Road Trip Day #25 - #26 of 26

So, we finally left paradise and had to head home. We decided to catch up with David's brother, Billy, and his wife, Carmen, when we passed through Atlanta. We met them at the Perimeter Mall and had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and had a great visit while we ate. The girls thought their Aunt Carmen was unbelievably glamorous and that Uncle Billy was a jungle gym made for their climbing pleasure. We got some fun pictures of them while we were there.







We left Atlanta with David, Raleigh Jo, Reese, Katie and me, but lost one person in Birmingham, Alabama. We checked into our hotel in Birmingham, Alabama, the Sheraton Birmingham, and were amazed at how big the hotel was! We had a small but comfortable room, and were soon settled for the night. David had a very early flight the next morning, so we didn't want to keep him up too late. The fates were conspiring against him getting any sleep, though. We had been in bed about an hour when Katie made a run for the bathroom. Unfortunately, she didn't make it. She managed to vomit in the floor right before she got to the bathroom, so David and I spent the next thirty minutes holding her hair out of the toilet while she finished getting sick and cleaning up the mess. It was awful, but after we settled down again the rest of the night was uneventful. David got up early and left for the airport and the rest of us slept in. We slept so late that we barely made it down to breakfast on time, but the Sheraton employees were amazing. They were beginning to close the breakfast buffet, but they made sure we got everything we needed and were so polite and helpful! I would return to that hotel again just to receive that kind of service. Believe me, it's very rare. I wish I'd gotten the names of the women who served us. I'd love to write a letter to their manager praising their service.

Anyway, we trekked through the badlands of Alabama and even found a politically incorrect sign for Raleigh Jo to pose beside. I will post a picture of that as soon as I can find it! If the ants hadn't eaten her alive it would've been really funny!

We made it home pretty late on July 5th, but we did make it! All in all we had a wonderful road trip, and can't wait to do it again next summer!

Road Trip Day #21 - #24 of 26

Tuesday finally came, and at the end of the day we had to take the Smith family back to Savannah so that they could catch their plane early the next morning. After dinner we dropped Angela and Grant off at the hotel in Savannah, but managed to talk Raleigh Jo into staying with us the rest of the week and riding home with the kids and me. I was so excited! I knew she'd be a lot of help with the kids, and let me tell you, that girl is crazy! I had so much fun with her! She cracks me up!

We were beach bums the rest of the week, then on Friday, July 3rd, David's brother, Michael, came up to see us and stay the weekend. We had dinner at the hotel and waited for him to get there, then pretty much crashed for the night soon after he arrived. All was well until David and Michael fell asleep. Then the snoring symphony began! I tossed and turned until about 6am, then I picked up my pillow, grabbed some cushions off of one of the chairs and went to sleep on the balcony! I got a couple of pictures of the sunrise, but that was the highlight of my two hour nap. We were up and at 'em early that day!


We celebrated Independence Day after another day basking on the beach. We couldn't decided where to go for fireworks, so we decided we would walk down the beach to a show that turned out to be a lot further away than we expected. We walked a LONG way down the beach, but never made it to the show. Katie was SO mad! At first she was hurrying us along thinking we could make it if we rushed. We managed to lose Michael, David and Reese in our rush. They told us they would just catch up. That never happened because Reese, who was riding on David's shoulders, promptly fell asleep on top of his head and was too heavy to carry. Raleigh Jo, Katie and I took off at a very fast pace trying to make it to the end of the beach where the fireworks were being shot off. Needless to say, we didn't make it before the show, and Katie was whining and crying before we got halfway there. We decided to just stop and watch from afar, and Katie was mad about that, too. She didn't want to walk, she didn't want to sit, and even breathing was a reason to complain by then. Raleigh Jo and I started singing show tunes just to drown out the complaining, and that really ticked her off! All in all, Independence Day was a loser for Katie, but I got some cool pictures of the family and the moon beams on the ocean!






We eventually made it back to the hotel, and since the snoring symphony was sure to start as soon as the lights went out, Raleigh Jo and I decided to pull our mattress out on the balcony and spend our last night on the beach out there. It was wonderful! We could hear the waves, and the breeze was cool. There were a few kids still popping firecrackers at 2am, but overall it was great! The sun woke us up the next morning, but we needed to get moving anyway, so we could start the long journey home.

I love our nation's capitol!

Well, our trip to Washington DC went great. We didn't get to see everything we wanted to see, but we did do a lot of cool things.

On Saturday we went to the Air & Space Museum. It was really cool. We got to see an indoor kite flying demonstration, which was awesome, and we rode in a flight simulator, which was totally lame. The next time we go we'll definitely pick the simulator where you get to be the pilot, not the one where you're just along for the ride.

Sunday was a fun day for Mom and me. We went to a flea market in Georgetown. They had lots of cool stuff. I picked up one UGLY figurine so I could show Mom and almost died when I saw the price tag... $950!!! Needless to say, I didn't pick up anything else!



That afternoon we went to a US Marine band concert. They were pretty incredible. It was amazing how good they sounded. When they played "The Star Spangled Banner" it brought tears to my eyes.



David took the girls to the Natural History Museum to see some dinosaurs and the Hope diamond, then to the ESPN Zone for fattening food and video games. Katie had a ball.

On Monday we went to lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl. It's a Washington DC "must see". Check out their website: http://www.benschilibowl.com/. That place was history in motion, and the chili was good, too! We also did a little shopping at Union Station that day, too, and spent far too much money on Godiva chocolate. Yum!












That night David, Alyssa, Pete (one of David's coworkers) and I went to a restaurant called The Tombs. Mom took the kids to the hotel pool. It was fun. Kind of a bar type atmosphere. After dinner Pete, who is a DC native, took us on a moonlight tour of the capitol city. It was amazing, especially the World War II memorial. I want to go back and see that monument up close. At night it's all lit up. Beautiful.





Tuesday was a good day. We went to the National Cathedral. WOW... It was HUGE! There were so many little prayer rooms and mysterious looking staircases. I loved it! We looked at a few of the gargoyles, too, but we didn't have any binoculars, so they were hard to see from the ground. The interior of the cathedral is ten stories high, so they were pretty far up there. After we went to the cathedral we headed to the National Zoo. It was a beautiful place, but they were closing everything up when we got there. Bummer.


Wednesday we all got up early to catch our flight home. Reese slept from takeoff until almost landing. It was great!

We'll have to make another trip someday. We missed seeing the Capitol, the White House, Arlington Cemetery and a few other things.

If you haven't been to Washington DC make sure to go someday! All of the monuments, museums, etc. are FREE! Their subway system can take you anywhere, and I always felt safe on it. It makes for a cheap vacation!