I've been underway for the past couple weeks out carving our way around the Eastern Seaboard helping new pilots get qualified to land their fancy aircraft on 4 1/2 acres of U.S. sovereign territory known as an aircraft carrier. This will be the primary tasking for USS GEORGE WASHINGTON for the remainder of this year as we go in and out for a few weeks at a time. All pilots learning to land on the carrier (flying T-34 Goshawks) or trying to qualify on the F-18E/F Super Hornets, C-2A Greyhounds, or E-2C Hawkeyes spend time practicing on our deck while we go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth...
Anyway, we got back Monday night late after about 13 days out of port. I worked on Tuesday and then headed up to Washington, D.C. that evening to attend an Integrated Project Team Development conference for the team who will be working GEORGE WASHINGTON's Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH) starting in Summer 2017. It's a good event to meet other people and get to know them better, but the topics presented can be pretty dry. It wasn't too bad this time, and I was able to catch up with a couple colleagues that I haven't seen for a while. We also got to hear from a few of the admirals in my community.
Amy and I decided that we'd take advantage of the forcing function of having me up in D.C. so she and the kids rode the Amtrak train from Norfolk to D.C. on Friday. They had to get up "wicked early" as they would say in Boston to get on the train and arrived at the Pentagon City Mall around 11:00 a.m. after switching to the Metro in the city.
On Friday afternoon, we went over to the National Museum of Natural History (one of the Smithsonian museums). RJ and Ryleigh complained all the way from the parking garage into the museum but were instantly enthralled once we walked into the museum and started looking around. They especially liked the animals. We watched a National Park IMAX film and also played in a kids' room filled with science stuff. Unfortunately, we didn't have many pictures of them in the museum, but here are a few.
After the smashing success of the museum, we went to the hotel and the pool--the most important part of any hotel according to our kids -- for the night. On Saturday morning, we found an indoor play place to burn some energy. The kids had some fun climbing and rolling around (below). The place also had a great digital mat where the kids could play games.
Next, we went to the Air and Space Museum Annex located near Dulles Airport. Despite the complaining by the kids about how "boring" some of the planes were, we had a good time looking at the aircraft and spacecraft. Space Shuttle Discovery is now located in the facility (it wasn't there the last time I visited the museum) so it was great to see such a historical vehicle. The kiddos also enjoyed some tables with robots (for RJ) and experiments where you could test your reaction times to dropping a yard stick through your fingers (for Ryleigh--see her written results below).
We found an outdoor playground to help burn some more energy and then went back to the hotel for another round in the pool. Today, we got up and chilled for a while before heading over to a restaurant to meet some old friends from Amy's days at The George Washington University. We had a nice lunch and then headed out on a long drive back home.
Well, we're back home now and ready for school tomorrow. The kids are asleep and I'm ready to crash myself. Have a great week, and we'll see you again next week with more of our adventures!
-Jip
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