We doubled our size for the holiday

Our friends and their kids stayed with us this past week which made the holiday week even more fun. Now that everything's back to normal it's kind of weird and lonely. I got used to a full house and loved having double the kids and friends around. I had been looking forward to this trip for so long and it seemed to fly by so fast, even though we had a pretty long week together. Here's how our week went:

Tuesday:
Tom and I took the day off to run errands and spend some time together before everyone arrived. Stasa was so upset that we didn't go straight to the airport when I picked her up from daycare. As we were circling the airport waiting for Sean, Anne, and the kids to come out, I was having Stas look for them. She kept asking where they were and when I explained that they were getting their bags she asked why they had bags. I told her they probably packed clothes to wear and she exclaimed "Oh yeah, Avery's bringing pants!"

Once we got home the girls were running around a mile a minute and went through a couple of outfit changes playing dress ups while the little ones played with blocks.





Wednesday:
Initially we were going to spend the entire day downtown on the mall and stay to watch the fireworks. Thank God we all agreed on a more realistic plan. We kept it low key in the morning and put all of the kids down for an early nap while the rest of us got ready and packed the cars. We ended up leaving for the Metro a little before 3:00 and at the last minute decided to head to Arlington National Cemetery to walk around before heading over for the fireworks. I like visiting Arlington and was happy that we were able to see Grandpa T's grave (and happy that it was so close to the visitor center).

The girls LOVED the train and were really good on the way there. Hell, all of the kids were really good all day and night. We spent a couple of hours walking miles around the cemetery...uphill all over the place. After the cemetery we went over to McDonald's for a quick bite to eat and then hiked over to the Iwo Jima memorial for the fireworks show with Tom's family. So, from the start of our trip to the end of the fireworks show was fantastic. The kids were cooperative, the crowds weren't terrible, the rain stayed away - it was good.

Then there was the Metro ride home. It seemed like the entire world was trying to leave through the Rosslyn Metro stop. There was a point where we were literally standing still, packed in, waiting to get through the turnstiles and we were actively sweating. Everywhere. I looked down and realized I had sweat rolling off of me onto the floor. Disgusting. The best part was getting through the turnstiles. They tried making us move over to the handicap "line" as if there were actual lines - it was like being in a herd of cattle. The strollers wouldn't fit through the regular turnstiles so we had to lift them over with the kids in them. We did all of that only to find out there was no elevator where we were and the cops wouldn't let us go down the escalators unless the strollers were folded up. Let's review: we had three strollers, four kids, one of whom was dead asleep, and more bags than I can remember. Oh yeah. And we were dripping sweat. We were finally on the escalator when this pushy lady tried to get past us. Seriously?! GET LOST LADY.

We finally got down to the platform to wait for the train only every train was jam packed. Like not even a single person could fit on the trains. Finally a cop took pity on us and promised to get us on the next train. Lucky for all of us that the next train was completely empty. HEAVEN. I think we ended up getting home around midnight. And the kids were so good. They hardly complained the entire day, even while sitting in the stagnant air of the train station. And so we rewarded them with milkshakes the next day.






Thursday:
Since we got home so late on the 4th, we kept Thursday pretty low key. We headed over to see Amy and her kids in the morning, who by the way are so adorable, then picked up lunch and the promised milkshakes. After that everyone took a much needed nap while the guys went out for a bit. After nap we went out and took some family pictures for Anne and Sean and then came home and hung out at the house and played with the kids. Oh and the girls helped Tom make pizza for dinner. After bedtime Anne and I took off to see Magic Mike. FYI the scenes at the club were fantastic - the rest was worthless. I think my favorite part was Matthew McConaughey in his practice "outfit." Ridiculous.



Friday:
We went back downtown after breakfast on Friday with plans to see the monuments, have lunch, and visit the Natural History Museum. We ended up only seeing the monuments and having lunch before heading back home. We should have skipped a couple of monuments and picked up lunch from a food truck so we could check out the museum. But with our kids melting down and Lexi wailing during lunch, we were done.

The monuments were fun and thankfully they had sprinklers just about everywhere, so we let the kids run through them to cool off from walking in the sun. Unfortunately a lot of stuff was still closed down - the Washington Monument is still being fixed from the earthquake and the reflecting pool was closed for repairs, too. We still got to see the Washington Monument and also saw the WWII Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.

After walking around the memorials we headed over to have lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill. I love the Old Ebbitt, but really should have reconsidered Tom's suggestion that we grab food from a cart on the street. The kids were tired and hadn't napped, there was a 15 minute wait, and then when we finally got to our table Lexi freaked out. And wouldn't calm down for a long time. And then we promised the older girls we'd get ice cream after lunch because we saw about a million ice cream carts on our walk to the restaurant, but then there were none from the restaurant to the Metro station. So we ended up stopping at Caribou Coffee to get them a frozen drink. Once we got home we let the kids run around outside in the smallest baby pool ever, had dinner and then put them all to bed.




(This picture kills me - I had just taken a picture of Anne and her family and Stasa was freaking out because she wanted to stand with Avery. After I took their picture she asked nicely if I would take hers. She looks so lonely and it makes me sad. I should have stood with her. Mom fail.)









Saturday:
The guys went golfing early on Saturday morning and we stayed with the kids and went to the pool for a bit. Stasa had a complete meltdown at the pool when it was time to go and didn't want to leave and cried the whole way home. Thankfully all of the kids went down for a good nap. While they napped we all got the house ready for the baptism party and then got ourselves ready to go.

Then it was baptism time! Lexi was so loud during the whole mass. But not crying loud, just sqwuaking loud. Her normal everyday pterodactyl yell. Thankfully the priest was so laid back and patient and kept smiling at her. And just like that she was baptized.
Proud and pretty godmother and Lexi:



Probably talking to her godfather during the ceremony:



Newest Catholic:


FREEEEEEEEEEEE:


Sunday:
We got up earlish on Sunday to visit with Lauren and Zoey and I'm mad that we didn't take any pictures while they were here. I got to snuggle Zoey and didn't want to give her back - she's so so cuddly. After our cuddle session and visit with Lauren and Zoey, it was time to take Anne and Sean and the kids to the airport.  I still can't believe how fast the visit flew by. The house seemed so quiet and lonely and empty after they left. But at least we'll see them soon! We're heading out their way next month.

And that wraps up our holiday week. I hope everyone else had a fun and safe time!