My Visit With Anna, Jerry, & Francesca

I had such a wonderful visit with Anna, Jerry, and my God-daughter Francesca! Here's a little run-down of some of the things we did:

Thursday: I arrived at BWI an hour late (no one quite knew why we were late). After a few fearful minutes, I found Anna, Jerry & Francesca (on the OTHER side of security! I can be such a dolt!!). They took me back to their house to unload all of my things. A little later on, we went for a ride to the mall (which had some really neat stores in it). We had dinner at Johnny Rocket's. Anna and I then stayed up late talking.

Friday: Both Anna and Jerry had to work. Anna was working a half day so I stayed home with Francesca (who's 6) during the morning hours. She and I colored, played Barbies (one of which got "eaten" by a T-Rex), and then created our very own paper dragon (I drew and cut, she colored and glued, and, oh yes, told me what to draw!). Anna arrived home at 1:30 and then the 3 of us went to the library (one of the best I've ever seen!). We picked Jerry up a little later on and they took me to an Amish Farmer's Market! I was in Heaven! We had dinner there and then checked out all of the Amish goodies (homemade jams, breads, cookies, whoopie pies, pretzels, quilts, furniture........). If I had been able to, I would have picked up some jam, a pie for my father, and about 3 dozen whoopie pies for myself. I did buy my mother a handmade (quilted) pot holder. The quilts, as beautiful as they were, were upwards of $700.00. Mom's little potholder was only $6.95. After the Amish market, we quickly went to Barnes & Noble so Francesca could pick up her free book and then we headed to a wonderful park right on the Chesapeake Bay. Anna and I stayed up talking again (we talked to 2:00 a.m.!!!).

Saturday: We went to Washington D.C.!! We drove to the Metro station (subway) in Bethesda MD and met up with Serena and Cris. We then took the Metro into D.C. We took the Metro right to the Mall. The above picture of the Washington Monument was taken right from where the subway station was (above ground of course!). We walked past the Washington Monument to the WW II Memorial (second picture). It was beautiful. This picture doesn't capture the entire monument. From there, we walked to the Viet Nam Memorial and then to the Lincoln Memorial (above). From there, we walked to the Korean War Memorial and then back toward the Washington Monument, headed to the Museum of American History (part of the Smithsonian). We saw Jim Henson's Muppets display (yes Dave, I took pictures. The Muppets we saw were the real deal!). After that, we hit up a few gift shops (I got Pete some of NASA's freeze dried ice cream) and then headed home. It had been quite hot out and we were all beat. That evening Anna made some kick-ass tacos and she and I went through her many CDs picking out which songs she wanted Pete to load onto her new MP3 player. We then went upstairs and talked well past 2:00 a.m.! There were some great discussions to be had! :)

Sunday: Jerry made scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes for breakfast. Mmmmmmmm...... Following breakfast, we went to Wal-Mart (had to scope out Francesca's Christmas present from Auntie) and then took a ride to see Francesca's school. After that, we went to a park quite near BWI so Francesca could ride her scooter. We took a nice walk and then headed to BWI. I had a 3:35 flight and wanted to get to the airport between 2:00-2:30. We hung out for a while before I went through security. Once going through security, I waved goodbye and was on my way. It was hard to say goodbye, especially to one of the sweetest 6 years I know. I arrived at Bradley right on time. Pete picked me up and surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I guess he really did miss me!

Anna~ I had a wonderful trip and cherish the time I spent with you. You and I had some heart to heart talks and spent some time just being girls again. I loved it!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I'll never stop loving you!!!