New and old friends

I met these guys shortly after arriving in DC. They seemed friendly but a little stressed.

And these are my hosts and guides. They have a beautiful apartment with an amazing view of the Washington Monument in the Adams Morgan area. We've been walking a lot through the trees and museums and cupcake shops and cafes. We are in the midst of conducting an unscientific ranking of cupcakes and have a few more species to capture and catalog. But I can say already that the Baked and Wired latte is the best I've had since San Francisco.

We've visited the Portrait Gallery which has great exhibits including a collection of genre mixing hip hop portraits complete with family crests and an inner courtyard that had a Hogwarts like ceiling that reflects the current weather. And had amazing Peking duck (better than any duck I had when I lived in Peking) with other old friends whom I'm not sure I can name because they work for the government:

But the most amazing thing about being here is all of the things I've almost forgotten about life without little children. We use multiple pieces of breakable dishes and can leave them on the table. We can walk more than a block without one of us asking to be carried. We can wander through museums without anyone shrieking to see how well the echo carries or jumping off the couches or pretending to shoot the exhibits. We can linger in cafes and restaurants and have actual conversations. We can shop. I'm soaking it all up with the fall air.