Washington, D.C.

After an early church service, we said goodbye to Mom, Dad, and the girls, and headed out to see Memorials with Kevin and Kristen's family, plus Eric and Rebecca.  The kids were so excited to see the monuments they read about.  To earn money for souvenirs, we had them research and do write ups and booklets about different people and parts of US History.  They chose Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln, and others.

First up was the Vietnam War Memorial.

Kevin pencil sketched out a name for this vet.  The man spoke to us about his experiences with visible emotion, mourning the loss of his friends.

Kate was so excited to see the Lincoln Memorial, she almost cried at the Vietnam War Memorial, thinking we might somehow miss it.  I remember this memorial the most vividly of all the things we saw in our many trips to D.C. as kids.

On this trip, we have quite a few pictures of our family without Owen.  In this case, it was because he was in the stroller and the elevator seemed like too much hassle, so he is down with Eric and Rebecca.

Ah, there he is.  We were lucky to catch an overcast and cooler day for the monuments.  Natalie and Steve got to D.C. a few days before the rest of the family and spent their afternoons walking in 95 degree temperatures.

Zachary saw a tourist doing this pose and of course needed his own picture.

Korean War Veterans Memorial.  I loved this, with the 19 soldiers climbing through juniper bushes and granite to represent the terrain of Korea.

My kids were fascinated with the squirrels the same way Kauai visitors are enamored by the chickens.

"Here We Mark the Price of Freedom.  Here We Remember."  The World War II Memorial was beautiful and fitting.  16 million members of the US Armed Forces served and 405,399 Americans died.  This memorial is new since the last time I visited.  Granite pillars represent each state and territory, with quotes dispersed throughout.  We loved looking for Hawaii and reading the quotes.

The kids picked out this Pearl Harbor quote.

I remember going up the elevator to the Washington Monument every time we came as kids, but it is closed until 2019 so we captured views rather than walking to it with our huge party of little kids.

The other days we were in D.C., we used the metro.  However, on the first day, Kevin and Kristen left for Florida straight from the city.  We parked in a 3-hour zone, so that meant pictures from far off of the Jefferson Memorial as well, since we did not have time to take our crew to the memorial.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial was dedicated in August 2011.  From the mountain of despair, he is on a stone of hope.  This is taken from a line in his speech, "With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope."  We approached the memorial from behind and were startled to realize it's symbolism.  This memorial is in line with the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials to symbolize three important moments for civil rights in our nation's history: "all men are created equal," freeing the slaves, and a push for equal liberties and rights.  I loved it.  I love that my kids knew so much about him from their research and also what they have studied in school.

My favorite engraved quote at Washington D.C.  The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial was a quick and meaningful stop.

Bread lines.

"...any oppression, any injustice, and hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization."

"I HATE WAR"

A big part of Zachary's afternoon was finally, finally, finally pulling out the tooth that has been jammed behind his permanent tooth.  I told him he was coming down to the final months to get it out himself, and then the dentist was going to yank it.  As a result, he had his hands in his mouth all day and finally pulled it.  That $2 from the tooth fairy saved us $100 next month.

We walked at least 7 miles at this point, but Zachary insisted on training for his upcoming Hanalei race by running with Brady to get the car before we hit our 3-hour time limit.

Next stop, Arlington National Cemetery.  Kevin claims that we have all been here before.  I do not remember.  That does not mean I haven't been there, although by my calculations, I was last at D.C. around the time I was 15 years old.  During the Civil War, the War Department set aside 200 acres to use as cemetery.  Those buried here are recognized for their service to our country.  More than 400,000 active duty military, veterans and family members are buried here.

"Honor.  Remember.  Explore."

We witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  It was solemn and I loved watching my kids respond appropriately to the events with their careful body language and silence.  In 1921, Congress decided to bury an unidentified soldier from WWI.  "Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God" is inscribed on the marble sarcophagus placed on top of the grave.  Three more crypts are near the sarcophagus, containing remains of the unknowns from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.  Interestingly, the Vietnam unknown was exhumed and identified in 1998.  The crypt is now empty.

We loved the uniformity of the grave markers.  Kevin pointed out that he was disappointed the cemetery had any distinguished gravestones, and I can understand his point of view.  Service men and women respected for their sacrifices without any designation of rank or money is nicer than when you start to see the huge and elaborate slabs.

