Nov 7, 2007: Vacation 2007
My sister is getting married in December, so we're all going to Kiev, Ukraine to be with her for the occasion. Carina observed that since we're heading that far east anyway, we should make an effort to stop in Sweden for at least a couple days in order to visit her friends and family there. And so tickets were purchased, and vacation time was requested from work....
Apr 11, 2007: Making Money
We ran into Duffy while eating ice cream one afternoon prior to our trip. We told him of our plans, and the major sites we hoped to see. Duffy, ever the comedian, said "Don't forget the Mint! You can ask for free samples!" The twins laughed very hard at this, and the Mint became fixed in Tyler's mind as a mandatory component of our trip....
Apr 11, 2007: Constitution of the United States
Monday morning we woke early, intent on seeing a few more major sites in D.C. We set out first for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which requires a free ticket for admission. Tickets sell fast, we were told, but we thought we were early enough. How we were wrong! The line for tickets starts as early as 6 AM, and the day's allotment of tickets are gone between 8:30 and 9....
Apr 9, 2007: Uncle Beasley
We spent the day at the Smithsonian museums today. We took a quick walk through the castle before moving on to Air and Space. The girls were impressed by the size of the rockets, and showed polite interest as I explained the lunar landings, the Apollo-Soyuz coupling, and the Viking Mars lander. We looked inside Skylab, learned that the surface temperature of Venus is 900 degrees Fahrenheit, the Spirit of Saint Louis completed its trans-Atlantic flight in 30 hours, and that the first balloon trip around the world reached speeds over 150 miles per hour. We skipped past most of ...