Isabella’s Favorite Parts of D.C.
1. The hoetel
2. The train a.k.a metro..."mommy, this is the best train I never did go on!"
3. The escalator
Starting out on our road trip...
7:45 a.m. Leave my house
8:15 a.m. First stop to pee.
9:30 a.m. Second stop to pee and nurse. I promise the trip went better after that!
Isabella, keeping herself entertained with a straw.
Isabella's solution to staying out of the sun.
Fall is here!
I'm pretty sure Isabella would love this dress.
Isaac hangin' out in the Beco...his favorite place to be. I couldn't imagine this trip without having the Beco. If you are petite and need a baby carrier, this is the one to get. The Ergo, another popular brand, works best for taller people with broader shoulders. Although my friend Sarah has an Ergo and definitely does not have broad shoulders, but she has a very long torso (lucky duck).
Top Ten Happenings in Our D.C. Adventure
Please note, top, does not necessarily indicate good.
1. The dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History. Isabella is very interested in dinosaurs these days. She really enjoys watching the show The Dinosaur Train on PBS, so I was excited to take her to see the dinosaurs at the museum. Well, apparently I didn’t sufficiently explain that dinosaurs are no longer living. When we walked in and all she saw were bones…well, let’s just say, it was a major let down. The poor girls face visibly sunk with disappointment as I’m pretty sure all hopes of actually being able to see the Pteranadon family were completely ruined. After she recovered from the disappointment we walked around and talked about fossils and the fact that dinosaurs are not living (over and over again). She also told anyone who would listen that dinosaurs are not real. All in all we were in the museum for about half an hour when a complete meltdown began and we left with Isabella screaming because she was hungry and refused all snacks offered. From there she screamed until we reached the Old Post Office and found something to eat.
Here are some pictures from before and after the Dinosaur Disappointment...
Jesse and I couldn't stop laughing because Isabella literally fell asleep with her hand in the zip lock bag of Quaker Oat Squares.
2. The White House. If I were the President, I would definitely want to live in the Capitol Building instead of the White House. Honestly, the White House was a disappointment…didn’t even take a picture because it just wasn’t that cool. Oh, and it was 95 + degrees out AND once again, Isabella was screaming: “I’M HOT. I’M GETTING SWEATY. I NEED NEW CLOTHES. I WANT TO GO HOME. I NEED MY DADDY. I REALLY REALLY MISS MY DADDY. MOMMY. MOMMY. I NEED YOU. I’M SWEATY. IT’S TOO HOT. IT’S TOO SUNNY. THE SUN IS IN MY EYES. I WANT TO GO TO THE HOE-TEL. WHERE’S THE TRAIN. I WANT SOMETHING TO EAT. I NEED WATER. And on and on. Of course during this time we walked by numerous police officers who probably thought we were torturing her. So, after a very long walk past the White House (because it is a long walk and there is no shade) we found a restaurant to go in to regroup. After we’d been sitting there for a few minutes Isabella shouted, “it’s dancing time!” And Jesse said, “I just can’t handle these mood changes. One minute she’s screaming and the next it’s time to dance, I just don’t get it.” If you know my sister, you should be laughing right now.
3. The woman with the front-butt skirt. As we were sitting in the restaurant after our grueling walk by the White House, a woman walks by in a cream colored pencil skirt that was much too tight and to make matters worse, had a double stitch seam down the front. After a few minutes I said to Jesse, “someone really needs to tell her not to wear that skirt.” After that we couldn’t help but laugh about what we coined the front butt skirt. And we seriously debated telling her to button her sweater.
4. The woman who was scared by her own reflection. We were walking along in Alexandria and all of a sudden this woman was acting really weird and started dodging the window she was about to walk by and then she was doing this weird shuffle thing like she couldn’t decide what to do. The only reasonable explanation for her behavior is that she saw how awful she looked and was like, “man, I need to get home and do something about that!”
