I love DC with a passion. Its one of my favorite places, along with Disney World! Since my family lives in Northern Virginia its always a must place to visit whenever we go home. Last month my great aunt died and though I have very few memories of her, I felt I needed to go home to support my grandfather. So, I found a great deal for the dates I needed and off the boys and I flew to DC. It was James' first plane ride and both boys did a host of firsts while in VA! Will stayed home because he couldn't get off work and had a lot of homework for his classes he needed to get done!
I was nervous about how the plane ride would go, but both boys did great on the first flight. I love flights that have perfect timing between meals and such! The second flight was threw the afternoon and James refuses to take a nap anywhere but at home or in the car- there is just too much going on! So, I knew it might be interesting, but I thankfully had some amazing people on our flight and one guy was more than happy to play with the boys the entire way. He said it was his way of saying thank you for my husband's service! So we made it off the plane just in time for some dinner with Grandma at Taco Bell! The boys passed out on the way back to my parent's house.
Keirnan got to sleep in a regular twin bed with nothing on the sides and did great- he didn't fall out once! Such a big boy! James got his first experience out of a crib or pack and play and did fairly well also! Mom had put the other twin bed on the floor in a corner of 'my' room and he slept there. He didn't fall off the bed until the 3d night! (And thankfully it wasn't a big fall. That was the same day he took 2 tumbles down the stairs! Poor Kid had a really bad day!)
The boys did pretty well at the funeral, I took them out into the hall for the second half of the service, but they sat still for about the first 10-15 minutes, what more can you ask from a 1 year old and a 2 year old!?! After the service, everyone went to my grandparents house. I feel bad saying we had a good time, but we did. I think the general consensus was that though Aunt Effie will be missed, her death brought the wider family together. As my second cousin said- she hadn't seen me since I was 3!! It was nice getting to meet and talk to members of my family I had essentially never met. And the boys had a wonderful time running around Nanny and PopPop's house, which meant so much to me as I want them to know all their great grandparents!
Friday evening we went to Rainbow (IORG) with my parents, for a pot luck and game night. Keirnan's friend Danial was there as well as my friend Erin and her 3 kids. Keirnan loved playing with Daniel, Noah, and Ryan, and James made a friend in Erin's little girl, Ella, who is a few month older than him!
Saturday Mom and I took the boys downtown to the Natural History Museum. It was interesting to say the least! lol James was grumpy on the Metro ride down, but cheered up when we got off the rail (Keirnan LOVED the 'train' ride!) and got some street vendor hot dogs for lunch! We walked the long way around the seriously too big USDA building and across the Mall to the museum in the very cold wind. When we got to the museum, it was all I could do to keep the boys from running off in excitement! We started with the mammals, which Jams loved, moved on to the Humans (Bones) which Keirnan was more than enthralled with, into the ocean and then dinosaurs areas. All of it was a success. Keirnan never stopped running trying to see everything at once. It was such a joy to watch my boys have such a great time in a museum! By the time we finished it was time to head home. James did much better on the Metro ride home, and both boys we're exhausted!
Sunday we all went to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum where the boys again ran round trying to everything! My boys love planes and spaceships, especially Keirnan. We even got lucky enough to be up in the tower when an AirFrance A380 came in to land on the runway right next to the museum. That was awesome to see, and made my day! After the museum we just had to make the drive to Fredricksberg for some ice cream. (Yes, we drove 2 hours each way for ice cream!) Carl's had opened for the season the weekend before we got there, so Grandpa had to introduce the boys to his favorite ice cream! They loved it, of course!
Monday evening the flights home were not bad. They weren't good, but they weren't bad! lol That's all I will allow myself to remember about the flights home! I might never get on another plan with my children if I remembered anymore! But we were all very excited to see Daddy waiting for us as we came out of the terminal!
So, that was our visit to DC. My boys got to experience so much, from meeting part of their family to seeing Bones, dinosaurs, and spaceships! And I'm so glad I got to see my family. I miss so much being away from them and hope that one day we'll be much closer and get to see them more! Now, I will eventually get pictures up!
