MacKay travels to DC often for work and when he had to be there over the weekend, the kids and I decided we would tag along. I love DC and don’t visit quite as often as I would like to and Har has been learning a lot about the Presidents and important places in DC in school, so this was the perfect time for us to go. We stayed at the W Hotel that is literally next to the White House. I love W Hotels (no, they are in no way paying me to say that) and they are always so accommodating to us as a large family.
As soon as we got there on Friday morning, I had to run out to the bank to get some money. The bank happened to be right across the street from the White House, so the kids and I took a quick look before heading back to the hotel. Har could not wipe the smile off of her face and just kept telling me facts about when it was built, which President lived there, and on and on. She’s definitely a daddy’s girl when it comes to her love for History.
On our way back Harlan kept asking me to name all of the Presidents. Of course I didn’t know the answer, so I told her I’d find her a book of all of the Presidents. We saw a touristy shop on the way home and if you spent $10 you get a free picture in the “Oval Office.” We couldn’t say no to a deal like that. 😉
That day also happened to be MacKay’s birthday, so we got a sitter for the night and went out for dinner and drinks. The hotel happened to have some of the best views on the roof that was overlooking the entire city. We just sat and talked the entire night. We don’t do those kind of nights very often and it made me realized we need to do it more.
Our room had the perfect view of the Washington Monument. Avery and Har both loved to stare out the window to see it. They even caught the President going by a couple of times.
Saturday was dedicated to being a tourist and seeing monuments and museums. Before heading to The National Mall, we made our way to the back of the White House which was equally as thrilling to the girls as the front.
It’s always nice when a stranger offers to take a family photo. We never have enough of all five of us!
The kids started to get a bit cold from being outside too long so we made our way over to the National Museum of Natural History. It’s full of so much, yet small enough to get through in a couple of hours. It kept the kids attention the entire way through.
Macks was quite amazed and just wanted to walk around and touch everything.
On Sunday before we left, Harlan wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial. She studied a lot about him in school, so this was the perfect memorial to show her first hand.
It was rainy/sleeting, so we drove over and her and I got out to see it with just the two of us.
As we walked up the stairs she started screaming with joy. “I remember this. This was in one of my school books.” She hadn’t made the connection of what we were going to see earlier, but as soon as she saw Lincoln, she knew exactly what it was. She was in complete awe. It made me so happy to be able to experience it with her.
I’m glad we had such a great weekend because our drive home was less than stellar. Due to all of the snow/rain, what should have been a five-hour drive home turned into 10. We never made it over 45 mph the entire drive because the roads were so bad. We got home that night tired, but so thankful we made it safe. The kids were cranky at times, but overall were complete troopers for being stuck in a car that long. I am so thankful we travel with them often, otherwise I’m not sure they would have done as well as they did.
This weekend marks the fourth weekend that we’ve been out of town. As much as I love to travel as a family, I can’t wait to just stay home. This weekend we have nothing planned other than spending it inside and being extra lazy.
Hope you had a great weekend!!
