Eastern Trip: Mount Vernon & DC

Well, today was much more stressful than I would have liked, but we made it through the day and ultimately enjoyed ourselves.

We awoke bright and early to get to Mount Vernon first thing in the morning. The coolest part was that J and the kids had the opportunity to participate in the ceremony at George & Martha Washington's tomb. Joel led the Pledge of Allegiance, J read the prayer, and the others placed the wreath between the graves. Unfortunately, I was elsewhere feeding the baby, but it created a memorable moment for them.

We then toured the mansion. I loved the vibrant colors throughout and the view of the Potomac River was breathtaking! I could see J and myself relaxing on their porch every evening. We also walked through the museum on the property...in which you find George Washington's teeth! We spent a good 3+ hours there and could have seen more. Going there made me want to read more about the first president of our nation.

Riding the metro! 

We then headed to "The Mall" of DC, eating lunch on the way. I totally underestimated how long it would take to get there via metro. I knew it was a 45-minute ride in, but didn't account for finding parking and the wait time for our train to arrive. So, when we  got into the city we had to rush to the National Archives so those going to the Holocaust Museum would be able to see the nation"d documents before their tour. It was HOT!  And the baby did not like being on the carrier so J held him the whole way!

After the Archives we split up. J took John, Addie & Joel to the Holocaust museum whole Brook and I took the little boys to the Natural History Museum (we'd already seen the Holocaust Museum last year).

By this point Donovan was so mad! The museum was so crowded it was hard to find a spot to feed him (and I'd forgotten a bottle as back up). I left Brook with the boys and finally found a place to take care of him. After meeting up with them again we found a hidden magical room! On the ground floor there is an exploration room. The kids got to touch and examine all sorts of fossils, rocks, skulls, etc. We spent the rest of our time there (me still with a very tired and fussy baby). 

When all museums closed we met the rest of the family at the Washington Monument and walked to Lincoln Memorial, viewing the other memorials along the way. Again, it was so HOT! By the time we were ready to head back to the metro we were all exhausted, hot and hungry (we'd packed food but had already eaten it). Oh, and the baby was crying again and David was convinced his legs could not go any further! Needless to say, it was quite the hike back to the metro.

We finally made it to the air conditioned metro and back to our RV. We stopped for pizza and headed back to our campsite for the night. It was a rough day!! But memorable nonetheless. ;-)