Spring Break - Part 1

Jared was lucky enough to get spring break off this year, so we decided we wanted to take the kids on an adventure. I think we've got a big of the travel bug in us. It seems like we didn't travel anywhere for so many years when we were first married because of medical school and all, and now that the kids are getting older and can appreciate more things we really love exploring and seeing new things. This year we decided to go to Washington DC and we had all kinds of adventures there.

We had our first adventure right off the airplane when we caught the metro right at the airport. I saw the drop off from the platform and became immediately overprotective of my kids warning them of every danger and imploring them to carefully watch every step they took. I imagine Jared was rolling his eyes at me. The way we are the illustration of both ends of the spectrum sometimes just kills me. I loosened up enough to step away for a couple minutes to take this photo, but only after I threatened them with no candy for the rest of their lives if their butts came unglued from that bench they were sitting on.

We stayed in the awesome JW Marriott Hotel. Jared would prefer to stay in a cheap, less pristine hotel, but he's so good to me that he lets me pick our accommodations. The girls loved to sit on the window sill and pull their chairs up to the window and enjoy the view. There was a demonstration going on while we were there, so that provided another element of interest.

For whatever reason, Meg liked washing her hands in our hotel room's sink. Seeing suds come up between those little fingers wrapped tightly around the bar of soap just makes my heart happy. And how stinkin' cute is that pursed-lip smile underneath the adorable girly hat?

The first morning we were there, we walked across the street from our hotel, rented some bikes and rode a couple blocks to the National Mall. The girls were funny - they couldn't believe I was going to get on a bike. I'm pretty sure they thought I didn't know how to ride one. Once I thought about it, I realized I've never ridden a bike since they've been born. How weird is that? I was happy to demonstrate my bike riding ability and prove to my little sweethearts that I could indeed pedal my way around town.

We rode bikes all day and we covered a good chunk of territory. It was a good way to get around even if I was a little bit nervous every time we headed into traffic. But as usual, Jared was like the shepherd in the lead, rarely looking back to check on the safety of his sheep, and I took up the rear so I could help out with any strays. I really like the pictures of us with our bikes in so many of our photos.

We explored the fascinating sculpture gardens. The girls really enjoy these kinds of things. They get a kick out of imitating the poses of the sculptures and inserting themselves into the sculptures in interesting ways for photos.

I like the way the girls appear to be studying this particular piece of art. They speculated about a lot of things with this one.

I also like how the girls are wearing their bike helmets in so many of the photos. It was pretty inconvenient to keep taking them off and putting them back on, so we just didn't bother.

I want to remember to not get so stressed when we are on vacation. I don't know why I tend to get so uptight. Maybe it's because I want to pack so much into a short time. Maybe it's because I want the significance of important things to register in my girl's minds and have an impact. Maybe it's because I just run on a short fuse all the time, but I wasn't as patient and kind as I should have been and I feel bad about it now. Especially when I look at these next pictures where I see curiosity beaming, personalities shining through, and relationships being built and strengthened. The world through the eyes of children is something I don't step back to observe enough.

After about eight hours of riding bikes and touring the sites at the National Mall it was time to call it a day.