Washington DC: Weeks 3 and 4

Sage wearing her beloved red, sparkly shoes.

This girl cracks me up.

The kids and I took a day and walked from the Air and Space museum to the Lincoln Memorial. We took it easy and stopped at every rock, bug, and body of water along the way.

The Vietnam memorial is hands down my favorite memorial. It never fails to make me teary eyed when I see all those names. Pretty powerful stuff.

Mason looks so studly.

Front steps of the pad.

Gazing out the window at the building next door. There was a cat that would sit in the window of the apartment across from us and it would watch everything we do.

We spent our last full weekend in the city. We went to Georgetown and Nic took the kids for milkshakes while I did a little shopping (what a guy). We also went to The Taste of DC. This is where they shut down a section of Pennsylvania Ave. and a lot of the city's local restaurants set up tents and sell samples of their food. We bought a good chunk of tickets and spent the afternoon wondering around tasting some of the delicious-ness. I had some awesome fish tacos, Nic got some Greek food, etc. etc. It was fun. Somehow the only picture I got of the whole thing, though, was this one of the nearby "Occupy Wall Street" protest.

(Our cuisine adventures on this trip also led us to try, for the first time, the Vietnamese soup called Pho. There was a highly recommended restaurant near our apartment and it was awesome. Seriously so good. If you've never tried it you should.)

More Zoo, but this time Nic came along.

The zoo during the week was empty. This kids and I got to spend as much time as we wanted, anywhere we wanted. Unfortunately Nic could only come along on the weekend when it was much busier. (Same goes for the museums.) I'd image the crowds are much worse during the summer.

Mason really enjoyed taking pictures. Here are the ones he chose to put on here.

Mason looking like a FBI agent.

So here is a little Washington DC secret. (At least it was a secret to me). The Old Post Office. This is the tallest building in the District and offers an incredible view of the whole area. Best of all, we waltzed right onto the elevator and it was free.

Going up elevator #1.

Part of the view. Not a great picture. It was cool in real life.

Mason playing it cool on the subway.

He especially loved to sit in the very very back where he could look out the window and watch the tracks behind us.

More park time.

Helping me make up the futon.

We liked the clock tower (Post Office) so much we took Nic back for an encore.

Then we walked to the capitol.

And this is what an attempt at a good picture looks like.

This is Sage watching a crane. Both kids were fascinated by the cranes all over the city.

On the way home from one of our trips we got caught in a down pour. I seriously forgot how much it can rain on the east coast. I mean its like a bucket being dumped on you. This is how we looked with the use of two umbrellas. The pictures don't really do it justice. Our pants were so wet they were literally falling off our bodies.

This girl woke up at or before 6 am every. single. day.

For our last hurrah we decided to go to Mount Vernon. I had never been here before and I'm not sure why. It actually might be my most favorite part of the trip. This place is gorgeous. Seriously beautiful. I can now see why George Washington kept trying to retire.

Mason and his new family.

Watching nails being made. Each of these nails were hand made and are going to be used for a restoration project.

Awesome.

The kids found some goats to feed.

On our last day we took one final trip to the park. Some lady gave the kids these bears and they were in love.

Finally a good shot with Daddy.

The bear family.

We also took one last Subway ride to Union Station. These pictures are from our Columbia Heights Station.

And finally, these pictures are more for us to remember. This was our block and the area we walked every single day.

Alley behind our building. Nic actually was hit by a car coming out of this alley. Seriously. He said he "Jason Borne'd it" and slid across the hood of the car. I can't help but smile when I picture that in my head.

So that was our month. There were so many smaller adventures, that it would take forever to talk about all of them (i.e. my bus trips to the gym, one of which involved being chased by a pant-less drunk man). I also wasn't great about taking pictures of everything we did (or more importantly, ate). We had a really great time and got to know the city really well. The trip was worth every penny, mostly because we got to spend so much time together. aw.

Washington DC: Week 2

Week 2:

More Zoo.

This was a presentation on the naked mole rat. Mason loved it and cited the naked mole rat as his new favorite zoo animal.

In front of our apartment.

Museum of American History

Sage is obsessed with shoes. This obsession has led to her Halloween costume. Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. These are the original shoes.

Mason loved the transportation part of the museum. He seriously had me take his picture in front of every single thing with wheels. Don't worry. I didn't put them all in this post.

Both kids very concerned with an old silent film involving a car rolling down a hill.

A subway train. Did I mention he LOVES the subway?

In the basement of the Museum of American History is the Sparks Lab. Its a fun kids area where they do all kinds of experiments and hands on stuff for different ages. Really cool.

We rented a car and took a 4 day trip to Hershey. This is where we spent 4 years in medical school and it holds our hearts in many ways. Our dear friends Dave and Deb allowed us to stay at their house and the kids loved having pseudo-grandparents to spoil them. We were able to visit lots of friends from work and school and church (none of which I got pictures of). We visited the hospital where both Nic and I went to school and worked. We showed the kids all the Hershey highlights. And finally, I got to eat some stuffed french toast from the Hershey Pantry. It was excellent. 

Dave and Deb's. They gave Mason this awesome firetruck/book/road. We left it there, and we were sad.

Ah Chocolate World. Mason loved it here and begged to go back all weekend long (we gave in and ended up going on the ride a total of 3 times). I can't say I blame him. Before we had kids I used to make Nic go here with me on Friday nights. I'd say it was for the free chocolate, but really it was because, once there, he would buy me whatever candy I wanted.

Utter joy.

And fascination.

 The hospital. Since we left they have added an entire cancer center and they are currently building a children's hospital. It was interesting to see that some things were completely different, but somethings were exactly the same. Very nostalgic for us both.

Nic stripped down everyday next to these lockers for anatomy lab.

Cocoa Castle=the awesomest playground ever.

We decided to damn the torpedoes and tried to go to Lake Tobias despite the rain. We got wet. And cold. But the clothing eating goats provided some good entertainment.

And Mason got to pet a crocodile. 

 I am very upset that didn't take pictures of all our visits. Deb was so nice and hosted a "brunch" where I was able to see most of my friends from the NICU. (And I got to meet their cute kids!) We were able to visit the Biggers and the Woods. We even were able to stop by the Milton Hershey School and visit the houseparents at the student home we worked. It was so good to see so many awesome friends. I struggled a bit because I know that these visits will be few and far between. We had such a wonderful experience in Hershey. It is a place we will never forget, and that is largely because of the people we met there. These people were our family in so many ways and I am proud to call them such. Now our med school friends are spread out all over the country, and my work friends are all thousands of miles away. So I am grateful for the opportunities I have to reconnect with them.

Next up: Week 3-more Washington sites, A Taste of DC,