Day 2 in DC

June 5th
Vacation Post #2

Derek and I had a general idea of what we were going to be doing each day of our vacation, but our kids didn't! Every night they asked what we would be doing the next day, and every night we had an answer for them. :)

Our second day was all about 3 things: the National Archives, US Capitol, and Library of Congress. We made our way there on the metro and were excited to see what the day held. 

We quickly discovered that early June in DC is filled with groups of 8th grade students. Everywhere we went, we ran into group after group of 8th graders. There were not many vacationing families, just 8th graders. TONS of them. By the end of our time in DC we had discovered some ways to avoid them. And Derek and I both agreed we would rather do just about anything than chaperon a group of 8th grade students in Washington, DC.

Anyway, we arrived at the National Archives first. The line moved faster than I thought it would. Reviews on Trip Advisor made it sound like we would be there for hours. While we waited, Kaleb and Aaron played with the leaves from the magnolia trees. It was the prettiest sunny day--not too hot, not too cold. We really did have great weather on our vacation.

Kaleb and Aaron with their leaves

Outside of the National Archives

Our boys look so small on these steps!

We were not allowed to take any pictures inside. We saw the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the United States Constitution. The room with these documents was dim, ornately decorated, and closely watched by guards. One of the guards told Derek that these documents are protected better than the president himself. I'm not sure I believe that, but that is what he said. So much fading has occurred, that they were very hard to read. Still, it is neat to say we have looked upon them with our own eyes. There is a very large museum inside, and we could have spent hours in there. We saw what we could, and then found the cafeteria for lunch. By now I was starting to feel feverish, and I had no idea that would continue for 3 days and turn into pneumonia. It felt good to sit down with a bowl of soup while my boys all had hot dogs and brats.

Next stop was the US Capitol. For this I had arranged a tour through our congressman's office. We were a bit early, and there was some confusion with our tickets, but we ended up with a pretty good tour. Our favorite parts include standing on the Speaker's Balcony and sitting in the upper deck of the Senate Chamber during live Senate proceedings. It's probably not called the upper deck, but you get the idea. :) The House was not in session, which is why we were allowed to stand on the Speaker's balcony. It gave us the best view of DC! The Rotunda was undergoing some renovation, so there were large drapes hanging high up in there that looked like a big donut shaped diaper. It was crowded, oh so crowded, in the Capitol Building.

Family photo in front of the Capitol!

The back of the building, with an entourage of black Suburbans. Hmmm

This is one of the fountains with a skylight in the middle.
The Visitor's Center is below the skylight. See the large group of people behind it?
Probably a group of 8th graders!

Standing by Lady Freedom.
This is the plaster cast used to make the statue that sits on top of the Capitol.

We saw some STRANGE people inside...the boys stared and I tried not to.
Aaron is standing in the very center of the dome.

The Rotunda from the inside looking up, diaper and all. :)

Just a glimpse of how crowded it was!

Standing by Ronald Reagan for some reason.

Awesome view from the Speaker's Balcony!

We took lots of time in the Capitol. I had no idea we would spend that much time in there, but I guess that's what the day was for, right? Next we walked through the underground tunnel to the Library of Congress and barely made it inside before they closed that entrance for the day. By now we were wiped out. Our feet hurt, we were tired, I felt crummy, and Derek felt hungry and shaky. We breezed through the Library and saw 2 very large old Bibles, looked around at the beautiful architecture, and decided to call it a day.

Library of Congress

On our way back to the metro station we walked by the Supreme Court. If I could do this trip again, I would have planned a Supreme Court tour for the next day. Oh well, at least we walked by and saw it. I guess this will have to be on our list for next time, ha! :)

US Supreme Court

By the time we made it back to our hotel we were exhausted. We ordered pizza and had it delivered to our room. We didn't have plates or napkins--just a roll of paper towels from our vehicle. But nobody cared. It was just a relief to not get back out again. The boys looked at their souvenirs and we were very happy to call it a day!

