summer in the city

wednesday night marked the start of our summer mini-vacation.

of course no photography is allowed, but i managed to snap this one shot on my phone.


sitting, enjoying the AMAZING weather at the mann music center, waiting for the symphony to start.
yeah, that’s right—we took our herd to the symphony.

but it was beethoven’s 9th—easily the most incredible piece of music ever written, and we sat on a blanket on the lawn and had a picnic. then laid down and looked at the stars and the city lights in the distance while the music washed over us.

it was awesome.

little did we realize that that was the last time we would be unsweaty for three days.
thursday morning we left for d.c. yay! museums! yay! hotel pool! yay! 105 degree weather!
wait…what?

yup. we tromped up and down and sideways all over d.c., attempting to fit in as much as possible in 2 days. we went with another family, so between us we had 2 adults and 9—NINE—kiddos from 1-12.

and fortunately for you the first day i forgot my camera at the hotel, and the 2nd day i was just TOO HOT to be bothered much of the time.
 
friday wasn’t horrible—we hit the museums of american and natural history, basically side-by-side, and only had short walks to the metro.

saturday though…i didn’t realize the plan was to WALK TO ALL THE MONUMENTS.


yes, ava, that’s exactly how i feel, too.


white house—check.
 

not doing too bad—yet.

sidepoint—somewhere there’s an older foreign man who also has this photo. he took this one of us, and about 20 other shots of the kids as they ran back and forth looking at the white house. so we are potentially on an asian travel brochure for visiting d.c., maybe? ;)

washington monument—check. obligitory “holding the monument” shot—check.



stopped for a sprinkler soak after the long walk.





wwII memorial—check. at this point we were fading and ate water ice from a street vendor in the shade. no one even mustered the strength to venture into the memorial.




it was my first time seeing this particular one, so i did take a few pics.

moving on—lincoln memorial—check. i was toast at this point. ell and i stayed to play in the sprinkler while daddy and the biggers headed up the steps. they took my camera, so this is what we got:




awesome.
and here we found ourselves, stranded at the lincoln memorial, 1.7 miles from the air and space museum—which was to be our next stop. it was 1:30, about 4 bazillion degrees, and we had to hoof it.


i thought i was going. to. DIE.
spoiler alert: i didn’t.

by the time we ate and recovered we only had about 45 minutes to explore the museum before we headed over to the international spy museum. yup—all the monuments and TWO museums in one day. on foot. we are suckers for punishment. i couldn’t even be bothered to take any pics. i spent most of that 45 minutes sitting on the floor letting elliot run around.

honestly—air and space has never been my favorite. (i know, you’re shocked) touch a moon rock vs. first ladies’ gowns? hmmm…that’s a hard one. ;)

we did make one super-important purchase there--


so the spy museum—winner all around. very cool. it’s not free like the smithsonian museums, but the kids were really excited and enjoyed it a LOT.

we came out all prepared for a life undercover.



i posted a picture like this on instagram:

and someone commented “i am the lorax. i speak for the trees.” and now i laugh EVERY TIME i see it.

and that was it.

he so badly would love to grow a moustache. i told him that’s fine, if he wants me to feel like i’m kissing my dad when i kiss him. ;) hehehe oh—and i sent this pic to his parents…and his mother didn’t recognize him!




we took d.c. by storm in a whirlwind few days that will not be forgotten for a long, long time.

and now i’m off…to soak my sunburn and rest my tired bones.