Roanoke, VA to Silver Spring, MD

Driving north toward Washington, DC, I was kicking myself for leaving Roanoke so late.  We were heading to Silver Spring, Maryland where Liam's godparents, Amber and Vivek, live.  Shopping had cut into the sliver of time we had with them.  I had promised my mother we'd be in Westerly, Rhode Island by Wednesday evening, over seven hours from Silver Spring.  By my calculations, that left us with time for dinner, an overnight, and an early morning start for the sprint to the finish line in Westerly.  I called Amber to tell her we'd be late, and my friend Jenny to tell her we wouldn't be able to see her at all.

It's very difficult to keep up with the way people keep re-naming the day every time the sun sets and rises.  Eric said something to the kids about it being being Monday.  Which was odd.  I'm the one who usually confuses these things.  I gently let him know that it was Tuesday.  He gently let me know it wasn't.

It came to me in a flash that yesterday was Sunday.  And that people usually put Monday after Sunday and before Wednesday and Tuesday.  Which meant two things: Eric was right (the universe re-aligned itself). It also meant we had an extra day.  It was like daylight savings time on steroids.

So instead of having us overnight, the Chopra-Khans found that a family of four (plus a dog that Amber is allergic to and Jonah is afraid of) had moved into the guest suite.  My mother would have been mortified (right, Mom?).  We spent our time with Vivek and Amber the way we usually do: eating and talking to the wee hours.  Amber's chicken and basmati rice, chocolate chip pancakes, amazing Elaiki tea.    

The next day we took Liam and Kai and Jonah to the Natural History museum.  At the entrance there's an Easter Island statue which anthropologists think served the function of watching over and protect the community.  Here are the three of them protecting their community:

We finally saw some wildlife:

I finally saw a mountain goat.  Or whatever this is:

We took the elephant very seriously:

 We had dinner Tuesday night at Kabob N Karahi (I ate the lamb chops until I couldn't stand the heat).  I was a little late getting a shot of our repast:

There was another family with kids the same age as Kai and Jonah.  One carried an electronic friend-attractor.  

If Kai's parents loved him more, they'd buy him one.

Here are the godbrothers, Noah and Liam, with Amber the Godmother:

 -Juliet