Adventures with Marah (part 1)

As I mentioned before, my lovely little sister Marah is out here visiting for a week. In order to keep her from lounging around all day texting her boyfriend, Jonny & I prepared a thrilling weekend for her.

Friday Mar. 14th--
After recovering from our 2am bedtime the night before (this is especially painful for those of us who go to bed at 9:30pm) we decided to show Marah some of the local sights. And in the 6 months we have been here, we've found a grand total of...one. Granted, it's been winter since we got here. I'm sure Maryland has a plethora of fabulous things to see when it's not grey and ugly outside.

So, once we got Marah up and moving, we headed to the town of Havre de Grace where we walked along the boardwalk bordering the Chesapeake and showed her the local wildlife (some geese, ducks, and squirrels). Since the boardwalk is a whole half a mile long, we spent the rest of the time sitting on a little beach where Jon attempted to teach Marah how to skip rocks. I think her best throw produced two skips. Jon's was somewhere around 15.

Saturday Mar. 15th--
Since Marah got gypped out of the traditional 8th grade Washington D.C. trip, we had strict instructions to show her the sights. After a slight (40 minute) detour because we got lost on the way (regardless of the fact that we'd been there the previous two weekends), we began our tour with the DC temple. Unfortunately, it's still a bit too early for flowers, so the scenery was pretty...brownish.

After a thrilling 20 minute Metro ride, we grabbed some food at an extremely overheated McDonald's and headed to the Museum of Natural History. Pretty much the only reason people go there is to see the Hope Diamond (which I did not get a picture of since it was swarmed by a pack of middle school kids). But I did find the Hazen Necklace and took a picture just for you, Anne. And Marah found some cavemen.

By decree of the fat lady (me) we took a small breather on the mall before heading to the Washington Monument. It was an unusually gorgeous day--perfect for touristing. It was at this point that we made the erroneous decision to hit all the outside sites first and save the museums for when it got darker. Marah was thus blessed to see the White House, Lincoln Memorial, WWII, Vietnam, & Korean War Memorials, and the Jefferson Memorial (from a distance). We then tried to book it to the Holocaust Museum, only to find that it closed at 5:30. And then we found out that ALL the museums closed at 5:30. Even on Saturday. So ridiculous. I knew my dad would be especially perturbed that we didn't make it to the Air & Space Museum (excerpt from his phone conversation with Marah yesterday: "What?! You made it all the way down there and didn't get to the Air & Space Museum?!). My Dad thinks D.C.'s whole purpose is to house this museum.

Since everything was closed, we decided to head home (which was good, because my feet and back were killing me. I think I made them stop and sit somewhere every two blocks on the way to the Metro). We finished off our adventure with an 8:30 pm dinner at Cracker Barrel and then headed home to soak our feet in the tub.

In our spare time, Jon & I have been introducing Marah to our excellent games. So far we've gotten her to play Settlers and Ticket to Ride, but she still prefers games where she "doesn't have to think." Poor girl. We'll have her straightened out before we send her home.

And now we need to get off the couch and go shopping. Little does Marah know that the actual reason she's out here is NOT to see the sites--it's to help me carry groceries up two flights of stairs. It's a dang good thing we're moving soon, because I already have to stop and take a break between loads. Yet another joy of pregnancy.

Upcoming Marah adventures: New York City, baby shopping at Ikea, and seeing our new house (from the outside).