So Day 2 of DC. The weather was over cast, but warmer... and not rainy.
the holding of the monument
kind of. hehe.
the capital
you will notice a theme. the kids were fascinated by the Washington Monument.
the white house from below the Washington Monument.
WWII monument
These ducks were insane. We wanted to sit and have snack... we DO NOT feed wildlife. These guys did NOT get that memo. They would jump up and run at us. I seriously try to be nice to wildlife as well, but the mama bear comes out when a duck tries to attack my kid... and what do bears eat... DUCKS... well, probably not, but I definitely kicked pushed them gently back in the water.
The Lincoln Memorial. I was a little sad (and kinda annoyed) that they were renovating and repairing the reflection pool... hmph.
We went to the Vietnam Memorial (see us there?)
see... the Monument.
we wanted to bring some ice cream to the Obama's, but they weren't home...
Alas.
We had thought about hitting the zoo again, or maybe another museum, but we were TIRED. So we went back to the hotel and played at the pool and went to bed. The next day we woke up and left at the crack of dawn to avoid the traffic around DC... which we did very well (we were on the road at 6 am) and decided to book it through back to NC. It was a long drive, but once again the kids (and the moms!) did an AMAZING job. We got to the mountains. Mom and dad took the kids to the garden and on a little walk. I unloaded the car. We slept well! I went out with some old friends while mom and dad took the kids to play putt putt the next night. I ALMOST left the following afternoon, but decided to wait. We left for OUR home the next day.
It was a GREAT vacation. There are things I would do different, but being flexible was the best thing. I appreciate the hotel stays, but I'm glad that the kids got the chance to camp as well! I"m sad we didn't get to NYC, but in retrospect, I think they may have ended up with brain overload.
We have been invited back to Vermont and I TOTALLY would love to go back and take Jerry. The beauty of that place and the hospitality of the Collins' made the whole trip! And really, they should get the credit. Had they not invited us, I'm not sure we would have gone. The fact that my mom and I got along says great things about us!! I would not have been able to go without her help. She is a trooper. She got a cold the second or third day and sucked it up.
I think we'll take some time to recover, but I'm excited to do something like this again.
