A Fun Thunderstorm!

I enjoy my early morning workouts and my children understand this very well. They have matured a great deal in these past two years. I was asked last night by my son if I was getting up early in the morning to workout and I responded, “Yes”. My son then asked if he could join me. I was very surprised because this was the very first time my son had expressed interest in working out with me. I explained to him that I would be getting up quite early but this didn’t seem to faze him. He did emphasize the fact that he needed to be waken up in the morning. I assured him I would wake him up when I got up.

I woke up fairly early and dressed; after I dressed I gently nudged my son who didn’t seem to budge then I gently kissed him and his eyes opened. As his eyes opened he shot up from the bed and went to get dressed with a big smile on his face. This warmed my heart beyond belief as my son moved with ease to get ready for our early morning workout. My son was true to his word and went with me to the small fitness center in the hotel for a workout. The fitness center was indeed small and I introduced my son to a few exercises and amazingly he kept himself occupied as I ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes.

This was an incredible start to our day as we would visit Washington D.C. on our first leg of the cross country trip. I had a workout partner and very willing partner at that!! We have certainly come a long way in the past two years and I thought it was so cool to have my son by my side for a morning workout. I was very surprised he didn’t complain or cause any problems at all during the workout. My son is a very sweet boy and a wonderful workout partner.

This was indeed a magnificent start to the day and we returned to the room to get ready for the very touristy day in Washington D.C. After breakfast at the hotel we made our way to the local subway (named the “Metro” in the greater Washington D.C. area) which I thought would be a better way to travel into the District. It was a much better way and my children were very excited as we boarded the subway. They had been on a train into New York City but never a subway. It was like a ride at Disneyland for my children and their expressions were worth everything.

We arrived at The “Mall” in Washington D.C. to start our “tourist day”. My daughter requested that we stop in Washington D.C. because she is very interested in American History and I did believe this would be more of learning trip then anything else. Our first stop was the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum which seems to always be a big hit. This wasn’t exactly a big hit to my daughter as much as my son. My son seemed to be interested in everything where my daughter was not much interested in anything. She claimed not to like “Science” and really wanted to experience “American History”. My daughter did perk up when we found the “Simulator” rides in the museum and loved going upside down in the flight simulator. I too enjoyed myself as I joined her on the flight simulator.

We had brought our lunch to help defray some costs which we ate on the “Mall”. This was very nice with a great view of the “Capitol Building” and the “Washington Monument”.

We then started our “hike” for the day. We wanted to see the American History Museum (especially my daughter) but unfortunately this was closed due to renovations. My daughter then suggested we make our way over to where the house where President Lincoln was taken after he was shot. We couldn’t see “Ford’s Theater” because that too was under renovation (the entire District seems to be under renovation!!). We did see the little house where President Lincoln was taken after he was shot and we also visited the Museum which houses all the portraits of the presidents. My wife and I enjoyed this exhibit and I think our child did get something out of it as well.

Then we hoofed it over to the Washington Monument where we took some very good photographs. From there we made our way over to the Lincoln Memorial where again we took some very good photographs. As we walked out of the Lincoln Memorial the sky got very grey and it started to rain. We viewed the Vietnam Memorial and as we viewed it the skies opened up with rain. It was a downpour and there wasn’t any place to seek shelter. We were drenched especially my wife and me. The children at least have hats on where my wife and I had no cover whatsoever. Fortunately their was a taxi perfectly located not too far away which we made a mad dash for and entered. We took the taxi to the local Metro station where we caught a subway back to the station we came from.

The rain did not in any way shape or form dampen a wonderful day. In fact I say it enhanced the day because our children got a big kick out of seeing Mom and Dad drenched from head to toe. They were laughing very hard as we rode the subway back to our hotel. This was a wonderful way to end a fantastic day of sightseeing and being with my family. We could have been anywhere and it would have been a wonderful day because we are altogether finally. These are incredible days and our family is magical in every way. I am a very blessed person to have a great family and now we are sharing some very special moments together.