Getting There and the First Moments

June 2nd-4th
Vacation Post #1
These vacation posts will be very detailed--just a warning! :)

When you live in the middle of the country, you have two options of getting your family to Washington, DC. Either buy 5 pricey plane tickets and drive at least 3 hours to the nearest major airport, stay in a hotel so you are there for the early morning flight, pay way too much money to check your luggage, play hopscotch around the country with connecting flights that are most likely delayed or missed, and finally arrive exhausted and rent a car. OR, load up your vehicle and drive there. We went with option #2. :)

My parents graciously offered to take care of our Ginger while we were on vacation, so our first stop along the way was at their house. It was the perfect bed & breakfast--and doggie hotel. :)

On our way!

A bit blurry but at least Ginger is looking at me. :)

Our second day of driving was by far the longest day in the car. Derek drove every mile of our trip (I did offer to help) and he was such a trooper. The hardest moments were in Somerset, PA where we ate a late supper at Arby's. Derek was feeling the fatigue and we still had 2 hours ahead of us on dark, winding, PA roads. We finally arrived in Hagerstown, MD at 11:00 that night. Whew!

My exhausted husband collapses while Kaleb is all thumbs up. :)

Even though we were anxious to make it to DC, Aaron really wanted to swim in the hotel pool the next morning. We're on vacation, so of course we said yes to his request. :) I'm very glad we did. After his swim we loaded up and said goodbye to Hagerstown.

Our third travel day included only a 1.5 hour drive--yippee!!! Along the way we stopped in Germantown, PA for lunch at Chick-fil-a. It felt so good to take things nice and easy on this day.

YUM!

I spent countless hours preparing for this trip. Trip Advisor was my greatest resource, and all of that research paid off. We checked into our hotel in Alexandria, VA which would be our home base for the next 6 days/nights. It could not have been a better setup for us. This Hampton Inn & Suites provided a free shuttle whenever we requested it to the nearest metro station or downtown Alexandria. We didn't have to pay any parking fees at the hotel. We also had a free breakfast every day. I felt so relieved to see all of my planning come together and work out for us!

On this first day of our time in DC, Derek and I had 2 goals: figure out the metro and find someplace to eat supper. To do that we took the shuttle into downtown Alexandria.

Our first picture in Alexandria. Not sure what we're standing by!

Alexandria has a main road from the river to the metro station, with lots of shopping and dining in between. They provide a free trolley with stops every 2 blocks, which of course we took advantage of. This is how we made it to CVS Pharmacy to purchase our Metro passes. Once that was done we took the trolley to the water front.

Our first glimpses of the Potomac River

Just taking it all in

We found a casual restaurant on the water's edge called Chadwick's. It's a large 2 story restaurant with a pub feel to it. It was a perfect place for us to eat and we laughed a lot during the meal. There was a wooden Indian statue by our table and for some reason the boys said it looked like Braylen.

Our family selfie at Chadwick's.

The brass plate says "High Water Mark Sept 19, 2003 Hurricane Isabel."

After supper we decided to get back on the trolley and head to the Metro Station. This was it! Our first Metro experience! We boarded at King Street and took the blue line to the Smithsonian stop. Yay!

First Metro ride

When we climbed the steps from the Smithsonian Metro Station to street level, we had our first glimpses of Washington, DC. It felt surreal to finally be here! We walked along the National Mall, taking it all in. There were organized kickball teams playing games on the grass, other tourists like us walking around, and it did not feel crowded at all. As we made our way to the Washington Monument, we walked by a stage. The Air Force Band and Chorus played/sang the National Anthem before beginning their concert. What perfect timing! We stood there with our hands over our hearts, listening to the National Anthem during our first moments on the National Mall.

The Washington Monument

Air Force Band and Vocal Chorus

Our boys are really here!

We had enough daylight to walk over to the WWII Memorial. It was a beautiful evening and we took our time just looking around.

WWII Memorial

This ended up being my favorite memorial on the Mall.

"Here We Mark the Price of Freedom."
Each gold star stands for 100 soldiers lost in WWII. Over 405,000 lost their lives.

Another view

It feels like such an honor to be here.

Derek stands by the Nebraska pillar in honor of his grandfather.

I stand by the Illinois pillar in honor of my grandfathers.

