A Guest Post by Jesse (my sister)...

Jesse wanted to share her take on our trip to D.C. The post with pictures is after this one. Enjoy!

My favorite (and not so favorite) parts of our adventure to D.C.:


I’m not quite sure what made me think this trip would be loads of fun…maybe because I don’t have to deal with a three year old and a 5 month old 24/7 like my sister who I have great admiration for (especially after this trip!). We certainly had our fair share of laughs but quite frankly, I’m pretty proud of myself for not ending up in tears. When I got home my parents asked if we had a fun trip. Fun…not so sure, but fun-ny, yes. Man, I thought my sister hated the heat but boy was I mistaken. Isabella would be better off living in the Arctic Circle than anywhere that reaches a degree over her ideal temperature. We thought that going at the end of September would be a good idea because it would be a little cooler and Sierra was looking forward to wearing fall sweaters. Sadly, our last hint of summer reappeared at the worst time. I thought I’d share some additional highlights (keep in mind, as Sierra noted, this does not always mean “good”).

1. Stretching our jimmies out. Isabella seems to associate me with stretching. Probably because when she needs entertained and I’m not feeling creative or have a lack of supplies, I suggest stretching. Isabella loves it and most importantly it doesn’t take too much effort on my behalf haha! At every gas station, potty break (and there were a lot considering I think my bladder is shrinking to the size of my mom’s), nursing break, and metro stop when we had time to kill Isabella would get sooo excited to get out of the car to stretch. At our last stop on the way home at Waffle House (which Isabella called Awful House since she insisted she could not pronounce a ‘W’), Sierra was going to nurse Isaac while Isabella and I went inside to order. I asked Isabella to hold my hand since we had to walk around a tall fence just to get there (which is another story by itself) and she stops and scowls and says “but Jesse we have to stretch first.” This led to a very short stretching session followed by a longer one once we were done eating at Awful House.

2. Driving in circles. Our dad recently got back from a bike trip and had a very difficult time trying to find his hotel in D.C. and rode around in circles for hours trying to find it. We thought this was ridiculous until we tried to find our own hotel in D.C. If you’ve ever driven in the DVM area (D.C.-Virginia-Maryland), you’ll know that highways have tons of lanes and even more signs trying to give the most confusing directions possible. Even with my Garmin, trying to get off the highway required driving around our hotel three times and having to backtrack and take all kinds of loops. By the time we got to our hotel parking lot Sierra drove right through thinking we were staying at a different hotel (hmmm) and then we had to drive around the parking lot numerous times just to get to the correct lane to get to the front door. All we could do was laugh. The same thing happened trying to get out of the metro parking lot where signs told us to exit on the 4th floor. We got to the 4th floor (does this make any sense??) with Isabella asking us where were we going and if we were actually going back to the hoe-tel. Obviously when we got to the 4th floor there was no exit and the signs directed us back down. When we got to the first floor we finally found the exit. When we drove back the next morning, I was saying that at least we knew how to get out of the parking lot! I was wrong. Once again we drove in circles trying to find the right exit and I almost had a breakdown because we all just needed to get back to the hoe-tel!

3. Snorts and giggles. I really enjoyed getting to know Isaac a little better and seeing him smile so much. Isaac is not the happiest baby so I was surprised that he honestly cried LESS than our drama queen. Of course he was really in his element being held ALL day long which took its toll on mommy’s back. Isaac smiled at me just about every time I looked at him! If you know Isaac, you know that when he laughs he snorts a whole lot. It’s super hilarious but Sierra and I were joking that this would be a rough habit to have when he’s a teenager and likes a girl. When he’s really upset he snorts when he cries too…also a turn-off to the ladies.

4. Sleeping with Isabella. Isabella was super excited in the car that she got to sleep with me. I knew it would be a difficult night with Isaac crying but I underestimated how disrupting it is to sleep with a three year old that kicks you, tries to get really close to you, steals the covers, rolls around, and sleeps sideways. Finally I put a pillow in between us. When she woke up she’s like “Jesse why is this pillow here? I can’t sleep with this pillow here!” I told her she was kicking me which she thought was silly. By the next morning she actually liked the pillow there and showed me how she slept with her one leg on the pillow. Whatever works for her.

5. Lesbian MOTHS. When we were on our dreadful 2 hour train ride home where Sierra insisted this was the last time she was going on the train, we were pretty sure some of the people in our car thought Sierra and I were lesbian mothers. We would both complement Isabella and Isaac on how well they were doing and would trade off holding Isaac and giving him kisses. Isabella would evenly direct her questions to us and Isaac was pretty content with either of us. This woman could not keep her eyes off of us! I couldn’t help wanting to play it up more but I figured Sierra wouldn’t be down with this. There were definitely other times on our trip where Sierra and I felt like we were trying not to look like lesbian moths haha! Especially because we traded kids off so much it didn’t look like one was mine and one was hers!

6. “Mommy needs a program!” Isabella got to make a bookmark at the Botanical Gardens and to entertain herself on our train ride she would wrap it around her arm and say that she was on a program and couldn’t see her friends anymore (not quite sure where she gets these ideas). She also insisted on wrapping it around Sierra’s arm and proceeding to tell the people around us that mommy needed a program and couldn’t see her friends anymore. This could’ve been interpreted in a variety of ways by our fellow train mates!

