"Hobaba's House"

It's been awhile since I last posted.  

Last week was our spring break so we flew out to our nations capital for a week.  Even before Noah came to the United States he was fascinated by Barak Obama.  He knew Obama's face and everytime he would see news of him (on Aljazzera TV while staying at the guest house) he would jump up and excitedly cheer... "Go Hobaba".  On the night Obama was elected president Noah watch with great excitement...the Ethiopian/African passion had carried over from the streets of Addis Ababa to our family room.  He did not want to go to bed and although he didn't understand a word of Obama's acceptance speech he refused to go to bed until Obama spoke his last word. 

On the evening of November 5th (day after the election) when we were settling down to watch tv as a family he asked if we could watch the "Hobaba Show" again.  He thought the pomp and pageantry of the night prior was an everyday occasion in America. : >)  It was then we thought we should think about a trip to DC.  All of our kids are at the age where this would be an exciting and educational trip.  I have to say...it truly was a fun, tiring , educational, unforgettable week. 

The weeks prior to our leaving we prepped Noah with what was ahead.  We said we were going to see "Hobaba's House" far far away.  We said we would stay in a place where he could swim in a swimming pool.  Somewhere along the way he fused those two together so he was telling everyone that he was going to swim at "Hobaba's House".  We figured we'd just cross his disappointment of that not being a reality when we got to DC.  Fortunately our president was on his way out the door to Europe so we just had to tell Noah "Hobaba" wasn't home.  He accepted it with a shrug and said, "Next time."  

So we did DC last week.  We walked many miles every day.  Saw amazing museums, rode bikes around the tidal basin to the Jefferson Memorial while cherry tree pedals rained down on us, looked Abraham Lincoln in the eyes at his memorial, honored my dad at the Korean War Memorial, became experts on the Metro system, watched a Panda eat bamboo, had a snack on the Capitol steps, climbed a tree by the Washington Monument, road tripped to Gettysburg, had dinner at the Hard Rock cafe, saw Hobaba's House.   

This was Noah's first family vacation and what a vacation it was!  Not sure how we can top this.