We had a long and eventful MLK inauguration weekend! The weekend included 8 house guests, a visit to the mall for inauguration and an inauguration party. Not surprisingly, there was less excitement in the city this time around and fewer events. Unfortunately that was matched with more security measures which resulted in bad traffic, a feeling of being cattle herded, inexplicable barricades, bad detours and friends spending 1.5 hrs in the car to get to our house from adams morgan. My mom, cousin, brother and aunt made it to the mall only to be told entrances had been closed so continued walking until the Washington monument where they proceeded to find a jumbotron that didn't work. such a bummer. On the other hand I had a great seat and view of the ceremony. It was pretty special to be close-up and after the ceremony I wandered up as close as possible to the podium. With all that no one ever checked my ticket - my ticket didn't even leave my coat pocket. Exiting turned out to be more of a hassle than getting in so I snuck past security guards to cut through the Cannon congressional building to get to our street. This would have been a great idea had I known where I was going. Instead I got lost in the underground bowels of congress and spent forever wandering around tunnels. Despite the 1 million people outside I found myself completely alone in the tunnels. Pushing, shoving and standing for so long I was getting quite crampy and was beginning to think maybe this underground hell was going to induce the baby girl. I did eventually make it home....
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| Obama speaking (the little speck on the bottom right!) |
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| the mall by 8am.... |
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| our street corner by friday afternoon... |
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| getting through security |
To make up for the malfunctioning jumbotron we had Obama at 419 1st St! Well at least a life size representation of him.. It was real enough to startle us every time we came downstairs. Charlie and Diego loved to move him around the house which made him even more scary and surprising. At the party he greeted guests as they entered, danced with guests and took group pictures...He was very accommodating....
Charlie, Diego and Grandma blew up about 100 helium balloons to cover the ceiling which was so fun for them. It backfired sort of because then charlie desperately wanted to stay up for "half the party." The balloon carcasses littered the floor the next day, but that was just as much fun for Charlie who, with help from his visiting friend Milo, popped them all with toothpicks....
Other decorations included inauguration coins, luminaries, inauguration trivia and - what is party without inauguration cupcakes?!
The house was not only full of decorations, but also fun guests. My aunt, mom, cousin and brother came down from Philly as did Janine and her son from NY and Neal, who I haven't seen in YEARS came from San Francisco. Thanks to Kathleen my mom and aunt were able to escape the late night dance party and have a quiet place to stay....
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