Washington D.C. Day Five

Well, I'm not really sure what to say about today.  I suppose that all the stresses of the week came to a head this morning.  One of the kids had a terrifically huge meltdown about THE WRONG PANTS.  I'm not going to say who or give you all the details but it was huge and lasted for at least an hour.  About the same time Will had a couple of his own meltdowns and by the time the big one ended Will had punched the computer and was sobbing uncontrollably.  Will and I are very similar and the combination of no time alone this week, losing his place as the oldest (temporarily), and the stress of the discipline issues/meltdowns have all taken their toll on him. 

We had planned to take the kids to a huge playground and then visit my grandmother and cousins this afternoon.  But we were worried about a possible public meltdown and the huge one this morning left me utterly drained.  After things had calmed down somewhat James took three of the boys out for a walk around the neighborhood.  Will finally stopped sobbing and took a long hot shower while listening to an audio book.  While he did, I lay down on the bed and cried.  Afterwards Will and I both felt better and by the time James came home we were able to come downstairs.  

While James was out walking he came across a small playground two blocks from our house.  A local daycare had walked over too and the place was packed with small children.  Colin has always been great with little kids, even when he was little himself, and he was adored by every child there.  They chased him around and around the playground and when he stopped he was enveloped in a huge hug.  When they left the daycare workers hinted that they would be there again this afternoon if we wanted to come back.  They really loved Colin!

Elisa made a wonderful pancake breakfast/lunch and David and I played cribbage while we ate.  After lunch it was nap time and Colin, Charlie and I all slept.  I think the afternoon off was beneficial for all the boys, and for me too!  

Papa, Daniel, David, Joe and Elisa left to visit Grammie and our cousins.  Jacob is still sick and in a lot of pain so he stayed home and Mom had a bad headache so she was home as well.  The boys were doing well after their nap so James went out to visit Bob.  I took the boys back out to the playground although it was too late to meet the daycare kids.  The boys did meet a pair of girls though and played nicely with them for about an hour.  

My sick brother

After that it was dinner, school and a movie before bed.  Everything was great until bedtime when we had another meltdown.  This one was much smaller though and it only took about half an hour for the child in question to finish his time out.

Mom brought her little sewing machine and has been working on a quilt.

I love the colors of this quilt!

I am somewhat disappointed that we weren't able to do anything on our last day here but I think it was necessary for us to take a day off.  I was feeling bad about some of the things that had gone wrong on the trip, (children melting down, Jacob being sick, even the difficulty we had finding parking) but tonight my family all gave me a card thanking me for the work I had done putting our vacation together.  It meant so much to me.  It not only turned my day around but changed how I was feeling about our whole trip.  I have a really wonderful family!

The rest of the night I spent playing games with Daniel and with Elisa.  We were up way too late but it was a lot of fun.  I am very blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people who are friends and a support as well as family.  I love them all so much!

Tomorrow we have an early start and a very long drive so it is time for bed.  I hope that we have an uneventful trip!

Washington D.C. Day Four - Zoo

This morning was a little bit rough for me.  I have not been getting enough sleep on this trip and we have had some kid related stress.  Part of it is adjusting to a new member of the family and part of it is logistical.  Our house is great but it is not particularly sound proof.  This is mostly a problem in the morning since everyone in my family sleeps in, my kids wake up early and full of energy, and the only place for us to be is in the living room in the middle of the house.  We don't travel often with my family and traveling with small children has its own particular demands so I have been worried that my extended family is being inconvenienced by my immediate family.  Those worries plus the lack of sleep meant that I woke this morning on the edge emotionally and it only got worse from there.  

I was already close to tears when James woke up and took me most of the morning to relax and for us to start working as a team.  Between traveling with our kids and family and the fact that James has been going to sleep early we have not had any time alone which starts to wear on us.  But despite all that we made it to the zoo this morning and had a really nice day.

Jon's Lego helicopter.  The boys have been playing Legos and reading when we are at the house.

