Washington DC and kid funnies.

The big news is................KYLA IS POTTY TRAINED!! She finally just made up her mind and while we were in DC she went in the toilet the entire time at my moms. At first, poop was a little tricky. It seemed like she was holding it in until she got a diaper on for bed or a long car ride but now she's got it and is so proud of herself. It is easier except she keeps taking ALL of her clothes off each time. That's a little frustrating but we'll work through it. The best part of it... now when we go to Ikea she can go in the childcare area which means an hour of free childcare for Mommy!

Well, Brian and I got back from DC on Sunday... met my mom to pick the kids up on Monday morning. We've spent the last week catching up on laundry, unpacking, crossing off items off on our very long list of things to do and hanging out with the kids. They were so excited to see us. K repeated, "I love you Mom" over and over about 10 times in the first 2 minutes. My mom said they started asking for us and missing us on Sunday. (It took that long!! - 6 days) They had a great time... playing at the park, McDonalds Playland, John's Incredible Pizza and doing many craft projects. They spent time at my sisters as well. They love their dogs (English Bulldogs) and can't get enough of Lacie (my niece). They are home now... back to their old ways of fighting with each other ALL day. We get lots of "M called me poop" or "M said he doesn't like me." It's absolutely wonderful to be back and exhausting all at the same time.

Washington DC was amazing. We were able to get a vacation and also reconnected with my friend Rebecca. Why can't I ever make friends that are staying in Sacramento? We met while working together in the ED in Woodland. The second day she and the kids were able to go sight-seeing with us. We went to Arlington National Cemetery (my favorite part of the trip) and then headed to a very quaint area of town called, Georgetown. Watching the changing of the guards at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers was very moving.

We must have walked 20 miles during our vacation. Even with The Metro (subway) there is a ton of walking. We spent our first day walking down the Capitol Mall started at The Lincoln Memorial and ended up at the Washington Monument. Then we headed to the Metro Station and went to the small town called Alexandria in Virginia. It was St. Patrick's Day and Mike (Rebecca's Hubby) told us it was a cool area to hang out in. That day we were in California, Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia. We found a pub with an Irish Band and had a great time. Luckily we had fantastic weather... with only one drizzly rainy day and one cold day. All the rest of the days got into the 60's. Sweatshirt weather. We spent the rainy day going on a tour of The Capitol and visiting museums. There are 22 Smithsonian Museums (all free). My personal favorite was the Museum of American History. We did a hop-on/hop-off bus tour which was a good way of getting around also. I loved being able to stop at a cool looking pub/restaurant after walking around all day and relax and enjoy each others company. Whenever we're out an about with the kids, we see younger couples dining outside ... relaxing with nice cold beverages and good food (looking like they don't have a care in the world) and I think to myself... I remember those days. (excuse the very long, run-on sentence) Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change anything but boy, do I fondly remember those days. We just about saw everything we wanted to see. If I had an extra day, I would have gone out to George Washington's home, gone to the Iwo Jima Memorial (I saw it from the car- no pictures) and went back to The Lincoln Memorial. By our last day... we were just tired... especially tired of walking. We ended up just sitting on a bench in the Capitol Mall, near The Capital and watched a soccer game and relaxed. Then believe it or not... we went to the movies at Union Station which by the way is amazing. Yes, the movies while in Washington DC and it felt so good. That's something we don't often get to do at home.

I took about 700 pictures (but lots of them are duplicated because I'm trying to learn Manual Mode) so I'm including just a very small sample of my favorites.

Washington Monument in the background. Day 1.

Brian's turn.

The Tomb of the Unknowns.

The changing of the guards and the Tomb of the Unknowns.

The Lincoln Memorial at sunset.

The White House. The rear view. Right after this picture the Secret Service made everyone move back so I'm glad I got it when I did. I saw on the news that evening that the First Lady was planting vegetables with elementary school students in the rear lawn. I took this with my long lens.

Another one. The front view.

The Capital at night.

The Capital rotunda.

The National Cathedral. Wow, was it beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice.

Inside the Cathedral.

The Jefferson Memorial.

Distant view of the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin.

The World War II Memorial.

I just like this one.

M funny. The other day we were all at Petsmart (the kids love it) and there was a 3 legged dog in shopping with it's owner. M just couldn't resist asking the guy, "how come your dog only has 3 legs?" The guy replied, "he was in an accident." M was satisfied with the answer so on we went. I told M that the dog doesn't look affected at all and that it wasn't slowing him down. He looked at me with the cutest face and said, "that must have taken aaaaalot of practice!!" Just cracked me up.

He's also on this gum kick now that he's learned how. He chews the piece for about 5 minutes. Well, we were at Michael's the other day and because he'd been good I told him to pick out a pack of gum. He looked at all the different kinds and said, "I'm going to have to use my sense of smell" and proceeded to sniff all the packs.

K told me she wanted a White Chocolate Mocha the other day. I wonder where she got that!?!?

Off to rest. Melissa