Tully Travels to Washington DC - Day 4...

Tully was basically a cheap entertainment on this trip.  On Thursday, September 22, 2011, it was so nice that he woke up and was feeling better!  We had our usual play time in the morning...

I love seeing those smiles!

It was fun to watch him play in the floor all by himself.  I had pillows around the mat because sometimes he does still fall over while sitting.  But he had laid down and began playing with the pillow.

I watched him pull the pillow over his head...

When I began to talk to him and ask him what he was doing?

He peeked around the pillow with that "who me?" look!

...and then just gave that "melt your heart" big ole grin!

After our relaxed morning and just before lunch, Tully and I boarded the Metro Train ourselves and went to Mommy's office to meet her co-workers and committee members.  This was Tully's first ride on the Metro.  Mommy works at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and they have a policy of no pictures inside or outside of the Federal Building.  We checked through the security point and was able to spend a couple hours with Mommy during her lunch break from the conference.  This was the first time co-workers and committee members got to see Tully in person.  We made the rounds and he was happy to see everyone.

We returned to the hotel that afternoon and Tully took a good nap,  So today we have pictures of Tully's adventure in the metro station while we were waiting on Mommy to get off work.  There was a lot of zipping and zooming going on there every day and one of his enjoyments was to watch the big buses go by.  You could board the Metro Train or the buses at this same location.

This particular bus was headed to Rockville and that is where Mommy's office is.
She does not ride the bus, but rather rides the underground metro train to and from her office.

Tully really didn't care where the buses were headed as long as they "Roared" by him!

He would watch one bus after the other during the busy evening schedule.

Some people ride the train to this location and then get on a bus.
Transportation in the DC area is certainly different from home.

Not sure that Tully could see this guy waving to him from the bus,
everyone seemed more friendly in the Metro Station than usual...
but the truth is, it was all about Tully!

This is the tunnel that Grammy and Tully would travel through to get underground to meet Mommy each day.  We could not take the stroller on the escalator, so we managed to find the necessary elevators.  We came to meet Mommy I think every day but one.  Tully was always so excited and he would sing and talk to everyone... and I'm sure it was to some who didn't really want to talk, but they couldn't resist responding to him.

Waiting for Mommy!

His enthusiasm was over the top some days, I had to keep peeking around the stroller to make sure he was happy because he was so vocal.  We moved around the area watching people, the buses and the fountain to keep his attention from one thing to the next.  But one evening we sat off to the side at the top of the escalator for a long time.  This was where Mommy would be coming up and it seemed that  he had turned into the official greeter for everyone who was exiting the station.  One gentleman stopped to talk to him every day and said he has looked forward to Tully being there and that it was great way to end his day of work!  I would not necessarily recognize the same people coming up day after day, but they certainly knew Tully!  Many would stop and talk to him and comment how happy he was!  He would get even more excited when they talked to him, it made for a fun time for us both!

He waved his arms and kicked his feet a big part of the time!
It was so fun to watch little things be so exciting for him.

After a few days of our daily ritual of meeting Mommy after work, Tully had made a new friend.  Tully is pictured below with Ms. Virginia.  She is a homeless lady whom we found sitting in this exact same spot every day-- right at the end of the tunnel.  She always said hi to Tully and each day would ask a new question.  After the fourth day, I asked if I could take her picture.  She was pleased to allow that.  

I asume she pushed her baby stroller every day where ever she went.  It was interesting though because Ashley said back when she lived in DC in 2005 that Virginia sat in this very same spot every day, but that she used to have a grocery cart.  I told Virginia that she looked pretty in her peach velour hat :-D  She was so proud of it and she was such a sweet lady.

Tully was not sure what to think and looked at Ms. Virginia quite intently.
He had not ever been that close to her during our conversations,
but seemed to listen to every word she said.  He probably wanted that hat!

Only once did we see this man sleeping in the tunnel, and
right after we walked by the Police woke him and asked him to move.

Being in Washington DC can sure make a person feel blessed to have a roof over their head and food on their table every day.  We really did not see a lot of homeless people in this area, but obviously they are there.

This is Tully all excited when he finally saw Mommy coming up the escalator!  I usually ended up with Mommy's briefcase in the stroller on the way back to the hotel and she was quite content carrying Tully and stealing hugs and kisses from her sweet boy!

He really is a sweet boy!

Only 2 days left on our trip, to be continued...

Related blogs on Tully's Travels to DC:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 5
Last Day