Day 2 in DC confirms that life's best adventures are unplanned

Given all we accomplished in Day One, Day Two in DC got off to a slow start.  The kind of slow start that had me, Liam and Ciara enjoying all the hotel had to offer (indoor pool, Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes and waffles with whipped cream!) while Des and the triplets caught up on some much-needed sleep.  So much sleep in fact that our last little guy was still snuggled in his pack & play at 10:00... 10:00!  Believe me when I tell you, this was a first!

It was quite literally a treat to hang out in our pajamas eating sugar coated cereal while we planned our day.  Knowing we had a five hour ride home at the end of it and rain was in the forecast, our plans were necessarily less ambitious than the day before.  We decided on a stroll through scenic, historic Old Town, Alexandria (where we were staying) followed by a trip to the Air & Space Museum. 

Our Old Town adventure included running through the raindrops to The Fish Market, a great place for lunch, followed by a visit to Pop's old-fashioned ice cream parlor, a great place for dessert! From there, we piled into the minivan (at this point, admittedly NOT a swagger wagon!) and drove out to Gravelly Point, right by Reagan National Airport.  So close, in fact, that people congregate in the parking lot to watch the planes land.  

Plane landing at Gravelly Point, captured by this mom, a piss-poor photographer!

We joined these people and I'm pretty sure that this was the highlight of the trip for the kids -- possibly just behind watching the "big 'rilla eat poo" at the National Zoo -- and, the Air & Space museum, which even Des and I had to admit was awesome.

Awesome. The Space Shuttle Enterprise at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

There were old planes, new planes, red planes, blue planes... you get the idea.  Name any type of aircraft and it was there -- many of them suspended above us in the hangar that the museum now occupies.  The Space Shuttle Enterprise was rightfully awe-inducing, as was the Concorde and the many other missiles, rockets, spy planes and war planes.  If you ever find yourself in the greater DC area with a gaggle of kids on a rainy afternoon, this is definitely the place you want to be.  By 4:30, we'd all pretty much had it, especially the triplets who were on Day 2 without a nap...  

Triplets: Desperately Seeking a Nap!

We loaded the kids in the minivan and as we headed north toward home, Des remarked "I love hitting "go home" on the navi."  So true.  There's no place like home.  A sentiment I've mentioned before but felt all the more dearly after the seven hour trip from hell it took us to get there from our impromptu sojourn!  We were gone for just over 48 hours but it felt like much longer -- in a good way, not in the long ride home way.  We arrived home refreshed, reconnected and with stories and memories that will last a lifetime.  Affirming once again that traveling with kids is well worth the effort and that sometimes life's best adventures are unplanned.