The best kind of homework

As an AP Government teacher, it has been a real treat to spend a couple of days as a tourist in the Washington, DC area.

We took a "Monuments by Moonlight" tour of DC on Sunday night.

This picture is through the window of our tour trolley.

This is the Washington Monument from the FDR Monument across the tidal basin.

After Dan's promotion on Monday morning, Carolyn and I visited the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. We even got to sit in the court for a tourist lecture.

It was raining as we walked around the Capitol building.

Today we visited Thomas Jefferson's home of Monticello. Very impressive.

For lunch we ate at Five Guys Hamburger, which is supposed to be the East Coast's version of In-n-Out, complete with red and white ceramic tile. Not!!!!! Can wait to get back to the real thing!

Tomorrow we plan to go visit the home of James Madison, that author of the Constitution. Now this is my kind of homework!

Major Daniel Hayden

On Monday, November 23, we got to attend the promotion ceremony of Dan to the rank of Major in the United States Army. It was a great ceremony. Dan was promoted along with one of his college-ROTC buddies, while a couple of others of his Army ROTC buddies, and most of his family were able to attend. To have it take place in Washington, DC was even an extra plus.

Congratulations, Dan!

Fall in the High Desert

I know it's not the real fall that people get in the North or on the East Coast, but it's what we get here. There's a little bit of color, and a little bit of cool. Our high temps have been in the 60's a lot, though we still get some 70s. Lots of sunshine. We haven't had any rain since the first week of June -- and that was unusual.

So today was spent raking up leaves, cleaning out old flower beds, and general yard work. Soon it will get too cold for that.

This coming week is the last game of our high school football season. Even though we lose, it is fun to go to the games. There's something special about a cool evening in a high school football stadium. So the seasons change here, too.

Soon we will be traveling to Washington DC and North Carolina during Thanksgiving week, then to Colorado between Christmas and New Years. A lot more weather variety coming up, that's for sure!

Daylight Losing Time

So it got dark in the afternoon. Not ready for that!

Last night we got all ready for the Trick or Treaters, but there weren't as many as before. Carolyn's class carved our pumpkin, and even made a scarecrow out of some of our clothes and newspapers.

So we sat them on the porch, and even sat out there ourselves. It was a pleasant evening, and we enjoyed the kids who did show up. Now we have a ton of chocolate left over. Poor us :)


We got a new bed for Coda, so she has one in the kitchen and one outside. She seems to like it a lot, if she would ever stay awake long enough to enjoy it.