Washington D.C. Trip

I am waaaaay behind in my blogging. We went on our trip to Washington D.C. two months ago and I still haven't posted on it. Oops.

Well, it's time to catch up.

What an adventure!

I had many sleepless nights when I thought about a long plane ride with Peter. It turns out that I had every reason to be worried! Plane trips with an active toddler are NOT an easy thing. Yikes. I don't think we'll go on another trip until Jonathan is at least a year old.

My Dad very generously and thoughtfully treated us to this trip. My brother, Nephi and his family (wife, Shandie, and daughters Maddie and Mckinlie), and my brother Sean joined us. In addition to my Dad and his wife, Rhonda, my step-brother Caleb, my step-brother Dillon, and my step-sister Kellie and their families joined us too. It was quite the exodus!

Wednesday, August 25th:

If I had been in charge of booking the flights, I would have chosen much different times to go along with Peter's nap schedule. Our flight out didn't leave until 2:45 p.m. (right in the middle of my son's usual afternoon nap time). Plus, only about five minutes after we got through security and sat down to wait to board our flight, Peter tripped on Jeremiah's shoe, bashed his face into a window, and got a cut on his tongue. He started bleeding like crazy and Jeremiah had to take him to the bathroom. Poor little guy. Luckily, the bleeding stopped pretty quickly and he seemed to be in pretty good spirits. But I thought "I sure hope the whole trip isn't going to be like this!" Jeremiah had blood on his shirt for the rest of the day (I was able to get the stain out, thank you).



Peter fell asleep on the flight to Denver where we had a layover. That was good news and bad news. Good news because Peter really needed a nap...bad news because then he was wide awake and overly active for the longer...and more painful flight to D.C. We also had an empty seat next to us on the way to Denver. Good news because it gave Peter more space to play and he felt less cooped up, bad news because none of the other flights had free seats and we were all taunted by the loss of freedom we had on that first flight! But bless the heart of the girl we sat next to on the flight to D.C. She was so sweet to Peter and he loved her. It made that flight a lot easier than it could have been.

We didn't arrive in Washington D.C. until well after 10:30 p.m. and we didn't get booked into our hotel rooms until close to midnight (east coast time). And don't even get me started on the stupid luggage vs. carry-on airline polices. It cost us $90 to check our bag on the trip out. On the way home, we divided it into two separate bags (to make two bags lighter than 50 lbs. rather than one bag heavier than 50 lbs.) and it only cost us $21! How dumb is that?

It was indeed a very long day.

Thursday, August 26th:



The next morning, we left early to see our nation's capitol. It is a beautiful building and it was great to have the opportunity to see it in person. But I'll tell ya, Peter wasn't that interested! Jeremiah (who had been to D.C. before) spent the entire tour chasing Peter around. He didn't hear a word that our tour guide said (mostly because Peter broke his headset before we even started the tour!).



After the tour, we thought we would try and go back to our hotel to get Peter a nap. The problem was that Peter fell asleep in Jeremiah's arms on the trek back (it was a 45 minute trip back to our hotel...and yup, we forgot our stroller at the hotel that day). We debated on whether it would be better to let Peter nap in the shade under a tree or try and get him to sleep back at the hotel. We opted to try for the hotel since we had accidentally left our sunscreen at the hotel (I didn't want to chance Peter getting a sunburn). Peter slept until the metro stop just before our hotel...and then he was wide awake and energetic. We went back to the hotel hoping that he would fall asleep again...but no such luck. Well, at least we were able to get our stroller!

Oh, and by the way, my hair looked awful this day because we didn't know what time we were supposed to leave for the capitol and my Dad called us and asked us if we were ready to go...and we were all still in our pajamas! Lucky day! I opted to just put my hair up the rest of the trip to save time and hassle. I'm so glad I packed my blow drier and curling iron!

We went back out to do some sight-seeing when it became apparent that Peter wasn't going to take another nap. We met up with our family at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Peter had a blast. He loved the museum. He is really big into planes right now. And the best part? He was finally nice to his Grandpa! He had always been so cranky around my Dad. I think this trip is what finally turned that around.





Above: The same goes for my brother, Sean. Pete is a lot nicer to him now too! He just needed some quality time to get to know him!





