D.C. Unscheduled

On winter vacation week we got a chance to go to Washington D.C. for 5 days. It looked like we might not make it since the germs kept trying to keep us down but we prevailed in the end!

Paul was truly amazed when he asked me what we were doing the first day and I said, "I don't know." I am a planner and like to have things organized and scheduled, but this trip I just wanted to go away...see some sights...and relax. The only two things we had planned were meeting a friend for dinner one night and a tour of Sirius XM another day. Otherwise we had things that we wanted to see in mind but no itinerary (for once!)

So on the first day we visited the Natural History Museum a definite favorite in our book! The best thing about the Smithsonian's are the price- FREE! So you don't feel the pressure to have to stay all day and get your moneys worth. We stayed for a few hours and went back to let the kids swim before we were off to meet our good friend Jen for dinner.
The next morning was an early one due to those pesky germs I mentioned before... at 4:30am we woke up to that sound every parent knows and knows what is to come or in this case already came...Barfing! Amazingly enough Xander slept through the whole thing. (He didn't have to worry he already had it the week before) In between escorted trips to the bathroom Paul and I were discussing the fact that it wouldn't be D.C. with Alyssa barfing. (Our first trip to D.C. with the kiddos when they were 1 1/2 poor Alyssa spent the whole time in the stroller during the day and the nights throwing up.)
But by 9 am all seemed well with her and we were off in the snowy, slushy, windy and rainy day to the Air and Space museum. Mind you we were on foot so this did cause a bit of whining when we were all trying to share the umbrella but we survived and had a good time. Later we were back to the warmth of the hotel for more swimming...well for the kids that is.

We are the four on the right. It is a thermo picture.
Wow are we one hot family!

Thursday was our marathon walking day! We walked and walked and walked from 10-5:30. A short Metro ride was thrown in there but otherwise we were on foot. We walked about 7 miles or so that day. It was so windy with 40 mph winds which we could lean into and not fall over! We started off at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving to watch money being made and from there we walked to the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument and then on to the Lincoln Memorial, around the Eclipse for a view of the white house, many more blocks to our lunch destination and from there we walked all the way back to our hotel. WHEW! Makes me tired just writing it! It was so nice to be outside and walking around so much. Even though it was still cold about 42 degrees and who knows what with the windchill, but we were on the go so much that it didn't seem to bother us.

Friday morning we went to see Ford Theatre where President Lincoln was shot and the house across the street that he was carried to while he waited to die. After that we went to the National Portrait Gallery and then we took the metro to Sirius XM and got a tour of the studios and to see where Paul goes when he is at corporate. After lunch we made a trip back to the Natural History Museum to finish what we didn't see and to the American History Museum and then we made our final museum stop at the Museum of American History. We ended up back at the hotel just in time for "snack and soda time" which was a must every night! The kids really enjoyed the free Shirley Temples and pretzels, gold fish and cheeses. It was a nice tide me over until dinner every night. That night we took it easy and ate pizza while watching a movie in our room since we had an early flight at 7:30am. Thankfully we took a taxi. All of our metro walking adventures were over for this trip!

1. Finally getting this blogged!

2. Grocery shopping done!

3. An argument free day-kids and parents included! :-)