Summer Fun-My Favorites Part IV

My parents sacrificed the chance to sleep in one more time while we were visiting D.C. in order to drive to the city and stay the day.  We had talked about going together for the several days we went, but for several different reasons this new plan worked out the best.  They arrived, took a tour of our suite, and then we made an agenda for the day.  Again, we left around lunchtime.  Have I mentioned that I don't recommend doing that?

Mike and Eliana headed for the subway while the rest of us piled in Mom and Dad's car in order to find a parking space near the Smithsonian.  That was our first stop of the day.

In true Walker fashion (or maybe I should say Webb Walker fashion) I realized once we had parked the car and were making our way to the museum that I had left the stroller in the trunk.  We weren't too far along, so I sent the others ahead, and ran on back to get the stroller.  Dad and Christian waited for me outside of the Smithsonian.  Christian was sitting on the top step, but he saw me from across the street and waved to let me know where they were.

We met up with Mike and Eliana and headed for the dinosaurs.  It was tricky to get a good picture of the big skeletons because of the crowd.

Mom said this should make me grateful for the tiny roaches we have here.  I didn't think that was very funny.  All right.  It was a little funny.  But I'm still not grateful for any roaches.  Of any kind.  Bugs from the devil.

The Smithsonian was full of all kinds of wonderful things to see.

It kind of made me giggle to see some of these creatures' bones that were like the animals in the Ice Age movies.  They seem so wacky, but here are the bones to show that some very imaginative person didn't just make them up!

It's crazy how big these things were!

The mammoth skeletons were my favorite.  What does that say about me?  Hmmm...

Now, we thought the mammoth was huge, but what was really impressive was the size of the cookies in the cafeteria.  They were ginormous.

When we finally left the Museum of Natural History we headed for both the carousel on the Mall and the Air and Space Museum.  We crossed in front of the Capitol once again.

But really, how can that compare to a merry-go-round?!

They all had a great time...

Mom and Dad were happy to watch from the sidelines...much better for my mom to spectate than to ride.  She would then have to throw up, and I just don't think I could have handled pukers two days in a row.

Our final stop was the Air and Space Museum, which we flew through (pun totally intended).  It was getting late and we were going to have to get on the road soon, but we saw some very cool planes and other flying machines, and the kids got to go on a simulated ride.

It was a crazy trip.  What else would anyone expect from us? 

Summer Fun-My Favorites Part III

And from Mt. Vernon we were to make our way to Washington D.C.  Mike had scored a great hotel room at a major discount online, so we stayed in a place that we normally would never even have looked at, much less chosen.  I have to confess, I felt like we were the Clampetts showing up in Beverly Hills.  Okay, it wasn't that bad...but we stood out just a little.

Our room was actually a suite, with a full kitchen.  Pretty cool.

Michaela really liked the bathroom; she saw the sink and said,"Mom!  This is really old-fashioned!"  I love it.

We had arrived at our new digs Monday, mid-morning, and at that point we thought it would be a good idea to make a plan for the day.  We always seem to head out around lunchtime.  I don't recommend it.

We ate at a small cafe kind of place around the corner from our hotel, and then walked on down the street to the subway.  Purchasing our subway tickets was surprisingly uneventful and all we had left to do was wait.  The kids thought riding on the subway was a lot of fun.  Once we got off (the right place the first time!) and came back above ground we were smack in the middle of the Washington Monument...

and the Capitol building.  And that is where we began our journey for the day.

We headed for the Monument first.  We figured it made sense to go see it, then cruise over to the Lincoln Memorial, and then hopefully head over to see the White House.

The Washington Monument seems a strange thing when you think of it but the structure is actually quite impressive.

 

We didn't go in or up...long lines + three kids = ugly scene.  We were happy to see it as we walked by.

As we made our way over to the Lincoln Memorial we came upon the World War II Memorial; I didn't know abou this, but it was quite powerful.  It was definitely worth the time it took to walk through and around.

Now, I missed out on the walk up the steps to see Abraham Lincoln in his massive chair.  Let me tell you why.  Eliana had fallen asleep after eating a very healthy snack of Oreo cookies.  She was in her stroller, which was in its reclining position.  She had had some trouble with a cough the last couple of days, and in her sleep began coughing.  At one point her cough grew severe, and she sat up a little (I had peeked around the stroller to check on her) and just as I thought she was going to lie back down, she slowly erupted an Oreo lava flow.  She was still asleep, but her eyes fluttered and I tried to be a nice, calm presence.  I said,"Hey there!  Uh oh!" in a soft voice.  She smiled, unphased by the mess on her chin and mouth, not to mention her shirt.  Mike and the other kids returned from enjoying the Reflecting Pool (which was pretty yucky, really...the water was green and the concrete edge around the water was enhanced by a great deal of duck poo) as I was trying to figure out what to do with her shirt and how best to clean her up.  I had a plastic bag (miracle of the day) and stuck her shirt in that, and cleaned her up with baby wipes as well as I could.

