Visit Season: Part II

Shortly after one set of folks left, another set came! We had a terrific time with Mom and Dad Marshall in DC and down in Williamsburg. Life is busy. Life is great. Always lots happening. Hopefully some of it makes it here on the blog. I wrote the captions after bedtime. My bedtime. Which is 10. It's now 12. 25. a.m. crashtime.

Natural History Museum Fish Tank--not sure why they have it there.

Ben's since had an obsession with monkeys.

Kicking it Mall-style.

Grandfather giving chess lessons in the room we recently remodeled.

Those expensive character balloons at the store? They're great presents if you're the grandparents. They last forever.

I wasn't around for this, but apparently Ben's a big fan of "Dragon Fruit." Click on the highlighted, underlined words (known as "hyperlinks") and you will be automatically redirected to another website that talks about the fruit (the website is Wikipedia. It's an important online resource and encyclopedia, even).

I tell you, leave my Dad alone for ten minutes and he ends up in one of these. Luckily, bail was cheap in Williamsburg.

My Mom's cute.

So is that guy (the soft one).

Walkin' around the DC temple. Quite lovely.

I have no idea what, but there's something super symbolic about this picture.

They wouldn't go upside-up. If you can fix it we'll give you a full-size version to hang on your wall.

No idea where this is. Some glass box in some museum, I'm guessing.

This might be our Christmas card, but we're going to send it out sideways, so this is only to prepare your weak minds.

I'm in that tree, hanging on for dear life.

Anyone visiting Williamsburg should absolutely eat at the Blue Talon. Dinner crepes: perfection.

Abe could watch cooks all day. And better? He now possesses all of the Blue Talon's trade secrets. It wasn't secret sauce after all; it was mushrooms.

First chapel in America. Jamestown.

Ben saying, "cheese!"

York Town, where we won the Revolutionary War.

Let's hear it for children's literature! I had no idea how great it was as a kid.

We found this etched on the far side of a battle field in York Town. Apparently Francis Scott Key was not only a composer and poet, but an artist.

We're probably going to get sued for destroying it.

Mount Vernon. This was George's view from the back porch (minus the two kids, unless he had two boys sitting on the ledge, then it was almost exactly this).

There's a keeper. An off-center keeper, but a keeper all the same.

Me shooting my  Dad and a cannon with a camera.

These two people astound and astonish with their magnanimity. Wow, the poetry is just flowing tonight.

I make a pretty good blacksmith. If you're ever blacksmithing, go with the bun--the ponytail can spark.

Kids wait in this line to sit in this plane that doesn't move or really do anything.

I would do anything in the world for those two creatures.