Day Three - back home

With all of the crazy running around on the first two days, we resolved to make Sunday a much more mellow affair. We Metro'ed over to Erik and Heidi's place, got some coffee, and headed out to Brunch at their friends' place.

There were two other couples there, one 18 month old, and one 30 month old recent adoptee from Russia. These were cute little girls, and they had us missing Bella something fierce.

Jim and Erik disappeared to do some record shopping (an allergy break actually - after two hours my lungs were getting a bit tight from the house dog...), while the ladies stayed at the brunch and went to a playpark for even more kiddy goodness.

In the afternoon we hung out at Erik and Heidi's coop, exchanged MP3 files, reflected on the day, and then off to an early dinner - we had a plane to catch! We wound up in Dupont Circle at a smoky burger joint, but the health risks were well balanced by a DELICIOUS burger and onion rings, paired with a Guiness.

Then off to the airport, where we improbably secured exit row seating on an overbooked flight (thank you E-checkin!), left on time, and arrived on time (maybe the first time this has ever actually happened to me). The only downside was that the Wallace Shawn lookalike in the seat next to Pamela snored loudly the whole flight, jangling Pamela's nerves. A seat switch helped somewhat, but man, the dude was sawing logs, and I mean REDWOODS. An amazing snore on him.

We got home and JeMae filled us in on the whole weekend. Turns out Bella had been somewhat sick for much of the weekend, and Mae was being a super mom and holding her nonstop... and concealing this from us so that we wouldn't worry!

We rushed up to see Bella after seeing Mae off with a bag of salty oat cookies we brought back from DC (soooo delicious), and Bella woke up and decided to let it all out - she cried and cried for 45 minutes - she had been a real trouper all weekend, but it was finally time to let us know that she missed us. After a while Pamela carted her into bed with us, and she curled up and went right to sleep! After another hour, I carted her back to her bed - I can't sleep with TWO snoring girls...

This morning Bella came down to see me and we read the funnies together, shared peanut butter toast, and had some cuddles. It was GREAT to be home.

Many thanks to Erik and Heidi for their amazing hospitality, and to Dad, Karen, JeMae, Randy, and Jenny for their excellent care of our little Bella during our adventure!