Spring Break in DC

A few months ago, Jackson saw the movie "Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian."  He absolutely loved it.  I told him that all of those museums, monuments, and characters really existed (although didn't talk in real life).  He was very interested and was asking lots of questions.  Jackson is just now beginning to understand the basics of the United States, government, and our capital.  I saw my opportunity to strike while the iron was hot, so I began making plans for a family trip during Jackson's spring break.  Making the plan was not easy; I told Jason that his working two jobs was really getting in the way of me making vacation plans. =)  Finally, we decided that we could leave after Jason got off work on Wednesday so the lawyer would only miss two days of work.  We could come home on Saturday afternoon so the pastor and worship leader could be back in time to get focused before Easter Sunday. The plan was set!  I got a great deal on a hotel room using Priceline.com thanks to my brother's help!  My neighbor, Amber (a DC expert) let me borrow lots of kids books, maps, and info about where to go and what to see to prepare for a great trip. 

We had a very smooth trip there. One very cute story:  in the car, Selah did something that Jackson disapproved of, and he said "Selah Reece" in that calling-her-down tone of voice (wonder where he heard that??).  Selah just echoed "Tee-yah Wee".  We couldn't help but laugh.  Later we heard he calling herself down: "Tee-yah Wee".  So cute!

Thursday morning we donned our good walking shoes, strapped the kids in the sit-and-stand stroller we borrowed from Amber (worth its weight in gold!!) and set out to explore.  Our hotel was very close to the Capitol and we walked all the way from there to the White House. 

Although it was a long walk, we enjoyed looking at the buildings and all the cherry trees in full bloom!

Next was the Museum of Natural History (you know...the dinosaurs and stuff).  Jackson was so excited to get there he was literally running from exhibit to exhibit with a big grin on his face.

The bad thing about traveling with kids is that you can't make too many plans.  You really have to wait and see how they're feeling and what they're up for.  It's pretty miserable to take cranky kids to something you thought would be really fun for them.  But the good thing about traveling with kids (especially when you're staying in one hotel room all together) is that it forces you to rest.  When Selah took a nap, we all laid down for some quiet rest time.  Just what we needed after a long day of walking.

Thursday afternoon we took a tour of the Capitol building led by a staffer from Congresswoman Virginia Foxx's office.  It was spectacular and inspiring.  Selah hated it and tested the echo-factor in several of the rooms there with her protests, but we made it through.  Unfortunately I left my camera behind and didn't get any pictures!

Back at the hotel, the kids and I went for a short swim in the hotel pool before getting ready for bed exhausted but happy.

Friday morning we decided to take the Metro to the Lincoln Memorial.  I really wanted Jackson to experience the rail system of a city (and it was quite a learning experience for Jason and I as well!  Our first try, we calculated our total fare for all of us and put it all on one FareCard.  We didn't know we each needed our own card!  oops!)  The Lincoln Memorial was so grand. 

It was almost surreal seeing these famous memorials, buildings, and monuments in person.  The last time I was in DC, I was in 8th grade.  It was really cool going back as an adult now that I can appreciate and respect the significance of it all.  Poor Jason carried our stroller up all those steps to see Honest Abe (I carried Selah). 

We took the elevator down (oh...an elevator...that would have been helpful to know about before).  We walked beside the Reflecting Pool and passed the WWII memorial and Washington Monument to get to the Air and Space Museum.  After getting our fill of airplanes and space shuttles it was time to walk back to the hotel for a rest. 

That night we hit the Museum of American History,

and we were pretty much wiped out.  We decided to take it easy Saturday morning and skip the zoo that we had originally planned to do.  We just packed up and went home.  We had a great trip.  We couldn't have packed much more into two days.  We would love to go back some day and do some things that we didn't get to do this time like tour the White House, go to the top of the Washington Monument, tour more museums, see and IMAX movie, and see the planetarium. 

Easter totally rocked!  Easter is my favorite day in church.  So exciting...so much energy...celebrating Jesus' Resurrection.  For the last 4 weeks we have had acoustic music at our church.  It was so refreshing to be back to our regular rockin' music.  Hopefully our set will be up on R2 Radio soon!  I am so blessed to be able to work with such talented musicians every week. 

Finally, we had a late Easter lunch with my family and sat around talking on the patio enjoying the beautiful weather.  What a great way to end a totally awesome Spring Break/Easter.