I’m super tired, but also super dedicated to you guys-

 

-so I thought I would post at least the first part of our trip tonight!

Let me start by saying that we had a great time.  I wouldn’t necessarily call it super fun (Brian?  Would you?) but it was fun and great and I’m glad we did it. 

Also it got a lot better after this first day.  So there’s that.  Am I giving too much away?

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Our first stop was Philadelphia to try out some Philly Cheese Steak!   

(And yes, when we were driving through West Philadelphia I did ask Brian, “You know who was born here right?” and then launched into the Fresh Prince’s theme song!  If you know what I am talking about then we should be friends.)

 

First up, Geno’s!

Let me tell you people, I don’t really like beef, but these suckers were GOOOOOOOD! 

We chowed down while the boys played at a random park across the street.

  

I hope none of my blog readers live in South Philly so that they won’t be offended when I say that it was SHAAAAADY down there.

 

But my children were unfazed.

A little brotherly love in the City of Brotherly Love:

 
It may or may not have ended with a choke hold and then a hearty shove.  We choose our memories ‘round here.

After a Rolaid chaser, we were ready to roll on out to Washington DC.

(No pictures after this point.  We decided we didn’t want to remember.)

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Brian gave me a little treat by telling me that he was extremely tired and that I needed to drive the rest of the way for safety. 

Did I mention that I don’t like to drive in strange cities?  Especially big ones? 

So I went ahead and drove into our nation’s capital. 

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I eventually woke Brian up with my frantic Lamaze breathing and he kindly asked if I was okay?  Perhaps in pain? 

To which I grunted “STRESSED!” and pointed out the capitol building for his viewing pleasure.

After missing several turns in a row (“Recalculating” is now my least favorite word.  GPS owners know…) I careened into a bus-only lane and hopped out of the car, leaving Brian no choice but to drive as I tried to stop shaking long enough to use my inhaler.

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Now that we were in DC, we just needed to find a place to park near the Cherry Blossom Festival. 

Easy peasy!  Here’s one right here!  Hooray!  Looks like it takes quarters.  Wait, how many quarters do we have?

No quarters.

About 20(thousand) minutes later we finally found a parking garage.  And only a scant mile from the Festival!

We then discover that Isaac had “relieved himself”, splattering his clothing,his socks, his legs, his stomach, and (eventually during the diaper change) our picnic blanket, my hand, my pants, and the ground.

We scraped it off as best we could, bagged it up, and headed out of the garage, only to be told by the attendant that, BY THE WAY, the garage closes at 8 (It was 6:10) and when they close, they lock everything and you can’t get your car out.

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We decided that we would proceed to the festival (1 mile, remember?) so that I didn’t have to find it on my own, and that Brian would then return to the garage to move the van. 

He did, only to discover that the keys were still with me at the festival (1 mile).

At this point, I had decided that the festival was LA-HAME and that I was ready to go too.  We could head out to the hotel and let the boys swim in the indoor pool before bed! 

As soon as Brian returned, we set off towards the garage as a family (1 mile.)

And then we got lost.

Oh boy howdy, did we get lost.

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The good news is that we saw a lot of downtown DC that not many people have seen before  (for example a “Bank of America” that was nothing but an ATM stuck in the side of a portable building and a hammered-on sign.  Again, SHAAADY!)

The bad news is that at about 7:45 when we hit another dead end (Literally, a dead end road.  Where is the grid, DC, where is the grid?)  I turned to Brian and said, “You have to start running.”

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He ran off into the DC night to find the garage before our van was locked, with all of our possessions inside of it and we lost the non-refundable reservation on our Maryland hotel.

The unforeseen consequence of Brian running off into the night is that it actually left ME alone in the night… in downtown DC… with my two children.

And although it occurred to me that this was a bit odd, not the best idea, and rather unexpected, I was actually not really scared. (Have I mentioned that I hardly recognize myself sometimes?)

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The good news is that Brian got our van out of the garage with five minutes to spare!  My hero!!!

We loaded up, got a quick speeding ticket (although perhaps it was just a car-loving amateur photographer hiding behind that photo-enforced speed sign?  Yes?) and headed off to the hotel.

Oh heavens, the hotel…