness), and ice cream treats. :-)

On vacation

Our first stop on the vacation route was to spend a few days at YMCA camp. Michael went to a week-long kid's camp last year and liked it, but wanted to go to family camp this year. We had a blast! There was rock climbing, archery, riflery, s'mores, stories, singing, group games, rockets, bouldering, kayaking, swimming, and more. The boys were exhausted each night and eager to get going each morning. They were already talking about coming back next year as we left to come home.

Then we spent a quick day with mom and dad, a last goodbye to Boise, and we were on our way. We stopped by the Twin Falls Miller's house to say goodbye to them (and were lucky enough to catch uncle Noah at a time when we could drop by his work for a quick hug and goodbye, too).

Then we drove down to Moapa, just north of Las Vegas, to spend a couple weeks with aubuelito and abuelita. They were pleased to see us, especially the boys. Abuelito has already taken William out on the tractor to feed the cows; Michael is scheduled for his turn tomorrow. The desert has been hot, so they've spent quite a bit of time in the pool in the front yard, or down the road at the splash pad. Cool wet fun on a hot day!