All the buildings and monuments in Washington, DC are tilted

Yesterday we surprised our kids with a day trip to Washington, DC. The kids had absolutely no idea that we were going anywhere and we didn't tell them until we were on the road. We had to leave the house at 5:30 a.m. in order to catch our flight so we just told them that Mommy and Daddy had a really busy day and that we had to get them out the door early that morning. They thought they were going to Grandma and Grandpa's house just like usual - only earlier. We got them into bed earlier than usual and got them up at 5:00 a.m. in order to give them some breakfast before we left. We learned the hard way on our trip to Iowa this summer that Jake gets car sick if he doesn't have enough food in his stomach so we wanted to avoid that happening again.

When we got on the road we turned right at the end of our street instead of left towards Grandma and Grandpa's but the kids didn't say anything for about a half mile or so when Jake finally said "Why are you taking this road? Where are we going?"

I had the pictures from our bedroom - the ones that Jake always complain about excluding him - and so I handed those to the kids and told them that we were going back to those places to take pictures with Jake in them. Hannah knew it was Washington, DC right away and was very excited but Jake was initially very upset that he would be missing Dinosaur Train on PBS which he watches at Grandma and Grandpa's each morning. Once we explained to him that he was going to get to see real dinosaur bones at the Museum of Natural History he came around a little bit and then when I told them we were flying his favorite airline both kids perked up and cried out "JetBlue!" I swear, our family could be a living, breathing ad for JetBlue. It's ridiculous how much we love that airline.

We made excellent time to the airport and despite the pouring rain in Boston our flight took off on time. It was a pretty bumpy ride going down because of all the rain and unsettled air on the Eastern sea board but the flight is only about an hour and twenty minutes so it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately we didn't get enough food into Jake's stomach so he did throw up on the plane but we're so used to it now that we were fully prepared. I packed this special little hard plastic bucket that we refer to, in such a clever way, as the "puke bucket" and he just threw up into that and then I rinsed it out with a bottle of water in the airplane bathroom.

After arriving at the airport we headed over to pick up our rental car and then we were on our way. The weather report originally said it would be rainy on and off in the morning and then cloudy in the afternoon. That's not exactly how the day ended up going. When we arrived in DC the sun was starting to come through the clouds and the day ended up being much warmer than anticipated. After our first few stops we ended up buying the kids some cheap T-shirts from a street vendor because it was pretty hot out.

On our way into the city we called Grandma Dena to let her know where we were and she told us to say "hi" to President Obama if we ran into him. Well we didn't run into him in such a manner that we could talk to him but we did run into his motorcade so Hannah was able to wave to him. We parked our car at the parking garage and walked a few blocks to buy tickets for the Old Town Trolley before heading another couple of blocks down to visit the Museum of Natural History and see the dinosaur exhibit. While stopped at one street corner trying to orient myself with the map we missed a light cycle at the crosswalk so we happened to be standing there when a motorcade came by. It was led by a few motorcycle cops then the limos with the presidential crest, a few Secret Service cars, then what I can only assume is a press vehicle (there was a man standing up through the sun roof with a camera), and then an ambulance and a few other police cars. The video of it is below. It's a little hard to see because his motorcade books it through the streets of Washington DC. It went by really fast. Who knows where he was headed but he may or may not have been headed towards Andrews Air Force base. When we came out of the museum a huge plane flew pretty near the White House and I can't imagine any other plane allowed in the air space. We saw a lot of planes taking off over the city but that is the one that came the closest to the White House. Of course that is pure speculation and what do I know.



Our first stop was the Museum of Natural History's dinosaur exhibit. I really wish that I had the video camera out the second we walked into the exhibit because I have never seen Jake light up the way he did yesterday. He is absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs right now and knows all of them by name. Jake walked into the exhibit, stopped in his tracks and started pointing at all the dinosaur skeletons and rapidly calling out all their names. It was so precious. Unfortunately my son, unlike my daughter, freezes up once I whip out the video camera out so in the video below he's sort of shy and she's pointing things out but it is still a pretty cute video. It's nothing like how he was when he first walked in but I have to say that sometimes when I'm catching something on video I feel like I miss out on it in real life so even though I'm disappointed I didn't get the video I'm so happy I got to watch his excitement firsthand.



It was hard to get a picture of Jake in the exhibit because he was running around so much I couldn't get him to hold still long enough.

I absolutely love his pose and facial expression in this picture.

After we finished with the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural History we hopped on the Old Town Trolley. We bought passes before going to the museum and our plan was to use that as transportation around the city throughout the day. It was some of the best - and only - money we spent all day thanks to the fact that most museums and all the monuments in DC are free.

After getting on the trolley outside of the museum we rode over to the White House. One of the pictures from our bedroom was of us in front of the White House but unfortunately we weren't able to recreate that one. As a matter of fact I was only able to get one good photo because when sitting in front of the White House we were facing directly into the very bright sun. Neither of the kids could keep their eyes open and even the pictures I took of Lincoln mostly had his eyes shut as well. I managed to get the picture below and I think that Hannah is absolutely adorable in it. Lincoln is pretty darn cute too but I think she just looks like a little model. What you can't see in the picture is the White House garden that Michelle Obama planted. It was actually a very nice looking garden. This is also the start of the pictures where it looks like either all the buildings in Washington, DC are tilted or I was sicker than I thought and not standing up straight. The only thing that comforts me is that when a stranger used our camera to take the picture of us in front of the Capitol at least one of those pictures was crooked too.

