See ya, America

I have a million pics from our trip back home, but camera batteries are dead, the USB cord is missing, and we are exhausted, so I'll put them up later.  We spent every moment we could with our loved ones and had a blast. I'll particularly miss how my mom folds my underwear. Jack turned fifteen the other day and in the past few weeks has learned to drive a car, ride a dirtbike, and shoot skeet with a shotgun with his manly cousins. The kids have swum, kayaked, gone tubing, boating, hiking, seen their last American movie without subtitles for a long time (Harry Potter, of course), and been on four airplanes. They are great little travellers with nary a complaint, even as we sat on the tarmac at National Airport last night from 10:00 to 11:00pm, waiting for a gate to open up.  We are desperately missing our pooch, and it's hard not to go visit him at his fancy dog hotel, but I only think it would be harder on him, so we'll see him in Brazil in a few days.

Our plan was to spend one last day in the museums of DC today, but by unanimous decision we instead are spending it ordering room service, swimming, wearing our pjs, and watching $18 movies. Jack is spending the afternoon with his posse from school in Vienna. So, I bid thee farewell until we  have our internet hooked up in Brasilia, when I'm sure I'll have tales of our misadventures with the Portuguese language, as I've decided to do a crash course as we land in South America, increasing my knowledge of four words to six.  Maybe seven.

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