The week off Part 2
More of the same. Downtime with the family during their week off.
Lee wakes before everyone else and heads downstairs and mixes batter to make pancakes for everyone. He starts the coffee and reads the paper. Amanda walks into the kitchen and pours herself a cup of coffee and looks at the batter. She makes a stack of pancakes and sets out plates. She then fries up several pieces of bacon. She grabs a carton of orange juice and pours glasses for everyone. She puts her hand out to Lee to and he hands over the part of the paper he's already read. She takes a bite of her pancakes as Philip and Jamie walk down in their shorts and t-shirts, yawning and rubbing their eyes. They take a few pancakes and slices of bacon from the serving plate and load them onto their plates.
Amanda says, "your father and I talked about this spy museum you want to see and if that's what you want to do today, then okay; but you should know it is nothing like the Bond movies or the Bourne movies or anything like that. The guy does not end up with the girl and usually, there is no girl or guy to end up with. It is either very dangerous or in many cases you see no action at all".
"How do you know about this?", Jamie asks.
"Jamie", Lee explains, "I'm sure there will be classes when you get to high school, but there a lot of things in the news lately about intelligence agents or if you want to glamorize it, 'spies'. A lot of work, for example, people in the CIA does is paperwork, research and code breaking. Many people do not go into the field. Philip, something important happened about the year you were born. Intelligence agents spent two years trying to take down a terrorist. They had analysts and code breakers, all types of operatives. But it wasn't until shortly after Jamie was born, they were able to do something about it. The intelligence officers did a lot of the work, but they were not part of the raid that ultimately eliminated one of the worst threats in over 20 years. That was carried out by a Seal Team and they couldn't do anything until the President of the United States gave the go-ahead. So, all of this was in the news and this is how your mother and I know this spy work you are so excited about is nothing like the movies. Those that do go into the field have dangerous jobs and those who are behind the scenes can be whistleblowers, you know what whistleblower means right?"
Philip answers, "that's when you inform on someone or something else. Like when a company does something bad like making bad medicine and an employee reports them".
Lee responds, "yes, something like that, but whistleblowers can also go to the other side and inform on their own government. There is someone currently hiding out in Russia who was an Intelligence agent who revealed details of classified US government information.
"Wow," says Jamie "that sounds exciting. Can you write down those people's names so we can research it?"
Lee looks to Amanda who nods in agreement. He says, "I'll write down some names and later you can Google to your heart's delight. But a lot of this we found out on the news and out of curiosity, we did our own Google searches. I'm telling you this because you may find out some exciting things at the museum about spy stuff, cameras, etc. But do not glorify the spy stuff based on fictional characters".
Amanda says, "Philip, Jamie, please do the dishes while your father and I get dressed for our so-called exciting spy adventure". She and Lee head upstairs and she asks, "you weren't involved in the Bin Laden thing, were you?"
"No", Lee replies. "At the time I was a junior agent and besides that was mostly the CIA. We didn't know about it ourselves until it hit the news. But we did have a few fingers in the pie with Snowden".
"Hopefully we can dissuade our sons about this spy crap, but it appears we got them excited about history and national news. Maybe they'll become investigative journalists", Amanda says.
"They just have to wait for that profession until after we retire", Lee jokes.
They get dressed and head downstairs. Lee wants to know if they want to hit some balls first or go directly to the museum. Everyone agrees to go to the park first and get some fresh air. Lee throws some ball around and the boys hit them out to Amanda, and she throws them back in. After a couple of hours, they stop by a vendor and get some hot dogs before going to the museum. The boys take notes and pictures, explaining they want to look up everything when they get home.
Once they get home Amanda makes a salad and Lee throws a couple of steaks and burgers on the grill and the boys go to their computers and research the information their dad gave them and the notes they took at the museum.
After dinner, they head to the family room and lets them pick a couple of movies from NetFlix. Amanda says "anything but spy movies. I think we've had our fill for a while. Lee makes some popcorn and Philip picks out 42, the movie about Jackie Robinson and Jamie picks the latest Star Wars Movie. About halfway through the Star Wars movie, Amanda says, "since I've seen this one before, I'm going to bed. Make sure you clean up before going to bed yourselves".
Thirty minutes later Lee heads upstairs too, he says, "If you boys are interested, I can get us seats behind home plate for the Washington National's ball game tomorrow." By the time Lee reaches the bedroom, Amanda is already fast asleep. He puts on a new pair of boxes and a t-shirt and crawls under the covers, kisses her neck and pulls her to him.
Amanda and Lee sleep in and the boys decide to surprise them with breakfast in bed. They bring their mother an English muffin, cream cheese, jam and coffee, and cream. They bring their father coffee and cream, no sugar. Later, everyone gets dressed and packed for the game.
The weather is beautiful, and the Nationals win the ball game. They head home and Amanda makes a light meal since they ate a lot at the game.
Lee asks if the boys finished their homework and if they haven't, to go upstairs and finish it. Lee helps her with the dishes, and they head upstairs to their bedroom. It was a hot day at the game, and they smell like hot dogs, nachos and sweat. The boys will go back to school in the morning, so they take a quick shower together and crawl under the covers and fall asleep.
Lee wakes before Amanda and heads downstairs and makes coffee for himself and makes some eggs for the boys. They come into the kitchen and drop their backpacks on the floor. They inhale their foods since they don't want to be late for the bus, but Lee says, "slow down guys. I'll give you a ride. Did you finish your homework?"
"Yes dad", they answer together. They put the dishes in the washer while Lee grabs Amanda's keys. He writes a quick note telling her he took the boys to school but will be back soon. He takes them to school and drives home.