Spring Break Part IV

Courtney had a brilliant plan to meet in DC during spring break and see the sites. I'll play a Kate Morton on you and tell you the end before the beginning. Sunday night I pulled into the driveway. Left my shoes in the car. Walked up the stairs, brushed my teeth. Climbed into bed and slept. Tyrone must have retrieved the kids because they are still here...

The trip to DC was great! I loved seeing all the sites and hanging out with my favorite friend. But putting the three boys together (Andrew, Jax and Taye) was like adding fuel to a blazing fire. They used the city as their personal urban jungle gym. Every fence, every step, every bench, every tree, every lawn was for running, climbing, jumping or wrestling. They spent the entire weekend seeing who could possibly exert the most amount of energy and I'll just tell you that Andrew won! He's a machine! Scotia and Tobias were wonderful when they weren't arguing about who got to push the stroller or ride in the stroller or press the elevator buttons. Riley and his friend Micah were great. Thank goodness kids grow up!

We went to the National Zoo first and loved it. The pandas were darling - they look so cuddly. And the elephant was going to town with his play tire. It was outdoors, the weather was nice. We ate our packed lunch at a picnic table. We had a great time.

We went to the LDS temple in Washington after the zoo. It's beautiful. Hard to believe I was married there almost 14 years ago.

Then we drove, and drove and drove back to our apartment (should have been a 20 minute ride, 1.5 hours thanks to GPS), made supper for everyone, got the kids all cleaned up and into bed. Collapsed into bed for a few hours sleep and then got up the next morning to do it all again.

On Saturday we hopped on the metro and got off near the Capital. We ate lunch sitting in front of the Capital pool and that was one of my favorite moments of the trip. The kids ran around like crazy and it was fine.

After Courtney charmed a free map off a security guard he gave us a look of sheer terror when we headed off for the 1.6 mile hike down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House with 7 kids in tow. The walk ended up being great. We counted down the blocks and seeing the White House was totally worth it. Jaxon thought it was smaller than he expected.

We walked to the Washington monument next. We split off into groups and Taye went with the big boys to see the Lincoln Memorial. Courtney took Andrew and Jax off on a hike and I sat with Scotia and Tobias (napping in the stroller) and listened to a concert that was part of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The sun was shining on my face, the music was great and I didn't have to keep track of any crazy boys. That was my favorite moment.

We got home, fed everyone, cleaned up and got everyone asleep and then crashed again.

Sunday was supposed to be rainy and very cold so we planned our museum trips for that day. The boys were easier to manage outside so the museums were not my favorite. I did love the gift shops though. Mom sent each of my kids $20 for the trip so they bought what they wanted and I didn't have to say a word. After the Air and Space Museum and some lunch we went to the Natural History Museum. After we saw the beautiful Hope Diamond Scotia was pretty tired. I sat down in a dark corner and she and Jax both fell asleep lying on my lap.

After some snacks and some last wrestling out on the Mall we said goodbye and headed in opposite directions for home.

Thanks for a wonderful weekend Courtney!

(Yes, Tyrone stayed home and studied in peace. Just 37 days until this *#$^@ first year is over!)