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washington dc

Blog, Family, kids, obx vacation, vacation

#robertstakeontheeastcoast day 7


Saturday morning.

I wake up and feel like I had just completed the hardest workout of my life. Walking so many miles the day before in a pair of flats left my feet and legs sore. As for the rest of my body? A week of sleeping in different beds can make you ache all over. I can’t wait to get home to our bed!!
We had planned on driving up to Union Station and taking a trolley tour around the city. There was a chance of rain and the day had a gloomy look to it. We decided against the trolley because we had already walked most of the places that it would take us. Plus, it can be a huge pain to take everything/everyone out of the stroller and collapse it one time. So the thought of doing that all day didn’t interest me.
So we just decided to take the Metro again. Oh fun–couldn’t wait. Where is that sarcasm font when I need it?
We rode into the city and got off the Metro at the Post Office. Since the Washington Monument  is closed because of an earthquake, this was the highest point in the city to ride up and look out.
washington dc
washington dc 2
One of the views from our 360 degree view of the city.
lookout point
After this, we headed for the Natural History Museum–one of the Smithsonians. I wasn’t too excited about this particular museum because when you leave it up to unbelievers, they are always going to turn a whole museum about nature into a gigantic evolution museum. Evolution was included in almost every display, including a big section devoted to evolution and cave men. “Stepping back in time millions of years ago with our very close relatives, the ape.” No thanks. I can’t understand how they look at things like sea life, sand dunes, the human body, and explain it with chance and millions of years. I look at it all and am amazed by God’s Creation!
There were a few neat things to see in the museum, as long as you didn’t read anything.
We found Nemo!
clown fish
And Dory!
dory
The lighting wasn’t great for pictures. So I barely got any pictures of the day.
2 boys in stroller
I’m telling you–I love the architecture!!
smithsonian architecture
natural history museum 2

The Hope Diamond, biggest diamond in the world. It is 45.52 carats and has been around for like “65,000,000 years.”

largest diamond in the world
My legs were killing me at this point, but we still had two more museums and the Capitol building to see. The Capitol was a mile away from where we were. We started walking and saw a little sculpture park and my dad and Eileen offered to take the boys there while we walked to the Capitol building. It was a looong walk. But we made it! Another beautiful building!
washington dc
married couple with baby
We started walking back to the rest of the group. I was feeling like I couldn’t walk much farther. We got all the way back to where we left them and they said we were headed back (in the direction we had just come from) to go to the Air and Space Museum. Another Smithsonian. We didn’t want to spend much time here because everyone was pretty exhausted and it looked like it was going to pour any second. We only had one umbrella and it just didn’t seem fun to walk a mile in the rain to get to the Metro. So we quickly walked through the main section of the museum. It was actually pretty neat looking. If I hadn’t have been so exhausted, I probably would have suggested staying longer.
dad and boy at air and space museum
dad and 2 boys
Bad lighting=blurry pictures
dad and toddler boy
We started to walk back towards the American History Museum. That’s the one I was most excited about. But since that was still quite a bit of a walk, and the rain was seriously about to just come down, I decided against it. I was very disappointed that I didn’t get to see it though. There was a national book festival going on that weekend on the mall and there were tons of people walking around with orange tote bags. So we stopped by to pick some up for us. Who doesn’t love free swag?
They had some PBS characters there for kids to get their pictures with them. I asked Liam which character he wanted a picture with. But I had no doubt in my mind who he would pick. Princess Presto from Super Why. We almost missed her before she went on break but the worker let us go in line!
He was so excited to meet her. I finally got a genuine smile from him.
He hugged her right away
super why
boy and princess presto from super why
Finally! It was time to head back to the Metro! And we made it just in time. By the time we came out of the tunnel, it was raining, and continued to rain all evening. Everyone was so tired at this point. Kai proved it on the ride back
young boy asleep
And so did Kingston
two boys sleeping in stroller
We got back and ordered some pizza and spent the rest of the night relaxing. It was much needed.
It they were in a hair race, Scarlett would have lapped Evangeline at least a dozen times. (This is Eileen’s daughter, Julie’s, baby)
cute baby friends

We got so much of DC covered in 2 days. That was all I could take! We went to bed early so we could get up and get ready for the next part of the trip!