After our trip to the front of the White House we stopped at a street vendor to grab some hot dogs and another one to purchase shirts for the kids. Not to get too "anti-immigration" on you all - I realize my family came from overseas too - but the lady selling the t-shirts was incredibly annoying. I was the only tourist around stopping anywhere near her stall to buy her shirts and she kept giving me attitude in her heavy foreign accent about having to take out different shirts and different sizes for me to look at. "This just makes me have more work to do" is what she said to me multiple times. Oh I'm sorry. I can see how busy you are sitting on your ass doing nothing while no one shops at your crappy little stand but you're welcome for our open immigration policies and free enterprise which allows you to live out your dream of suckering tourists out of their hard earned money with your crappy product.

But I digress....

Jake really wanted to be the one to lead us around with the map so we grabbed him one from the trolley. He carried that thing around with him all day and checked it every few minutes. Whenever we'd stop for a few minutes he'd whip it out and Hannah would help him figure out where we were. The map had drawings of the different monuments on it so he was pretty good about finding where we were - even without Hannah's help - and pointing it out on the map. I absolutely love these pictures because when I took a picture standing in front of them you can see the Washington Monument in the background and when I stood behind them you could see the Capitol. Too cute.

After we took our family photo we headed back towards the trolley stop but it had been awhile since we had taken a bathroom break and we needed to find one before getting back on the trolley for the ride over to the other end of the Mall and the Lincoln Memorial. The trolley only comes every 30 minutes so we had to get back in time to make sure we didn't miss the trolley but after our lunch and bottles of water we had to find a public restroom. The Botanical Gardens has free admission and so we zipped in there quickly to use the restroom. You had to walk to the far side of the garden to get to the restrooms so I have to say, it was the prettiest bathroom break we have ever taken.

While we were waiting for the trolley I grabbed a few more shots of the kids and this one I think looks like a postcard for Washington, DC in the autumn. Isn't she adorable?

The trip from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial was the longest period of time that we were on the trolley. Even though the kids probably didn't understand half of what the tour guide was talking about they were very attentive and enjoyed looking at the buildings. We passed by the Roosevelt and Jefferson Memorials and had a great view of the Washington Monument across the Tidal Basin before arriving at the Lincoln Memorial.

We did a quick walk-thru of the Korean War Memorial which is to one side of the Lincoln Memorial before climbing all the steps to the top of the Lincoln Memorial. After that we walked through the Vietnam War Memorial on our way to the Washington Monument. We explained to the children that it was a very quiet place and that we had to be respectful walking through there because it is a Memorial that makes many people very, very sad. Despite Jake's naturally exuberant personality he walked through very quietly after an initial comment that made some of the other visitors laugh. There was a sign in the ground as you walked up to the Memorial that says something along the lines of "Out of respect please remain on the sidewalk." Jake asked Lincoln what it said and after Lincoln told him Jake said "Yeah, but it doesn't say be quiet." which is what we told him he'd have to be while walking through the Memorial. A few ladies were walking by when he said it and they bust out laughing. I have to say, it was pretty funny. I thought this picture was such a beautiful view with the fall foliage behind the Memorial.

After walking through the Vietnam Memorial we walked along the reflecting pool towards the Washington Monument. Or more exactly, Lincoln, Hannah, and I walked and Jake marched along while playing his "trumpet". I also took a picture of the three of them in front of yet another crooked Memorial. This time I managed to make the Lincoln Memorial appear to be leaning.

Continuing our walk/march towards World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument.

As our day was wrapping up, and we were headed towards the Washington Monument, some dark clouds started to roll in over the city. To our left (towards the White House) it was getting pretty dark but to our right it was still incredibly sunny. Since I hadn't had much luck in getting a good picture of the kids in front of the White House I decided to try again for a shot with it in the background. It's an interesting picture because it's so dark over the White House but you can see how bright the sun still was on the kids' faces. And once again I managed to make an iconic building appear crooked. Seriously, what kind of cold medicine was I taking? And actually, at this point of the trip it was wearing off.

After we walked up by the Washington Monument it was time to start heading back to our car. Jake was very disappointed that we weren't able to go to the top of the monument but you have to get those tickets early in the day and we weren't there to do that. We promised him that the next time we visited Washington, DC that would be our first stop.

We started to walk down to the trolley stop but made a side trip to get ice cream which the kids had been asking for since lunch time. Unfortunately that caused us to miss our trolley and instead of waiting for the next one a half hour later we decided to walk the five blocks or so back to our car.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:05 p.m. and we wanted to make sure we got back to the airport in plenty of time to eat a sit down dinner without rushing so we got to the airport about 5:15 p.m. When we got to the airport we found out our flight was delayed until 9:15. Well that definitely left us with plenty of time to eat something. We found a restaurant right near our gate and had a very nice dinner. I had taken some DayQuil before our flight down in the morning but only had one more dose to take during the day and I wanted to make sure I timed it right so that I'd feel good on the plane. Even though I started to feel like crap somewhere around the Lincoln Monument I held off taking the medicine until we got to dinner. Unfortunately that left me going downhill rapidly and I felt like crap by the time we got on the plane. My head got stuffier, my voice got raspier, and my cough got worse. I'm lucky they let me on the plane.

Even though they had told us our flight would be leaving at 9:15 we actually ended up boarding shortly before 8:00 even though we didn't take off until about 8:40 p.m. The kids were major troupers all day and I can't believe how well they did. We really hauled ass around the city and did a lot of walking. They didn't complain much about being hungry. They didn't complain about being tired. They just traveled. They took naps when they could in the car and on the airplane and when they had to be on their feet and going around they did what they had to do. That is why I like taking them on trips. They do such a great job.

As we were pulling out of the airport at about 10:15 p.m. after a long day of traveling Lincoln and I were thanking the kids for the wonderful job they did and how they were such wonderful travelers and that we were so proud of them. In an absolutely classic moment characterizing our crazy family travels Hannah merely sighed as she fell asleep in the car and said:

"We're used to it."