Washtington DC Part 1

Matt and I were able to get away for a few days and explore Washington DC. Washington was actually one of the places we wanted to visit before we had kids, but we never made it, and this year seemed like a great time to go. The kids were still way too young to have any interest in tagging along with us, we had gotten our cruise/beach fix the year before, and being pregnant ruled out other fun destinations, so it seemed like the right time to visit our nation's capitol.

We flew out early Friday morning and after traveling by car, plane, bus, train, and hotel shuttle, made it to our hotel Friday afternoon. We checked into our hotel, changed clothes, and headed into the city to explore a little. By the time we made it to DC, we were ready for dinner so we headed to a restaurant I had heard about when researching our trip. It was the perfect first dinner to celebrate our vacation and ended up being our very favorite meal.

After our dinner we headed over to Union Station to check in for a Monuments by Moonlight tour. We had some time to kill before our tour started, so we walked around, looked at the architecture, browsed in some stores (and Matt bought a sweatshirt since he wasn't prepared for the cool weather), and ate ice cream. Matt's rule on vacation is that he has to eat ice cream everyday.

Afterward, we got on the bus for our tour. The weather was not ideal. It was cold and rainy which was a bummer, but our umbrellas and jackets helped a lot, and we still enjoyed the evening. It was neat to see all the iconic monuments in real life.

We drove past the Jefferson memorial but never made it over to it. It was out of the way from all the other attractions.

I was a little disappointed of the monuments at night. It might have been because of the weather, but I thought they were poorly lit (especially the FDR memorial) and it just didn't seem like they were supposed to be seen at night. We had a hard time reading anything and the water fountains were all turned off. It did let us know though that we wanted to come back and see it in the daylight.

Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial. I was excited about seeing it in person, and it didn't disappoint.

I couldn't get over how huge it was. I ended up learning a lot about Lincoln during our trip which was fun.

The stops on our tour were too short to see everything at the memorial, but it was neat to see the statue lit up at night.

We also walked over to see the Korean War Memorial which was appropriate for the weather.

Our last stop was the Marine Corps Memorial, and our bus actually broke down at this stop.

 I wasn't too impressed with our tour guide or the tour in general, and the bus breaking down kind of confirmed it for me. It ended up working out anyway because we were close to a metro station and on the side of town that was closer to our hotel than Union Station anyway. So instead of waiting for another bus to come get us and take us back to Union Station, we just walked a few blocks to the metro station and headed back to our hotel. We were tired from being up early for our flight and were ready for bed. Unfortunately the hotel's free shuttle from the Metro station wasn't running that late at night when we got back. So we walked the mile and a half to our hotel in the rain at 11:00 at night. And you know what, we had a great time! It was a memory I think we'll remember for a long time. I told Matt he had to talk to me the whole way to distract me from being tired, and so we talked about our childhood and our early dating, and we ended up having some fun conversations in the rain.

The next morning we headed back into the city for more exploring. We had planned to visit the Air and Space Museum that morning, but because of some metro stops being closed for the weekend, we changed our plans and went back to the memorials and monuments we had stopped at the night before. This morning ended up being one of my very favorite parts of our trip. Washington DC is a beautiful city. It's clean and well landscaped with lots of famous things to see. I just enjoyed walking around the parks and enjoying the city. And the weather was beautiful. It was crisp and cool from the rain the day before but still sunny. It was a great morning, and we walked A LOT!

We ended up seeing the Vietnam Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the MLK Jr Memorial, the DC War Memorial and the WWII Memorial all before lunch. So much history, and so much beauty- it was a wonderful morning.

After the monuments, we were ready for lunch, so we stopped and grabbed sandwiches at a food truck and headed to the Air and Space Museum.

I sort of puttered out at this museum. I wasn't super interested in it, and I was tired from walking and exploring all morning.

When I saw they had an Imax theater, I mentioned to Matt that it would be nice to sit down for a bit, so we bought tickets for a space show about space travel and research into traveling to Mars. It was about 2:00 when the show started and the first time we had sat down all day, and I knew as soon as I sat down that we had paid $18 for me to nap for 45 minutes. Ha! That's just what I did. I think Matt enjoyed the show, and my little nap gave me a second wind for the afternoon.

Matt took pictures of lots of things in the museum, and I don't even remember what they are! He said he was a little disappointed in it because he's really just interested in the aircraft stuff and the museum seemed to have a lot more space exhibits than aircraft.

After the Air and Space museum, we stopped at the food trucks for a snack and then headed to the Smithsonian Visitor's Center. This was a quick stop, because there wasn't much to see, but the building was cool.

