Category: vacation

Vacation Part Deux: Washington DC

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We’re home for the time being before vacation part 3 starts. Its so nice to be home in my own bed and with my own stuff. As awesome as our DC hotel was, my own stuff is better.To catch up, Part One. We were lucky that we got to stay on the Joint Base in DC which is about 10mins from most of what we wanted to see. Aside from Sprinkles Cupcakes, which I didn’t get to see or taste. Our first full day in DC was spent resting after the 12 hours of driving/riding we did the day before. Venom’s car seat needed a major scrub down so thats what I spent the morning doing as well as blogging about Boston.

Day two was spent at the Smithsonian. We went through the Natural History and the American History museums. The Natural History museum was pretty spiffy. 20130906-200047.jpgI loved the

gemstone exhibit. I really love gems stones though. I did find the Hope Diamond to be a bit boring and not as impressive as I thought it would be.20130906-200018.jpg Its more the story that makes it fascinating than the stone itself. Its mildly amusing that the stone is so expensive and rare due to imperfections in the stone, especially when diamonds are graded based on their perfection and clarity.

Venom loved the dinosaurs and Animals. We did skip a few exhibits due to one being human bones and figuring out how they died. I didn’t feel it was appropriate for Venom to see. We also skipped the Ocean life as we have been to several Aquariums.

I loved the whole American history museum. I took a lot of photo’s on Mr.’s phone and only sent a few to myself to post here. Sadly, I didn’t get to take any of the first ladies exhibit or of the American flag. The gowns are all gorgeous! they also have the ladies’s china (all but Mrs Obama. Though they do have her dress. )

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Amelia Earhart exhibit in the Air and Space Museum

Day 3 was spent walking monuments and at the Air and Space museum. It was a very hot day. Since we were both babywearing one of the girls it was a must to cool off in a museum after seeing the Lincoln Memorial, The Reflecting Pool, Vietnam Memorial, White House and the Capitol Building.

Lincoln memorial

Lincoln Memorial

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We wrapped up or 3rd day by letting Venom run on the grass in front of the Capitol Building. They had something going on so we couldn’t get any closer. The Mr. was getting her to chase him it was too cute.

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Day four was spent relaxing a bit as we were in pain from all of the walking and babywearing we were doing. We also went to Arlington Cemetery to see Kennedy’s Flame and the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. I didn’t take any photos while there.

Then day five we drove back home and picked the dog up from our amazingly sweet neighbors and went to sleep!

It has been a great and much needed vacation for both the Mr. and I. Sadly it was much too short but theres always next year.

Mid vacation recap- Boston

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Woah! What a week. The first half of our vacation is over and now we are enjoying Washington DC. The first half was spent in Boston for my husbands birthday. We left last Sunday afternoon. It took us 2 days to drive up because of some unforeseen car sickness from Venom. We stopped in Baltimore. The hotel we stayed in was oh so lovely. It had adjustable firmness mattresses and a huge glass footed walk in shower. Which Venom managed to get her hand stuck under the rubber seal on the bottom. Mr. and I have had a few laughs about it.

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Monday was spent driving the rest on the way up and getting in to the hotel. Tuesday started our actual sightseeing.
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We hit up the down town area. Which is amazing and makes me want to buy a tanning bed and move north. We went through the aquarium. Venom was obsessed with the sea turtle in the tank.

20130901-005639.jpg While I loved the penguins. The anaconda statue scared the crap out of me as it looked very life like at first glance. The rest of the morning was spent shopping for Red Sox stuff. The girls both got hats, Mr. got shirts and a hat and I didn’t get anything because there wasn’t any woman’s shirts there. Plus I am not a huge sports person anyway.

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That evening we went to the game. Being the awesome and amazing wife that I am, I bought the Mr. Red Sox tickets for his birthday. We were right by the dugout and got to see them slaughter the Orioles 13-4. The girls and I also had our first subway ride that night. Talk about motion sickness, I made it through but it defiantly hurt my head and was to loud for me. My hearing aids were all the way down and it was still to loud.

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Wednesday was spent in Salem and with family. We didn’t do much in Salem but I did see The house of Seven Gables and the memorial as well as some of down town. We got to see one of the Mr.’s cousins while there. It was great to meet more of his family.

20130901-005929.jpg Thursday we headed back south to DC. Our trip south was meant to be a 7 hr trip since we were avoiding the tolls as we didn’t want to pay another $50 in tolls. Well it turned in to a 12 hr trip due to our GPS messing up and rerouting us in NYC several times. We spent 4hr in NYC traffic, went through the Bronx twice, down Broadway, through Manhattan, over the Brooklyn bridge and through the Holland Tunnel. All while Roo cried because she wanted to nurse and Venom got car sick. Needless to say, next time I’m buying an EZ-Pass.

Friday was a day of rest and carseat cleaning. This weekend we are seeing sights and enjoying our time together. More about DC next week!

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!!