Surprise Birthday Adventure, Part I

Early last week, Doug gave me a birthday card.  My birthday isn't until Monday, the 23rd, so I knew something different was happening that he had to give it to me that early.  Well, I was right (and Doug knows his wife, that she needs a few days to prepare!).  Here's the schedule of events of the fun birthday weekend Doug coordinated...

So, if you can't read the fine print you can just gather the schedule from the blog posts.  But Douglas worked for almost two months coordinating with some of my dearest girlfriends to make this all happen.  Very sweet and thoughtful.  Here we go!!

Thursday afternoon we headed out to Carlisle, PA to stay the night at Doug's parents and slip in some Nana & PopPop time for the boys.  That day was packed as I had a mom's group meetup scheduled for that morning and Doug, Koen and Tavin had Pirates game tickets.  I couldn't believe we'd be able to pack it all in (and still "pack"), but we pulled it all off!  We left the Burgh around 3:30pm.  I had requested a documentary by National Geographic entitled, "On Board Air Force One" and we started our trip with that.  It was so interesting that Doug and I ran the audio through the car the whole time so we could hear it.  The boys were entranced, especially Tavin.  He begged to watch it a second time right after it completed!  This kid is so into Air Force One right now (he actually says he wants to be the pilot of it someday)!

We arrived in Carlisle at 7pm.  The boys immediately got outside into Nana & PopPop's beautiful yard with the dogs.  Penn hadn't been there since Thanksgiving and he was completely different around the dogs this time.  He was so enamored, just following them around waving and saying, "hi."  So adorable!  The boys' cousin, Kiersten, and their Uncle David were there to join us for dinner, so the boys were happy to see them as well.

The boys were all tucked in around 8pm (they were so tired after the big day!) and we adults had a relaxing evening chatting and watching a movie.  Ahhhh.  The next morning the boys were ready to take advantage of a little more time around Nana & PopPop and the dogs.

This video shows how very much Penn enjoyed the dogs (although at the end he oddly gets weirded out and cries, but before the video camera came out (of course) that never happened!).

Koen offered to help Nana make the blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  He was so proud to be in charge of the griddle!

It was a gorgeous morning, so we encouraged the boys to take advantage of the lovely yard and get out some energy before we headed out on the next leg of our journey.  No problem.  

We said our goodbyes and left Nana & PopPop around 9:30am.  Next stop was Washington D.C.!!!  Since check-in time can vary based on if they can get the room ready a little early, we stayed close to the hotel.  We started with some pool play while Doug ran to get us lunch and bring back to eat on the terrace.  The boys were happy to jump into the pool while they waited.  These boys know how to vacation.  (Please, oh, please check out ridiculous Tavin...the goggles, the hat, the swimmie arms, the pointed toes...it's all so, so good).

After lunch we took a stroll around the area of DC where we are staying, Dupont Circle.  It's a great part of town with lots of shops, restaurants and tons of foot traffic.  A happening place!  We finally got into our rooms around 2:30pm and then we quickly figured out the sleeping arrangements and got Penn to nap.  The big boys then headed back to the pool with Doug for awhile.  Eventually we all ended up relaxing in our room a bit before heading back out and about after Penn's nap.  We found a park and playground which was a perfect spot to enjoy the warm afternoon while Doug grabbed a pizza for the boys' supper.  It felt as if we were back around home just enjoying a city park with other families.  I even had a fun conversations with another mom.  

We headed back to the hotel for the boys to eat and then promptly get baths and get to bed.  Tav hadn't napped in two days and to say he was slap-happy and a little more rebellious than usual would be an understatement.  Koen was an unfortunate combination of overtired and bottled up excitement with all the anticipation of the trip.  Doug and I had both had our moments of losing it with the boys and wondering if we should throw the towel in on the trip and drive home, but we decided to stick it out.  We had plans for a friend from Pittsburgh who is working in DC for the summer to babysit while we went out on a date and it was just what we needed!  She came at 7pm and we already had Penn down and she just read to Tavin and Koen and put them to bed.  We were even a few minutes early to our reservation down the street at an amazingly delicious Italian restaurant where we enjoyed a long, relaxing dinner on their outdoor patio.  Now it felt like a birthday getaway weekend. =)  Doug and I both resolved to be more laid back and roll with the punches with the boys and all their energy the next day and just enjoy this mini vacation/surprise birthday weekend for whatever it would be. =)

