Thursday, July 12, 2007

My children sleep now.

Bedtimes have always been a battle in my house as they are never ever ever tired. The first few days we took the circulator around town and they still battled at bedtime. Yesterday we walked about 6 miles and they were so enjoyable to be around and passed out when we put them to bed. Today we walked about 5.5 miles and they went right to bed (well after my children stuffed their beds with pillows and hid in the closet trying to scare me, lol).

Yesterday we saw the Capital and it was amazing. We sat in the Senate Gallery and it was weird to see so many people that you hear about all the time. The kids seemed to enjoy it as well. We walked around the Sculpture Garden and soaked our tired feet in the pool of water there. We saw the Decleration of Independence and the Constitution at the National Archives, visited the WWII Memorial, reflecting pool, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall and the Vietnam Nurses Memorial. Today we saw the Library of Congress, Ford's Theatre, Petersen's House (where Lincoln died), two more parts of the Botanical Garden, the National Museum of the American Indian, the White House, the old post office (where they play the bells), and more. Tomorrow my mom and I are going to try and get up early and get tickets to the Holocaust Museum for us, the Washington Monument for everyone and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (this after my daughters and my nephew sat around making fake money all morning). Hopefully the lines will be short and we will get tickets to all. My SIL gets in town tomorrow on business and we will see her on Saturday, but we also want to see the National Geographic Center and the Textile Museum. Maybe the zoo and the National Cathedral on Sunday?

We have really seen a lot and the kids have given up complaining and walk and walk with us and never stop talking. It's been a lot of fun and we have seen a lot more than I anticipated that we would.

Last night we were walking home to the hotel by way of the grocery store and some guy in a mustang yells out my husband's name and he stops pushing the stroller and turns around. I was getting ready to tell him that the guy wasn't talking to him because how could we know someone here and it turns out it was his little brother. We knew he worked here but didn't think we would see him. He got out and met his two nieces and nephew for the first time and we chatted for a while. We are meeting him and his wife for dinner on Sunday after they come over and she meets the kids. My mom is keeping them for us so we will be able to have a meal without talking about Harry Potter!

We are leaving here on Monday and have so much to cram in before then. We are also going to try and fit in a few things on the way home. The kids have been great and Junior is a dream when it comes to traveling so that makes things easier on us.

I definitely need to hit the gym when I get back because even with all this walking that ice cream and beer at the end of a long day isn't helping me out at all.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

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For some reason I can't type titles on DH's laptop.

Today we were supposed to get up early so that we could go have coffee with our Senator. Of course we overslept. We did manage to get everyone up, dressed and pottied in record time and we were out the door. We arrived with just minutes to spare. All the kids were hot, hungry and miserable. Abs of course was the worst and decided that acting like a baby would be appropriate at the time. Very frustrating and I was ready to ring her neck! We spoke to one of the Senator’s employees and found out that there is a huge Baylor connection up here so that was nice to know. Who knows maybe once DH is out of the Army we will move up here and find some important job. I guess I better brush up on my resume since carting children around won’t get me very far unless I want to be a tour bus driver.

We spoke to the Senator briefly and he thanked DH for his service and me too. He is on the Armed Forces Committee so we spoke about what was going on in Iraq. After we finished up there we went and walked around the Supreme Court. Now there is somewhere I could work! If not then Junior might be a future Justice? We managed to get to the National Botanic Garden and look around before it started to storm. We hung out in the garden for a while and then ran through the rain till we made it to the bus stop and the bus finally came. We rode the bus for a while, witched buses and then it really started to storm. We of course were all ready soaked so we just ran through the rain and got to the hotel.

We had a tour of the Kennedy Center lte this afternoon and then tried to stay for the free show at 6 but it was packed and moved too slowly for the kids so they asked to go home. We got home just in time to eat dinner at the BBQ here at the hotel….hey how could we pass up a free meal???

The kids are all in bed but Abs is still awake. We are touring the capital tomorrow morning. Hopefully the kids will be ready to go tomorrow morning. We are also planning on seeing the Wall, the Lincoln Memorial, etc. Lots of walking and my feet are already sore.

Junior cut another tooth so maybe our nights will get a little easier too. He’s been up 2-3 times a night for the last few days. I’m exhausted—I’m sure DH is too since he is up with us at well.

I’m sure the people at the front desk are tired of me so time for me to hit the sack.

Monday, July 9, 2007

It's been between 97-100 the last couple of days. I am dying here!

The car ride up was long, tiring and loud. We made it though and everyone is still alive. The drive was beautiful and thank goodness for DVD players. Junior was great and probably complained the least out of everyone, including DH.

We saw Arlington yesterday and it was amazing. I'll have to wait till I can come up with the words to describe it. The children sat through the changing of the guards absolutely silently which after the previous few days surprised me. Maybe there is hope? Em was busy imitating the clicking of the heels after it was all over. My Great Uncle, his wife and son are buried there so we found their site as well. We saw most of the memorials but did not have time to see everything as they closed while we were walking back from Iwo Jima--I did not realize how big it was.

Today we went to the Smithsonian. First on the list was to visit the dinosaurs since Abs loves them. She was so excited to see all of the fossils and looked at all of them and then rounded the corner and saw all the dinosaur bones and got excited. The she looked up and saw the pterodactyl and was terrified. She didn't want to look at them anymore and kept trying to leave the room. I managed to take a few pictures but she did not want to be near any of the meat eating dinosaurs. She told me the pterodactyl was an omnivore, but insisted it would think her fingers were rodents. She cracks me up. I'll post pictures when I get a chance. (We have to use the wireless internet in the lobby of the hotel since we don't have an ethernet port or adaptor) We also went and saw the Land and Sea Museum (?) and saw a lot of the exhibits that were there. My nephew wanted to see the WWI & WWII planes so we made a point to see those as well.

Tomorrow we are headed to have coffee with our Senator from Texas, yes, we are taking all 4 children. I wonder if they will chase us out of there. We also have a tour of the Kennedy Center setup and we will attend a show that night if everything goes according to plan. Not sure what else is in store.

I am tired and hot and headed to eat ice cream and drink beer.