FYI I have no idea why this post is underlined, but I cannot undo it ;O)
About two months ago Chad mentioned that he had to go to Washington, DC for work. He suggested that Avery and I join him on the trip so that we could get out of Midland for a bit. Since I am always looking for opportunities to travel I thought joining him in DC was a great idea and even worked it so that I could visit NJ as well. I flew to NJ first on the corporate plane and spent 5 days there before Avery and I boarded a train for DC.
I was a little nervous about the two and a half hour train ride with a 4 month old, especially boarding the train with all our stuff, but luckily Grandma Carolyn was able to help Avery and I get everything on the train. The train ride itself was great until the last twenty minutes. For the first two hours Avery was very excited to look out the window and stare at all the people on the train. Then around 7pm (Avery's bedtime) things went downhill fast. Avery is not one to sleep in my arms, which is normally a great thing because I never have to rock her to sleep. However, in this situation where she was sitting on my lap her only option was to sleep in my arms. Well Avery was not to happy with that option and quickly became overtired. She spent the last twenty minutes screaming her head off until we got off the train and I put her in the stroller. At that point she fell asleep within 3 minutes.
The original plan was for Chad to meet us at the train station since I needed to take the metro to the hotel and then walk 3/4 of a mile to the hotel. Unfortunately, Chad's flight was delayed and it was up to me to get Avery, the stroller and suitcase to the hotel by myself. I managed to push Avery in the stroller with one hand while pulling or carrying the suitcase with the other. It took a little while, but once we got to the hotel I was so proud of myself for getting us there and also exhausted!!
The weather while we were in town was extremely hot (97 degrees) . Since I had never seen the DC monuments the plan was to get out early Tuesday morning to see as much as I could and be inside the museums by 11:00 am. Avery and I left the hotel at 8 am Tuesday morning took the metro downtown and started at the Washington Monument. Avery and I were unable to go inside because they do not allow strollers so we just quickly walked past and headed to the WWII memorial. I really loved the WWII memorial and thought it was very well done and a great tribute to the many men and women who fought to protect our country. Next we continued our walk towards the Lincoln Memorial, but first stopped at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. After visiting the wall Avery and I headed to the Lincoln Memorial. I have heard many times that many people consider this one of the best monuments in Washington and I could not agree more. Perhaps I am biased because I consider Abraham Lincoln one of my favorite Presidents despite the fact that I was not alive during his presidency, but the memorial is just incredible. I could not believe that Lincoln was carved by human hands. The details of his features from his hands to his shoes and even the crease in his pants were incredible. To see him sitting there in his chair it made me wish that I could have been alive when he was president.
After leaving the Lincoln Memorial I realized it was already starting to get very hot so I quickly stopped to see the Korean War Veterans Memorial and headed to the American history museum. Unfortunately, Avery decided she needed to eat so I had to find a bench in a shady area and feed her before we made it to the museum. We got to the American History museum around 11am and I knew it would have to be a short visit as we had 12:45 pm tickets for the Holocaust Museum. Avery and I visited the Americans at War exhibit and then grabbed lunch before heading to the Holocaust museum.
Avery and I spent 3 hours in the Holocaust museum and I could have honestly been there for another hour had I not had a 4 month old baby with me, but I had to rush through the last part of the exhibit because Avery was getting a little fussy. I have to give her credit though because she was very well behaved for the other 3 hours I had her sitting in the stroller while I read all the exhibits. The Holocaust Museum is very moving and hard to comprehend. I am so grateful that Avery that she allowed me to spend those three hours in the museum. As difficult as it is to witness everything that occurred during the Holocaust I feel very compelled to learn as much as I can.
After the museum Avery and I headed back to the hotel to meet up with Chad. Chad and I decided to get seafood for since it is not readily available in Midland. Unfortunately, Avery was not as in the mood for seafood and was quite fussy during dinner. Chad and I ate as quick as we could an headed back to the hotel early.
The next day was supposed to be 98 degrees so I planned for Avery and I to spend the entire day in the Smithsonian Museums. We started off at the American History Museum since we did not get to spend that much time there the day before. We visited the Women of the White House exhibit (dedicated to presidents wives), The Original Star Spangle Banner exhibit, where we saw the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem and we also saw famous items from American pop culture such as Dorothy's red shoes from the Wizard of Oz, Nastia Lukins Leotard from her Olympic Gold medal performance in 2008 and Apolo Anton Ohno's speed skates from the Olympics.
After the American History Museum we spent some time at the Natural History museum. Avery and I visited the dinosaurs, whales and of course the Hope Diamond (the largest diamond in the world). After the Natural History Museum we quickly walked around the Air and Space museum before it was time to head back to the hotel to meet Chad. The plan was to meet up with Chad's cousin Donald for dinner that night, but I decided I would stay back with Avery so that Chad and cousin Donald could enjoy dinner without Avery having another meltdown.
Elephant at the Natural History Museum
The next morning I was scheduled to leave on the 9:30am train. When I woke up I had a voicemail from Amtrak saying that my train had been cancelled. When I called they said I could get on a 8:40 am train. Since it was already 7am Chad and I rushed to finish packing and get Avery ready to head to the train station. We were in the hotel lobby at 7:30 am and all of a sudden we heard a loud crash of thunder and it started pouring so hard that the streets were flooding. We had a little over a half mile walk to the metro and there was no way we could walk in that weather. I have always said I would not get into a cab with Avery without her car seat, but I had no choice. We asked the front desk to get us a cab. We were waiting for 10 minutes for the cab and it was already 7:45 am. I was just about to call Amtrak to get on a later train when the cab pulled up. We hoped in and I held onto Avery tight. All they kept saying on the radio was that it was flooding all over and cars were getting stuck in high water. Luckily we had a safe and uneventful ride to the train station and arrived at 8am. Amtrak was amazing as their red cap service allowed Avery and I to board the train early. Not that it mattered in the end since we were delayed for 30 minutes due to mechanical issues.
Even once we got going the issue were still not resolved. At our first stop we were delayed again and had to wait for the crew to take the last two cars off the train before we could get moving again. Once they took the cars off we were all set, but our train ride wound up be 3 and a 1/2 ours instead of 2. Luckily Avery was pretty good and we arrived in Trenton and Grandma Carolyn was there to help us off the train. We really enjoyed our time in DC and most of all we were so happy we got to see daddy!!!
