Washington DC 4th of July

So we went to the nations capital for the fireworks. Its about 3 hours from our house and we got an amazing hotel (huge and pet friendly so Marie and the pups came). We got the Thursday afternoon and immediately went swimming. The lifeguard on duty was sorta lame...she wouldn't let the kids in the hot tub. Tyler went to the temple and while he was in there, me and the kids walked round the temple grounds and went to the visitors center. The DC temple is HUGE!!! Even the kids were saying that it looked like something from star wars.(oh and they kept calling the angel moroni, captain moroni)

That night we went to dinner at Burtuccis....last time I ate there was when we lived in Boston. The rolls were just as good as I remember them. Since it was Duce's birthday, they brought him a dessert and we sang Happy Birthday.

The hotel was SUITE.....like my pun! They kids kept saying they were living in the same house as Zack and Cody (Disney channel watchers will get that) We had a bedroom with two big beds and a pullout couch. Avery and Duce LOVED the couch. Jett got to sleep with Tyler and Jo and Tee were in the bed with me. We will be coming back to that place again...woodfin resorts if your are interested.

We put on our 4th of July shirts....tattooed EVERYONE, thanks to the dollar section of Target (except Tyler...party pooper) and we took the Metro into DC on Friday. It was about a 40 minute ride, but the kids loved being on a train. The plan was to get a spot for the parade that goes down constitution Avenue. IT had rained that morning, so the humidity level was HIGH!. We walked around....changed spots about 12 times....tried to wrangle a double stroller through the BAZILLION people who were there, too.....and then the parade FINALLY started. Jett clapped a few times. Avery liked the bands. Jo really could've cared less and Duce was too hot to even have fun....so we watched about 15 minutes worth and then found refuge in the Museum of Natural History.

LOVE THE MUSEUM! The kids loved it and it had AC, which by that time had become a must. Plus, it was free...can't beat that. Next we took our little troop of kid to get some food at Fuddruckers...which is where Duce proclaimed that he did not want to stay...he wanted to go to the hotel and do our own fireworks...Tyler and I agreed. It was just too hard with so many tired, hot, little kids.

(Avery really wanted a picture by the armadillo and they boys wanted one by the hog for Uncle Dan)

So we went back to the hotel. I got online and found a little college two miles away from our hotel that was doing their own fireworks....so we went there. And it was GREAT. The kids could actually run around while waiting and it took us 5 minutes there and five minutes to get back! We even had time to do a few sparklers of our own at the hotel before bed.

(We had some Coldstone before we the fireworks show....Jo enjoyed hers, as you can tell from her shirt)

(Jo had sort of an attitude when we first got there)

(yes this how Avery needed to watch the fireworks...Josie was just copying her)

We came home today. I went to the temple first thing this morning...we packed the room and got in the car. Since we didn't really see any landmarks, we decided to drive through DC to see some stuff. We drove past the White House and the kids all said "That is where Cory lives"...again, Disney watches will get that. We then went tot he Capital. As we got in view I gave a little "hurray" and Avery said "Mom why are you getting excited about a building?" I tried to explain what it was...Duce kept saying "It's just a building!" Even tyler was laughing at me. Clearly, I am the only lover of democracy in my family.

This is as close as we got to any landmarks....it just would've been impossible to WALK all over DC with so many little kids. Plus....by this time, we had already checked out of our hotel, so we had Marie and her two puppies in the back of the van...so a drive by photo is the best we did.

As we got closer to home, it happened.....when we pulled into town, we all got the feeling of "WE'RE HOME" Jett even gave a loud YIPEE when he started to see familiar things. Duce ran in the house singing HOME SWEET HOME. So its happening. Slowly but surely, this place is beginning to feel like home to us.

It was a a great vacation....but its good to be home.