DC, part II

Notes to Self

A few things about traveling

1. Forget your tennis shoes, walk all over DC and ride the METRO in your clean, newly bought by my husband, cream colored TOMS.  Not the smartest idea I've had lately. My TOMS did hold up well.  And I successfully stretched them to fit (TOMS always stretch to fit your feet they say). Needless to say they are well broken in.  

2. Forgot to bring water on our outings.  I forgot numerous times to grab the water bottles.  And yes, I paid $5.99 for a bottle of water.  Next time-don't forget WATER!

3. Swim in an outdoor pool in April.  Hummm...was this a bright idea or not. Though the pool was heated the air temps were not.  Of course Katie loved it, but Owen and I only lasted 33 minutes.

4. Pack one more outfit then I think necessary for each kid.  Washing clothes in the sink works, but I need to be prepared an extra wee bit more-mud puddle jumping, rolling in the dust/grass....  :)

5. ALWAYS a good idea to stay close to where we are exploring.  This we did well!  The hotel was within walking distance for Justin and us.  Plus the METRO had a stop in right below the hotel-score!

Here are the rest of our photos.  As one can see from the photos we had a great time.  We'd do it again especially since we saw two great friends!

While at the Roarks (a friend we were SOOOO glad to see) playing, Katie was beyond excited to dress up in princess outfits and wear heels.  Thanks Emmaline for sharing your clothes and dolls and thanks to Hudson and Elijah for being such generous hosts with their room full of lego and dart guns and swords.  Thanks to Allison for opening your home, conversations, being real and pizza.  :)

The two littles were left at the table to finish their lunches.  Owen was mixing his applesauce in with his lemonade while having a cell phone charger around his neck. Interesting. Emmaline was fingerprinting and eating her yogurt.  Creative. :)  

The kids got to watch a Mickey's Clubhouse and were glued to it...  What else keeps five kids quiet for a few minutes? :)

Nana, this photos for you (hint-look closely at the tongue :)

Hey there....thanks again for letting us stop by, play and eat lunch!  Your company was refreshing and your home beautiful.  SOOOooo glad that Robin introduced us and our men had classes together way back when we were just couples.  We appreciate your family and all the Lord has you guys on doing-being on mission for His Kingdom.  

We had to do some funny faces at a yummy pizza place.  Thankfully we were able to grab dinner with Justin two nights in-between sessions!  :)

Q Conference venue-an amazing hall.

The kids loved walking the sidewalk 'balance beam'.  I think walking on the edges was the highlight of  our many walks.

Dancing in front of the Smithsonian Castle

A resurgence of the 80's...Eat your heart out Tina Turner.

seriously...my hair-wow.

Ka-Chow!  

I heart these two guys.  

And we loved this coffee shop called Ebenezers on Capital Hill.  They have a neat story and exceptional coffee...it was worth the walk (around the block since we got turned our with our directions :)

Owen is licking the sugar off the table from the cookie we got the kids-good boy, get all those crumbs!

DC was beautiful-azalas everywhere, tulips blooming on every corner and cherry trees blossoms flying in the wind.

And to round out our photos...a moment captured by Katie Grace.  

OOOOHHHH, and one place we absolutely loved eating was Chop't Creative Salads...it has inspired two weeks of salads for dinner...Katie has been fond of saying, "This hits my yummy spot!" 

-more on that later. :)