Trek to D.C.

On Saturday, Carl, the kids, and I planned to travel down to Washington, D.C. to meet up with Carl's Auntie Irma. Of course our original plan was to leave before 8, but of course, life with kids warrants delays, we didn't leave until 8:30. As we were pulling out of the driveway, I had this feeling I should have packed more....no we'll be fine.

We decided that I would drive and Carl would navigate. That was best, considering how Carl drove around in circles the night before thanks to my poor communication skills. It was better I drove anyways, because though I'm more of an efficient driver (Carl would say aggressive), I had no clue where we were going and Carl had done lots of research and had 6 maps for us.

The first half of the drive went pretty uneventful.

Around 10:15, I glanced back and saw that Kezia looked a bit off. And memories of past car rides flooded my mind, just as Kezia cried out, "Mom, I have to puke!" Carl quickly swiveled around in the front seat and tried to grab for something for Kezia. I yelled out, "What should I do? What should I do?" Carl scrambled for any type of container. Nothing. Then the puke gushed out, and all Carl had was his hands. So he thrust his hands under Kezia's mouth to catch the stream of bile and bananas and toast. I quickly swerved to the side of the interstate, and prayed that Joel, who was wretching because of the smell, wouldn't throw up as well.

So there was Carl, dripping in barf, poor Kezia, covered in vomit. This was way more than a few wet wipes could handle. And then I remembered the two thoughts I had in the morning, I should have packed an extra set of clothes for the older kids and, Kezia gets car sick. Geez.

Well, there was only one thing to do. Strip her down and find a Target. We were on the outskirts of Baltimore and tried to find something. Man, I wished I was in California. You drive on the interstate, there are HUGE TALL signs of every store imaginable, you pull off an exit and go shopping. This isn't California and so we drove for almost 20 minutes (that includes stopping to wash hands and get directions) to find a Walmart. And it was a SuperWalmart. My heart sank. It wasn't a Target.

I found Kezia some clothes, a size 4 shirt and size 12 months shorts because the girl section didn't have any shorts left. At least they were on sale. I also stopped at the pharmacy to pick up some Dramamine for her too.

We knew at this point with our little stop over that we'd be late to meet Auntie Irma, but there was nothing we could do. We arrived at the subway station just outside of D.C. and quickly caught the subway down to the Smithsonian and The Washington Mall. It was a cool experience. Joel insisted that he stand and hang on the poles like everyone else and Kezia couldn't help but just stare at the flashing lights as we traveled underground.

We made it to the National Museum of Natural History just before 1 p.m., just 45 minutes late. Thankfully, Auntie Irma wasn't on time either. It was such a happy reunion. We haven't seen her in almost three years. Kezia was just 8 months the last time we spent any time with Irma and she has never met Asha. Although her first statement was, "I feel like I know every part of these kids (reading the blog) and now I get to see them in person."

The museum was just packed since it was Saturday, and the museums here don't have any admission charge. Wall to wall people, everywhere. It was a spectacular museum with so much to see, but there was so much to catch up with Irma. I found myself just glancing at the sights, pointing out things for the kids, and getting right back to the conversation.

Joel's favourite parts were the fossils and the giant turtle. Kezia loved the bugs and the tarantulas. There were lots of things to touch and to see. Asha loved the ice cream that Auntie Irma shared with her (well, all of us loved the treat that she bought for us). By about 4:30, we had enough of the crowds and had seen most of the museum and decided to head out onto The Mall. We walked in the heat, continued to visit, and saw Capitol Hill, The Washington Monument (though we would have like to go inside, the waiting list to get tickets is over a month), we saw the White House in the distance, as well as The Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting waters. It was neat to see all those famous sights, but we knew that our time was limited. Kezia and Joel both requested piggy back rides from Carl, myself, and Irma, and Asha hadn't slept a wink all day.

Irma decided to go and pick up her car and then we'd all pile in to find a restaurant for dinner. Joel and Kezia told us that their feet were tired around the Washington Monument, but when it was time to sit and wait for Irma to pick us up, they were running around as if it wasn't 33 degrees and they hadn't walked 4 miles. Where do kids get their energy?

We found a nice Chinese restaurant (which was on the Virginia side of D.C.) and had a great meal. Before the food came, Irma and the kids busied themselves with the dot-to-dot and the twisty tie people. It was great to see them relate to their great aunt and for them to talk with her and get to know her. Kezia was thrilled beyond measure when Auntie Irma let her put on some of her lipstick. That was pretty special.

After the meal, we got back into the car and Auntie Irma took us to the nearest subway station. It was sad to say goodbye because we had such a nice day. She's the type of auntie that if we lived closer, we'd spend a lot of time with her; the kids really bonded with her. After we exchanged hugs and kisses, and waved goodbye, Joel teared up a bit and said that he was really going to miss that fun auntie. He asked if we could come back and see her again. And Kezia said that maybe she could try on another one of Auntie Irma's lipsticks!

We got on to the subway about 8:00 and didn't get back to our car until almost 9 o'clock. Asha was so exhausted that she fell asleep in the stroller. We drove a bit out of the city until we found a place to go the bathroom. Once we did that, I got back into the driver's seat and the kids fell asleep immediately. Carl offered to drive and I said that I was fine. I still had no clue which way to drive, so I needed him to navigate, plus because of his confession about his night vision a few weeks earlier, I thought it would be better if I drive in the night, from now and always!

We got back to Akron around midnight and we were all so exhausted. I dumped Asha into her bed, sweaty clothes and all. Joel and Kezia managed getting into their pajamas. Oh, it felt so good to fall into bed. I was wondering how long the kids would sleep in the morning.

It was such a wonderful day with Irma. I am sad that we won't see her again for a number of years, but I know that lasting memories were made, especially for the kids. We have made an important and significant connection with her.

We certainly won't forget our trek across 3 states (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia), a district (Washington), through a SuperWalmart in Baltimore, to the U.S. Capital, squishing through the crowds in the most amazing museum, walking, walking to see the Monuments, walking even more, piggy backing on auntie, sweaty, wonderful, special day.