Washington, D.C.

We started the day with a tour of the Capitol. We had contacted Ralph Abraham's office and his intern gave us the tour. The Capitol is beautiful on the inside and like pretty much everything in Washington, holds so much history! From there, we walked about a mile and a half to the National Museum of Natural History. It was a long, hot walk but the kids were troopers. Next we went to the Museum of American History. We didn't spend as much time as I would have liked because by that point the kids were exhausted. We made one more stop on the way out of the city, the White House. I have to admit I was a little disappointed in it. It was MUCH smaller than I expected! We made it back to the hotel in time to let the kids swim. It was a fun day but I have to admit that 5 kids in a hot crowded city was exhausting. 

Making the most of it...

Today was a good day traveling, for the most part. We drove thru beautiful North Carolina and Virginia. 

When we got up in the mountains Easton asked, "What's going on with my ears? I can't hear myself." I realized they've never really been in the mountains. We are staying just outside D.C. and debated whether or not to to go into the city when we got here. We decided after 2 days of driving we'd just grab dinner and then let the kids swim. We ate, checked in, got suits on and got to the pool only to find out it closed at 8, it was 8:15. To say we had some disappointed kids would be an understatement. I was so careful about making sure to book a room with a pool, I never dreamed I had to check to see when it closed. So we got back to the room and took baths and then played a nice game of spoons. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We are all so competitive I usually don't enjoy games with everyone but we decided to not eliminate each round and just played, we had a blast! Tomorrow we have a tour of the Capitol in the morning then are going to hit a couple smithsonians. 

Party of 7

I knew 7 people in a 7 seater was gonna be tight but I hoped it wouldn't be that bad. Let's just say it made for a long day! On long trips the kids usually argue and complain the first hour or so and then get settled in, but today they had a hard time settling in. But, we survived and still managed to have some fun along the way. The highlight of the day for me was sitting in the back with the kids and reading old posts on this blog. The kids wanted to know what the blog was about so we went way back. Isabelle didn't know what to think when most posts about her back in 2008(she was 2) were about her attitude and sassiness! It was pretty entertaining. We came across a post where Easton was dressed up in princess clothes(he thought it was hilarious) and read all about their stitches they got just 1 month apart. We definitely had some good laughs!! We were planning to stop in Charlotte, NC but after falling a couple hours behind we decided to call it quits in Gaffney, South Carolina. Tomorrow won't be quite as long and we will be in Washington, D.C. !! 

Day 1

Over the next 2 weeks, we will travel over 4,000 miles, go thru approximately 20 states, stay in about 8 different cities, and  make a ton of memories doing it! I've been looking forward to this trip for a couple years now and I can't believe it's here! I love to travel and even though I've been to most states we are going to I've never driven through most of them so I'm excited to see the sights!! I wish I could say Scott is just as excited, but unlike me he hates driving(add 5 kids and he really stresses). I'm bound and determined to make him realize this really was a great idea! 😁 And luckily for him he only has to do a third of the drive, grandma will join us for the rest!! Stay tuned for stories from myself and the kids as we venture along!!