Day 3

"Day 3." At this rate, I'll be done with this account in 2013. Ah, well. Housewife and mommy duties have been taking up too much time! While Hamilton is watching Sesame Street (so educational, it barely counts as TV, right?), I thought I'd return to the old vaca recap.

We set the alarm early on this day, so we could get to Mount Vernon when it opened. We arrived along with a bunch of school tour groups, one of which we stood in line behind for about 15 minutes until I finally asked the chaperone, "Is this the ticket line?" "No," came the annoyed, curt reply. Thanks, lady.

I did not mean for the boys to all be in stripes today, but don't they look cute? That building contained the greenhouse and some slave quarters.



This picture is less to show the "Overseer's Quarters" as it is to show why Alex and I didn't get to do much in-depth exploration of the property. There are a lot a of "outbuildings" on the property to house different people, as well as things like the smokehouse. When Hamilton entered said "smokehouse," he said, "What do I smell? I think it's probably poop." Not quite, unless you're a strict, political vegan...then, you might have agreed.




Magnolia trees...


View from the back porch. No wonder George Washington loved it here. I wouldn't have wanted to mess with being President if I could be here and farming instead. It's interesting actually how many of our forefathers were at heart simple farmers.


Waiting in line for the house tour. No pictures allowed inside, but we saw the bed Washington died in. Crazy. The house also had a lot of bedrooms, as Washington was hoping and planning for lots of kids. One of the tour guides theorized that a case of small pox as a teenager made him sterile, and, perhaps, it was a good thing, as he had no reason to promote a "monarchy"-type inheritance system of running the country. He did have stepchildren he took care of and cared for as his own.


Really love this house. Scaffolding kind of mars the picture.


Washington's tomb.


This poor woman was shearing this sheep like in the old days. She was sweating profusely and looked so, so miserable. She was definitely not up to interacting with us in 18th century character. However, we were pleased to find the animals we'd promised the boys.


You can't really see them, but these are lambs only recently weaned. The boys could have stayed watching them forever, especially Beckett.


And back UP the hill to the main property.


Fine, Hamilton, if you won't be in the picture, I will!


The museum had a big room for JUST little kids, which felt like a VIP lounge for us. We had the place to ourselves, and all those annoying field trip kids kept getting turned away. HA! There was a Mt Vernon doll house, pictures to color, colonial games, and colonial dress-up. Alas, only Beckett agreed to dress up. And if you don't think this is the cutest thing ever, something is wrong with you.



We ate lunch at the restaurant at Mount Vernon as the food court smelled of fried...everything and was full of kids. There is also something really nice about people bringing you drinks when you are hot and tired. We took the waitress' advice and tried the famous peanut soup. It was great...just melt down some peanut butter over the stove and add some chicken stock. Throw in a few peanuts. Yum. If it existed, the previous sentences would be in sarcastic font.


After lunch, it was back to the Mall to meet up with the Lowes, our friends that moved back East 9 or so months ago. Hamilton was thrilled to see the girls, and they all enjoyed perusing the gowns of the First Ladies....


The ruby slippers...


Chairs from All in the Family, an old sitcom I watched as a little girl with my dad. What was he thinking? :)


Also seen (but not pictured)...a huge, fabulous dollhouse, Julia Child's kitchen and THE star-spangled banner.


Then it was back outside for monument time! First, though...sunscreen!!


First, the Washington Monument where we stopped to have some water and let the kids be stroller free for a bit.


The White House! When Alex and I walked past this again later, we had this conversation...
Me: "Well, there's the White House."
Alex: "Yeah."
Me: "Do you want to walk down there? It's only a few blocks away."
Alex: "Ummmm..."
Silence as both of us struggled to admit that even a 4-block detour is beyond our capabilities...even if this was THE chance to go see it closer.
Alex: "Well, actually, you probably can't see it much better than this."
Me: "Yeah, yeah, you're right. Totally."

Sidenote: it started pouring rain just as we got to the parking garage. Whew!


Jefferson Memorial. Construction and tired boys made this as close we'd get to it.


En route to the war memorials and the Lincoln Memorial. I'm holding Jenilee's Isaac.


WWII memorial in the distance. I think it's a little much, but Alex says it was an epic war, so the memorial should reflect as much.


Lincoln Memorial. Even with the crowds and crazy kids, it was still amazing and inspiring to see.


After this photo was taken Bryan RAN back from where we'd come to save his car from getting a ticket (no ticket...whew!) and bring it to pick up his family, we then stopped for a snack, walked through the Vietnam Memorial (made more meaningful by all the Vets down to visit for the Memorial Day weekend), and counted the blocks until the parking garage. The boys were both asleep by the time we made it.



My friend Jessica then saved us by getting pizza for the boys and feeding us her super yummy Moraccan chicken. Ahhhh....vegetables! I missed you!

Day 2

We woke up ready to go (well, eventually we were ready to go) enjoy Washington, D.C.'s famous mall, which looks reasonable on a hotel map but, in reality and with humidity and with kids, is quite big. Our host (and friend and former teaching mentor) Jessica led us through forest trails and the metro to have us pop up here...




First stop, Natural History Museum, where in addition to the museum's offerings, I made my own discoveries: "free" museums + hot weather = CROWDED, Beckett would need to get through the day with only 2 spare diapers, and humidity + comfortable, Disneyland-tested shoes = instant blisters. But who cares about all those, when there are giant skeletons! And preserved giant squid (not pictured)!


This is what you're supposed to get for your 10th anniversary, right? 5 more years!


A long walk (made better by some Disney Princess band-aids from Jessica) took us to the American Indian museum. We mostly decided to go here because we heard rave reviews about their food court. It was, indeed, fabulous. There were stations/menus for each tribal region. Yum. And they had Diet Coke, also yum/necessary. The museum itself is a beautiful building with a lot of great exhibits. One day I'll be able to see them for more than a passing glance.



