A little while back, I got the best phone call from my sister, Holly – she was going to come out and visit me!  I was beyond excited, and we had the greatest time planning her visit.  And on Wednesday afternoon, she flew into Baltimore and the fun began as soon as I picked her up at BWI.

We had a great evening – I got to show her the house, catch up, and show her the guest room where she got to settle in for the next week.  It was so exciting to have her here!!

On Thursday morning, Holly, Arthur and I heading down to Washington DC for the day.  She had never been there, and so we wanted to see as much as we could in the time we had.  We started off by parking in the Reagan building, which is super close to the White House.  We got pretty close, and made sure to get a picture before we moved on.

Then we headed to the Washington Monument.  It really is so amazing when you see it in person.  (Someday, when they finish the construction on the elevator, I can’t wait to go to the top.)  

As we were walking down the sidewalk by the monument, Holly grabbed me and yelled, “There’s a rat!” There was a dead rat on the other side of the sidewalk, and just as she noticed it, a lady walking by accidentally kicked it – and she was wearing sandals!!  Ahh!!  I had heard about rats in big cities before, but it was the first time I had seen one.

The next stop on our tour, was the World War II memorial.  It is one of my favorites.

Then we made a stop at the Vietnam Wall.  It is a very humbling place, as you see all the names of those that gave their lives.  It was especially sad to see loved ones of the fallen, searching out the name on the wall of their family member.

Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial – my favorite of the monuments.  I love reading the inscriptions on the walls of his words.  He was such an amazing man.

The Lincoln Memorial is at the bottom end of the National Mall, and it helps you see just how far you have come.  If you look at the Washington Monument, the little tiny thing to the left of it is the Capitol Building, which is really giant, and so you can see how far you have and will still have to walk.  There is a lot of walking involved at the National Mall, which is why we brought a stroller for Arthur ;).

On the other side of the Lincoln Memorial, is the Korean War Memorial, which is also very sobering, as you read the number of killed, captured, and missing in action from each country involved.  The numbers are staggering.

By this time, we were STARVING.  We had brought snacks, but needed real food, and were on the lookout for some food trucks.  The problem was, they were nowhere to be seen.  I knew they had them – where were they?  We walked all the way to the Air and Space Museum, and when we went in, I asked the guard where he liked to eat.  He told us that all the food trucks were on the other side of the museum, and so we walked right through, exited on the opposite street, and were in food truck heaven :).  We both felt like getting tacos, and we were not disappointed.  The guy even made a cheese quesadilla for Arthur, even though it wasn’t on the menu.

After our bellies were pleasantly full, we headed back into the Air and Space Museum to check it out.  I have been there a couple times, but it was Holly’s first time, and Arthur had only been once before, and he was three.  There are so many awesome things to see there.  I was excited to look more closely at The Spirit of St. Louis, since I have recently read some books about Charles Lindberg.

I think both Holly and Arthur’s favorite exhibit was the air craft carrier one – it is pretty awesome!

Once we finished up there, we walked over to the Natural History Museum.  With so many museums to choose from, it is hard to decide, but I love the Natural History Museum, and we knew Arthur would enjoy it.  Just getting to see all the amazing jewels is worth it.  Arthur thought the dinosaur bones were pretty awesome, but I think the jewels were Holly’s and my favorite.

Once we finished there, we were beat and ready to head back.  We had already walked over 7 miles, and my Fitbit didn’t count it all, because some of the time I was pushing Arthur in a stroller.  Getting out of DC at 4pm is rather a nightmare.  At one point, I was behind some cars, thinking I was in a lane, but when the light turned green and we moved forward, I discovered that we were suddenly facing apposing traffic!  What!  And just as I was trying to quickly save us and make our way into the real lane, we looked up to see Marine One take off from the White House and fly over us.  Such a cool moment in the middle of our death defying one :).

I can’t seem to go into DC without stopping somewhere for cupcakes, and Holly was definitely game, and so one of our final stops was the Georgetown Cupcakes near the temple.  Picking cupcakes flavors is always so much fun!  Yum!!

And then I drove her to the Washington DC Temple.  It is really amazing, and everyone should get a chance to see it.  We wandered through the visitors center for a bit, and then we hit the road, or we were never going to make it home through the bad traffic.

It was a great day, and we had so much fun!  I think Arthur’s favorite part may have been the drive.  Between driving there and back, he watched Return of the Jedi three times.  So funny!  He just wanted to watch it over and over.  And since he used the headphones, Holly and I got to listen to music the whole time and talk.

We didn’t get home until about 7 pm, but Kevin took care of the older kids when he got home from work, and so all was well.  We were exhausted, but we had made the most of our day in DC.