Washington, D. C. Family Vacation

This is our third family vacation since becoming a family of three and each time we've gotten braver and gone farther. Our first was a road trip to Atlanta, Georgia. Then a plane ride to Boone, N. C. where we drove through snowy weather and icy roads. Now, another road trip. This time much further than the first that included an over night stop.

Once we arrived set out to get in as much as we could with a baby. Day one was gorgeous out so we hopped on the Metro and headed to the National Zoo. We loved seeing all the animals. It was quite a treck around the place with all the up and downs but seeing the pandas and seeing/hearing the lion roar made it totally worth it! We then decided to brave it past Evie's bedtime and head to Georgetown. We enjoyed so yummy cupcakes from DC Cupcakes!!! Day two: to the Mall and beyond
We went to the National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of American History, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, Korean Memorial. Yeah, that's it and boy was that plenty! We are exhausted from all the walking and so proud of how good Evie did. Day Three: wrap it up
Today was the day to do whatever else we wanted to do and hadn't gotten to yet. This included going to Jefferson Memorial and the White House. It was very cold today and all I wanted was to stay in with a cup of hot coffee. So, we settled for The Corner Bakery instead and enjoyed some lunch and relaxed. After so much walking yesterday our feet were still hurting. Dinner: Haad Thai ( close to our hotel) Day Four: farewell Today was the Centennial Cherry Blossom Festival. So we walked around the Tidal Basin and the Mall area where they had tents of stuff around. The neatest part was seeing all the kites being flown by everyone surrounding the Washington Monument. "how do the strings not get tangled?". We headed back home around 3:00pm. Of course with the festival it took forever to get out but we eventually did.

Tips: * travel when it's nap time. Arrive with a happy baby! * eat when baby does, cuts down on stop time
* stop and let baby burn some energy off before driving another 4 hours. Traveling with a baby can be exhausting and challenging. Some things I've learned is to just make sure you have plenty of diapers (we became pros at chaning her in the stroller), plenty of food (grabbing the free breakfast foods for her made it cheaper) and let her walk around whenever possible to help burn off the energy. Eve loves to people watch so having the backpack carrier allowed her to observe and be entertained. We were able to do so much. Even though we got many stares from people wondering why we would even think to bring a stroller on the Metro during rush hours it was the best time! Loved this vacation so much and even though Eve may not remember going or any details, we made an experience with each other. One I WILL remember and share with her one day flipping through the photos.

Posted via email from and then...