Well, thankfully, the boys slept well and I got a good night's sleep.  Koen woke up on the early side, but he and Tav were manageable until their regular wake-up time.  Penn (who I was worried they would wake up) was a champ and had to be awakened after 8am he was so tired!  So, we made it.  We headed out for a simple bagel breakfast that we ate outside.  And then of course, it started to rain.  When I packed for the this trip it was supposed to be 90 on Saturday, so I packed very summery outfits for the boys and I.  Turns out drizzly and 70 was the case for the start to our day.  Oh well.  After waiting out the rain under the umbrellas at Starbucks, we jumped on the metro so the boys could have that fun DC experience.

We got off not far down the line and a short walk to the White House!  Tavin was so excited to see where the President lives and where Marine 1 lands (because that is the helicopter that takes him to Andrews Air Force Base to get on Air Force One...see how it all comes back to Air Force One?).

Koen was either overtired or had his expectations confused, but he was already driving us nuts and it was only 10am, so Doug and I resolved to just keep smiling.  We took selfies at every stop just to keep ourselves laughing and enjoying the trip on our own level.  Koen took this picture of us at the White House.  Not the best of me, but hey, he wanted it to go on the blog.

We walked around the White House and had a little photo shoot with the boys at the back where it is even more picturesque in my opinion.  Here's our little "All American."

The next series of photos is very telling of the boys on this trip (particularly the older two and the havoc they've been causing on this adventure)...  Oh, look at the sweet, loving brothers...

Oh no, look out...I think Koen's up to something...

Yeah, he's up to something and Tav wants in on it.  Penn is definitely not in on it...

Tav's bummed, Koen's pleased with himself and Penn's crying.  Oh brother!  (LITERALLY!)

Moving on from there (before the secret service had to pry our curious boys off the wrought iron fence), we walked around the Washington Monument and into the WWII Memorial.  There was a large group of WWII veterans visiting the memorial at the same time.  It literally brought me to tears thinking about their sacrifice, that amazing generation and that pivotal period in our nation's history.  Penn and Koen got to interact with one of the veteran visiting.  I was able to snap a picture.

Doug got this adorable picture of Penn, the little "All American" again, while we were at the WWII memorial and with the Washington Monument in the background.

Last time Doug was in DC a few weeks ago he brought home a book for Penn with many of the trademark DC landmarks in it.  Penn loves the book and it was fun to refer to it today as he got to see many of the sights he's been reading about.

Next we walked up the edge of the reflection pool to the Lincoln Memorial.  Koen was whining about walking so much, so he and Penn stayed with Doug and Tav and I climbed all the stairs to see President Lincoln.  Doug got this book for the boys before our trip to educate them on Abraham Lincoln, 

so Tavin and I had a great chat about why he has a monument to honor him.  I was amazed at all he retained when we talked about it again later.

I was also proud of my little pal for mounting all those steps without a complaint, here's our selfie to capture the moment.

From here we walked past the Korean War Memorial and then over to the new MLK, Jr. Memorial which I'd never seen before.

From there you can see the Jefferson Memorial which is always so picturesque.  Doug and I felt it was a good time to capture the fun we were having again with a selfie.  Oh, how I appreciate my best friend!

It was about noon at this point and so it was time for me to walk back to the hotel (turned out to take about 45 minutes, so it's a good thing I left when I did with Penn!).  Doug took Koen and Tavin to the Air & Space Museum for some big boy afternoon fun.  I received a few awesome pictures.  This first one is of a Navy "Douglas" plane.  With that name, Koen requested that he take a picture of our Douglas at the plane.  He also made sure that arrow was pointing at Tav.  Pretty funny, Koen!

This has to be a favorite picture of the day.  My two pilots.

Well, that's "it" so far.  I got to have a relaxing afternoon getting organized and blogging and Doug was out with the boys while Penn napped.  They are on their way back now though, so I better get ready to be on duty!  Stay tuned for another blog post though as Doug still has some fun things planned for my DC Birthday Weekend!