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After leaving Geneva, I flew to the Reagan National Airport in DC, one of my favorite places. It was such a short, easy flight and I must have been like the only person who checked things (it looked like a lot of commuters or something). We came in a few minutes early and when I walked into baggage claim about 5 minutes later, my two bags were sitting on non-moving conveyor belt with no one else in sight. Weird. My sister was bringing her son to come get me and I patiently waited for them to arrive. My nephew loves machinery and big vehicles, so we stopped a couple of times along the walk to the car to check out the planes and the metro. He's so cute - four years old and looks like he is 7. He just lost his first tooth too!!
So we went back to their home in suburbia, a home they recently purchased in a neighborhood that has just been designated as a historical area. Pretty cool! Plus the cherry blossoms were still showing as were other trees - it's almost like fall in the northeast but backwards. Gorgeous. My sister took off work
for the next couple of days, keeping the kids home so I could spend quality time with them. My niece and I bonded right away - she is two and girly. Where she got this, no one knows! She definitely has her dad wrapped around her finger - it is so funny to hear her ask him or reprimand him about something and say "Dad-dee".
Unfortunately, there was house work to be done on Thursday, which was only supposed to take a couple of hours, but when I asked the workers (Mexican, so I was designated translator), they said it would not be done until 4-5 that afternoon. So, we first took them to the park, and then decided to go to the National Zoo. This is like the prettiest zoo ever - it is very much like a park. We pushed the kids around and got to see seals, sea lions, tigers, lions, turtles, lemurs, and farm animals. Plus the gorgeous trees. We went back home around 3, which they were still working on so went to get some good pizza nearby. As translator, i discovered they would return in the morning to paint.
My sis and
I stayed up until 3am drinking wine and talking - it was good to have such time with each other because I rarely get to see her. When she comes home to NY, she stays with her husbands family, so I measure the time I get to see her in hours. It has been too long! Friday, we were hurting a little, but took the kids to another park while the sole worker painted. When we came back, he was done and we decided to watch Frozen - of course, this is the movie every kid loves. By this time, my niece was sticking to me like glue, so I sang to her when I put her down for a nap. She wanted the grand finale to be "Let It Go" but only my sister knows those words. We all slept a couple of hours, so it was actually a great day!
What we'd all been looking forward to all week was a visit to Baltimore to the B&O Railroad museum to see Thomas the Tank. So I packed up my stuff, and we all headed up there. We encountered heavy traffic due to road work, barely making it
to the train ride in time, but all in all it was a great day. The kids LOVED it and so did I. My niece loved the carousel and even this weird ride where she first got on with a grouchy face, but by the end was all smiles. She did NOT like the bouncy house! My nephew loved the trains and seemed to have a lot of fun.
Short trip to DC - next time I plan to come longer and take time to go to the National Archives. Usually when I'm in town I spend time with my sis, but it would be nice to do some more exploring as well. I think with the new big house, it's better for us all for me to visit once a year or so. I love DC - it is an amazing city with so much to do (and most of it is FREE!!!). I've seen a lot of it at various times, especially for our high school trip, but it would be nice to go back and check things out more.
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