Washington DC & Documents

The day begins...earlier than we would like but how can you be crabby about early rising for too long?

Riding the train in. Brad has become quite partial to public transportation. David loved it.

The national mall with an itty bitty capitol building in the background.

The national mall, this time with the Washington Monument.

I fondly remember a DC trip with my family but we never got to the documents (I think the archives were closed?) that was our first stop.

What the Declaration of Independence looked like when it was written.

What it looks like now...it was kinda sad, this one was obviously in bad shape simply because it is so old! You really couldn't see much. I barely made out John Hancock.

The Constitution

The Bill of Rights

And for you Danielle pages from the Articles of Confederation (in much better shape and strangely fascinating...a definite error for the new republic)

Danielle for you yet again, some paper from Marbury v. Madison that was also partially destroyed when the white house was burned down. We need to thank Pavia-Dunham for teaching about that and your current American Heritage employment. Sad that I never made the cut!

Washington Monument

The Capitol, a little closer this time

Thanksgiving Day

Today was the most laid back Thanksgiving I can remember (well at least for me.) There wasn't really a whole lot do since Brad enjoys preparing the turkey! I'll admit to spending a good part of the day browsing for Christmas gifts online. Brad cooked the turkey, rolls, and some twice baked potatoes. Meghan did a box of Stove Top and I certainly hope I did the dishes, but I really don't remember if I did.

Willie and Daddy

Carving the turkey--I don't know if this was when it was 3/4 done or actually done...it did have to go back in the oven after a little mishap.

Our small little party gathered around the table

Will really liked the stuffing.

After some pie and hanging out we all went to bed early. That was a treat!

Over the River and Through the Woods

Our Thanksgiving was more like Over the Bridge and Through the River. We took the opportunity to see another part of the East Coast. We were able to leave for DC around 6am (Are you shocked Kent?) We avoided the route that would take us through NYC, Philly, Baltimore.

We crossed the Tappan Zee bridge (Over the Bridge). I've never seen anything more impressive than driving over the Hudson without NYC in the way. I kept arguing with Brad and telling him with that much water we had to be at the ocean or at least at bay inlet. We weren't. It was just the Hudson.

By lunch time we'd been in five states! Breakfast at a drive near home in Massachusetts, looking for an ATM in Connecticut (I think), New York, having our gas pumped for us in New Jersey, and finally stopping in Hershey, Pennsylvania for a break.

That is Hershey like the chocolate company.

Their factory tour was really a Disney like ride that took you through the entire chocolate making process. Here is David pointing at the cows.

Milk entering the "factory"

Brad and William on the ride

The finished product...the kisses that we all know and love.

You could spend some time in Hershey. There was a lot more to do at the headquarters and we saw an amusement park near by too. We ate overpriced and not too tasty food in the Hershey complex and let the boys have a little break from the car.

We drove through Gettysburg, PA, then Maryland and a while later crossed the Patomic. We made great time to our destination in Leesburg, Virginia; also know as Meghan.

Babysitting Co-Op

We stole an idea that has worked for some of our friends. It is essentially a babysitting rotation. You watch all the kids at your house one night and then you have four nights out without children. We had a full house on our night. It was fun. But man were we tired when it was over!

Decorating Cookies

Kristen and Adam (we cheated and called in reinforcements)

Some of us didn't decorate cookies but crawled around and ate them instead.

Bean Bag Toss

Lion King movie with popcorn

(Yes that is NINE boys and only one little baby girl.)

Twilight New Moon

A big group of us got together for the second Twilight movie premiere. Brad was conveniently home for the day so I was able to leave early and run a few errands without little boys before a lovely dinner/dessert at the California Pizza Kitchen.

We ate, celebrated Cheryl's birthday, chatted, and enjoyed being girls.

Waiting in line.

Thankfully some of the group skipped dinner and went early to get wait for seats. It was a madhouse! While I was in line I realized that one of the girls in our group is a first cousin of Stephanie Meyer. It was really interesting to get some "insider" details.

18 People at the theater!

This movie was good. Even better than the first, but still teenage vampire lusty. There was the added bonus of good company. I like getting to know friends better. I got home around 1am. It was the most eventful night I've had in awhile. I paid for it the next day!

Will Visits the Hospital

Will had to visit the hospital for a minor inpatient surgery today. (I won't elaborate to save him from embarassment if this post is still around cyberspace when he is a teenager. He'll thank me for doing it though.) Don't even get me started on why this wasn't done correctly in the first place! He was the youngest one and had to be there at 6am to get ready.

I think he could sense that something was up. He just wanted to be near me.

This was right before he went in around 7:45 AM. There was a child life specialist playing blocks with Will. I was really impressed with her. They let (if you could call it a privilege?) me into the OR while he was being sedated. I had done my emotional stuff already so it wasn't too bad. He was really mad and fought it; even popped the hose off of the mask. The plus side of having him so upset was he took a couple really big crying breaths and was out. In a weird way I was glad I could at least be with him until he didn't remember.

Sleeping afterward. He was understandably crabby. He wanted to drink a bottle but was fighting me the whole time. He was still out of it and really uncomfortable. I was surprised how hard it is to wrestle a 20lb baby! Thankfully he doesn't usually do that.

Riding the train into town with Daddy. Brad stayed home from school with David. That made a really big difference for me not to worry about who was taking care of him.

They visited the science center again, it is just on the other side of the Charles, walking distance from Mass General.

David got spoiled with a popsicle at the hospital.

Getting ready to head home. I would feel that way too buddy! We were on our way by 11AM.

I left feeling grateful for healthy kids, great healthcare, and humbled at the thought of parents who routinely have to see their kids go though serious surgeries. We made sure Will had his prescription of Tylenol with codeine. He did remarkably well.

Everyday Life

Lest my family and friends think that our life is mostly outings and events I took a few snapshots to prove that it is indeed normally routine.

This was after successfully closing the dishwasher. No small task. They both love, LOVE to play with the open dishwasher while I am loading it. Especially the silverware. Occasionally, the knives. Maybe they will remember this fascination and load dishes when they are teenagers? I thought both Will and Dave were smashing in their jammies.

It got quiet so I knew they were up to something! A small piece of what my front room normally looks like. Maybe if I let them play in the toy box it will save the trouble of getting things out? I tried to sneak up on them but Will caught on and hammed it up...

I won't lie. Some days with two under two are rough. But not today.