Barb and Dennis Visit

I realized too that we had special visitors for a couple of weeks mid to end-February and I didn't write much about it. Barb and Dennis (B & D) came out for Leo's birthday. The arrived around the 10th and stayed with use for a week or so and then went down to visit Thotlady and Bogey for almost a week and then they came back up and stayed with us for another week or so.

Five Guys for the Best Burgers and Fries in town

One day over the weekend we ate at Five Guys in Dupont Circle. Our intention was to go to Ben's Chili Bowl because I have lived here for about 10 years (off and on) and I have never gone to the DC landmark. We got there around 2:30pm--which I thought would be a great time as it was after the lunch crowd and before the dinner crowd. To my sad surprise, there was a line of about 20 people out the door so we went to five guys instead.

Leo is not convinced that Five Guys is the best because he ate a PB&J sandwich while we were there. To his credit, we had to order him a hamburger because when we all got our food he was wondering where his burger was. I thought the PB&J was enough but it was not!

One of the other fun things we did while B&D were here was go to Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It is a huge church on the campus of Catholic University that you can see from almost anywhere in the city. We had never been there but have wanted to go for a year or so. It was enormous and beautiful but Jason (not with negative intentions) likened it to Las Vegas. Only because it is and looks so incredibly new compared to similar churches of its stature (i.e. St. Peter's in Rome). It really is a beautiful place with lovely grounds to walk around.

We had a discussion about the difference between a basilica, a cathedral and a church. If you want to know the answers you can check wikianswers at: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_basilica_a_cathedral_an_oratory_and_a_church

If I understand correctly a basilica is an important church building designated by the Pope to have spritual, historical or architectural importance where as a cathederal is the most important designation of a church as it holds the bishop's throne and is considered the central church of the bishop's diocese.

One of the other fun things we did will B&D were here was to go to the Air and Space Museum out at Dulles Airport. The boys had all been there before but I hadn't. It's huge, with lots of airplanes, helicopiters, a space shuttle, the concorde, a XR-71 black bird, enola gay. My favorite was the blackbird, Jason likes the black bird and enola gay, Aidan likes the airplane with the big sharks mouth (sorry I'm not too detailed in the names-I think it is a WWII fighter airplane) and Leo loved the space shuttle. We had lunch at the McDonalds and then shopped at the gift shop. Oma and Opa bought Aidan some glow in the dark stars and planets for his room and Leo got a little pull-back-and-let-go space shuttle.

Aidan with the R2-D2 mailbox

Aidan, Amy, Leo, Barb and Dennis with the WWII Shark Airplane

Opa and Aidan