While we explored, I loved listening to Kevin talk extensively about the space program.

Mixed in with the non-uniform markers were two headstones that cracked us up.  "Clark" next to "Edwards."  We took a picture and sent it to our friends the Clarks.  Their name is often combined with ours by other friends, calling us the Clarkwards.  We are going to be buried next to each other.

Kevin pushed around two gigantic kids in this stroller.

We parted ways with Kevin and Kristen who started driving back to Florida, and then took Eric and Rebecca to Cheesecake Factory.  Zachary loved this place so much, he begged to go again--every meal of the trip.  I think this place is so overrated but it was my favorite meal of the trip, enjoying time together and getting to know Rebecca better.

Owen thought he was going to die of hunger before we were sat, and ate half a bag of craisins.

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa Nufer at the hotel later that night.  Grandpa wrestled with Zac, and watching my very strong 9-year-old playing with my less strong 85-year-old grandfather was a little stressful, as well as meaningful and a memory I will treasure.  Grandma and Grandpa had many suggestions for our trip into the city the next day, and debated if our kids could handle the art museum and capitol building.  Grandpa cried talking about our justice system and his love for our government (although not our current leader).  He spent his life devoted to teaching political science.

Our kids finally tucked into bed that night and we caught them snuggling.  Last vacation, they stole covers and bugged each other, but this trip they were close every night.  See the time on the clock?  Our bodies took ages to get on the east coast schedule.  This was 30 min after they went to bed.

The next morning, we took off on the Metro for D.C. with Eric and Rebecca.  Public transportation has its ups and downs for sure.  The way in was fine, but the way back took ages because of a medical emergency.

We hoped to get tickets for the Holocaust Museum but they were out for the day.  May is the busiest time of the year for D.C.  We were able to see a few exhibits inside.

This made us think.

Eric and Rebecca wanted to see the National Archives, so we parted ways and said goodbye.

We walked to the White House and sat on a bench to eat lunch with views of the Washington Monument.

The kids liked watching for security officers.  They were impressed with all their "gear."

The national Christmas tree:

One guidebook said to check out the visitor's center for the White House and have the kids do the Junior Ranger program.  Retrospectively (and even then), I would have spent much more time in museums and less time here, but the kids loved the hunt for interesting facts and earning their badges.

Kate saw this building and said, "Mom!  Does Trump live here?  I thought he lived in the White House?  We don't like him, right?"  It was a good conversation starter about supporting our government even when we do not agree with things that our leaders do.  I want my kids to have national pride, and I want them to be involved politically.  I don't want them to be cynics and so critical that they underestimate the power and good of our democracy.

Next up, the National Archives.  Holy crowded!  It was so much different than I remembered from visiting as a kid, but when I looked it up, I think my memory is incorrect.  I do think we enter the building differently, etc.  Seeing the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence is a must and I loved Zachary getting excited to read the words he memorized and looking for John Hancock's signature.  We were there with what felt like thousands of others, and I was surprised by the pushing and shoving, but okay.  I'm a small town girl now.

We had one hour left before museum closings, and Owen was done being trapped in a stroller.  Brady came to D.C. a couple years ago and knew I would love the art museum, so he sent me inside with Zachary and Kate.  I was so pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed it.  We picked up a brochure and made a treasure hunt of finding the highlighted pieces.  The kids also selected their favorite piece to recreate on hotel stationary later that night.  The kids and I were disappointed by how fast an hour passes.

Kate's favorite piece:

Zachary's favorite:

They freaked out with this one, asking if their cousin Allison Nufer posed for it!

Meanwhile, this little monkey ran circles in the lobby:

I spent the trip wishing things in D.C. were open later and things at Disney World were closed earlier.  Ha!  We meandered around the sculptures and bought shockingly expensive soft serve.

While we were disappointed to have the day end so quickly, the down time turned into my favorite night of our vacation.  Even though we walked 9.27 miles that day, Zachary wanted to run races on the lawn between monuments.  We sat down, played, laughed, attempted a family picture, and raced for a solid hour before heading back to the Metro.

This photo finish was carefully analyzed all the way back to the hotel.

That wedding gave Kate funny ideas about photos and she kept asking us to cheer and kiss.

The looooonnnnnnnggggg Metro ride back.  We were starving and exhausted.  I fell asleep on a metal bar.  After exiting after 9pm, we ate at a Thai restaurant that looked promising, but the best thing we can say about it was that it did not make us ill.