Then we headed across the stress to the Natural History Museum. This museum was not on my must see list. We visited the Natural History Museum in NYC several years ago, and I wasn't super impressed or interested in the exhibits. But we had about an hour or so before it closed, so we browsed quickly. They did have some fun exhibits.

We saw the hope diamond and the exhibit on crystals and precious gems and stones was probably my favorite part.

After the museum closed at 5:30, we headed across town for dinner. I had heard about a good Mexican restaurant, and it was okay, but Oklahoma does Mexican food better in my opinion. We were worn out from such a long day of walking. On our way back to our hotel we stopped along the Metro for dessert. Matt had actually already gotten ice cream for his snack, but it was cheap, not very good food truck soft serve, so I searched for a better ice cream experience and we found it! It was right off the metro, and it was delicious. They had wonderful cookies too, so I got an ice cream sandwich and Matt got a shake, and it was the perfect way to end our first full day in DC!

We made it back to our hotel at 8:00 and went straight to lie down in bed. We were pooped and our feet were SO tired from a fun day!

Nathan's 6th Birthday

We had a fun weekend celebrating Nathan's big sixth birthday! His birthday was on Friday, and we made a special day of it. He requested chocolate chip pancakes with sprinkles for breakfast.

Our whole family met him for lunch at school and he got to bring birthday cupcakes as a treat for his class.

That evening we had pizza for dinner with Granny and Grandaddy, and he got to open his presents from us and the ones he received in the mail from other family members.

He got Legos and birthday money (to buy more legos with). He couldn't have been more thrilled.

As soon as he finished opening his presents, he got to work building.

Saturday after an early soccer game we got busy getting ready for his party. He spent all year trying to decide what to do for a party. He wanted one at a bounce house for awhile, then he changed his mind and wanted a roller skating party, and at times he chose to have it at a children's museum, but after Samuel's party, he changed his mind all together and decided he wanted to have it at home. I was a little intimidated because most kids his age have parties at other fun places, and I didn't know if we could keep  lots of six year olds entertained at our house, but we came up with some fun ideas and it ended up being a great party.

I love this big six year old so much. Life with him gets more fun every year!

Of course he wanted a Lego party, so for decorations we set out all his Lego sets (and some of Daddy's too that Nathan built)

I made a couple of banners and let him do the rest of the decorating. I hung up the banner when he was gone one evening, and he was so excited and grateful when he saw it. I love that sweet boy.

We served some fun snacks. My goal was to please six year olds, so it made the menu much easier to prepare. Ha!

I did make a few special treats- Mini figure marshmallow pops

And Lego gummies. Then we just had fruit, cheese and crackers, and chips

And cupcakes of course!

Matt and Nathan had fun decorating the snack table with Legos

Nathan worked hard all morning finishing the Lego set that he opened the night before so he could display it for the party. I can't get over how fast he can build those sets.

We started the party outside playing. Nathan chose about seven kids from his class to invite and about the same amount of church and family friends too. We had a crowd of little kids, and I loved it! I'm grateful for the sweet friends he has.

When all the guests arrived, we started with some party games. Nathan and I worked together (with the help of Pinterest) to come up with some fun Lego games. We had a Lego spoon relay race first.

And afterward had a Pinata. After Samuel's birthday, Nathan asked for one- only he didn't want a pull string one, he wanted one that he got to hit.

Everyone took a turn, and then we let Nathan have at it to break it open completely.

After the Pinata, we came inside for a drink break and to play another game. Matt built a Lego cube with a trophy inside, and the kids took turns passing it around trying to get to the trophy inside.

It ended up being more challenging than we were expecting, but the kids had fun

And Makinley won the prize.

We had one other game where the kids got to guess the number of Legos in a jar for a prize.

After the games we sang to the birthday boy and ate snacks

And then Nathan's favorite part- presents!! I kept asking him what he wanted for his birthday, and his only response was always LEGOS. One time I said, "Nathan, so you want every present you get for your birthday to be Legos?" and his response was like "Duh, mom of course that's what I want." He ended up getting a lot of Legos, so he was thrilled along with a few other really fun things too.

I think including the gifts from Friday night he ended up with about ten new Lego sets and enough birthday money and gift cards to order another huge set, and he had them all built within about four days. That boy is obsessed with Legos!

He had a great time. I'll admit that the number of kids at his party had me a little frazzled. It was definitely more wild than past parties, but it was sure fun, and the birthday boy was pleased, so I was too! I treasure the opportunities to celebrate my kids on their birthdays. They are my greatest gifts.