Jon's picture of his Helicopter

The National Zoo is wonderful and big enough that we were only able to see about half of it.  We ended up parking on opposite ends from my family and had to walk uphill through the whole zoo to meet them.  David was incredible and carried Charlie on his shoulders the whole way.  He is such a great uncle!  Our first stop was the pandas and the elephants which were both very active today.  The kids were thrilled and endlessly entertained by a male elephant relieving himself, it might have been the highlight of their day.  

Colin was captivated by the Otters

And they were really cute!  There was a great family of otters there.

 We traveled through the Asia trail and one of my favorite exhibits was a family of playful otters.  When we stopped for a bathroom break Jon saw a stuffed panda bear in a gift shop.  "My Poly (stuffed animal polar bears) family needs to adopt him!"  He was so sweet about it that I let him but the Panda who turned out to be a baby girl that he named "Fluffy Pandy".  He carried her around in his sweatshirt the rest of the day.  

Jon and his new Panda are excited about a giant egg

Colin shows off a skeleton

My handsome brother Daniel at the zoo

We only traveled with my family for a little bit, for most of the day we split up but David stayed with us.  It was really great to spend time with him!  We went to the bird house which was cool and then the great ape house.  We were hungry and tired by this time so we stopped for lunch before heading to the reptile house.  Charlie really liked this one and looked closely at all the exhibits.  He was one orange snake in a tree that he called an "Orangutan Snake" which was pretty cute.  Colin was having fun too and took a lot of pictures.

Colin meets a peacock

Colin in the Bird House

Christian liked this "Orangutan" snake

Basilisk

After that we had ice cream and let the boys run in the Prairie Dog play area.  We had planned on seeing more of the zoo (there was still a lot left!) but we were all so tired that we packed up and went home.  James let me take a little break while he made chicken soup for Jacob which really made a difference.  The rest of the night was pretty quiet, we watched The Rescuers, had supper and put the kids to bed.  Some of us played games afterwards and that was a lot of fun.  But now it is getting late again and it is time for bed.  

David with all the kids.  He is such a wonderful man!

Dinner time at the Reptile House

Goodnight!

Washington D.C. Day Three - Natural History Museum

James let me sleep in this morning!  It was so nice.  Of course I now understand in greater detail how loud our children are!  

We had a very late start today.  The kids were happy for much of the morning, they played with Legos and sat on the porch with Grammie.  Everyone was doing their own thing today so around lunch time James and I took the kids and headed over to the National Museum of Natural History.  We have been there many times and it is Will's favorite museum.

We parked between the White House and the museum and when we pulled into the parking lot the attendant asked us to open our truck and roll down all the windows.  As she walked around the car all the boys were smiling and saying hi.  Until she passed Jon who cheerfully asked "Are you looking for explosives?"  James and I burst out laughing.  

Four boys in front of the White House

Colin in front of the White House

Jon has trouble walking the streets of D.C.

Colin walking in D.C.

Once we were at the museum we went straight for the dinosaurs.  The way took us through a skeleton exhibit.  Will was in heaven.  He wanted to look at every single skeleton and read about each animal.  It was really cool to see the skeleton's of some of the animals we've been learning about in school like the capybara and the gharial.  Will was most excited about the skeleton of a cobra, Colin loved the huge leatherback turtle skeleton and Jon was very interested in the squirrel monkey skeleton because it had a very human looking skull.  

Will couldn't believe that he'd found a cobra skeleton

Colin enjoyed the Leatherback skeleton

Squirrel Monkey

Will really loved looking at all the skeletons

The dinosaur exhibit is still under construction and it looks like it will be another three years before it is fully finished.  But we were still able to see a Triceratops Skeleton and T-Rex.  Will, of course, wanted to see everything and took care to read each display.  It was nap time for Charlie so he was a bit grumpy.  He was looking at one display and when I came over he told me grumpily "I want to look at it alone!".  Shortly after he found a little movie about ecosystems and sat down to watch it next to a girl his age.  He told me "I'm watchin' the movie with a girl." and wouldn't budge until the rest of us had thoroughly exhausted that section.