Next, we decided to visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We went with Nephi, Shandie, Maddie, Mckinlie, and Sean. Peter LOVED it. Especially since there is a massive stuffed elephant right when you enter the museum. Peter LOVES elephants these days (he calls them "elbas" or "elebas").



Peter also loved the dinosaur section of the museum. Besides that, Peter just loves his cousins. He had a great time playing with Maddie and climbing into the stroller right next to Mckinlie.







After the natural history museum, we opted to go back to our hotel and relax a little. We got a nice view of the sunset and the Washington Memorial on our way.



Friday, August 27th:

The next day, my family decided to do a bus tour of some of the major sights in D.C. (they saw the Jefferson Memorial, Mt. Vernon, and Arlington). We opted not to go since their bus was leaving at 8 a.m. (eastern time) and Peter was still on mountain time. That meant that we would have had to get up at 5 a.m. mountain time to be ready for the bus tour. I wasn't ready for that kind of abuse from Peter! Instead, we took it easy that morning and then went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Peter was pretty antsy. He liked the automobile section of the museum, but that was about it! So, we got some lunch at the museum (yummy) and then went outside to visit some monuments.



Above: I think Peter's expression pretty much sums up how he felt about the American history museum. And he loves Kermit too!

On our way to the Lincoln Memorial, Peter fell asleep, so we found a grove of trees on The Mall (with a lovely view of the Washington Memorial) and let him sleep in the shade for about an hour.





Then, we went on to the Lincoln Memorial.



Above: Look at that cute bed-head!









After the Lincoln Memorial, we walked to the Jefferson Memorial.



It was a LOT of walking for us (Peter was sitting pretty in his stroller and had energy to spare!). But it was good that we did a lot of walking because I didn't gain any weight on the trip even though we ate way too much high calorie food. But it was bad because our feet were in serious pain!

Both monuments were beautiful and inspiring. We didn't stay too long at either of them because Peter was ready to be off on new adventures.

We decided to go back to the natural history museum because Peter had loved it so much the day before (and we hadn't gotten to see all of it). However, our feet were killing us and we physically couldn't handle chasing Peter around the museum. Though Peter did have some fun adventures hamming it up for a really nice lady sitting on the other side of a glass window. He kept spinning around and running around in circles and saying "hi" to her and then laughing and laughing. My cheeks hurt so hard from laughing afterward. He is such a cutie! So, we then left the museum and went back to our hotel to relax a little. After taking it easy for awhile, we took a long walk trying to find a Chipotle restaurant to have dinner at (it was only supposed to be a few blocks away, but the location eluded us and we never did find it). Instead, we ate at a McDonald's right around the corner from our hotel.

Saturday, August 28th:

My Dad is very patriotic. One of the main reasons that he treated our family to this trip was to instill within us a sense of pride for our great country. He also did it so that we could attend a Glenn Beck rally being held on The Mall. My Dad, Nephi, Sean, and Rhonda headed out early to get a good spot by the Lincoln Memorial (the rally was being broadcast from the Lincoln Memorial), but again, they left a little too early for us (it would have been another 5 a.m. mountain time wake up call).

We opted to meet up with them later. Shandie decided to join Jeremiah, Peter, and me on our later departure time. The metro was packed with rally supporters. It was ridiculous. As a result, it took us a lot longer to get to The Mall than we had anticipated. Once we got there, it was packed full of people (I think the final estimate I heard was that anywhere between 300,000 and 500,000 people were in attendance!). It took forever to get up to the Lincoln Memorial (but thanks to Shandie, who is fantastic at blazing her way through crowds, we made it as close as we could). We seriously got as close as being able to simply cross the street and being at the Lincoln Memorial, but at that point, the security guards had blocked it off and weren't allowing any more people to go there.

So, we decided to find a place at the Korean War Memorial to listen to the rally. We found a nice place in the shade to the side of the Lincoln Memorial. The problem? We couldn't hear one thing. They only pointed the speakers straight out in front of the Lincoln Memorial, so anyone on the sides couldn't hear anything.

So, we decided to trek back out into the sun to find a place to listen to the rally. The problem? It was too unbearably hot for the kids (it was too hot for the adults too!).