Next: the Botanical Gardens! What else to do on a hot afternoon?


We eventually made it to the children's area where kids could water plants, etc. The brochure promised hoes and shovels, but they were nowhere to be seen. I guess I should be grateful, as Hamilton made a decent mess with just a watering can. Love his shorts in this picture...just like a big kid :) (with the exception of the Yo Gabba Gabba design anyway).


Sometimes I luck into a cute picture of him....


My attempt to take something "artistic" for possible "cheap art" around the house...


Great place to walk through...inside and out.

Fighting over water...my poor, spoiled Southern CA boys...



A little "behind the scenes" photo before Hamilton's and my official one. It took us awhile to wind up to the Capitol because of a big Memorial Day stage that was set up.


Sorry, but I think this building is kind of awesome. Can you spot the serious firepower?


More walking led us to the Supreme Court building. I told Alex to pose here like he owned the place. You can see the guard getting nervous...


Of course, he should have been more worried about this guy...


Just a reminder...it's HOT. We are walking sooo much at this point. We wanted to see some things, but we were also after a place to buy diapers and cheap flip flops (remember my earlier discoveries??)


We stumbled on the Post Office museum, which was perfect for us. There was about 30 minutes left before it closed, hardly anyone was there, it was air conditioned, and had stuff that caught the boys attention...including a stage coach! On the other hand, it ended my fairytale view of the Pony Express.

By the end of our visit, all the guards knew Hamilton's name. They were super, super nice, especially considering that they knew his name because of us yelling things like, "No! Hamilton! Don't climb that!" and "Don't get on that escalator!"





After I got some cheap flip flops, we headed to Good Stuff Eatery for Top Chef Spike's burgers, fries, and milkshakes. Alex and I split a Prez Obama and a Spike Sunnyside, along with toasted marshmallow milkshakes. So, so yummy. Beckett slept through most of the meal. Don't worry, we saved him some shake.




We were all tuckered out and a little nervous about getting back without Jessica's guidance, but we thankfully made it: Lowlight: the elevator down to the metro, which was glass, thus revealing you were in a concrete tube. When Alex started to say something about it, I quickly told him to be quiet. Borderline panic attack, people. Highlight: stopping in Jessica's neighborhood to watch a rabbit. And this is the point when I realize, I have more pictures for this day...including that rabbit! Oh, well...

Back East Adventures: Travel and Day 1

First off, you are probably thinking "Day 1"?? Seriously, will we be subjected to a blog entry about every day of your trip. Um, yeah. This is the closest I've gotten to a regular journal, so I mean to use it!

I do regret, however, that we did not pack our "travel journal." It's where Alex and I write the highs and lows of each day. Without those entries, Alex might have forgotten that his most regular "low" in Paris was having to return regularly to the hotel, so I could go to the bathroom. I was pregnant with a low tolerance for any non-museum restroom. I remain unapologetic.

Anyway...back to the trip at hand...

We took off (direct flight paid with miles...yippee!) in the afternoon from LAX. The passengers momentarily threatened mutiny when it was announced the in-flight movie would be Justin Bieber: Blah Blah Subtitle I Don't Remember. However, people valiantly stayed calm and found other ways to occupy themselves. We survived via some Mommy-Hamilton "Angry Birds" play, Where's Waldo, Fruit Loops (thanks, Megan), other snacks, "Monkey Lunchbox" (another app), and looking out the window. Yeah, that's right...no movie. We're awesome parents like that (this is, of course, not maintained on the return flight). Beckett even eventually fell asleep for an hour or so.

We landed 10:30 EST, and by the time we got off and made it to baggage claim, things were looking like this...



Alex momentarily thought about saving money by getting 2 car seats, 3 pieces of luggage, 3 carry-ons to the shuttle outside without a Smart Cart. Silly, silly man. They are called Smart Carts for a reason!


We got our rental car, found our hotel, and picked up food at the only establishment available (it was midnight): McDonald's. Let the vaca weight gain begin! We eventually got to bed and thanks to the magic of hotel curtains, we all slept until 11 am. Glorious!

Off to our first adventure: the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center!



There are planes and planes and planes all over...Hamilton about lost his mind. He was pointing everywhere and wanting us to read signs. It was awesome. Here he is not smiling for the camera...this is how he looked for the first hour+.




If you can't read it, this is the Enola Gay. It was so surreal to see this plane in real life knowing that it was the one to drop an atomic bomb and change the world. So crazy.


Up in the tower Beckett establishes that he will be attempting to walk by himself the entire trip...vacation challenge #2. Challenge #1? The humidity. Duh.


And because I have the sense of humor of a 10-year-old boy...

Wonder if this was created to dissuade women from becoming astronauts?

Space Shuttle!! Ok, this one never went into space, but it's pretty darn cool. I think the shuttle that just went up will replace this one, as it will be retired.


I can't remember what was happening, but Hamilton might have been refusing to take a picture. So, I busted this super fab shot out...


copy cat!


Not pictured:

• Hamilton's deep enthusiasm slowly being overtaken by hunger (hadn't really eaten all day), fatigue, and aero OD. 3 hours after we entered, he was crying and wanting me to hold him if Alex were holding him and Alex to hold him if I was holding him. Hooray for the in-house McDonald's. Shakes can fix a lot.
• A long drive to spend 10 minutes at Arlington before it closed. We mostly went for the drive because little Beckett was napping.
• Dinner at a Thai restaurant where we were seated such that no one could really see that Hamilton spent 60% of the time under the table.
• Arriving at the super nice and stylish home of my friend Jessica....our home for three nights. Is she not the nicest person ever?