Aquariums are fun and tiring...

Transition from Baltimore to Washington today, beginning with our last few hours with Deepti and Uwe, before the kids and I went to the National Aquarium. Mary Kathryn loves aquariums. We walked through this amazingly well-designed, and fascinatingly diverse facility. I would have to say that for me the jellies were my favorite. But by the end we were all exhausted... Drew was hungry and dragging and MK and I were about to collapse from our dead phone batteries, hungry stomachs and worrying over poor Drew. But we got food, got in the car and made the "quick" jump down to Washington.

The first picture is from this really cool jellyfish. It was translucent (of course) but had these very cool LED-like lines running through it like veins. After all the other things we saw, to end with this delicate little creature was the right way to go home from the aquarium.

Once in Washington, and in the hotel, we all took a little break from each other -- the kids watching their respective TVs in our little suite and me taking a shower and a nap. The perfect boost before going to dinner. We are staying at the Capital Hilton, and I always like walking through the lobby. Always liked the bar here and the feel of this facility. Lots of good memories of health underwriters meetings, friends and otherwise, and I get a little smile just thinking about it.

After dinner we walked the two blocks to the north side of the White House so that I could take some pictures and we would get some get some exercise. The White House was as beautiful as it always is at night. The President and the First Family are at Camp David this weekend (according to the paper) and so there was some security, but that didn't reduce the crowd. Tourists were everywhere, and the Secret Service was keeping people on the sidewalk, and photographers from using their tripods on the sidewalks. I think I only embarrassed the kids once tonight (which might be a new record), but I did enjoy our walk all the way around the White House and back to the hotel. Great questions, intense listening and complete exhaustion when we returned back here. I'm not sure we've spoken 20 words between us since, but that's not because of anything other than we are all able to get our space while all are within juts 20 feet of one another. It's nice to have that peace and comfort between us.

My favorite statement of the day was from listening to Drew and Deepti talk about their respective sleep experiences last night. Deepti has been suffering from a bit of insomnia, and so as we were discussing that at the breakfast table, each were sharing their dreams. Then Drew popped up with this observation: "I prefer a nightmare to a good dream because if you are having a good dream, you wake up from it and you're sad it's over."

It was the kind of insight that when I heard it, I was simply amazed. I suppose at this stage I should not be surprised by anything that either of them might say, but there is something to be said about the lack of fear of nightmares, and the real value to see the emotional depth it takes to appreciate that difference between false scary and good.