Our Trip to Washington DC--Day 1

My parents graciously flew 9 of us (my sister, her husband, my mom, my dad, brandon, myah, maysen, mylie, and myself) out to Washington DC for the Thanksgiving holiday.  My brother is currently living out there, so we were ultimately visiting him and in addition, we got to see our Nation's Capital.  This was my third trip to DC and it was just as beautiful as I remember.  For my American History teacher of a husband, however, it was his first trip.  In the two months leading up to the trip, I will admit that I was a little nervous about flying (on a holiday, nonetheless) with three kids 4 and under.  My worries were worthless because they did great....that's an understatement....they did perfectly!  Here's a "Cliffs-note" version of our first day.

*Alarm clock goes off at 4:30 am.  I had showered the night before so I could simply get dressed and get the kids up and dressed.  Myah and Maysen were no problem as they had been counting down the days to the trip since the day we booked the tickets (end of September).  Mylie was a little confused as to what was going on.  If I was holding her, she was fine, but if I wasn't, then she wasn't very happy about being woken up at such an early hour.
*At 4:45, I discover that I have a plugged duct on the left side (for those of you readers who don't breastfeed, it has something to do with that--I'm trying to be a little discreet so I don't offend anyone).  I put a hot rice sock on for the ride to Des Moines so that when it's time to feed Mylie she will be able to take care of the situation.
*5:00--leave house and drive to Des Moines airport.  Mylie screams the whole way there because 1.  It's dark  2.  It's early, and 3.  She's hungry.  Again, for those of you who are familiar with breastfeeding, you know that hearing your baby cry (or simply seeing your baby for that matter) can trigger 'let down.'  Therefore, I have a plugged duct, I'm applying heat and pressure to it AND my baby is screaming.......you bet I had some leaking going on.
*5:45--Arrive at airport.  Breeze through security.  Feed Mylie and all issues are taken care of!
*7:10--plane departs from Des Moines airport and we experience a perfect flight.  There were other people's children having meltdowns, but that didn't bother me because I was just glad that none of mine were crying, puking, etc.  We had no control over the times of our flights, but they all seemed to jive well with Mylie's eating and sleeping schedule.  I cannot say enough times how well our girls did--we would not think twice about taking them on another trip!  Simply amazing.
*We arrived in DC sometime around 10:30 (they are one hour ahead of Iowa). Cole meets us at the airport--lookin' good I must say! We checked into our hotel (DoubleTree by Hilton--Crystal City).  We had a great view of the Pentagon as well as the skyline of DC.

*Thanksgiving dinner was at Joe Theisman's.  Brandon was craving the 'traditional' Thanksgiving meal, which he got there.  I shared some potato skins with my mom.  They were delicious!  Maysen enjoyed these chicken strips.

*The plan was to spend the day at Arlington National Cemetery.  We got a crash course for the Metro (our second most form of transportation for the trip--walking would be the first).  FYI--the Metro ('Train') was Maysen's favorite part of the trip.
*To our surprise (or maybe demise), the 'Tourmobile' has been discontinued at Arlington so we were in for more walking than planned.  Since it was day 1, we tackled it well.  We got to see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, JFK Eternal Flame Gravesite, Robert E. Lee Arlington House and then we walked (and walked, and walked) to the Iwo Gima Marine Corps Memorial.

*The temperatures were in the upper 50s so it was a beautiful day outside.
*When we got back to the hotel, we were pretty hungry.  We had failed to think ahead on the fact that most places wouldn't be open for supper since it was Thanksgiving day after all.  We knew none of the adults would starve, but we were ready to pool together some granola bars, peanuts and pretzels from the airplane for the little girls.  Luckily, for us, the hotel 'SkyDome Restaurant' dropped it's dress code for the night.  You can't wear any type of sports clothing, tennis shoes or shorts to this place, but for that night only, they changed the policy.  You might have had to be there to really understand how underdressed some of us were, but believe me, it was hilarious.  Brandon had on gym shorts and a long-sleeved shirt he had worn that day.  I had flip-flops and a lounge outfit on.  We stepped out of the elevator and the lights were dimmed and flashing in true night-club fashion.  It's been way too long since I've been around that type of scene and the only thing we could do was laugh and be glad that no one there knew us.
*Many laughs were shared and great memories were made by the 10 of us.  We will cherish this trip for years to come.....and this only recaps the first day.  Stay tuned for day 2.....I'll get around to it eventually!!

For better pictures, hop on over to Words of Williams where Kelsey and Eric are recapping our trip as well.