dc4free#5:turtle park

this is renee's first week @ work (hooray! we have income, thanks to my lovely wife and no thanks to me!!), thus it's my first week as the manny. apparently it also coincided w/ washington, dc's closest approach to the surface of the sun in the city's history, judging from our weather here of late. anyway, you take me, add 2 kids in an apt. w/ as many bedrooms, mix in some 100 degree temperatures, and you've got a van-load of mississippi hicks cruisin' the nation's capitol looking for publicly accessible water.

enter: "turtle park." or, to put it another way, god's greatest innovation in family entertainment (for the frugally minded father) since, oh, i don't know, pick-up-sticks. this place was just great. only about a 20 minute drive from our place, it's a small georgetown park that is widely reported to be crowded all the time, but yesterday it was practically empty. the best part was the little fountain thing the kids are allowed to play in. ellie's so used to me trying to explain to her why it's not as fun as it looks to play in the toxic, slime-encrusted fountains around mcpherson square that she literally jumped up and down when she learned she was, indeed, expected -- yea, positively encouraged -- to play in the water @ turtle park. hey, i know it's not exactly a trip to sea world, but it's close to home, it's free, and it's a real delight to see your kids get such a kick out of something so simple. reminds me of going for a dip in the "branch" (or the quarry or whatever in hell it was) when i was growing up in mississippi. so the long and short of it: they had a great time, and so did i.

turtle park: 3 thumbs up.

(check out a little youtube clip of it)