Washington, D.C. Day 3: Another failed attempt to score special exhibit tickets to the Holocaust Museum.  I will get there someday.  Instead, we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to check out gigantic diamonds and real mummies.

Zac's comment at seeing the 45.52 carat Hope Diamond, insured at a mere $250,000,000:  "I thought you said it was big.  That thing looks so small!"  The kids were excited to learn why the diamond might be cursed.

Zachary has always loved crystals.  He was way more impressed with these than the small diamond.

Kate said we should definitely get a picture with the sea turtle.

My favorite part: seeing a mummy!  The child mummy was a little creepy but this one was fascinating.  Kate insisted on checking it out, too, and although we were a little nervous about nightmares, she was unfazed.  (Update: she had her first nightmare about mummies the night after I wrote this post.)

There was a special exhibit featuring exceptionally beautiful nature photography.

Somewhere in this room, we lost Owen's baby blanket.  What a dumb idea to pack it on this trip!  We lost a collection of things on this vacation: our neck pillow, the blanket, Owen's shoes, Kate's hat, and probably a bunch more.  When you stay at 4 different locations and you have a baby unloading things from the stroller, well, it happens.  At least we fared better than last trip when we lost an iPad.

Another charming lunch in D.C. 

Next up, the Butterfly Exhibit.  We had to plan carefully to get tickets to this exhibit, and it was worth the extra security lines and coming early.

Kate was petrified.  She did not want a butterfly landing anywhere near her.  Ironically, she used the rest of her vacation funds to buy the new Cinderella dress with butterflies pinned all over it.

"Mom, can that lion still hurt me?"

We jumped over to the Air and Space Museum to see "Apollo to the Moon," "Pioneers of Flight," and "Cold War Aviation."  It was fun to see the Lunar Module, a Wright Glider reproduction, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

"How do they go to the bathroom in space?"

Real astronaut suit.

We cooked it back to the IMAX theater to see an interesting movie about the early explorations of the Amazon.  IMAX shows were something my parents always prioritized in D.C.

This was another favorite moment: watching Zachary play hard with his $2 gift shop dinosaur.  I love catching him in moments of innocence and play, since he seems so much more grown up to me now.

A final metro trip and stop at Chipotle, and we were back at the hotel for our last night in our giant, two bedroom suite.  I think that hotel and the hotel's hot breakfast and free laundry have ruined us for all other hotels.  The kids mourned our last free-for-all fruit, waffles, orange juice and a hundred other options.

Wednesday morning, we packed our bags in the car and headed off to the zoo on the way to the airport.  We ended up with only 2 hours there, but we all enjoyed it.  I have a love/hate relationship with zoos.  I love seeing the animals and I love my kids getting so excited, but I see these field trips full of crazy, obnoxious kids screaming at the animals and I want to cry for them.  Them, the teachers and them, the animals.

I swear our lizards are about this size in our new house:

Washington D.C. reminds me of home--and of Seattle.  Trees everywhere.

A gator.  We knew most of our time in Florida would be at Disney World so we snapped a cheater pic just in case we missed the real thing in the wild.

Kate:  "I like to look at them but the elephants smell bad."

I was most excited to see the pandas, but they closed down the panda exhibit because she's trying to get pregnant.  Pandas in the wild are only fertile for 24-36 hours PER YEAR, and a team of scientists were there to assist if needed (and they will do insemination if the natural processes don't take).  I think my fertility window must be similar to a panda's.  Tigers, lions and elephants were good enough to get over the pandas.

Getting to the airport, even with plenty of time, was a hassle and full of stress--including the disaster trying to find the car rental return and getting stuck at one traffic light for almost 30 minutes.  Getting to Florida was easy but getting out of the airport also took 2 hours and reminded us that bigger airlines like Delta are our favorite, and same goes for rental car agencies.  Oh well.  After a quick stop at Walmart, a few desperate moments searching for change in our car to pay a $0.50 toll (we had plenty of dollar bills but no quarters!), a quick stop introducing our kids to Frosties, and a long drive to Kevin and Kristen's, we finally pulled in well after 10pm.  We were laughing because we thought Wednesday would be the most relaxed of our vacation days, but that is travel for you.

Goodbye, D.C.  Until next time.