Ethan is home safe and sound! 🙂 His group flew in last night fairly late and we had to pick him up at school at 11 p.m. The 8th graders didn’t have to go to school today, but I still had to get up early and get Asher off to school and then work and everything. So, I’ve been a little sleepy today.
Their itinerary for Wednesday included The Museum of the Bible, WWII Memorial, the White House (picture stop), U.S. Air Force Memorial and an Arlington National Cemetery tour and wreath laying ceremony. (His essay did not get chosen for him to be a wreath layer, sadly. But oh well. He tried! Only 4 kids of the entire group got to do it, and apparently there were many, many applicants. He told me last night he was kind of glad he didn’t get chosen, because he found the main guard guy to be a little intimidating! haha.)
I think they also went to the September 11th Pentagon Memorial and then saw the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, FDR, Jefferson, Vietnam, etc. Memorials too. Honestly, I lost track some of all the different memorials. lol!
They had dinner at a place called Bugsy’s. Ethan spoke highly of ALL the food on the trip, saying all the restaurants were really good and the meals were super fun in general.
Thursday was their last day. They visited Mount Vernon all morning which looked right up my alley. I love touring old historical homes. Always feels super cool to be like, “Whoa. George Washington stood right here.”
After lunch (at a casual place called “Good Stuff Eatery”), they went to the Smithsonian. Obviously, they didn’t cover that much in a short time, but the air and space part was one of his favorite things on the trip. He also sent me a picture of the Hope Diamond. I remember taking a picture of that back when I went to D.C! 🙂
He bought me a necklace at the Smithsonian, which was cute. (He literally texted me after he bought it: “I bought you a nice necklace.” And then he texted me a picture of it. lol. Ah, 14 year old boys aren’t so big on presentation. I’m just touched that he thought to buy me something! Haha.)
And then I think they were at the airport by about 6:30 p.m.! WHEW! What a trip.
It sounds like everything went amazingly smooth and really well. He said he wasn’t over tired, slept well, hotels were great, tour companies were awesome, food was good, friends all got along, etc. Weather was even good minus some light rain in Philadelphia. What more can you ask for?! 🙂 So happy he had this experience!! I still need to see the rest of his pictures.
Meanwhile, I squeezed in a little solo outing with Asher after school yesterday before Ethan got home.
Our city puts up these “scarecrow” guys all along the main street (I think different organizations volunteer to sponsor them? I’m not actually sure.)
I asked Asher if he wanted to just go take a stroll down Main St to look at them all, and then stop for a hot chocolate or something. He seemed excited and said yes, so we planned on it. Well, I forgot that yesterday was actually our town’s Business Spooktacular Trick or Treat event (or whatever it’s called), where little kids can go trick or treat at all the shops.
So, it was super busy, but actually kind of fun to see all the little people in costumes. Asher did NOT have a costume on. I didn’t really feel sad- it was nice enjoying this next phase with him, I guess. (He is planning to trick or treat yet on Monday though.)
We meandered through town and then sat for a bit at a coffee shop. It was a warm, sunny day and the leaves were pretty! A very nice, small, local adventure. He got an iced chai and I got a hot tea, as usual.
This weekend, we still have some Halloweening to do:
- Asher has a Halloween themed swim meet both Saturday and Sunday morning. (By Halloween themed, I mean the name of the meet is something like “Trick or Treat Meet”. That will likely be the extent of it. Maybe they’ll give out Halloween themed heat winner award?) Then he has his last soccer game right after the swim meet on Saturday afternoon.
- Tomorrow night Ivan and I are taking Asher and 2 friends to a Haunted Forest. I AM SLIGHTLY TERRIFIED BY THIS IDEA and am slightly debating telling Ivan to take his brother in my place. hahaha! I am such a chicken, and I’ve heard this thing is legit scary!!! 😬😬I will probably go though. What is life if you don’t actually LIVE a little sometimes….
- Need to carve our pumpkins yet!! They are sitting in the garage waiting patiently.
- Need to figure out some sort of last minute Halloween costume for Asher. He was all up in the air about plans, but I guess he finally settled on meeting up with a soccer friend.
- Need to buy chili ingredients for our annual Halloween night chili dinner!! Yummy!! I already have the cupckae stuff.
Ethan works all day tomorrow, and then he has soccer in Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon. In between all the soccer and swim and getting scared, Ivan is planning to do a bunch of yard work. SIGH. Not going to be a restful weekend at all, is it. NOPE. 😉
Enjoy yours!! It’s Friday, so…. nacho night. Yesssss….. can’t wait for my husband to get home so we can go!! 😋
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for Ethan and group making it home safely, with no travel delays or other issues.
GRATEFUL KAE 
I’m glad Ethan had so much fun on his trip (did he just sleep all day when he got home? it sounded exhausting!) and that you got some quality time with Asher. Halloween is such a fun time of year!
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I’m glad he had such a great trip and that you carved out some fun on the home front, too.
We haven’t carved a pumpkin yet, either. Not much time left – oops! But we learned the hard way that preparing them too early = rot, which is not very festive.
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what a fun trip with his friends. i think as they get older, they’ll start to enjoy more time with friends than with families. it will be sad for us parents but that’s part of process of growing up. family despite being pushed aside, it will forever be their anchor, shore that they can come back for rest. that’s what I’m telling myself. hahhah..
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I’m so glad Ethan’s trip went so well! They packed a lot in! I have seen a lot of what he did. Mount Vernon is really cool to see. I am lucky to have a friend who lives in the DC area so she played tour guide to me a couple of times.
Your outing w/ Asher sounds awesome! I am really enjoying one-on-one time with Paul. We’ve done a handful of things recently and it’s really nice to just focus on one kid – and he’s at a fun, easier stage of parenting for the most part.
I would be a HARD PASS on the haunted forest, though. NO THANK YOU! I am easily spooked and have awful memories of going to haunted houses when I was younger. I find them just terrorizing. Oddly Paul came home on Friday and said he wanted to go to a haunted house. He must have heard about them at school. He is a very sensitive little guy so I assured him it was not something he’d want to do but someday when he is older maybe he could go to one with Phil. No freaking way I would go! I hate scary stuff! I don’t even like scary movies!! I wonder where Paul gets his sensitive nature from. 😉
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It sounds like Ethan had a really great trip – and how sweet that he thought of buying you a gift. That’s so thoughtful.
I also love that you got some one-on-one time with Asher. I think I mentioned before that growing up as a twin, we always did EVERYTHING together, so I don’t have memories of ever doing stuff alone with my mom or my dad as a kid. I think those memories will be very special.
Did you go to the Haunted Forest? I probably would have chickened out LOL
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