The moral of this story is...always be prepared?  We fed our girl a very sweet treat on one of the hottest days of the year while she had a post-nasal drip and she gagged herself on a cough.  I personally think it was a highlight of our visit.  And talk about feeling like hillbillies the rest of the day.  We traipsed around town with a topless 2-year-old.  Nice!

I didn't take pictures of that fiasco, but Mike took the kids on up to see Lincoln, and he got some photos of that experience.  I had not realized it was all so huge!

We left that area, not forgetting to pay homage to the veterans who are remembered by the Vietnam Memorial. 

We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked.  We finally ended up near the White House.  At this point the kids had to go to the bathroom and had worn holes not only in the soles of their shoes but also in the bottoms of their feet.  I can't even believe how far we walked this day, especially for Michaela and Christian.  They thought it was neat to see the White House, but they were quite ready to head back to the hotel. 

Although we had that full kitchen, Mike ended up rounding up some Five Guys for dinner.  No dishes!  I liked that plan!  The rest of the night was spent in a purely vegetative state.  Finally there was sleep, which was a good thing because guess who was showing up the next morning?!

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I might add.

Summer Fun-My Favorites Part II

Normal people who visit a place like Washington D.C., so rich in history and so full of interesting and meaningful places to see, would plan such a trip quite far in advance, making sure to eek out all that they could from each minute of each day.  Efficiency is key when your destination is our nation's capital and you only have two full days plus a little bit of time on your two travel days.

If you wanted "normal" and "efficient" then you would not be here.  For we are the antithesis to both.  Therein lies our great charm...  Isn't that what you call it?

So.  Here are some highlights from our trip to Mt. Vernon and D.C., along with some tips from some real Road Warriors (heavy artillery and tanks were left behind this time).

The first thing I highly recommend is to begin your trip several hours later than you meant to on a lovely Sunday afternoon, especially when you are headed up I-95 to Mt. Vernon, which closes early on the first day of each week.  You see, I-95 actually exists in a parallel universe where the space-time continuum does not correlate to our 60-second-per-minute-60-minute-per-hour-24-hours-per-day reality.  Instead, you drive what seems like 20 miles, but you have really only gone 3 1/2 miles.  The distance which should take two hours to cover takes seven.  The good news is that entering, traveling in, and exiting this alternate dimension does not cause physical harm, unless you count one's elevated blood pressure, and the pinches and kicks your children inflict on one another while crammed into the back seat of a sedan.

Once we arrived at Mt. Vernon we decided that we would have enough time to see a lot of what we wanted to see.  As we walked up to the Welcome Center it began to rain.  This was great!  By the time we had purchased our tickets it was pouring.

Crazy enough, it stopped raining very soon after it began.  You would think that a good, hard rain would have cooled things off, but it was not so.  It was about as hot as I ever remember it being in Virginia, and humid in ALL CAPS.  So...HUMID.  Walking around was more like swimming, the air was so wet.  Even so, I can still say that it was great.

The line to get in Washington's house was long even though it was close to closing time, so we thought we could wander through the garden first, then head back around to the house.  The garden was very beautiful.

There were many, many kinds of flowers and plants.  More than I will show here.

Mike told the kids,"George Washington was not only a great general and military leader, but he also loved gardening!"  I love that, the strength that it took to lead a new nation as it was blossoming, as well as the appreciation for the beauty he encountered in nature, and the desire to cultivate it.

We finally made it back around to Washington's home and toured it...no pictures allowed inside.  It was lovely.  What a place!  And then the kids ran about in the grass just behind the mansion...how about that for a backyard?

We wandered down the path and had time to visit the original and then the final resting places of our first president, and his wife, and then it was time to go.  Here is one good thing about being the very last people at a tourist attraction.  I got a sweet picture of the house!  I like looking at the positive side of things.

Although we did things a bit unconventionally, I think our visit was a success.  We were all hot messes, so we headed to our hotel to get cleaned up, have dinner, and chill.  Here is where I have some more tips.  First of all, I suggest you get a hotel in a town where there are no fast food places, and all the restaurants close at 6pm on Sunday.  Feeding hungry children after a scorching, sweaty visit to a dead guy's house should be a challenge...it makes it fun!  We did finally eat, though, and watch a movie.  Then the kids went to sleep.  Since there were only two beds in the room, they had to triple up.  We didn't have a guard to keep Eliana from falling out of the bed, so we opted for the next best thing.