Will is so excited to see the dinosaurs!

Jon is worried!

Colin in front of the Tyrannosaurus Rex

Jon finds a gross display

After that we learned about Egyptian mummies, insects, and strange rain forest creatures.  Did you know that termites have a queen and a king?  Or that there are scorpions that glow in the dark?  The boys enjoyed the exhibits then we went down for a snack at the cafe.  James has had terrible allergies (it is much greener here than at home!) which makes him really tired so he was in desperate need of some coffee.  

Termite mound

While James had his coffee the boys had cupcakes which turned out to be a mistake.  Charlie and Colin started bouncing off the walls and all the boys needed to run!  So we took them outside for a bit to climb on some rocks.  Will was upset at first until we told him that we would be going back inside.  The boys loved jumping on the rocks and Will was excited to discover a little worm (or is it a caterpillar?) which he thought should be in one of the exhibits.

Will in the air

Four silly boys

Colin in motion

Having spent some of their excess energy we all went back inside.  This time we started with a little Discovery room where the boys could play.  Colin put on a little lab coat and became a scientist so of course Charlie had to have one too.  Charlie went around with a magnifying glass in his lab coat pocket but he didn't quite get the hang of using it.  When he went to use the microscope he looked at it through the magnifying glass.  I did help him... after I got the picture.  Colin loved the microscope and really enjoyed looking at all kinds of different things.

Colin and Will at the Discovery room

Jon puts together a skeleton puzzle

Jon in a lab coat

Will investigates

We were running out of time but there was still so much to see!  We went to the mammal exhibit which the boys really enjoyed.  Colin was a little unnerved though at seeing a small movie about the birth of a kangaroo.  Charlie saw some little field mice and said in his high voice "Oh they're so cute!" right before he leaned over and kissed the glass.  I gave him a little lesson on sanitation and then went to see what Jon was doing.  He was very excited.  "Mommy!  I know how seals are protected from polar bears!" he pointed to a representation of blubber for children to touch "My teeth didn't even make a dent!" 

Will really wanted to see the Geology exhibit.  We had never seen it before because I didn't think the kids would be interested.  But it was very cool.  Will, of course, wanted to read everything.  He was particularly interested in volcanoes and I wish he could have had more time there!  Colin couldn't care less about volcanoes but he loved all the gems and minerals that were on display.  I never would have guessed but he was fascinated.  We had to drag him away because the museum was closing!  

Colin at the Gem and Mineral exhibit

Learning about geology

We had a really wonderful time at the Natural History Museum.  And there was still so much that we didn't see!  We passed through the Ocean exhibit but didn't have time to look at anything.  Although Charlie did see one fish that he called a baby dolphin and took credit for making.  Every time he sees something small (like a baby airplane at the Air and Space Museum!) he says "Oh it's so cute!" in a special high voice.  It is really adorable.

For dinner tonight some of us went to an Ethiopian restaurant.  James has wanted to go for years but I am not a very adventurous eater (although I would love to visit the country one day!).  So he went out with Papa, Joe and Elisa, Daniel, David, and Jon.  Jon loves to eat new things and was very excited to go.  Mom and I stayed home with the rest of the kids while Jacob went right to bed.  He is starting to feel better but is still very sick.  :-(

It sounds like everyone at the restaurant had a good time.  The experience was interesting (no cutlery!) and the food was very good.  Jon particularly enjoyed the unique bread and sauce.  I think he enjoyed being out late with all the adults too.  I am really glad that they were able to go.

Joe and Elisa at dinner

Daniel and David

Ethiopian food

Jon is skeptical

Joe and Elisa

Before bed tonight Charlie was sitting on the couch watching a video about the Blue Angels. He turned to Grammie and said "When I'm big, when I'm an adult I'm goin' to be a pilot and drive a really really fast airplane!" 

We are heading to the zoo early tomorrow so it is time for bed.  Goodnight!

