The feeley's left first thing. We took it easy. Liam was in good spirits and we decided to do some final shopping before heading to Hilton Head to visit with Gina's Cousin and her husband. We left around noon and arrived about 7pm in Hilton Head at the condo. Joanna and Mathew had a very nice hot meal ready for us. On the drive up Liam had relapsed a bit and literally required constant hand holding on the drive by Gina. The condo was RIGHT on the beach, gina and slept with the doors open to the sound of the ocean all night and it was incredibly relaxing. The kids couldnt wait to wake up and go to the beach so they had some trouble falling asleep. We played a few hands of poker and all went to bed.

The final day had come. This was both a relief and bummer at the same time. We woke up and the weather was perfect and we all immediately headed out to the beach. We rented boogey boards and had a great time surfing. Mathew was great helping Lily and Ethan get going on the board. Gina and Mathew and I had a great time surfing ourselves. Lily then got into catching tiny crabs on the beach. She must have gotten over 100 of them. (For, you naturalists, at my insistance, she later safetly redistributed them along the beach and the dunes). After lunch we did a stint in the pool. Even Liam went in but again was overly moody. We all got a bit burned by the sun but overall we had such a great day with Mathew and Joanna. It was the most relaxing day of the trip and I think the kids had the most fun. I guess I know what we are going to do for our next vacation. Infact, so much so, Gina and were discussing the hole ride home how we should get a summer condo on the beach somewhere (dream, dream, dream). Anyhow, we knew we had about a 6-7 hour drive home so we wanted to get on the road by 4 or 5 pm. The drive went fine until just after Orlando. We hit road construction and Liam decided to have a meltdown and cry for an hour for no apparent reason. All was well, we got home around midnight and were all happy to spend the night in our own beds dreaming of future family vacations!

on tues we did a couple scheduled 'VIP' tours of the senate and the us mint. we hung around the hotel in the morning and gina did some shopping and we kinda took it easy. liam seemed to relapse a bit and didn't eat much again so we were getting concerned again. anyhow, we had a nice intern from senator mel martinez office show us around the capital and senate. i took some pics. we even ran into hillary clinton, ted kennedy and john warner. got a couple off the cuff pics, nothing i am proud of. just at the point hillary walked by i took over holding liam for a bit and gina had the camera and didn't get a picture snapped. so i took over the camera work from there on out and gina did the liam holding. he didn't want to walk and the capitol tour involved a lot of back stairways and tunnels. we even got to ride in the famous senate subway. when we went up to sit in the senate gallery to watch the senate in session, our intern said she had other business and had to go. she said we should just walk back outside to the hart senate building. it was pouring and we could not go unescorted so i flagged down another intern (for senator hatch) and he took us back but we lost him half way too. these tunnels and hallways are long and confusing it was a wonder we didn't get lost below the streets of dc.

after the capitol we took cabs to the BEP or us mint. bill and sherri got dropped off on the wrong side and had to walk in the rain completely around this huge building. they were soaked. the kids liked the tours. we saw 5-6 pallets of $100 bills that totalled $340 million dollars in cash!!!

after the tours we took the subway back to the hotel in rush hour and it was quite a trek.

the breaking point had come with liam. he still had not gone#2. it had been 5 days now. he was getting feverish again, listless and just looking bad. i went to the store to get s supository and when i got back we told him what was going to happen. he decided, that he would go to the potty and he did and did and did. he was immediately more ambient and active. he ate and drank better. my guess is that he was making himself ill by holding his fecal matter all this time.

things started off much better. we wanted to do the amphibious tour of dc and the potomac but it was closed by the coast guard. liam started out doing quite well. he even ate and i was getting him to drink water every few minutes. after we got turned away from the dc duck tour we left union station for the org and a tour of lrh founding dc church. jim connelly gave us the tour and it was great. they even had someone to take care of and watch the kids. being in that org took me back over 30 years to when i came to dc in the summer of '73 with my parents. after the tours we came back to the hotel and the kids did their daily swim. after that i took a breather and went across the street and saw a movie. that was the day.

the drive started out quite uneventful. we left on time and were making good progress. about an hour or two into the drive liam threw up, then threw up again and again and gain. we had to throw away his clothes. even ethan's cozy blanket got puked on as well as gina, the car seat and pretty much everything else. he didn't have a fever just a lot of throwing up.

we did about 600 miles the first day and made it to fayetteville, nc. pretty uneventful until about 2am when liam came in our room and threw up on the floor at the foot of our bed.

then again in the morning he threw up another 2 times before breakfast which he didn't eat.

i was getting worried now because he had not gone #2 nor had he eaten. he went #1 but only outside never in bathroom.

we worked it out so the second day we wouldnt have far to go. only about 300 miles of the 1000 mile journey left. thank god liam didnt throw up anymore. he slept most of the way and was running a fever too. the final hour or so of the drive seemed to drag a bit. we hit traffic in dc and the kids were really anxious to get out of the car. we had a nice dinner at maggiano's in the hotel and went for a swim with the kids. lily and nicholaus got into a bit of a games condition but got over it. we all went to bed early for our big day of walkin the next day.

we had such big plans for our first full day...but we knew all rested on liam's situation. when he got up he was in good spirits, moving around, talking, etc., we thought all was well as we made our way via metro to the national mall. after about 30 mins walking around the museum of natural history, liam was fading quickly. by lunch he was wimpering and complaining his legs hurt. he was hot, then cold, then hot, then cold. at this point we were concerned as he still didn't eat. we decide he should see a doctor. being sunday that wasn't going to happen. so to gwu medical center we went. i put liam and gina into a cab and they checked into the emergency room and got settled in. lily, ethan and i did the national mall on foot. we walked the whole thing...washington monument, ww2 memorial, lincoln memorial, vietnam, white house, etc. After walking and walking we decided to walk to the hospital and visit gina and liam who had already been there over 2 hours by now. so we walked another mile to the george washington university hospital. some real pretty sites in there. i took the kids and went back to the hotel and we went for a swim.

it wasn;t until after six pm that liam was seen. after waiting for over 5.5 hours i think he got a bit better just to prevent staying there any longer. the doc said he had a flu and was a bit dehydrated and prescribed nothing after all that! so they cabbed it home and gina didnt want to waste the day so we went out by car at night with the feeley's. we drove downtown and saw georgetown, the mall, the monuments by night. it was nice. no crowds, not parking issues, no traffic and some incredible night sites of the capital.