A few months ago I learned that I could accompany my husband to Washington D.C. and it would cost us next to nothing. I was ecstatic about touring the city, even if it meant braving the metro with three little girls by myself (Miss R would stay behind with Grandma N). I did hours of research, trying to plan the perfect vacation for me and my little girls. My husband was going to be working, but would get to spend the weekends with us. We planned on 10 days so that we would have plenty of time to take in the sights, and at the same time let those little feet rest when needed. I just knew it was going to be a BLAST!!!!
A few days before our departure date, I started to get nervous. The weather reports were not looking good. Snow, snow, and more snow. I spent hours searching clearance racks for snow gear for my kids. Do you know how hard it is to find snow gear in California during the month of February??? It is next to impossible! After borrowing gloves, scarves, hats, pants, and boots from numerous friends and family, we were set. "It will all work out." That's what I kept telling myself. And it did...just not the way I expected.
The night before our flight it became apparent that it was likely our plane would never take off--the airport was closed and they were expecting 20+ inches of snow. Yes...20 inches. My husband and I hashed out the possibilities and decided to schedule our flight one day later in the hopes of getting to D.C. on time for his Conference.
We got lucky. Or so we thought. Our flight took off as scheduled and was uneventful for the most part. We flew Virgin America and they were AWESOME! If you have never flown with them, you should!
Unfortunately I had forgotten most of the food I had prepared the night before. The girls were a bit hungry on the plane, but we figured we'd eat when we landed. Big mistake.
Due to the weather our flight Sunday morning was one of the only flights allowed to land at the Dulles airport. That meant the airport was pretty much shut down. We landed with empty tummies, and started searching for food. We found one restaurant, Chipotle. Great for adults. Not so great for kids. After trying to force food down two tired girls, we gave up and grabbed a shuttle to our apartment.
Our ride was interesting. The roads had walls of snow up to 3 feet high on each side. Cars were completely covered. It was nuts. The girls were in 7th heaven, but I was starting to worry. How was I going to do this? How was I going to maneuver a foreign city covered in snow with three little girls?
This is what most of the cars looked like
We arrived at our apartment at 11:30 p.m. safe, but hungry. Uh-oh. The girls started whining, and then crying. They were hungry. They hadn't eaten a meal since breakfast and I literally had NOTHING to give them. No restaurants were open. No convenience stores. Nothing. Everything was shut down from the blizzard. It's hard to describe the emotions we felt. My sweet husband bundled up and went out on foot searching for any sign of a store that was open. He came home empty handed. We went to bed hungry that night.
The next morning, our first official day of vacation started off different than expected. G found out he didn't have to go to work, or rather that he COULDN'T go to work because all above ground public transportation was shut down. He spent the morning hunting down food for us. Call me stupid, but I just didn't imagine things would be this bad. He found a Safeway, but there was no milk, no produce, and very little of everything else. The storms had been so bad that the trucks had been unable to deliver food. Lovely. The other problem we had was getting the food to our apartment. Our original plan was brilliant. My husband would make the mile walk with the stroller and fill it up with groceries. Unfortunately we did not realize that the sidewalks would be COVERED in snow, making the use of a stroller completely obnoxious and pretty much impossible. So my poor sweet husband walked to the store SIX times during our first day of vacation. We loaded up on frozen veggies, rice, and oatmeal--and luckily we found some fishy crackers. :)
We spent the day gathering food, taking naps, and exploring the underground metro which was still running, despite the fact that pretty much everything was closed.
The escalator at Rosslyn Metro Station. The girls LOVED the escalators.
Miss A--SO tired
Exhausted on the Metro
We took a train to China Town for lunch and had sort of a surreal experience. I felt like I was in the movie, A Christmas Story. You remember when the dogs eat their turkey dinner and so they find the only place open on Christmas Day....Fa-ra-ra-ra-raaaaa, ra-ra-ra-ra! The women of this restaurant fell all over us, begging to take care of Baby C while we ate. It was kind of weird and entertaining at the same time. Honestly, we were just happy to be eating in a WARM restaurant.
The waitress in love with Baby C
Miss L trying to use chopsticks
As our first day came to a close, I found myself thinking about some deep things, at least they seemed deep for being on vacation. I had spent most of my day concerned about getting food for my children, finding transportation to our destinations and enjoying the warmth of our tiny apartment. I've always known that I've been blessed with material things, but I really began to notice how incredibly spoiled I am. I mean, if I want something at the grocery store, I hop in my car, drive 2 minutes, and buy whatever I need. Everything is at my fingertips. My sweet husband must have been thinking the same thing, because that night he gave a beautiful Family Home Evening lesson about the pioneers. Their struggles for food and trekking through the snow took on new meaning for me...and for my girls. My first day in D.C. was quite an eye opener for me.
Despite our unfortunate conditions, there were some advantages to our strange beginning. First, my sweet hubby was with me to endure the craziness of it all. Second, our apartment was close to an underground metro station, so we were able to get our feet wet with the public transportation system (even though everywhere we went was closed). Third, we had heat. Many homes and apartments in the area were without power. Fourth, we had time to nap and adjust to the time change (sort-of).
