Washington D.C.

Tommy and I had wanted to take a trip somewhere for our 5 year anniversary, but then I was 8 months pregnant, so we decided to wait until this year. We changed plans several times, but finally settled on doing 4 days, 3 nights in Washington D.C. It was a blast!!! And it was so nice to get to run away together and have a break from parenting and normal life. It was our first time really away from the kids.

For months, I had been worrying about leaving Caleb and weaning him, but as the weeks got closer I just got excited. He weaned really easily and didn't mind the change. I had no worries when we left them Tuesday and that was such a great feeling!

Tuesday morning we headed to the D.C. temple. We had been really bummed to find out after we booked our hotel, that the temple would be closed for major work. So sad! We had been excited to go the temple without having to worry about kids. But we still went to see the temple and spend some time at the visitor center. After a picnic lunch we headed to my Aunt Denene's house, where we were leaving our car for the week. We enjoyed catching up with her and my cousin Brian. Then she drove us to the metro station.
After we got downtown and walked to our hotel, we ate dinner at California Tortilla and then walked around the mall and the monuments. The weather was so nice and it was great to just go on a long walk that evening. We ended up walking close to 6 miles that night.
Wednesday was my birthday! We spent that day at museums. We both love museums and it was so fun to see so much and not have to worry about kids and naps! We went to the Archives, Air and Space, American History, and Natural History museums. We spent the most time at the American History museum (so many cool things there!!). For dinner we ate at the top of the W hotel, which has a terrace with a fantastic view. We were looking down on the White House. It was a fun day.
Thursday we walked through the Library of Congress and then headed to our Capital tour. Tommy had made arrangements through our Congressman for the tour - but the super cool thing is that we live in the Speaker of the House, John Boehner's district (in fact he lives in our town). So it was just me and Tommy in the tour with one of his interns and we got to see his office chambers in the Capital. We were official "business visitors". His desk has a fantastic view looking straight down the mall at the Washington Monument. We both really enjoyed that tour.
We then took the metro to Arlington and walked all over the cemetery to the Iwo Jima monument and to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Then we walked back from Arlington (several miles) to see the Roosevelt and Jefferson Monuments and then went to the Holocaust Museum (very somber). We were so pooped after 3 days of a ton of walking so we took the metro to the restaurant Nando's. It's a Brazilian chicken place and it was definitely my favorite meal we had! So good!!

Friday morning we went to the botanical gardens and walked around a little more and then checked out of our hotel and rode the metro back out of the city, where Denene picked us up. After we got our car, we drove up to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. We walked around a bit and ate at a seafood restaurant.
Then we went back to my parent's house. It was fun to see the boys again! Their reactions were so cute!

Tommy and I had a great time getting away. We walked sooooo much and our feet hurt so bad each night. I loved getting to stay up late and sleep in and not have to worry about a schedule. It was so much fun to have good time together!

And the boys hardly noticed. They had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. My parents are awesome and I'm so grateful they were willing to watch them for us. :)

Such a fun week!!!