It was important that she not fall out...we had to get rest for the following day and the adventures that were about to unfold!

Summer Fun-My Favorites Part I

This is our final weekend of the summer.  We are about to say goodbye to sleeping in each morning, staying up every night, playing in the pool for hours, and eating dessert every day.

Except for the eating dessert every day.  How else do you expect me to make it through the school year?!

In light of these last days of summer I thought it would be fun to take a few days and recap some of our adventures while we were visiting the East Coast.  I took about 3000 pictures this summer, soooo...you can expect to see a few.  I know you are about to wet your pants you're so excited.

We headed to Virginia at the beginning of June, the main reason being to celebrate with my parents as my dad settled into his retirement.  The first big event was a gathering in his honor, an afternoon set aside to look back at the years he spent at Oakwood Memorial Baptist Church, and to share and visit with many, many folks who had been a part of his history there.  There was a reception, followed by a program, and then a bit more time for visiting.  It was pretty amazing to sit in the sanctuary and see it so full of people who had both been touched by my parents and who had had a deep impact on Mom and Dad's lives as well. 

I was going to show a couple of pictures of the program, but I just realized that those pictures are on my parents' computer, and I forgot to get them on a disc before I left.  So...you'll have to make up mental images of the full church, sweet faces, tears, laughter, the young man dressed up as Dad, and the spoof of his antics.  It was fun, precious, bittersweet. 

We also got to hang out with family that we don't see very often, since we live so far away.  My dad's brother and his wife

and my dad's sister

and her husband (my dad is on the left - you probably know that - and my step-uncle is on the right)

were able to come for the party.  I think it's been a while since the three of them were together like that (the siblings), and it was great fun.  I'm pretty sure that none of them had ever met Eliana.  She warmed up pretty quickly, though.

Now let's talk about Funcle Matt.  He is, as his nickname indeed indicates, a fun uncle.  All of the kids are agreed upon this.  And Eliana?  Well, she is supremely taken with him.  And I think it's fair to say the feeling is mutual.

These two have quite a relationship.  She moons at him.

She says things like,"You're Grandma!", confusing Matt and cracking her own self up.

She could hardly be pried away from him whenever he was around.

Well, that could be said for all of them, really.

Like I said, it was a fun family time.  But Dad wasn't into all this hanging around at home with us.  He got his retirement pants on and decided that now was the time to party.  Live it up!  Fiesta!  He told us,"See ya' later!  I'm goin' on a vacay!"

 

Aw, you know him better than that, right?  The kids helped him open some of his presents from different groups of people.  The Children's Department gave him a basket of goodies for a beach getaway.

And later, and this might have been one of my top three moments in Virginia this trip, my mom read out loud one of the funniest and sweetest letters I have ever heard in my life.  It was from one of the men that had been in the youth group when my parents first came to Oakwood.  It was full of really great memories and stories.  The kind that when told well (and he can do such a thing) they make you laugh until you wet yourself.

In hindsight, my mom probably should not have been the one actually reading the letter out loud.  But then again, that was part of the fun.

We also came across this little treasure...

While retirement is surely a time of transition and sometimes difficult changes, it is also a time to remember a lifetime of work, relationships, sharing, and love.  It was so good to be there with them, to see him enjoying all that was going on, and to look forward to the rest of our time together.

We stayed in Virginia for almost three weeks, and we filled up our days with a visit to Washington D.C., trips to museums, racing around on four-wheelers, and happy reunions.  Tomorrow you'll get more witty narrative and amazing pictures of our madcap antics.  You're on the edge of your seat, aren't you?

A Bid Dirl

Eliana is three years old.

I don't know how that's possible, considering the fact that I just gave birth to her a few days ago.  It is still so fresh and clear in my mind.

And yet...it is 2010 and not 2007.  That is something I just can't get around. 

This little person entered our lives August 18 three years ago...

and brought all kinds of loveliness and delight...

and enchanted us...

She snuggled with us...

and got round and happy, like babies tend to do...

She had the audacity to do things like grow teeth...

and learn to pull herself up...

and turn one...

and then two...

(which she did with great gusto)

That little person just never stopped growing.

The nerve!

And now another entire year has passed...

full of unique moments...

and each moment seems like it just happened yesterday...

Her personality continued to develop and shine...

and she experienced so many new things...

and had so...

much...

fun...

And do you know she kept getting bigger all the while...

 I can't make her stop!

As much as it's true that it feels like she just got here, even I cannot deny the facts.  She is three years old.  She is my big girl.  And she is my baby girl.  I suppose that's how it will be from now on.