Scenes from Inauguration Day:

"I'm staying on the train FOREVER"

"Can I have a flag?"

"You HAVE TO wear your coat."

"But I want a flag!!!!"

"No, we're not going that w---No, we don't bother the policemen!  Come here!"

"Hey Nineteen, it's 'Retha Franklin"

"Mom, is she playing Rock Band?"

"Mom, it's Rock Obama!"

"Watch me Mommy!!!"

"Here, just sit down and watch Hulu, I'm tired of holding you."

"Can I watch Wall-E Mom PPPLLLLLEEEEEAAASSE??!?"

You can watch Wall-E at home for the 5,376th time, but there's only one chance to get on an SRO metro train, spend hours shoving our way through the crowd in the cold, and be there for history (the nice kind of history making, without blood or death).

Because of where we work, we had the opportunity to be a block from the Mall and inside…we watched the Inauguration on TV, like pretty much everyone else, but on TV from where it was happening.  There was such a palpable vibe of EVENT that I ended up [...]More

Ok, points go to my dear friend Charlotte (and her ultra-adorable son) for finding the Playmobile Security Checkpoint and passing it along. 

DO READ THE COMMENTS. 

Yes, I am torn between finding this funny and not funny.  The comments, though?  Read.

That is all.


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Things to remember for next year:

1. Shop for gifts at my destination.  I live in Tennessee, which has an 8% (or more) sales tax, but went to Pennsylvania which has a 6% sales tax.  Better yet, we didn't have to haul gifts.  Sure, it made for a little more stress, but weigh that against packing your kid's toys, sleeping arrangements, clothes, and other stuff with you plus gifts that can't get smooshed.  If you're flying (we weren't), you can't wrap until you get there anyway.
   
   
2. Stay in one place the whole time, and only make day visits to family and friends.  We haven't sold our house in PA yet, so we stayed there.  We have also stayed in hotels while visiting family, which perplexes them more than offends.  We can let my daughter run free in an empty house, turn the heat up as high as we want (my mother turns the heat up to 65 for guests….), and put my daughter to bed at night in the

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