A couple of weeks ago we did something huge! A trip to Washington D.C with all the kids. Yes, we flew all four kids across the country. And lived to tell about it.
The boys on the plane- they were awesome! I can't believe how well everyone did. And this was after a four hour, middle of the night drive down to Albuquerque to catch our very early flight.
The girls were also great on the plane. Avika only cried a little bit on the flight there and on the return flight.
Thankfully we had my parents with us on both flights because we brought all this through security. Twice. An umbrella stroller, two unwieldy car seats, three backpacks, four wheelie suitcases, a purse, a diaper bag, and four small children. Did I mention we did this twice? And got all of it on and off a plane. Twice. We are superheroes!
Of course we had to hit some of the Smithsonian museums while in D.C. Our first stop was the Air and Space museum for Isaac. We got to touch a moon rock!
This is out in front of the Museum of Natural History. We were hoping to see dinosaur stuff for Miles, but unfortunately most of the dino exhibits were closed.
We did get to see the rock and gem exhibit, which was amazing! Avika and I are posing in front of the Hope Diamond (behind lots of glass so it does not photograph well.) Avika means diamond in Hindi and the Hope Diamond is from India, too, so we had to get an up close peek at it. This sucker is over 45 carats!
The next day to headed to the White House! Here we are waiting in line for our tour.
This is us in front of the White House after our (very, very brief self guided) tour. The kids were not super impressed, but at least they can now say they've been to the White House! I thought is was awesome, even if I didn't get to share my WH joke with anyone (There haven't been this many Bongs in the White House since the Clinton administration!)
Then we headed back to the mall to see the Lincoln Memorial. This is Isaac and Delia at the bottom of the LM steps with the reflecting pool, Washington Monument and the Capital in the background.
At the top of the Lincoln Memorial. This was so cool! Pictures don't do it justice, I'm so glad we got the chance to see this in person. On the steps on the way down I tried to point out to the kids that this is where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech (they've studied it in school.) I pointed out that in a way our family is the fulfillment of MLK's dream... the kids just wanted to know if they could pet the ducks swimming in the reflecting pool. Maybe in time they'll appreciate all the history they got to see during this trip? We also walked through a sculpture garden for Delia this day and saw a tiny bit of an art museum for my little artist.
The whole reason for this trip was to go to my sister, Emily's, wedding. Delia acted as flower girl with her cousin, Eva. Avika turned left at the bottom of the stairs instead of right and kind of missed her flower girl opportunity.
Here's Aunt Emmy and her new husband, Dana, on their way down the isle. The wedding was beautiful- I am so grateful we were able to be here for this! The ceremony was very touching and thoughtful and the reception was fun- the kids loved dancing and playing with cousins. Don't know why I didn't get a picture of all six of us (it was a major achievement to get us all dressed up.) Emily, you will have to send us wedding picts!
The next day we went to the National Zoo. This was mainly for Avika as she loves all animals. Unfortunately this was a rough day for her (for all of us really) but we did get to see some animals before the long, long, long uphill trek back to the car.
Here she is looking at a cow. We think she said "moo" when she saw it!
In between fits waiting while Miles and Delia rode the carousel...
On our last day in town we went to the best park ever. The kids all said this was their favorite part of the trip (Really? After the White House tour that I set up four months ago? The Lincoln Memorial?) But it really was the most amazing park. If not for the bugs we could have spent days playing here.
All tired out after playing at the best park ever. We had so much fun in D.C. - it really was the trip of a lifetime. And we probably won't go on vacation again for many, many years as I am still trying to recover.
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