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.