So today we went to the National Museum of Natural History, you know, where they have the dinosaurs, the Hope Diamond, the Tiffany Diamond and like every single mineral and/or crystal known to man. Let me just say it was freakin' AWESOME! 300+ dinosaurs, about eleventy gajillion other fossils... it RULED. We kept on saying that Logan and Vince (two of Eli's best friends from the old neighborhood) would have LOVED being there. Heck, I loved being there. Here is a picture from the second floor looking down on one of the main dino exhibits. So cool that all of the museums here, which are mostly parts of the Smithsonian, are all totally free. I think we spent a whopping $8.75 for all of us to ride the Metro (another D.C. thing that rocks the hizzy) there and back. Great afternoon was had by all.

Several of you have written asking what in the world is a day in the life like here for Holly, me, and the kids. Well you asked for it, here it is:

6:30 a.m. Drag rear end out of bed, make coffee (after thanking God for coffee--REAL coffee--not that crap that used to masquerade as coffee at Robert Half--I'm still in therapy after that sludge) try to stealthfully shower to not wake up the kids. Realize that the kids have been up for about 45 minutes prior to our alarm going off.

7:00 a.m. Get tired of the dog staring at me...glancing at the door, stare back at me. Put on enough clothes so that if encounter the neighbors they don't freak. Take the dog out (that is going to be a whole other blog entry so I'll leave the joys of Pablo for another time). Holly and kids are up. Kids are attempting to eat breakfast.

7:05 a.m. Remind kids for the 15th time to EAT YOUR BREAKFAST!

7:30 a.m. Holly and Eli leave for the day--Holly drops him off at the YMCA for a swim camp which he digs, then she's off to work.

7:45 a.m. After checking online what gourmet delight the refectory will have prepared for lunch for that day, Bip and I are off to the seminary. She goes to the Butterfly House which is conveniently on the seminary's campus. In the car on the way over we debate such topics as: "Do Care Bears cry when they get their hair cut" and/or, "will we park the car near the chapel and walk to the Butterfly House, OR will we park near the Butterfly House so we don't have to walk so far" and/or, "do we think that squirrels like living in trees with leaves or trees with needles more" and/or "the economic impact of The Trinity on non-Christian countries in the Middle East who have more than half their GNP coming from the production and/or refinement of petrol and petroleum related products." OK so I made one of those up. Seriously, I am curious though on Bella's thoughts about the preference squirrels have on where they live. I bet she has a couple of stellar thoughts on the subject.

8:10 a.m. Morning Prayer. On Wednesday and other feast days we have Eucharist and a sermon. Been astonished at how great the preaching is here from the faculty. So, that's good.

9:15--11:45 a.m. Greek. Taught by a guy that had his GOEs (Graduate Ordination Exams for all of us that don't know what the heck those are all about) with my dad way back in the day on Long Island. Actually, the guy is pretty cool. His passion is Greek and it shows. We had our first REAL quiz on Wednesday so I'm anxious to find out how I did...personally, I think I made that quiz my bee-otch, but we'll know more tomorrow (Monday at around 9:20 a.m.)

11:45--12:45 p.m. Lunch. The whole community gets together once a day for a shared meal in the refectory. EVERYONE is there...from the Dean down to the maintenance crews. Great time to meet new people (the mode we're all in now since, well, just about everyone IS new to us) complain about Greek class to everyone that's taking Hebrew (and listen to the Hebrew students complain about Hebrew to us), and chill for a while. The food is pretty good. Of course if you ask the "on-hill" people (those who live in the dorms on campus) they say that the food is pretty average. I guess since I only have to eat ONE meal a day there I'm not quite so jaded to the whole thing. But there is usually some variety and they ALWAYS have a nice salad bar as an option.

1:00--2:30 p.m. LTG1 which is code for Oral Interpretation of Scripture. Which is affectionately known as "Read and Bleed". Basically we go learn how to read The Word more effectively. That takes the form of us saying Morning Prayer again in a group of 4 students with an instructor. We've taken turns with one person leading and reading the Psalm appointed for the day, one person reading the OT, one the Epistle and one the Gospel. After we read through once we are evaluated both by our peers and the instructor then have to get up and read the whole reading again. Lovely. Hence: Read and Bleed.

2:30--4:30 p.m. I'm in the Library, in one of the common lounges or somewhere doing Greek homework, reading my lesson for Read and Bleed, or just chillin' with my homies. You know how I roll.

4:30 p.m Retrieve Bella from the Butterfly House then go get Mr. Man from YMCA camp, go home and start dinner. Pour myself a nice G&T (substitute beer, wine, anything alcoholic) and try to follow a recipe from "Anyone Can Cook This!" or some such book. Usually it is some dish that involves doing more than one thing at a time...and we all know how THAT goes.

6:30 p.m. Holly comes home and "fixes" whatever I've tried to make for dinner. We all eat together, kids are "reminded" to eat their dinner--or some horrible thing will befall them like "no treats for the rest of the time we're in seminary, I MEAN IT." or "if you don't eat everything on your plate now you won't get to watch TV until you are 19, do you understand me?" You get the idea.

7:15 p.m. Kids get a bath. THAT'S another whole other blog entry. Ugh. After they are dried off and dressed I head back over to VTS until around 8:45 to finish Greek homework.

Yeah, so that's that. Here's another picture from the museum...
T-Rex was a pretty big bad ass if you ask me. Andy Gruber, this one's for you man.

So, that's about it for this week. I have another couple of thoughts but I'll save them for their own special unique entries into the blog. Here's a teaser though--I've got a solid rant brewing about why driving in this freaking town is some of the worst I've ever been exposed to in my life. Seriously, they all drive worse than ME here. Be afraid, be very VERY afraid!

Peace!

P.S. If you see my dad, please remind him that he is now really, REALLY old. Happy Birthday Dad! Look, 60 isn't that old...if you're Scotch....or dirt....or a moon rock.