Playground

Washington DC

Our DC trip was just so, so fun.  We drove off around four on Thursday and made it about 8 hours to Williamsburg, MD.  It was after two when we checked into our hotel, but traveling when the kids are asleep makes it worth it.  They bounced excitedly all over the beds for a while and then eventually fell asleep again.  We hit the road again the next morning and drove the final hour and a half into downtown Washington DC.   (It's kind of crazy that we can drive 9 and a half hours almost straight west and still not change time zones.) We quickly found free parking (which was awesome) and then walked over to the Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, and Tidal Basin. We had lovely weather and it was such a fun day for the kids to play around.  They loved splashing their feet in the fountains and running around the monuments.  I tried to take a picture of Ali splashing her feet in the WWII Memorial Fountain, but the second I took my hand off her shoulder, she sprinted toward the center of the fountain.  I only barely snatched her back without stepping in the fountain myself.  She's a runner and she can't be trusted.  We got a late lunch at Cafe Rio and it was a good as I remembered!  How I miss that sweet pork in my life.

This girl was giving me some serious attitude.

  The drive from DC to Baltimore is only an hour, but the Friday night traffic made it about two hours.  Fortunately, we had decided to head up there early anyway and we made it in before the Orioles game even started.  Camden Yards is a neat ballpark, but we didn't stay as long at this one.  There's an area off the outfield that's like an old street with little shops and vendors.  On the ground, little plaques dot the street where home run balls have landed through the years.  We bought the kids some cotton candy and they devoured it alarmingly fast; faster than they've eaten anything in their lives and faster than I've seen anyone eat cotton candy.  We didn't stay for the whole game.  We never do with the kids there.  They get too restless and tired, but they still get SO excited when we tell them we're going to another baseball game.

The Mitchells drove up and met us the next morning and we took the Metro downtown together.  Jane and Peter loved the train ride and giggled the whole way.  We went to the Air and Space museum first.  It was raining that day, so everyone else had the same idea and it felt so crowded.  It was interesting but our kids were a little wound up and hard to keep under control.

After a break for lunch, Peter fell asleep in the stroller and slept for 3 hours!  He missed the carousel ride and the entire Museum of Natural History.  Alice took a solid nap at that time too and it made the museum so enjoyable.  Jane was really fun.  She was so interested in everything; we couldn't move her through fast enough.  She wanted to see every exhibit and had questions about everything.  I love her thirst for knowledge right now.  My favorite part was seeing the precious gems exhibit with her.  We looked at all the jewels and picked out our favorite ones.  She even found "the jewel that's missing from [her] princess crown," a small pear-shaped purple jewel.  "Can we get it back?" she asked.  

Peter woke up just in time to ride the train back to our hotel.

On day three, we headed into Old Town Alexandria for a late breakfast.  We found a great little bakery and then road the trolley down charming main street.

Jane is such a great help at keeping Alice entertained.  She loves to make her laugh, so having them face each other on the stroller was a win for everyone.  

We had nice weather again, so the Zoo was our next stop.  As much as I hate snakes the reptile house is always my favorite place to take the kids.  They love running from tank to tank trying to spot the animal inside.  It works really well with their short attention span.  Lots of animals in 100 feet.  We also made a point to see Chris' favorite (pandas) and Jane's favorite (zebras).  Peter's favorite was the crocodiles "cause they didn't have any dinosaurs." 

After lunch, we stopped at Meridian Hill park.  It's a gorgeous park with lots of fountains and pools and on Sunday nights for the last 60 years or so, people come together for a drum circle.  We enjoyed the music and flew some little kites that Jessica brought.  There was no wind, but Jane was really good at running and keeping hers up in the air.  She loves to run and with her kite in tow, she was just beaming.  The Mitchells headed home and we decided we had time for one more activity.  Our favorite part of the whole trip had been our first day hanging out around the monuments, so we headed back downtown and visited the Jefferson Memorial.  Blowing bubbles and running around in the lovely evening light was the perfect way to finish off our DC trip.  I really could have used another day.  It was so fun and great to see such good friends.