7. A grumpy mommy. After our disappointment at the book fair and a long hike to the Shakespeare Library, I suggested we stop at the Botanical Gardens which were on the way and are very beautiful. I figured this might be a place for us to cool off. We went inside and while Sierra stood there with the kids, I walked around to see how hot the place was and if there was an atrium inside that was cool. I found a very nice bench in the back that had an air conditioner right above it. Thinking Sierra was in her heaven to be surrounded by plants and flowers to take pictures of, I suggested that I take the kids and regroup while she walked around and took some pictures. She very curtly replied that we were either going or staying which clearly meant she was leaning towards going. No stops allowed on the way to Shakespeare! Needless to say, I was a little afraid to suggest doing the little activities outside for kids.

8. Sand in my shoes. Grumpy mommy did allow us to do the outdoor activities since Isaac needed to nurse. Isabella found a pot of sand with rocks and flowers in it that you could play with. Of course this led to a near melt down afterwards that she had sand in her crocs. We assured her that the sand would fall out but surely enough she asked me again at the Shakespeare Library about her sandy shoes. I was so bored by this dreadful tour that I took any excuse to get away from it, including washing Isabella’s dirty sandy feet. I took her to the bathroom and sat her on the counter with her feet in the sink (which was probably a no-no by mommy’s standards but aunts are able to get away with). Isabella thought this was hysterical and was so excited. I suppose it’s the small things! We probably played in the water for a good 10 minutes and then looked at the costumes in the hallway and sat on the bench. When we walked back to the tour, they were in the exact same place!!! AHHHHHH!!!!! Fortunately Sierra was just as bored as me but she felt bad about deserting the nice lady….I didn’t and we headed to the museum store instead.

9. The Spy Museum gift shop. Sierra and I were pretty excited about this museum but found out when we got to the door that tickets cost a whopping $18. Strollers were also not allowed. Considering our screaming queen had just fallen asleep in the stroller, there was no way you could convince us to wake her up, even for a cool museum. The alternative: going to the gift shop where we still got to check out some pretty cool stuff and saw Jack Bauer t-shirts that we were sure our dad and brother would love.

10. Saying “hi” to Isaac. Isabella constantly wants to talk and say hi to Isaac. To fully appreciate what this means, you have to imagine a romance novel scene. Isabella practically jumps on him and smothers him with kisses, hugs him very tightly, puts her face as close to his as possible and says “hi buddy!” in a high pitched voice. This continues for a very long time. The first thing she wants to do in the morning is say hi which is very darling unless she makes a perfectly content Isaac cry. Isaac does not like it when his mommy takes a shower but was perfectly happy this particular morning when Isabella insisted on saying hi for about the 7th time that hour. I told Isabella that maybe she should wait a little bit to say hi which made her cry and tell mommy that I wasn’t letting her talk to Isaac.

11. “She can scream all the way there if she wants to.” After the dinosaur disappointment and during the screaming meltdown about being hungry, I told Sierra that maybe it was time to have a time-out. Sierra replied that she could scream the whole way there if she wanted to. But let’s keep in mind that I’m the one behind the stroller with the screaming child while the real mommy walks 30 feet ahead with a sleeping baby in the Beco. I was the one getting the mean and disapproving looks from strangers and police officers for 40 minutes! Definitely not fun.

12. A special treat. The other thing that Isabella loved besides the escalator, elevator, train, and hoe-tel, was getting special treats for the times that she was actually cooperating. We saw a lovely bakery (with half off prices yay!) on our walk down King Street in Alexandria and picked up chocolate cheesecake and a chocolate croissant. The croissant was disappointing and Isabella fed it to the ducks but the cheesecake was great (even though there was terrible live banjo or something music that started right as we sat down on the pier). Isaac was happy to stretch out and Isabella was satisfied with her special treat.

13. A moment’s peace and a glass of wine. The final night at the hoe-tel I told Sierra that I just couldn’t handle it anymore and had to take a break by myself for a little bit. I took my book that I just bought and went down to the restaurant in the hotel and sat in a quiet corner reading and having a glass of wine. It was probably the most relaxing part of the trip and boy did I appreciate the silence. I told Sierra that if I do have kids I will surely need a nanny or a stay at home dad. After regrouping I went back upstairs to find Sierra and Isabella snuggling and chatting in bed. Isabella was so excited to see me and wanted to know where I had been, what I had been doing, why I left, and had to tell me how worried she was that I wasn’t coming back. I guess it’s nice after all having someone love you so much.

14. Car ride home. My moment of reverie ended with the car ride home. Isabella is very demanding when it comes to needing a snack or a particular book or if one of her shoes falls off or if it’s too sunny, etc. I was trying to take a nap while Isabella continued to ask me questions and tell me things. Suddenly she just had to have her Dora magazine that I bought her. The backseat was a disaster with blankets, food, and toys and I couldn’t find the magazine. I suggested another book. This was not an appropriate solution in her mind and she really needed that magazine. I muttered some things under my breath and said this was ridiculous. Isabella says, “Oh don’t worry Jesse. I know what I can do. I can do that one book with the marker.” I haven’t catalogued all of Isabella’s toys and had no idea what she was talking about. Thankfully I found it. Isaac was very upset about being back in the car and cried a whole lot. To calm him down mommy and I took turns sitting in the back in between the car seats (very tight squeeze!) to talk and soothe Isaac which I’m sure is completely illegal. I wish we had gotten pictures of us trying to climb in the back over the kids!

All in all, it was a very interesting trip to say the least. I spent the following day in recovery and slept and went to the gym to sit in the whirlpool, eucalyptus steam room, and sauna. So relaxing. Overall, I’m glad I am still childless right now but have such an entertaining niece and nephew who I can visit but also hand back to their parents. (um, when do I get to sleep and go to the gym to sit in the steam room?)