a stroll in the city before a move to the suburbs

On Memorial Day, we had a new baby and a big move looming only days ahead of us, so being 9 months pregnant on a regularly hot and humid DC day, we did the obvious thing to do—got on the metro and strolled the National Mall with the kiddos.

Jon and I thought it would be fun to take the kids in one last time while it was so close, and they loved it. We hadn't been up close to the monuments for some time, so they were pretty excited about seeing how big they were in person (probably not remembering that they've seen them all before). Although I have to admit...the only monuments we made it to were the Washington and WWII, because it was crazy hot. And I was crazy pregnant. And the kids only wanted to play in the dirt and run around like wild people anyway.

We were actually hoping to catch some Rolling Thunder while we were there (the veteran's motorcycle parade, etc, that happens every Memorial Day weekend), but of course most of the festivities were held on Saturday and Sunday...so we got there just in time for most of the excitement to be over. I think we saw a dozen motorcycles, literally. BIG disappointment for the kids. Pretty pathetic, fruitless, 10-block-walk for the {sweaty} grown-ups. (You can imagine us walking around pushing 2 kids in a stroller with pink faces from the heat, me looking like I could give birth at any moment, and us asking random people, "Are there any motorcycles left? Have you seen any motorcycles around here?" You'd think we would know this by our 7th summer here. Fail!

But as always, the kids seemed to not notice too much that our plans ended up not being plans at all. I'm sure we gave them both a popsicle when we got home and all hard feelings were forgotten. Childhood is blissful like that.

 

 

portraits by Van

 

   

I mean...wow. That's some belly. Straight out. Waaaaaayyyy out. No wonder I could hardly breathe!

 

After the Washington Monument, we were off to the WWII Memorial to get some relief from the sweltering heat. You're totally not supposed to get in the water at all, but everyone still sticks their feet in. Especially on a day like that. Or you could do what Lila did, and just walk on into the water until you fall in face first, about 5 seconds after entering the water. Our kids didn't just wade, they swam. Rule breakers. My only disappointment is that I wasn't taking pictures when it happened, so the glory of the moment will have to live on in our memories. Shame. Seriously, it was awesome.

 

 

She looks sweet, but the Lila's sassy side is pretty evident without looking too hard.

Yes, she's unloading a mouthful of water from her sippy cup right into Van's hair. Not my idea. We specialize in manners and class. Let me know if you ever want any tips. 

 

 I adore this shot.

 A normal day with the crazies.

fifth anniversary staycation

Five years sounds pretty official. It's kind of a big deal. But it feels more like we blinked and now we just happen to each be five years older. It went. so. fast. Each year has been so exciting, so fun, and so different from what we may have imagined, and we've loved all of it. We can't wait for the next five!

Jon and I wanted to have some fun little getaway to celebrate, but as luck would have it, our 5th anniversary happened to be surrounded by several other things that are also kind of a big deal. Buying our first (town)house, moving out of the only city we've lived in together, and oh yes, becoming a family of five. So we opted for simplicity this year, and our anniversary getaway became a 24-hour staycation. Which was perfect.

No kids (thanks Olivers!), two lovers, and a day in DC to do whatever we want. We took our camera and a massive lens, which made it so fun to see things through a camera again and remember how beautiful everything is.

Here's our day of playing hooky, in photos.


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The Old Post Office. We've always wanted to go since we heard it has the best view of the city from its tower, and now we can finally check it off our list.






We always liked that the tower reminded us of Old Main at Utah State. Go Aggies!


Proof that in the morning, my feet are still looking pretty good. Any day now the swelling will start and never go away until post-baby, so non-puffy feet make me really happy. It would make you happy too if you were me. Believe me.



Going up.



The view.


Not really. You can see past the cables. And it's pretty awesome.




The view of Pennsylvania Ave and the Capitol, and us in the tower.

 


Check out this luxury business building rooftop.




The bump. {37 weeks...full term!}








Eastern Market on a weekday = no market. But we had lunch there anyway!
 

Strolling the Capitol Hill neighborhood.






Catching a Nats game, where we went for one of our first dates. Except they have a new stadium now that's a thousand times better. This place is beautiful, right along the harbor.


I like this guy. A lot.

It wouldn't be a Nats game without the running bobble-head presidents. Love them!


 
 

We had ice cream no less than 3 times that day, a French-sandwich lunch at Eastern Market, dinner from a farmer's market on the street, followed by a long-awaited trip to TangySweet (which lived up to all its recommendations!).

After getting to bed late at home (sans kids) and sleeping in (ahhhh), we finished the staycation off with breakfast at the local diner on Columbia Pike—Bob & Edith's. The food was nothing spectacular, but the crowds did not disappoint. When the man sitting in the booth behind us asked me jokingly if "that thing is full of collards," pointing to my baby belly, I knew our day was complete.




We loved that you can get a Bob & Edith's shirt...but not in a size small.


Happy five fabulous years, to my favorite person on the planet!