The Reindeer Is in the Fir Tree

Here’s a quick update before I explain the title of this post.

I am still having contractions if I stand up or walk around for more than about five minutes, so I try to spend a lot of time sitting down.  I’m finding this surprisingly difficult, as I guess I don’t spend a whole lot of my day sitting down.  But I’m doing it.

Tonight, Charlotte and Jeff will attend the Daddy Daughter Princess Ball.  Charlotte picked out a lovely dress last Friday, which is in itself rather stunning, since she doesn’t like “girly” things, as a rule.  But this dress suits her, and she thought that an evening out with her dad, dressed to nines, complete with dinner and dancing, sounded like fun, so off they’ll go!  I picked up her corsage this morning and am looking forward to having some cute photos to post soon!

I am planning to attend a Ladies’ Night Out at church with a friend, while our sons are at her house with a babysitter.  (Her husband and daughter are also attending the Ball.)  I suppose I’ll stake out a chair and sit down for the evening.

Anyway, back to DC…

After Thad’s graduation, we (meaning Zech, Alyse, and the four of us) grabbed a quick bite to eat at a nearby Potbelly Sandwich Shop.  This was a fun experience; it’s one of those places where you shout out your order from pretty far back in the line, tell what you want added farther up, and pay before you sit down.  It was a fairly quick and inexpensive way to have a decent lunch.  Afterwards, we caught the Metro to the stop closest to the International Spy Museum and proceeded to visit one of the most entertaining places in Washington DC.

I had mentioned to my brother Thad that we were planning to go there, and he told me, “Hey, I think I heard on the radio they’re running a special right now.  If you tell the person at the ticket counter, ‘The reindeer is in the fir tree,’ I think they’ll give you a discount on your ticket.”

Of course.  Secret code.  Spy museum.  Makes perfect sense!

Of course, being the people that we are, Jeff and I tried to research this before we went.  I guess we didn’t want to feel foolish in front of someone we’d never before met and whom we would never see again.  But we never found a concrete answer as to if this would really get us a discount.

Nevertheless, we hopped in the ticket line, and, when it was our turn, Jeff inquired, “Are the reindeer still in the fir tree?”  The lady behind the counter flashed us a quick grin and replied, “Yes, they are!” and proceeded to give us a 25 percent discount off our admission.  (On an $18 per adult ticket, this was quite a bit of savings!)  Since it worked for us, Zech and Alyse asked, too, and were also given a discount.

Very cool!

I took no photos in this museum, but I think that this was in our top three for this trip.  The International Spy Museum tells the history of espionage from ancient to modern times.  It is chock full of spy equipment, straight out of James Bond, fascinating short films about how spies perform surveillance and gather information, and small rooms dedicated to quirky subjects, such as poisons and passenger pigeons.  There were headphones where we could listen to other museum-goers conversations, because bugs were planted nearby, and an air vent to crawl through.  There was a tricked-out Aston Martin, a la James Bond, that Elijah could have watched all day.  The kids were over the moon in this place, but the adults were equally fascinated.

One of the neatest aspects of this museum is that every person could pick a “spy” identity before entering the museum proper.  We had to memorize our personal information and our mission and then check in periodically at kiosks for new information and to answer questions about how well we were performing our missions.  Since the museum wasn’t overly crowded, we were all able to do this pretty easily.

There were also exhibits of spies in movies and famous 20th century spies, like Robert Hanssen, how much damage they caused and how they were finally caught.

It was absolutely fascinating, a terrific way to spend a few hours.

By this time, we all were pretty beat, especially the two pregnant ladies, so Zech and Alyse headed back to their hotel.  Our family stopped back the White House Visitors’ Center, as the gift shop was open, to buy a couple of books that we had not managed to find elsewhere.  (Come to find out, it’s because they are published by the White House Historical Association.)

Then, we headed back over to Zech and Alyse’s hotel, where we met up with Thad and my dad for supper.  We used Jeff’s handy-dandy iPhone to find a nearby restaurant and ended up eating at the fantastic Thai Kitchen, right across the street.  It was another night of great food, great conversation, and great times with family.  As we are uncertain when we will next see Thad, we particularly enjoyed our time with him!  And we all got great entertainment in watching Elijah try some of Uncle Thad’s super spicy rice!

Afterwards, Thad drove us back to our hotel (very nice, much better than riding the Metro again), where we fell into bed exhausted.  Wednesday would be our last day in Washington DC, and we had our White House tour scheduled…yippee!