Thursday, July 12, 2012

D.C. or Bust - Adults Only!

Last Thursday, Kevin and I set flight for Washington, D.C.!  We dropped the kids off with the grandparents back in Iowa and enjoyed a trip to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary.  This technically was our first, real vacation together, just the two of us.  We have taken little trips before when Kevin's been traveling for work, but have never flown together. 

I was very excited and sad at the same time to have an adult, kid free trip.  Up until this trip, I had only been away from the kids for a total of two nights.  I knew this break would be a great refresher for me and wonderful for the kids to spend time with their grandparents, great-grandparents, and Aunt Jenny. 

Kevin and I were also excited to visit our friends Dave and Natalie Muth and their two year old twins, Landry and Gracie.  We were able to stay with them and have them help be our tour guides and D.C. experts. 

Thursday, June 28th: We arrived in D.C. mid-morning.  We decided that day we would take it easy at Dave and Natalie's apartment since we were tired from our early morning flight.  We went swimming with their twins and ordered supper in to their place. 

Friday, June 29th: We decided to get an early head start since the weather was soooo hot!!!  And in D.C you do a lot of walking to all of the monuments and museums.  The first stop on our agenda was Arlington Cemetery.

This was an amazing experience.  My favorite part of the whole trip would be the changing of the guard.  The guards didn't even look like they were sweating and they were dressed in full uniform.  Very impressive how they march in time so perfectly!

After Arlington, the two of us met up with Dave for lunch on his lunch break.  Had lunch with Dave and then walked to the Air and Space Museum.  I thought this museum was neat, but definitely something Kevin's more interested in.  We then met up with Natalie and tried going to the Holocaust Museum.  We were just too late and the tickets for the main attraction had just sold out.  We then decided to go to the Museum of American History.  After this museum, I realized museums might not be my thing.  Too much reading possibly for my short attention span? :)  We decided to then call it a day since we were exhausted from being out in the heat since early morning. 

Later that night, the D.C. area was hit with the storms that caused the power outages.  We luckily only lost power for 10 minutes, but some places weren't as lucky and lost power into the next week.

Saturday, June 30th: That morning the four us and Landry and Gracie drove to a cute little harbor town called National Harbor.  They have cute shops and restaurants.  We thought we would do some shopping before lunch, but the stores we wanted to go to were closed because of not yet having power.  Frustrating. 

We had lunch and then the guys and kids went back for the twins nap time.  Natalie and I drove to a large outlet mall for some quick shopping before we had to be back for our segway tour of the national monuments that evening.  We hit the effects of the power outage again.  The stop lights were not working so it took us a long time to get to the mall and left little time for shopping.  Soon to find out on our way back home, our segway tour was cancelled for the night because the chance of possible storms again.  Thankfully, Dave and Natalie's babysitter was able to reschedule and watch the twins Sunday night so the four of us could do the tour. 

That night it didn't end up raining. Ugh! ;)  Since we didn't do the segway tour that evening, Kevin and I thought it would be a perfect night to have a date night and enjoy supper in D.C.  We walked around this cute little street filled with shops and restaurants.  We had an amazing supper and enjoyed each other's company concentrating on just the two us of instead of the needs of little people.  :)

Sunday, July 1st: We started our morning at the Air and Space Hanger at Dulles Museum.  The guys loved this museum and talked a lot about the different planes from the wars.  It all sounded a little foreign to Natalie and me, but cute to see the guys get so excited! :)

Natalie and the twins in front of the Enola Gay.


This space shuttle was actually in space numerous times.



The Muths - Natalie, Dave, Gracie, and Landry.

SR-71 Blackbird: spy plane that flies over 2,000 miles and hour.  This plane set the speed record from L.A. to Washington, D.C. in 1 hour and 4 minutes.  Really fast plane!

After lunch, Kevin and I decided to try the Holocaust Museum again.  No luck.  Tickets already sold out.  Instead we went to the Museum of Natural History.  We saw some big Titanoboa that I stupidly asked if it was living...don't worry, Kevin was quick to jump on that 'Laur-ism'.  "No Laura, this is a museum, not a zoo!" ;)

That night the four of us went on our evening segway tour of the National Monuments.  We were so happy it worked out because Dave and Natalie haven't been able to go on this tour since they've been in D.C.  I loved driving around the segways!!  I want one!


Group Shot take 1 - steering difficulties

Group shot take 2 - ready for our tour!

We stopped at the Roosevelt Monument and explored around.




Washington Monument

Jefferson Monument

Me and Lincoln.  Seeing the Lincoln Monument was definitely high on my "D.C. Buck List".  Loved it!

Unfortunately, the reflective pool was under construction while we were there, but still a cool sight to see in person.

Vietnam War Memorial

The White House at night.  Blurry since we were trying to take it while driving our segways.


I loved the segway tour. A great way to see all of the monuments all in a day, but also wished we would have had more time to stop and take our time at some of the monuments.  Definitely a cool experience!

After our tour we had food and drinks at one of their favorite Italian restaurants.  It was a fun night out with just the four of us enjoying time away from children and adult conversation.

But by Sunday night, Kevin and I were both starting to miss our twins.  It was fun being away, but were wanted to see those two cute, little faces again.

Monday, July 2nd: Our last day!  That morning Kevin and I made our third and final trip back to the Holocaust Museum.  Finally, third times a charm!  We got tickets!  Glad we were able to see it - they did a very tasteful, educational exhibit.

That afternoon we packed up and headed to the airport for our evening flight back to the Des Monies airport.  I was so excited to see the kids, but knew by the time we'd get back to Dike the kiddos would already be asleep for the evening.  We were good and didn't wake them up and waited until the morning to give them a big squeeze!

Kevin and I thoroughly enjoyed our vacation/anniversary trip.  Dave and Natalie were wonderful hosts and we loved having time to spend playing with Landry and Gracie.  Thanks so much Muths for making sure we had the best trip!  Love You!





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