Tuesday morning started out awesome--my husband trekked through the snow at 6 a.m. and bought the LAST gallon of milk at the grocery store! YEAH! My kids were so excited to eat cereal. Haha! My husband got to stay home once again. Yippee! :) We threw on all of our snow gear and headed to the Smithsonian Mall.
prepping for a snowball fight
Daddy shows no mercy--and nails Miss L in the face :(
Baby C sleeping peacefully
Someone created this ice sculpture sitting on the bench. We thought it was awesome!
Miss A's snow angel
A replica of the capitol building (we didn't make it)
I have to say that even though the entire mall was shut down, we had an AWESOME time! Baby C slept peacefully in the sling while the older girls had snowball fights, made snow angels, and ate snow. Personally I'm a beach person; I detest being cold and I've never liked the snow. But I do have to say that the everything looked beautiful. Most of the snow was untouched. There were very few people around. It was SO PEACEFUL! I loved it.
Next we hit up a burger place that was recommended to us, Five Guys. Yummy! Yummy! Yummy! I really wish we had them in California!
Defrosting at Five Guys
On Wednesday we woke up to find a blizzard. We spent the entire day indoors. Ugh. The girls watched TV on Demand. G attempted to make cinnamon rolls with bisquick---they were interesting. :) It was a pretty boring day.
The view from our apartment window
Thursday G was still unable to go to work. All of the touristy sights were still closed, so after playing in the snow again, we decided to get tickets to Disney on Ice. The girls LOVED it! We were only five rows back and paid half price since we got them the day of the performance. We had a great time. It was so nice to finally be out and doing something our of the ordinary (and unrelated to snow).
The girls sinking in the snow after the blizzard
Miss L sporting her Jesse hat
Friday G finally went to work. We were sad to see him go, and yet excited because it meant that FINALLY the museums were open! We hit the National Air and Space Museum first. The girls had a blast. We took virtual rides, saw an 3D Imax movie and played with all of the cool stuff.
The girls favorite experiment. The silver column blew air and kept the ball
in mid-air. If you moved the column, the ball would fall.
We had a great day, but a somewhat traumatic metro ride back to our apartment. It didn't occur to me that rush-hour would be nuts on the metro. By myself. Three kids and a stroller. Not a good combination. We ended up being shoved to the back of the train. We were packed in like sardines. When it was time to get off, a really nice man yelled for everyone to make room for us. However, one lady who didn't speak English starting pushing the opposite direction and Miss A started to get smothered by moving bodies. It was pretty dang scary, but luckily a lady grabbed the stroller while I grabbed Miss A and we literally PUSHED our way out--stepping on toes and knocking lots of bodies...but we made it!
On Saturday we went to the National Zoo. Ugh. NONE of the animals were out due to the snow. Duh. Should have thought of that. Oh well. The reptile house was entertaining, except for Audrey's fear of the alligators. :)
Sunday we went to church and then headed over to the Natural History Museum. WHOA! It was awesome! I could have spent all week there. The dinosaur exhibit and the gem collection were the girls favorites. We also watch another 3D IMax movie....Dinosaurs. Supposedly it was for all ages. Whatever!!! Within 2 minutes there were screaming little girls all over the theater. Miss A sat on my lap and allowed me to cover her eyes during the scary parts while she plugged her ears. Needless to say, it wasn't her favorite movie.
They were super excited to see a sarcophagus because they have been studying the Egyptian time period.
Awesome dinosaur exhibit!
Ready for the IMax
G's favorite exhibit. Haha!
On Monday (our last full day in D.C.) we went to the American History Museum. It wasn't my favorite, but they had a lot of cool science activities for kids.
I had been dreading Tuesday since before we even arrived in D.C. I had to fly with three kids by myself (Baby C as a lap child). The airport was the most difficult part of the journey. After delaying our flight for 2 hours, changing our gate 3 times, and refusing to let us pre-board, we finally made it on the plane. Phew! I will never fly United again. They were the most un-family-friendly airline I have ever encountered. I couldn't help but think of United Breaks Guitars. Baby C was an angel. She slept almost the entire way. Our flight home was uneventful until the last 20 minutes when Miss L suddenly said, "It's hard to breath." Okay. I thought that was a little weird. Next thing I knew she was going to throw up. We ALMOST made it to the bathroom. Poor Miss L. She was so embarrassed.
Once we reached SFO, we drove home, listening to Baby C scream the entire way. We got home, left the luggage in the car, and within 15 minutes we were all in bed...ASLEEP. :)
Miss R was delivered by Grandma N the next day. We were SO happy to see her!!!
When I asked the girls what they loved best about our trip, this is what they said:
Miss L: EVERYTHING! The snow, the museums, the airplane!
Miss A: Coming home.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Poor Miss A. She was such a trooper, but she hated "the coldness." She hated getting bundled up. And she walked and walked and walked and walked! If I had to do it over again, I would leave Miss A behind. Lesson learned.
I really did love our trip despite all of the unexpected turns it took. I was impressed with how friendly the people were in the city, and I really hope to go back there (without kids) someday.
And one thing is for sure, I will NEVER forget this vacation. :)
