March 21, 2005 - 9:14 a.m.

Whirlwind Mid-Atlantic Tour

Sorry for the messed up look of my page. Diaryland had some issues in the past few days, and they haven't restored my uploaded images yet.

I had a very busy week and weekend! Monday and Tuesday I didn't have classes, since it was the college's spring break, but the days were consumed with errands for myself and the family. Since we were both going away on Wednesday, there were lots of things to get squared away in those two days, especially since it is Girl Scout cookie time (M is a Brownie) and the Science Fair is rapidly approaching. Then on Wednesday, they took off for Disney World, and I headed out to visit friends in Delaware and Maryland.

I spent the first two days with my friend Barbara, with whom I have been friends since 7th grade. I had a very nice time hanging out with her, her husband, and her very smart 3 year-old. With an active little one around, we didn't get too ambitious as far as activities, but we did do some shopping, and I was introduced to Grotto Pizza, which was very tasty, and The Amazing Race, which was neat but conflicts with House *sigh*. Mostly, though, we just enjoyed each other's company, and I think Barbara enjoyed having someone else around to help keep an eye on and entertain the munchkin. :)

On Friday, I took the train down to DC to visit my old housemate, Scott, and his wife. My ex, Sam, also drove up from Virginia to hang out with us. It was great to see all of them, especially since the post-breakup tension between me and Sam has dissipated, allowing us to be comfortable being friends. I also really enjoyed hearing about and seeing pictures from Annaliis' trip to Moldova to be an election monitor. As always, Scott and I talked some baseball, and we also watched bits of the playoff game videos he's downloaded. The four of us also did a lot of our usual teasing and joking around and spent a fair bit of time watching all the birds at their busy feeder. As an added bonus, the weather was sunny and warm enough that Even I didn't need a jacket for most of the weekend.

Since the weather was so nice and there were baby cheetahs to be seen, we went to the zoo, though Scott wasn't feeling well and stayed home. It was a really nice outing, since many of the animals were quite active. First, we saw the cheetah family.

They mostly just sat there in the sun, occasionally stretching or yawning, until one of the four cubs moved a little too much and tumbled off the mound.

Mama Cheetah made sure he/she was okay and gave a few comforting licks. We also saw a beautiful anteater chasing his meal of crickets around his enclosure,

a sea lion basking belly up in the sun,

and a striking maned wolf.

No, that's not a fox with extra long legs. :) We got great views of the lions

and tiger, too.

So, it was a nice outing. Sadly, yesterday, I had to come back home. The flight back was uneventful, though.

It was nice to see the kids again this morning, and they had much to say about their trip to Disney. The weather down there was pretty rainy, but it sounds like they had a great time anyway. Of course, as always happens after time away from the routines and responsibilities of life at home, there were some issues with the kids this morning, but we got through them without major incident.

It was nice to sleep in my own bed last night, but I miss my friends already, and I am not looking forward to going back to class tomorrow. At least I am about halfway through the semester, so I think I can make it.

Time to go get to work on today's to-do list.

�

flutter back - fly ahead