Mr. Vincent Visits Washington

Well, another mommy and me trip in the books.  This time, the eldest got his long requested (going on two years) adventure to Washington, D.C.

This guy is seriously fascinated with politics and travel and had begged to accompany me on a work trip.  I finally found one that fit and extended the trip into the weekend so he could investigate D.C.

His precious teacher made him a journal to chronicle his adventures.  He had entries from the museums and the memorials and the Capitol and White House.  (As well stories about the plane and room service!)

I have learned after a few of these trips my kids are very different one-on-one than with each other.  This guy can be a hypochondriac because, I believe, he wants attention.  Aside from a legit stomach ache, he had no health complaints because he had my undivided attention.  He’s also pretty funny and outgoing and intensely curious.  Thankfully, I have a History/Political Science major.  I relied on that dusty information as we walked down the National Mall and he quizzed me on every war America ever fought.

As soon as we got there, we took a DC Duck tour.  I’m in DC once a quarter for work, but I enjoyed playing the role of tourist after all these years.  Especially watching DC through the eldest’s eyes.  However, he crashed for a while on the HOT Duck tour (it WAS hot and he’d been up since 5:30 am) until we splashed into the water.  The highlight:  he got to drive once in the water!  (And pass out the duck calls to everyone on the bus/boat.)

My darling friend from God-sized Dreams hung out doing super cool stuff at the museums with my guy on Thursday morning while I worked.  Then we got to catch up over pizza on Capitol Hill before our tour.

Friday I turned 40-something and we celebrated by touring the White House.  This guy reports the red room was his favorite: “Everything was red!”

We followed the White House with a crazy hot walking tour of all the memorials and monuments.  We were able to find the man my father served with in Vietnam and pause by his name.  Walking through all the war memorials and the monuments reminded me how thankful I am to live in America and taught my sweet boy about sacrifice.

We wrapped up Friday night with a fun birthday dinner at one of the oldest DC restaurants with a dear friend of mine and her family.  The boys (hers and mine) made up a hysterical game and kept each other entertained while Gin and I caught up.  Saturday was low key since we had to fly out and we just took a few laps around the hotel.

These trips are few and far between but I’m so incredibly thankful for each one.  The time to get to know the growing eldest is priceless and I’m thankful he picked DC as his trip since it’s a place I love too.