The Longer Version

I'm going to attempt to keep this relatively short, but I make no guarantees...

Well, we went to Virginia and Washington DC last week and Alice had her first two plane rides. Both flights were non-stop and she napped! On the way to DC she napped for about an hour and the flight home... maybe 15-20 minutes. But she did really well and we had a few people tell us that she did great. YAY Alice!

We arrived late Wednesday night, were picked up by my sister at the airport, checked into our hotel, and attempted to put Alice to bed. I think she actually fell asleep around 10:30 or 11? I don't really remember. She had some pretty crazy sleeping patterns (if you could call them "patterns") while there. She slept in on Thursday until 9:30 or 10 and then we headed off to DC via the metro. It was a BUSY day and we saw tons of stuff, but we definitely need to go back. Alice did great in the stroller for most of the day and took a nice nap in the afternoon. We were all pretty beat by the end of the day and finished with dinner at Chipotle. YUM.

Friday we packed up from the hotel and went to breakfast at IHOP before heading over to Arlington National Cemetery. Since I'm a tired pregnant woman, we only saw a fraction of the cemetery before going to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) just outside the cemetery. Again, since I'm a tired pregnant woman, I asked Happy to let me stay (with Lisa & Alice) while he walked back to the car and came to the memorial so I didn't have to walk more. He got lost for about 45 minutes in the car and ended up near the Pentagon before finding his way back to us, waiting in the parking lot of the Iwo Jima Memorial. So exciting :-) We then sat in a bit of rush hour traffic as we left DC and headed to where we stayed in Virginia. Matt (Lisa's boyfriend) graciously housed us for the remainder of our stay in Virginia and was incredibly hospitable. Lisa managed to procure every large baby item we needed (stroller, car seat, high chair, pack n play) which made our lives significantly easier. It was awesome.

We met up with Mom as we drove down to VA and stayed up late (or just stayed on CA time?) playing with Alice until her bed time and then chatting once she was asleep. Really wonderful. Dad & Belen drove down Friday as well, but went straight to their hotel since it was so late. Everyone (Happy, Amy, Alice, Dad, Belen, Mom, Matt, Lisa) spent Saturday walking around downtown Staunton (pronounced Stanton) doing some sightseeing which eventually led us to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. We got a tour of the home where he was born and got a glimpse of what life was like back then. Really crazy. Makes me appreciate running water and electricity and... carpet :-) Saturday night was dinner at El Puerto with a massive group of Godwins and Lenkers (Matt's family). The food was delicious and the company was even better. Mango salsa is, as Happy would say, the bomb diggity.

Sunday morning we went to church at Barren Ridge Church of the Brethren, where Matt grew up going to church and where his grandparents still attend and his cousin's husband is the pastor. We both thoroughly enjoyed the service and were warmly greeted by Matt's grandparents and cousin's family. After church my long lost friend from high school came for a visit (who knew she lived only an hour from my sister???) and we had a low-key, hangout afternoon. Mom made butternut squash soup for dinner that was delicious. In fact, I wouldn't mind some right now...

Mom had to go back home on Monday so we said our goodbyes before heading to Charlottesville (where Lisa lives & works) to tour Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. REALLY cool house and beautiful gardens. Alice did well on our tour of the house as Mommy maintained a steady stream of Cheerios to her mouth. She lost it at the very end of the tour and we slipped out a side door before joining back up with Daddy & Aunt Lisa for our self-guided tour around the gardens & cemetery. After Monticello we were all ready for lunch, but decided to make a very important stop for cider donuts... I mean, to see the Carter Mountain Orchard and the amazing view of the Virginia countryside. Okay, I'll be honest, I've been craving cider donuts (specifically from Mack's Apples, the farm down the street from where I grew up) for basically this entire pregnancy. Unfortunately, cider donuts do not exist in my southern California life so I was MORE than happy to stop and check out these cider donuts. I want one right now...

Alas, donuts do not make for a hearty lunch so we went to a delicious sandwich shop called Baggby's which Lisa recommended. We then found a bookstore that Happy wanted to check out, which was where we ended our small tour of Charlottesville. Lisa showed us her house and then, as we drove back to Matt's, pointed to where she works. Such a nice area! It makes my southern California life feel like the big city. Dinner was at Matt's house--these spectacular lasagna rolls that Lisa made--and then laundry as we prepared to leave Tuesday morning.

Phew. That's the "stuff" version. Lots more could be said, but I'll save that for in person conversations with those interested :-) We're home now and mostly adjusted back to California time. Alice is going on 1 1/2 hours in her nap (the first decent nap since we came home) after a fun morning at the Irvine Pumpkin Patch. Pictures can be found here, but here's a cute one just to entice you to check out the rest!