D.C. or bust!

Back in November we had the opportunity to visit Carl's sister Thaidra in Washington D.C.

 We rocked it the entire time by hitting up a local park (Clemyjontri Park) which I would fully recommend to anyone visiting the D.C. area with kids.  Mine were in heaven.  It was almost as cool as the heated hotel pool we frequented during our stay.

 We visited the temple at night and were quite remiss to be leaving just a couple weeks before the big Christmas display of lights.

 We toured a handful of museums, the old Post Office with a glass elevator and super tall lookout point, and the kids and Carl did one of those moving movie rides (reminds me of a small version of Star Tours at Disneyland).  And we walked.  A LOT!

Thaidra introduced us to a fabulous crepe place.  It was fantastic! And because parking was such a breeze (right...) we decided to visit the monuments in their evening hours all lit up and less populated.  Staying up so late every night made it fairly easy for the kids to fall asleep although I don't know that they enjoyed sharing a bed.  It was a queen-size bed and every night they ended up on the same pillow.  Carl and I each shared with one of the boys the first night and after 8 hours of knees or heads in our backs decided the boys should share.  Connor woke up the following morning complaining he didn't sleep that well because Tyler's feet were in his back the whole night.  Justice had been served!  

We also made a quick visit to the Arlington National Cemetery.  It was gorgeous, cold, and apparently slippery because Tyler fell down the marble stairs immediately following the ceremony of the changing of the guard and broke his Spiderman sunglasses on his face.  We were grateful to not leave any bloody evidence on the steps!

The kids did marvelously all things considered.  It took 12 hours to drive there and of course 12 to get back but they are excellent travelers.  They struggled with the museums and other historical sites and anytime you ask them what their favorite part of the trip was the answer is always something in relation to the hotel whether it's the pool, the cable, or the smorgasbord breakfast every morning.  They also really loved seeing Aunt Thaidra and would ask frequently when she would get off work so she could come be with us.