Moving on to Pennslyvania!
Blog, Family, kids, obx vacation, vacation

#robertstakeontheeastcoast day 6


Im almost dreading writing this post. My legs still feel the ache of how much we saw on Friday. I’m thinking the post will be exhausting as well.

We got up, ate, and headed up to the Metro station. I wasn’t sure what to expect while traveling with 4 young children on public transportation. We made it on just in time and started heading towards the city.
It was pretty fun and exciting–for the first 5 minutes. Let’s just say that I am not a fan of the metro. But I’m even less of a fan of downtown driving and no parking!
On the plus side, the downtown stations looked pretty cool.
metro public transportation

We wanted to go see The Mint but tours weren’t starting yet. So we decided to walk and see the Washinton Monument and the White House first. (I will post the Washington Monument pictures later on)

white house
married couple
big family in front of white house
Then we walked all the way back to The Mint.
cute baby girl

When I’m writing this, it makes it seem like we just walked a short distance. But everything in DC is very spread out. If I had to guess how much we walked on Friday, I would maybe guess between 7-10 miles. The Mint was pretty neat–and at one point in the tour, we were standing in the room next to $64,000,000 that was just printed!

We were not allowed to take pictures during the tour though.
large family at the mint
Sorry dear. This was the only picture I snapped of you and the one million dollars.
don and million dollars
how tall
don how tall
kai how tall

We were pretty hungry at this point so we started to walk to find some food. We settled on a street vendor for hot dogs because that was the only thing close. 4 hot dogs and 4 drinks cost $38!!! Crazy! I was very thankful that I had packed lunches for the boys.

The boys loved to watch the pigeons during lunch.
toddler boy pointing
And do “pigeon dances”
little boy dancing

After lunch it was time to go check out the memorials. We started with the Jefferson Memorial

jefferson memorial washington dc
husband and wife
washington dc 2
The architecture in DC is amazing. All the buildings are so beautiful. I love the big columns!
big family groupshot
liam
He finally got a much needed nap!
toddler boy asleep in stroller
mom and 2 boys sitting on stairs
cute little boy
Next we walked to the Roosevelt Memorial
(Washington Momument)
washington monument in dc
don roberts
large family picture waterfall
Liam loved posing with all the statues and waterfalls
boy hugging eleanor roosevelt statue
liam 3
dad and boy
boy posing by waterfall
statues
After a lot more walking, we finally made it to the Lincoln Memorial!!
This is the one I was excited to see.
lincoln memorial
abe lincoln statue washington dc

Evangeline got a lot of attention while she was in the wrap. When we were at the Lincoln Memorial, a large group (I counted at least 10) of Asian women and maybe a couple men stopped and started talking to Evangeline in Chinese. They were in love with her. It was precious. They started taking pictures of her and trying to get her to smile. It started with one woman and then the group just starting growing and growing. Only one woman from the group spoke English. She told me that they were so taken back by the fact that we have 4 children because of the one child policy in China. She said they would have more if it was legal. It’s heartbreaking.

My dad snapped a picture with my phone while they were talking to us
crowd
roberts family groupshot
don jessica and evangeline
The Reflecting Pool is right outside the Lincoln Memorial.
reflection pool washington dc
reflecting pool
washington dc 7

I was stopped by another 2 Asian women right outside the memorial. They also got a lot of pictures of Evangeline. Both groups were very sweet–what mom doesn’t love people making a big deal about how cute their baby is?

I was so excited to finally be done!! The problem? Now we had to walk all the way back to the Metro. Another looong walk! My feet and legs were so sore at this point.
As we were walking past the White House, we saw 3 helicopters flying over us. We had seen them fly out when we were at the Roosevelt Memorial and Eileen had mentioned that the President always flew out in a helicopter in groups of 3. It was confirmed that it was the President as we walked past the White House and saw the first helicopter land as the other two flew away. We also saw secret service on one of the buildings nearby. It was pretty cool!
helicopters
We finally made it back to the Metro and went back to my dad’s. I was ready for bed at 8 (which is 7 our time!) It’s ridiculous how tired I felt. I wasn’t too sure I was excited to get back out and walk the next day. We saw a lot of this historic city and had a lot of fun doing it!
It’s been a fun week with our family. I’m so thankful for the chance to go on this trip!