Is it really Monday?The weekend felt endless as we were constantly on the go. The car loading on Friday went far better than I had anticipated, even if it unexpectedly started to rain as we picked up the rental. The Siena is a terrific minivan, comfortable and a great ride – highly recommended.To our collective delight, we fit in more than we expected so Kate got everything she needed plus a bookcase. We then feasted on a rib dinner Robbie prepared and then we crashed for a bit. By bedtime, we were still cleaning through odds and ends in her room and I had to drag Deb to our room.At 5:55 the following morning, Kate comes knocking wondering if we were still leaving in five minutes. Yep, the adults overslept the alarm, which I clearly forgot to set. We left the house only thirty minutes late which wasn’t too bad. The two car caravan to Washington encountered little traffic and we arrived in D.C. about 12:20 p.m. Kate’s pals Ben and Taylor were awaiting us so the unloaded could promptly begin. Fortunately, the apartment building has a garage so we could get off the street and park, unloading in one shot. Thanks to all hands, we were totally unloaded in under an hour.The apartment, which she shares with a friend, Disha, is a nice one- bedroom with good space. Its only serious downside is the tiny kitchen and lack of counter space. Her stuff was fitting just fine, which bode well. As we moved things, Kate heard a frightening sound. Robbie had hidden her recently uncovered Furbie somewhere in with the clothes and books and it woke up. We refused to let her find it and send it back to Connecticut.We took the hired help to lunch and then freed them from servitude. While Deb fussed in the apartment, Kate, Robbie and I headed into Georgetown to pick up a bed Kate was buying from someone off Craig’s List. That went without a hitch and we were soon back at the apartment. Kate didn’t want to face unpacking so we took advantage of the break to check into our hotel then strolled through part of Georgetown. The weather was warm and comfortable, the sun shining and all was right with the world. Except that I was out of gas. I sort of slept walked through our break.We met up again with Ben and Taylor for dinner which was at Berttucci’s. On the first trip to D.C., three years ago (already?) we had our move-in dinner there. Some things really do come full circle. After dinner, we went back to the apartment where Robbie surprised Kate with a pan of brownies, topped with a white chocolate mousse – he had gotten the recipe from our friends Chuck and Rebecca and had been planning this for a week. It was pretty delicious and she was touched.Kate chose to crash with us at the hotel rather than deal with unpacking or even making the bed, which was fine by us. And an early crash it was.On Sunday, once we got everyone up and dressed, it was back to Georgetown for breakfast then somewhere past Chevy Chase to collect a recliner. The $20 chair was in pretty good shape and a bargain. It fit nicely in the back of the minivan with Robbie seated on it. He used two seatbelts tied in a knot to secure himself then decided it was his captain’s chair with me playing helmsman, Deb playing navigator and Kate relegated to first officer. He was delighted.Our final stop was at Safeway to load her up with groceries. Let’s just say she won’t need to do much food shopping over the next 3-4 weeks and we saved her a ton of money by stocking up with everything she needed. Rob pointed out the racks carried copies of the final issue of Weekly World News which gave me pause.With everything back in the apartment, it was time to go. Kate first locked the doors and stood in front of it, demanding we leave with the Furbie. Instead, we gave her a clue as to its location, kissed her, hugged her and left.The ride home was horrible. Our record for worst trip from D.C. to Fairfield was about eight hours and this beat that by about 20 minutes. We crawled through Maryland then through much of New Jersey and it was nothing but volume. The constant rain did not really factor in to the equation, it was just too damn many cars and I was heard to be muttering about decreasing the surplus population. We got home around 8:15 and pretty much just crashed.Today, the rain has caught up to us so it’s a dreary day, a little emptier without Kate around. We’ll be moving her furniture whenever Robbie is awake and ready. Deb is out looking for fabric to make window treatments and the conversion from daughter’ bedroom to home office is about to begin.