5. The National Book Festival. While walking to the Natural History Museum the day before, we noticed that they were setting up for a Book Festival that would be held the held the next day. Of course Jesse and I were super excited because if there’s one place we both belong, it’s at a book festival. Well, it turned out as a major disappointment because aside from the fact that Isabella was once again screaming because she was SO hot and sweaty (I really promise we weren't torturing her) just about every person in the D.C. area was at the book festival and too many bodies were already squeezed in the tents so there was no way I was subjecting myself or my screaming three year old to that mess. Instead we walked over to the Botanical Gardens. Which would have been nice if we'd made it past the ENTRANCE. But, if one's three year old is already screaming about the heat, one does not want to add to that screaming by walking through a simulated JUNGLE-like atmosphere. They did have some activities outside that Isabella was able to grumpily partake in and Isaac was able to nurse, so it worked out.
Isabella screaming.
Entrance to the Botanical Gardens
A very melancholy Isabella
Capitol Building...too bad my lens was dirty when I took this picture.
6. The Folger Shakespeare Library. I'm pretty sure Jesse was hoping I wouldn't see that this building existed, but I did, so of course we had to go. I mean really people, my minor is in British Lit., so how could I pass this up. Do you want to know the best thing about the library...it was really, really, well air-conditioned. We arrived minutes before a guided tour which I thought would be wonderful. No, it wasn't wonderful, it was so boring that I could have read a whole book about Shakespeare in the time it took the lady to tell us everything I learned in Shakespeare 101. It was an impressive building and I got to see one of the first folios which was cool but became less cool after we stood in front of it for half an hour.
7. Lunch on Saturday. Our day was already off to a pretty rough start and we had high hopes for lunch. Well, we had high hopes until an angry hostess posing as a mute seated us at a table in a dark dungeon with no other customers. And then an evil looking, also angry, waitress came in to take our order. And then we decided to cancel our order and leave because by the way things were going, we were going to have a really crappy lunch. So we headed back the way we came from to a promising Thai restaurant. The Thai restaurant was about the size of my living-room and the waiter barely spoke English. Here's how the conversation between Jesse and the waiter went:
--We're kind of confused by the menu. Do these meals here come with chicken.
--You want chicken?
--Well, I'm wondering if the Pad Thai comes with chicken.
--You want whole chicken?
--A whole chicken? No, not a whole chicken. Do they come with pieces of chicken?
--You want half chicken? You want whole chicken?
--I think we'll just have water for now.
He left and his mom (I'm assuming it was his mom) came over and took the order. Our food came and thankfully was pretty good (and did come with chicken). Of course at that point Isaac was getting fussy and didn't want to nurse so I stood up to bounce him while I ate (there was no one else in the restaurant). The woman who took our order saw that I was standing up and eating so she walked over to me clapping her hands saying, "Bebe, me hold bebe, mommy, you eat, I hold bebe!" Whoa there, I was so shocked that I handed him over because really I didn't know what else to do. For the duration of the meal she talked very excitedly about Isaac (I'm assuming this because I couldn't understand a single word she said). After we left the restaurant Jesse said, "so how uncomfortable did that make you?" I said, "I honestly don't even know what I feel right now. I kept picturing her handing him off to someone in the kitchen and me running through D.C. trying to get back my baby."
8. Are you a MOTH? After our very interested lunch we were in need of coffee and thankfully a Starbucks was only one block away. After ordering, Jesse went to the bathroom and I had a conversation with a man about my age, that went something like this:
--Excuse me, are you a MOTH?
--Um, no, I don't know what that means?
--Do you live on the Hill?
--No, I don't know what a MOTH is. (Of course I'm laughing in disbelief at this point)
--Oh, it means, Mother Of The Hill. If you are a mom and live on Capitol Hill, then you're called a MOTH and you looked like one of them so I thought I would ask.
--Wow. No, I don't live here. Is that a negative term or something?
--No, no...
and then he went on to explain how he just moved there and works at a local church and was sending out an email to all of the parents and many of the contacts were listed under MOTH.
Of course I had to tell Jesse this story and we laughed the whole way to the metro station and I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard. She thought he was calling me a moth because I never stop moving (I'm always bouncing Isaac, even when he's in the Beco, which he was for three days). The funny thing is, when we were at The Yankee Peddler Festival a week ago, I was standing at one of the booths, doing my usual bounce with Isaac in the Beco, and this woman said to me, "wow, I should really start doing that (bouncing), all of the magazines give exercises to do while standing around and you're doing a really good job. I could probably lose weight if I did that!" Then she realized I had a baby attached to me..."OH, you have a baby! That's why you're bouncing! I thought you read about that in a magazine!" Oh dear. No, I do not just bounce for fun, although my calves are starting to look quite nice so I guess it is paying off. I rotate between a bounce using the calves and one using the thighs, just in case anyone wants an exercise tip...just kidding!
