Our Nation's Capital

We celebrated Labor Day weekend in DC with Tim and Amy this year! They just purchased their first home in Arlington and invited us up. The original plan was to leave Friday right after school, but with the first week of school exhaustion, we opted to leave Saturday morning, instead. The short four hour drive made that a much better option since we would still have most of Saturday in DC.

When we arrived on Saturday, it was rainy and gloomy, so we spent the afternoon catching up and playing board games. We also had the very surreal experience of Issa sitting at the table on her laptop working on school work. She got a bit ahead and loved feeling very grown-up and important doing her work. 

It stopped raining for dinner, and we ventured out to their favorite neighborhood pizza place and salad bar. The salad bar was Issa's idea of heaven. We spent the evening just catching up with friends that are family. It's just easy to be with them.

Saturday morning, we awoke to a beautiful day! We walked down the street to a barbecue brunch, which sounds odd but was amazing, and then caught the metro to the National Mall.

The first stop was Air and Space, per Evan's request. He spent half the morning scaring me half to death:

 This boy and his need to be on the edge:

 We walked across the mall to the Natural History Museum, and Amy kindly offered to get a family pic:

 Evan can't fake it when the sun is in his eyes. The Natural History museum was the big hit! Both kids loved the gem exhibits this trip. It definitely helped that Tim and Amy both have worked or currently work with the State Department on conflict minerals, so they could add all kinds of insights.

From there, we wandered through the monuments. So much for a selfie with my husband:

 The kids are finally old enough to appreciate the memorials. They are also small enough to walk the curbs and need rescuing when they get to the end:

We went to an early dinner at an amazing Ethiopian place. It was our first experience with the cuisine, and we are all big fans. Evan loves anything he doesn't need silverware for, and Issa loved all the vegetables. I have no idea what all we ate, but I would do it again in a second!

Yesterday morning, we headed home after a late breakfast, which means we arrived home in time to relax and settle in before another busy week. I have a feeling we will be headed North again soon, though!