Fees and things

It's been an interesting week at our house.

I've been intensely busy.  I need to stop that.

I have managed to fit in two runs this week.  I ran 2 miles Monday and 3.3 miles today.  Michael was awesome and invited me to run at the drill hall at the base where he works, so I did it.  I am not as fast as I would like to be by any stretch.  My goal for the 5K I've signed up for in March is to do it in under 30 minutes.  I'm currently training at a 12 minute mile or so, so the math isn't hard to figure out there. 

I did take the kids to Ann Marie Gardens on Monday.  It was SUCH a nice day around here - temperatures were lingering in the sixties.  It rained all morning, but the afternoon was nice.  I figured the playgrounds would be soaking and puddle ridden, so I picked Jonah up from school and the three of us (Jonah, Maeryn, and I) went to the Gardens.

To my dismay they had posted a sign that clearly said admission to the sculpture trail was $3 per person.  In the past this was sort of grey and it seemed to me that admission to the park (the outdoor areas) was free and the $3 charge was for the indoor section: a rotating gallery. 

We did not pay the $3.

I feel sort of guilty, looking back.

I really do want to support what they're doing.  I want them to have money for upkeep, things like that.  It just made me so sad and sort of disgusted that I can't take my kids through the scuplture garden for free.  It's a part of the Smithsonian.  If I took the kids to DC all the other Smithsonians would be free - I guess I'm just not getting it and I'm certainly not digging it.

I won't be going back again with my $3, but I will be paying it begrudgingly when/if I go, I assure you.  I hate that any parks require a charge, to be honest.  I would rather pay higher taxes to those amenities than to have to pay per usage.  Regardless, that was our deal on Monday.

We had a nice time.  The kids played a lot in the puddles and checked out all of the sculptures and it was a very good trip.

I'm cutting this off quickly, the hubby is home and we are in dire need of time together.