9. Look at that FAT baby and our last train ride. We were waiting for the metro...waiting for a very long time because they were doing construction on the rails, when this crazy woman, and really she must have been crazy because before she even got over to me I could hear he saying, "look at that fat baby, what a fat baby, boy that baby is fat." So she comes up to me and says, "how old is that baby, he is so fat, I can't believe he's so fat." And walked away still saying those things. Now, first of all, one of my least favorite words in existence is the word 'fat' and it is banned from being used in our house. Secondly, Isaac is in the first percentile for his height and a whopping second percentile for his height, so I would hardly consider using the adjective 'fat' to describe him. Jesse thought maybe she meant he's a PHAT baby.
We stayed in Springfield so the metro ride was about twenty minutes...not bad right? Well, on Saturday they were doing construction on the rails and it took TWO HOURS for us to get back to the hotel from Georgetown. Thankfully Isabella and Isaac did very well during that time. As for me, I was about to lose it. Not only was it a disaster waiting to happen since this was during Isaac's fussiest time of the day, but we were stuck in a tunnel most of the time and I tend to feel claustrophobic in crowds or as I found out, in dark tunnels when I am stuck on a train with way to many people.
10. The drive home. Let me remind you how much Isabella loved our trip: she talked about going home from the minute we arrived at the hotel. And she made it her personal goal to remind us as many times as possible that we were indeed on our way home. Every time we stopped, made a turn, or paid a toll she said, "no, we are going home! Right mommy (because she didn't trust Jesse). We are going home today. I want to go home. Mommy, are we almost home?" "No, Isabella, it is still a long time before we are home." "Mommy, are you kiddin' me?" Other than non-stop talking, Isabella did really well on the trip there and back. Isaac did really well on the trip there, but on the way back he was not happy and really needed to poop, but that's another story. I don't know any other babies who have been constipated from exclusive breastfeeding, but, you know, he's unique in more ways than one!
**************************************************************************
Old Town Alexandria...
Jesse, very excited to see all of the salt-water taffy options.
I used a trash can as a make-shift tripod in order to use a very slow shutter speed to take this picture.
Hooray for finding the Mothering Magazine sign for breastfeeding friendly establishments!
Here is a series of pictures show casing Isabella's amazingly entertaining dance while waiting for the train. She not only entertained us but many of the other waiting passengers. She even got an applause from an old lady. Sorry for the bad picture quality.
Dogs of D.C.
Please note the Clifford that Isabella is holding. Before we left for our trip, my mom gave Isabella some money and she chose to buy this Clifford. Unfortunately Clifford decided he wanted to take his own adventure in Georgetown which meant I had to backtrack several blocks to find him.
Signs on the metro I found totally hilarious...
Isaac's adorable feet. I think I take so many pictures of his feet because I wish I had baby feet and hand pictures of Isabella.
Random...
Since high school Jesse has made fun of me for wearing Birkinstocks. Well, guess who wanted to wear my spares when her feet were hurting...mmmhmmm...
She doesn't know I took this picture.
I'm fairly certain that I am the one who had the most fun on our road trip. While on the metro Saturday morning, Jesse told me she doesn't think she ever wants to have kids. Isaac lived in the Beco for three days so he was quite content and I thought he slept pretty well but Jesse was aghast when I said that Isaac slept amazingly well the first night..."What are you talking about?! He was up half the night!" That's better than the whole night, right?
How did we manage to spend three days in Washington D.C. and go to one museum for thirty minutes and not see any of the monuments...how about you try going with a three year old when it's over ninety-five degrees!
My personal highlights...a two-story Gap, a three-story Banana Republic, a two-story Gap Outlet, walking in Alexandria, getting our make-up done in Georgetown, and lots of fun memories with my sister.
Love the post! The top 10 list was awesome :) And um, ya, Isaac is the opposite of fat for sure!
ReplyDeleteLoved Isabella's dance, loved Jesse wearing Birkenstocks, LOVED the boat picture. Awesome all around :)
That was pretty awesome
ReplyDelete