We did not want to find our way back to our hotel in the dark, so we made our way back to the Metro as some light rain began to fall. By the time we made it to King Street to transfer to the yellow line it was POURING rain, and we were so glad we were not out in it! The shuttle picked us up at Huntington and as we walked through our hotel lobby towards the elevators, Derek and I gave each other a high 5. We really did! We made it here, we mastered the Metro, and we had a perfect first day. VACATION!!!

Before & After Vacation

Eventually I will write about our vacation, I really will! I'm thinking highlights and favorite memories sound like good vacation topics for a future post. But not today.

Before vacation, which seems like years ago, we went camping. We stayed local, which made things easier for a weekend trip. I find it funny that our neighbors ended up at the camp site next to ours. I guess that's what happens when you like your neighbors! :) Our friends Shawn and Rebekah joined us for the afternoon, and that made it extra special for us. We are very thankful for good friends.

Derek makes great pancakes!

Fishin'

Happy boy and dog

Picnic supper

Roasting marshmallows of course!

School ended, "summer" began, and so did the lawn mowing. When they weren't mowing, the kids did a lot of sitting around while I did a lot of vacation planning. I soaked up our "boring" 2 weeks because I knew once June began our lives would be anything but boring! Braylen attended football camp and Aaron attended basketball camp. Kaleb slept in at home every day and was my vacation planning buddy. :)

Kaleb watching the rain. We don't get much rain here, so when it rains, it's worth watching.

Mowing shenanigans :)

Kaleb's new soccer ball and my pretty columbine flowers.

We left for our trip and brought Ginger along for part of the way. She stayed with my parents since we were gone for 2 weeks. They spoiled her and loved on her way more than the kennel would have done. It was great!

We have been home for a little over one week, but memories of our vacation are still with me. I can't wait to write it out and make a photo book. Soon we are off on our next adventure--the boys to my parents' house and I am going to be a camp counselor--and Derek will hold down the fort with Ginger. Lots going on!

So this brings me to the "after" part of this post. After vacation, we had one week of doing almost nothing but mowing 12 lawns. And recovering from being gone for 2 weeks. (That means grocery shopping and other mom things like that.) It was great. Kaleb and Aaron earned a trip to the movies to see "How to Train your Dragon 2." They spent an entire day cleaning their room and boy, did it need it!!! Braylen and I went to the movies with them, and we all liked the movie very much. :)

The room is finally clean!

I did not take any "before" pics. It was too depressing!

Kaleb can sit at his desk now and look at his new Declaration of Independence hanging on the wall. :)

This is as clean as Aaron's dresser will ever be. He is a hoarder collector.

We played at the park with some friends last week. Aaron was very happy to get together with his best buddy again. On another day we invited my niece to come over and play. It was such a great day! They had fun and I baked cookies and brownies for the weekend. It had been a loooong time since my family enjoyed home made goodies.

Kaleb and Aaron reenacting the civil war, complete with "canon booms" from the thunder app on my iPad. See it in the bottom right of this picture? ;)

Aaron & Analise, with Ginger rolling around in the grass. :)

Oh, and one more thing. The day after we came home I went to the clinic for a cough I developed in Washington, DC. What I thought was bronchitis was actually pneumonia! Good grief! I knew I had a fever for a few days in DC. But without a thermometer, I never knew how high it was. And I never felt like I needed to be in bed. Advil made it all better...for 4 hours at a time. The fever went away and the cough remained. I'm thankful I didn't need a doctor in DC. Or a hospital! Who knew pneumonia could develop with only 2 symptoms? A fever and cough. The cough didn't even hurt. So strange!

Well, that's about it. Time to do some packing, some cooking, and some more packing. :) I'm already looking forward to unpacking, ha!!! :)

We Went on a 2 Week Vacation

I have lots to write about. Lots of stories to tell. And someday I hope to get it all written out. But for tonight, it is enough to say that we are loving our summer break. We have had LOTS of together time, LOTS of quality time, and LOTS of laughter--and that makes my heart happy. We are home now from our 2 week vacation to Washington DC, Gettysburg, PA, and stops at my brother's house and my parents' house. We are getting back into the groove here at home...until our next adventure, anyway! June is vacation month and July is summer-at-home month. Ahhh, summertime. :)

I took this photo of Ginger on our way home. Doesn't she look mighty cozy on Aaron's pillow? More about our vacation and summer life next time. :)