My Crazy Week – Part I (Easter & Washington DC)

It must have been a crazy and adventurous week if I have to break it up into “parts”.  I mentioned earlier that we left Richmond mid-afternoon this past Sunday after a wonderful Easter service at church. 

Here are a few pictures of the girls checking out their Easter baskets before church.  I didn’t want to give the girls lots of candy (but everyone needs a chocolate bunny and jelly beans) so in addition to some books and granola bars I put new sunglasses, bracelets, and hair bows in their Easter Baskets. 

 

 

Here is a shot of how cute my girls looked in their Easter dresses after church with their babysitter Sarah and a friend she brought home from school also named Sarah.  Even Bitty Baby got a new dress to wear for Easter. 

 

After we got home we packed our last few items and the car and headed up I-95 to go to DC.  We got up there after a few minor traffic delays around 5PM.  We checked-in to our hotel, got ourselves settled, and then decided we wanted to get some dinner.  We found a restaurant we wanted to go to on-line that was about a mile away from our hotel.  We knew that the walk there would be entirely uphill.  So we opted to introduce the girls to the Metro (Washington DC’s subway system).  Because we were taking the Metro we knew we wouldn’t have to walk very far and decided to leave the stroller behind.  The girls were a little scared when the first train came into the station from the loud noise and the gush of wind that it brought.  When they realized what was going on they were fine and were waving good-bye to it as we waited for our train to arrive.  They really liked riding the Metro during our visit.  Natalie even became a pro at getting on and off the escalator. 

This shot is really from Tuesday afternoon.  Steve was on the escalator beside us balancing the stroller while I had both girls with me.  (How do you like that farmer’s “burn” I got the previous day visiting the zoo.)

 

We caught up with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew at the National Zoo on Monday and enjoyed a hot and crowded day there.  The girls had lots of fun and they got to see the panda bear, the zebras, a tiger, an orangutan, the elephants, and several other animals.  There is lots of construction and remodeling going on at the zoo right now so some of the attractions weren’t completely open and some of the animals have been sent to other zoos while their homes are being remodeled.

Here are a couple of pictures from our day at the zoo:

Trying to pose with the Panda statue

Emma, Ethan, Natalie, & Megan with the Prairie Dog statue

Natalie looking at the map with Aunt Heather and asking what animals can we see next. 

 

A crowd shot with our gang – Aaron is in the blue striped polo, Heather in the black dress, Emma in the blue t-shirt, my dad in the green shirt with a baseball cap, me in the pink shirt pushing the stroller, Megan is in the backseat of the stroller, my mom is behind me in the light colored shirt holding Natalie’s hand.  (Ethan and Steve were missing from the shot).

Playing on a hill during our lunch break.

The only picture I could find of Steve – holding Megan while they look at the tiger.

Exhaustion – she fell asleep in the stroller during the 15 minute walk we had back to the hotel.

 

On Tuesday we got to ride the Metro again (this time with a double stroller) and we headed over to the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  It was a really hot April day in DC (mid 80’s) so we were thankful to be inside with air conditioning.  I think lots of other people had the same idea as us because it was really crowded at the museum as well.  Nonetheless we still had a fun time and got to see some of the exhibits and enjoy our time there. 

The American History Museum has been completely renovated in the last few years and museums have shed the “look but don’t touch” image I remember them having as a kid.  Natalie got to be a scientist in a section they call Sparklab which is an entire interactive area for kids.

Here is Natalie the scientist (they even gave her goggles to wear) doing an experiment dealing with color filtration.

We got to build structures with a model kit – we built a tower around Natalie.  (Megan wouldn’t stay still for us to accomplish this with her.)

Steve and Natalie got to learn and see for themselves how hard it is to balance and hold a windsurfing sail.

On Wednesday we slept in some and then packed ourselves back-up so that we could get back to Richmond before the traffic nightmares got bad on I-95.  We had a great time together and enjoyed Steve being able to take off a few days from work to spend it with all of us. 

Stay tuned for Part II of our crazy week.