Washington DC Trip!

We had a fun adventure this past weekend going to Washington DC!  We left around 9:30 on Thursday morning (the girls slept in, which was great), stopped for a McDonalds lunch somewhere south of Richmond, and got to our hotel in Chantilly, VA around 3:00.  We got into the room, swam in the pool and went to a yummy dinner at a place called El Fresco that evening...it was kind of a cross between a typical Mexican restaurant and a Moes-type place.  We made our first time-killing trip to Target after dinner, then back to settle in at the hotel.  We stayed at a Hyatt Place with 2 of the 3 nights free (thanks, Bob and IBM!), and it was very nice.  The room had a half wall between the pull-out couch and the bed, so the girls were separated a little bit.  Erin stayed on the pull-out couch and Anna stayed on our air mattress across from Erin but hidden behind the desk, so they each had their own space.  The girls slept great, just waking up a little early each day.

Friday morning we got up and had our hotel breakfast (which the girls loved), then set out on our adventure.  We drove about 10 minutes to a bus stop, parked, and got on the bus.



We rode that about 20 minutes to the furthest stop on the metro, then got our metro tickets (the girls were free for both since they are 4 and under) and rode that for about 14 stops/30 minutes into the city.  We got off at the Smithsonian stop and walked from there, past the Washington Monument, to the Lincoln Memorial, and back.  They are repairing the Washington Monument after the earthquake in 2011.

 



We looked around the Lincoln Memorial for awhile, had a potty break, and walked back to the aquarium, which was in the basement of a commerce building a block away from the Smithsonians.  That was really neat...not a big aquarium, but nice for the kids, and interesting in that it had exhibits on native fish/aquatic life from different areas of the country.



From there, we went to the Ronald Reagan building basement food court for lunch, then checked out the lobby for a minute and headed across the street to the Old Post Office building, where we took the elevator to the 9th floor tower to look out over the city.  Bob and I were more impressed by that than they were!  After that, we went to the Museum of Natural Science, which was crowded, and the girls were tired by that point so we really only saw the butterfly/insect area and the Hope Diamond, and passed by a fish tank and the big elephant statue on our way out.



We headed back via metro and bus and rested for a little bit at the hotel before going to eat dinner at Red Robin near our hotel and a quick Target stop for princess band-aids (bad Mommy left home without them).

Saturday, we got up, ate, drove through Dulles airport which was right near our hotel, and went to visit our friends Praveen and Sushma and 3-month-old Shreeya!  She is absolutely adorable and just so sweet.  We visited at their house for awhile, had a great pizza lunch, checked out the playground in their neighborhood, and then went over to the Udvar-Hazy Center (air and space museum) near Dulles Airport and their house.



The girls surprisingly enjoyed that museum a lot, until we tried to make Erin wait in line to get inside a plane and the guy who worked there got too close to Anna to try to help her get into the plane, resulting in dual meltdowns.  So, we left there, went back to the hotel, where Erin and I swam and Anna and Daddy rested.  We went to eat at Moes since it was within walking distance from our hotel, then out to ice cream to celebrate potty success for Erin!

This morning, we got up, had breakfast, and went to 8am Mass at St. Veronica, a church about 10 minutes from the hotel.  We got back, packed up, and headed out around 9:30.  We stopped at IKEA just outside of DC for an hour, which may have been the highlight of the girls' trip, if you ask them.  Then, we headed back and stopped at Arby's for lunch a little north of Richmond.  We made it home by 4:00, which meant about 4.5 hours of driving each way.  The girls did great in the car, mostly watching their shows on the iPad.

So, it was a great (but hot) time!  We are very proud of our little adventurers who handled all the new places, heat, and hotel room (especially the hotel room - Bob is concerned that they may not want to go camping any more) very well!

All of our pictures are here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/112036663351493870457/WashingtonDCTrip?noredirect=1

June!

Happy summer to everyone!  We had a good month of June, trying to get used to the heat.  Erin was in school most of the month, with graduation for most of her friends on the 21st.  Erin and one other friend will be back next year, and the rumor is that another girl will be in the class next year!  This would be the first time in 3 years that Erin hasn't been the only girl in her class.  We wonder how she will handle sharing the spotlight.  Here she is getting her certificate for completing the year.



We really didn't do a whole lot exciting this month - just the usual school, Y, fun days with Cole, hitting the neighborhood and Y pools, etc.  Anna started her 10-week summer dance class on the 12th.  It meets an hour a week on Wednesday mornings, and she seems to like it.  She and the 6 other little girls in her class are just so serious about dancing and following what the teachers are showing them.  I wonder why this level of concentration does not carry over into any other aspect of Anna's life!  It's really cute though, and she enjoys it.



We went to the beach the weekend of the 14th-16th, which was lots of fun, and we had perfect weather!  Erin shockingly preferred the pool this time and Anna liked the beach.  Anna also scored points with Daddy for joining him in the hot tub on several occasions!



We had a busy weekend over the 22nd and 23rd, with a big outing to North Hills for David's birthday lunch at the Cowfish, which was neat and exciting for those of us who don't get out much.  That afternoon, Daddy went to Mr. Yannis' 30th birthday party at Lake Wheeler.  Sunday after church, we went back to Lake Wheeler for Erin's friend Ethan's birthday party which was super fun despite the rain, and then Yannis, Sofia, and cute baby Andreas came to visit us that evening.  It was a busy and fun weekend, despite it marking the beginning of our 1-1/2 weeks of rain!



This past weekend, we went to Concord, and both girls, Logan, Ansley, Uncle Chris, and Daddy went to Lake Norman to camp!  Anna shocked everyone by loving it all - swimming in the lake, riding in a paddle boat and canoe, and the whole campfire/tent experience.  Erin, however, had a rough night and ended up sleeping in the car with Daddy.  They had fun though, and Daddy got to try out his father's day gift, a new tent!



Happy Father's Day to Bob!



That rounds out our June.  We are so glad to have Erin off of school for the next 4-5 weeks, and she has been really happy and relaxed all week.  We are looking forward to a fun and busy July, starting out with another beach weekend, then church camp next week, and trip to Washington DC in a couple more weeks!