By that point, the rally was nearly half over, so we decided that it would be better to keep moving. If we stayed put, the sun beat down on us relentlessly. But if we moved around, the heat was much more bearable...plus, we could still hear the rally. So, we headed back towards the Smithsonian museums and ended up walking in that direction for the remainder of the rally. Pete fell asleep and remained asleep for the entire walk back. The ironic part? We could hear the rally much better at the World War II Memorial (which had to be a mile away) than we could at the Korean War Memorial (which was probably only about 100 yards away).

From what I heard of the rally, it was good. It was about holding to your values and standing up for what you believe in. Great messages. They also had some inspiring music as well.

After the rally, we went back to the American history museum for lunch. After lunch, we met up with Dad, Rhonda, Nephi, and Sean again. They went into the American history museum for lunch and we went on to the natural history museum again. Seriously, Peter couldn't get enough of that place!





After the natural history museum, we all split up again. Nearly everyone else went to the National Archives, but I didn't think Peter would be too interested in that. So, we went back to the Air and Space Museum (Peter caught another quick nap before we went in).



Peter had a lot of fun there. One funny side-note is that I had brought a butter knife from the hotel to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the rally. I forgot about the knife and the security guards made a huge fuss over it at the Air and Space Museum. They kept the knife and I felt bad that the hotel lost it in the process. But it's a good thing that they were able to confiscate such a dangerous weapon and avoid the ensuing conflicts that would surely have arisen from my hidden butter knife!

Sunday, August 29th:

We slept in and took it easy on Sunday morning. We were debating what to do that day. Our flight left at 6 p.m. and the shuttle was picking us up around 3 p.m. to take us to the airport. But our check-out time was noon. We finally opted to leave our luggage with the front desk at the hotel and go to the Smithsonian Zoo. It took us way too long to decide what to do this day though, so we got a really late start. We got off the metro at the zoo stop and got lunch at McDonald's really fast (our revelation: Peter hates happy meal hamburgers, but he LOVES grown up hamburgers and he ate a ton of Jeremiah's hamburger in the process).





It was a super hot day and we were probably only at the zoo for about 30-40 minutes when Peter fell asleep. So, we let him sleep in the shade and then it was basically time to go back to the hotel to catch our shuttle. At least he saw a few animals while we were there before he fell asleep! He slept until we got onto the metro.



I got harassed in the airport in D.C. because it turned out that I had let my license expire! I had thought that it was renewed for five years when I went in to change my last name after I got married three years ago, but apparently, they only consider that a duplicate license, not a renewal. The security guard lady gave me a nice little lecture about my expired license. Once we reached the second part of security, the guards gave me a pat down! Yeah, double-check the pregnant lady carrying a toddler! She's a risk to the airport!

The flight home was super painful because Peter didn't really want to sleep. He spilled a whole cup of Ginger Ale all over Jeremiah's lap. I was so worried that he was going to spill the red wine that the guy next to us was drinking. He came really close a few times! The flight attendants parked their drink cart right on our aisle and it drove Peter crazy (crazy with curiosity and crazy with claustrophobia because he couldn't get out). Peter fell asleep for about an hour in the middle of the flight and I burst into silent tears while both he and Jeremiah slept because of the stress of it all! Once Peter woke up, he was energetic and fidgety again. Plus, he had a leaky diaper on my lap. There was no place to change it on the plane but on our laps, so we changed his diaper right there.

Peter got a nice breather on the layover in Denver and he was in much better spirits on the final flight home. Plus, we were finally able to convince the girl who should have had the seat next to us to trade with my brother, Sean. Seriously, why hadn't Sean's seat been booked next to us for all of the flights!? That would have made more sense! Peter fell asleep shortly after take-off (poor little guy, it had been a really long day) and slept until we started to land. Then, he was a super sad and cranky little guy until we picked up our baggage and went outside. There, my mom's husband, Niel, was there to pick us up.

We finally got home around midnight. We had to do our night-time ritual with Peter (scriptures, stories, prayer, and song) to get him to go to sleep, but then he went to sleep and gratefully and luckily for us, he slept in the next morning so we were all able to do a little catch up!

And there's our travel adventure to Washington D.C. No wonder I kept dragging my feet about writing this. This is way too long. I won't be going on another trip like that for awhile (at least by my choice). But, it was still a great experience and I was so grateful to my Dad for doing that for us. It was so generous of him and we really did have a great time.