Today Was a Great Day (part 1)

Today was a great day. We got to sleep in a little bit (almost to 7 a.m.). We had a wonderful breakfast, our usual baked oatmeal and bacon. Then we played with Jacob for a while until he started showing signs of sleepiness. He took an early nap, which meant we could get chores done and also shower in the morning! What luxury.

I managed to get my spiritual reading done (working through the final part of Theology of the Body, I should be done sometime next week), said my decade of the rosary, put the first coat of paint on the oven panels in the kitchen and made some more progress on income taxes. The only thing missing for me was a nap.

Jacob woke up about 11. We were able to eat an early lunch and then head off to DC to meet up with Leslie, Angie's college roommate and maid of honor. Parking right in front of the Old Post Office Pavilion astounded us. We thought that we'd be wandering forever trying to find parking near the Museum of Natural History. A brisk walk through light rain brought us to Leslie. She was shepherding the last of the children onto the buses to return to their school in Boston. Leslie was to fly later from Reagan National Airport, so she had a couple of hours to spend with us.

We went for lunch to the Old Post Office Pavilion. Leslie and her friend Catherine had lunch; we snacked. One of the pastry places was serving bread pudding, so I couldn't resist that. A jazz quartet played for us while we dined and chatted.

After lunch, we went to the National Gallery of Art to see the Pompey Villa exhibit. Since the rain continued to pelt us, we entered the West Gallery and went through a complicated set of elevators and tunnels to reach the 2nd floor of the East Gallery where the travelling exhibits are usually housed. The exhibit was great. I let Angie go through first while I watched Jacob, who wasn't ready for the slow and measured pace of appreciating a museum exhibit. She went through the first floor and then came back for me. I managed to blitz through the whole exhibit, checking out the pater familias, the dining room frescoes and several wonderful statues. I wish I had more time, though we were lucky to get this opportunity, because the exhibit is closing next week.

We said our goodbyes to Leslie and then headed off to Ikea, which I will talk about in tomorrow's post since midnight is almost here.