We made it!! (with pics)

Yes, we did make it to DC!!! Our last day of driving took us through Pennsylvania where we stopped at a sweet little animal farm and let the kids have a pony ride. It was our first real experience with the HEAT and now I know we're really far from home, "everybody talks funny"!! JJ enjoyed his new job as "toll payer" and the kids all played imaginary baseball in their seats the whole ride. Pennsylvania is a beautiful state with all the trees, for some reason I was surprised to see such beautiful greenery outside of Washington! Silly, me! The animal farm was a blast, especially the Yak with the tongue!!

We're here now and its already been a week... when we arrived the first thing we had to achieve was getting lost in DC... Georgetown to be exact... we figured we better prove all those people right that say "it really is easier to take the metro!" but we arrived, to find our home had been switched to a nice, floor level, two bedroom, private bath WITH A KITCHEN!! We are so cozy on the second day the kids were already saying "it feels just like home!"

So the first week went by in a flash... the boys hopping into kids camp, where they are getting a great multiculture experience as well as the whole bilingual thing. Jo came back the first day saying someone threw dirt in his face... I said, "oh, why did they do that?" he said "I don't know!! He was signing way too fast!!" so (tongue in cheek) I am trusting that the dynamics there will certainly improve. I taught him some survival signs (I think he never saw them as so necessary, til now) and the second day he came back saying he learned this sign: (two four hands touching) it means LINE UP!! He was so proud of himself (and me too.)

For Cheryl, its been a huge adjustment to being a student again... reading, reading, reading... all while trying to get rid of the 5,000 kinks in my neck from the drive over. I know I'm getting old when my body has a three day delayed reaction, and five day recovery time. But its Friday now and I'm feeling fine :) Greg has been amazing, taking the kids around DC, making lunches, doing laundry. Definately gets the supportive hubby award!! They had a fun visit with RJ and Sergei and have been to the air and space museum, natural history museum, a "planes fly right over you" park in Virginia, and swimming almost every day. The kids most favorite thing is hopping across the stone design in the "blue water" right outside of our dorm... (JJ has been across 64 times, he says) AND we all love getting to eat dinner at the cafeteria every night. We budget my meal plan to just to dinner together as a family, and they have enough options to please the whole fam, with unlimited cereal and icecream for dessert. Who could complain??!!

Besides studying I've been able to make some amazing contacts... I met with Maya Yamada, a former Gallaudet Dance Company dancer and choreographer... and WHOA!! She is eager to bring her dance company (of hearing and deaf dancers) to Madrona for Deaf Awareness week and also to do some workshops for all who are interested. She loaned me their DVD of "50 years of dance" and it is very inspiring... for those of us who dream of the chorus, the dance team, all that... I think we have found us a mentor. I'm excited!

so today is friday and I'm off to turn in my official first assignment. I'm still having internet access issues (grrr) so I am slow in uploading pics, but hopefully it will be resolved by the time we get back from NEW YORK!! Thanks to everyone who checks in on us and sends us your goodwill, it really does make a difference! I carry home in my heart. -Cheryl