Sound Bites & Snap Shots

(click the link for photo credit)

Today we had only one place to be at a specific time and that was Mass at 9 AM.   We left with enough time and arrived at St. Mary Mother of God Church early.  We situated ourselves in the pew and listened as a group recited the rosary in what I guessed was Latin.  When Mass began, the boys and I immediately noticed something was different.  We found ourselves at a Tridentine Mass.  The woman in front of us heard our confused exchanges and brought us a copy of the new Roman Missal the Latin Mass translated to English.  We got the general gist of the Mass because Mass is Mass no matter which language it is celebrated in, but we remained somewhat bewildered by the experience. 

Our next stop was to find the Boy Scout Memorial and the White House and then make our way to the National Museum of Natural History to spectate the Marine Corps Marathon.  We traveled by metro to avoid the road closures.  One of the first things Mason spotted after we emerged above ground was the bicycles.  He desperately wanted to travel the city on one of these.

Finding the Boy Scout Memorial was harder than we thought. 

First we thought we found it when we arrived at this memorial but realized pretty quickly we were wrong.  It had good ramps to climb and was quite tall.  We continued walking and made our way past the White House.

Walker was enthusiastic about seeing the White House. 

After traipsing past another unknown monument, we finally found the Boy Scout Memorial.  On the base was the Boy Scout Oath.  Finally, our mission was accomplished! 

From there we were off to the marathon route.  When we arrived at Mile 18 about noon, the runners were still traveling in a thick pack.  They rounded the bend with Washington Monument at their backs. 

We stood and cheered for a while.  Watching a marathon from the sidelines is energy giving!  The spectators were supportive, enthusiastic and encouraging.  The woman next to us had a bowl full of pretzels that she proffered to the runners. Many took them and we left shortly after the bowl was empty.

I chose a Potbelly Sandwich Shop, conveniently located a few blocks from Mile 18. Food hit the spot and so did the quick detour we took through Starbucks.  With coffee in tow, we walked back do the Mall to the National Museum of Natural History. 

Here, Mason was in his happy place. He fancies a good dinosaur bone.

They had a hands-on exhibit area called Q?rius where curious kids like Mason got to handle authentic objects and specimens.  The exhibit was well-staffed and the volunteers were friendly.  We wandered through many of the exhibits including one of my favorite halls: Geology, Gems and Minerals. 

This rock was naturally magnetic and Mason hung the paperclips end to end.

By late afternoon, the boys were getting tuckered out.  We only spent a little while in the National Museum of American History which is adjacent to the National Museum of Natural History.  This is one of my favorites and I could spend hours poking around the collections.  Because the attention spans were waning, we only focused on the Star-Spangled Banner. 

There is no photography allowed at all but trust me, it’s impressive to see the original Star-Spangled Banner.  It was a huge undertaking.  It took seven weeks to complete.  The woman contracted to sew the flag, Mary Pickersgill, was paid $405.90 which was more than most Baltimoreans made in a year. 

When we started planning for this trip, the boys expressed a strong desire to go to an Apple store since we do not have one locally.  This was a fairly easy request to accommodate since there are several in the area.  We chose to go to Georgetown via Uber.  See the signs of three happy people:

…two boys head down on devices

and one momma knitting on a preemie hat.  Ah, peace.  We were there for about an hour until it was time to meet Bill for dinner. 

Dinner is when the gifts of the day started to materialize.  Over the years, the boys had heard many stories about a favorite Italian restaurant of ours from New York City and we always talked about taking them if we ever found ourselves there again.  Gift number one was that Bill accidentally discovered a Carmine’s location in DC.  They had an 8 PM reservation but we decided to try our luck and walk in.

When I spoke with the hostess, she told us we could wait for a table in the bar or wait for one in the dining room which would be available in two hours.  That news was difficult to swallow so I stepped aside to consult with Bill. When I returned to say we would wait, the hostess told us she would seat us right away.  The two hour wait inexplicably evaporated. 

The next gift was overwhelming joy at sharing this meal with the kids.  I soaked it all up—the city view right outside our window reminiscent of our Big City days, the delicious and flavorful dishes we ordered and the gusto with which the boys took in this experience. 

Carmine’s is a family style restaurant meaning that all of the dishes serve two to three people.  We ordered a salad, fried calamari, Chicken Contadina and penne with meatballs.  We all ate to our satisfaction at dinner and we had more than enough leftovers for dinner the following night.  With full hearts and bellies, we headed home.