Washington D.C. Day Two - Monuments

Last night Papa and Daniel took Jacob to the emergency room.  Daniel came home around 2am and we had hope that Jacob and Papa would be home soon.  But when I woke up this morning they were still not home.  The morning passed slowly and it was pretty stressful waiting for Jacob and worrying about his health.  Papa came home around 10am so that he could get some sleep.  The doctors seemed about ready to release Jacob but wanted to run another test first.  

Meanwhile the morning was getting on and the kids were starting to bounce off the walls.  So along with Joe and Elisa, James and I took the kids out to tour the monuments.  Papa and Mom stayed home to get some sleep while Daniel and David were waiting to bring Jacob home from the hospital.  Unfortunately he wasn't able to come home until 3pm!  Thankfully though the testing ruled out some of the more unpleasant things and Jacob is feeling much better today.  Praise God!

Anyway, we started off at the Jefferson Memorial.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, sunny but with a brisk breeze.  Washington D.C. was the first trip we ever took with Will and Jon, back when they were 30 months and 18 months respectively.  I don't know if he actually remembers or if he has just seen the pictures often but Will and I were reminiscing as we toured the monument.  We even recreated some of the pictures we had taken six years ago.

Josiah and Elisa at the Jefferson Memorial

Our family at the Jefferson Memorial

Will at the Jefferson Memorial

Up at the Jefferson Memorial I took Will, Jon, and Colin aside to read the beginning of the Declaration of Independence and talk a little about what it meant.  It was a really good conversation and I thought the boys did very well.

Will and Jefferson

Reading the first part of the Declaration

On the way back to the car we stopped by the under appreciated George Mason Memorial.  As we were looking around Elisa paused to take some pictures of the flowering trees and Jon, wanting to be like his aunt, borrowed my camera to take similar pictures.  It was very cute.  

Colin

Jon's picture of me

Colin hangs out with George Mason

Will

Will checks out Mason's books

Our next destination was supposed to be the Lincoln Memorial but we had a very hard time finding parking.  We circled around for at least forty-five minutes before finding a spot near the Washington Monument.  But the National Mall is a beautiful place to walk so we started off.  We stopped at the beautiful World War Two Memorial and I had a great conversation with the boys about that war.  

Will and Jon salute the NH soldiers who fought in WWII

Washington Monument

James from a kid's perspective

Will and Aunt Elisa

As we left there we heard that Jacob was finally home from the hospital and that Papa, Mom, Daniel, and David would be coming to meet us.  Before visiting the next monument we stopped for ice cream and let the kids run for a bit.  Afterwards we headed up the steps to visit the Lincoln Memorial.  In retrospect it would have been better to save the ice cream for afterwards since the boys were now sugared up and I had no more bribes to offer for good behavior.  But I was still able to sit with them and read the beginning of the Gettysburg address.  And Will now knows what a score is!  After that though we found a nice little group of trees by the side of the monument where the boys could run and play.

Enjoying ice cream

Three boys at the Lincoln Memorial

Will on the Lincoln Memorial steps - 2015

Will on the Lincoln Memorial steps - 2009

We met up with Papa and company to see the Vietnam and Korea memorials but by this time the boys were getting a little crazy and my feet were killing me!  So after a short time we headed home for supper.  

Will finds another William on the Wall

Grandpa and Charlie read names on the Vietnam Wall

Colin

Gathering

Papa takes pictures

David, Mom, Charlie, and Daniel at the Korean War Memorial

Tonight was really nice.  We had eggs and pancakes for supper and then said goodbye to Faith, Danny, Danny's mom and the girls.  They weren't able to stay for the whole time but it was really wonderful that they came!  It was so good to have them here!  The boys will miss having their cousins to play with in the morning.

Grammie hangs out with her littlest granddaughters

Little girls can play with anything!

After Faith and Danny left and the boys were in bed, I played a card game with Joe, Elisa, Daniel, David, and Jacob.  Jacob is finally feeling a little better!  Playing games with my family is one of my favorite things to do in the world.  I'm hoping we'll get a chance to play tomorrow too!  

But now it is time for bed.  Goodnight!