Capital Day

Today, Brother-in-Law, Nephew, Baby and I went to Washington, D.C. for The 42nd Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival and to view The National Cherry Blossom Festival. In the photo to the left, all those little specs around the Washington Monument are kites. You can see all the people in all the photos. In the photo of Baby and I in front of the Jefferson Memorial, in the larger version of the photo, you can barely see the steps of the Jefferson Memorial because of all the people. CROWDED! Oh, in the larger photo, you can also see Baby's huge scratch. I may have been bad about keeping up with trimming her nails. On Saturday, I noticed the giant scratch and cut her nails before I even gave her breakfast. I knew if I waited, she'd have talons soon!

The day started out around noon. We quickly realized we were not the only ones heading into the city. The Metro and National Mall was packed! It took us about an hour to get to the National Mall (which should take about half that time). We braved the crowds. Man, people get cranky. We were all waiting for an hour to exit the Metro station. We were all cranky. There is no reason to get all cranky to the person behind you. Sadly, Nephew and Baby were fantastic - much better behaved than many of the adults we saw! It's also nice to know there are people out there who will help a woman out. I will admit that I am not the most graceful of stroller-walkers. So, it is nice to know some people will hold doors, help me up a curb, or just not be too mean when I run over heels or toes. We walked all around the Mall - around the Smithonian Castle from the Natural History Museum, down past the Washington Monument to the World War II Memorial and then along the Tidal Basin. Nephew (and I) had ice cream early on in our afternoon and used the sugar rush to walk everywhere.

Baby loved being outside and couldn't stop looking around. It was a breezy day, but it was really nice in the sun. When the sun went behind a building, it would get a little chilly. All in all, it was a beautiful day.

Towards the end of the day, we sat down under some trees and hung out. I put down a blanket, and Baby got to get out of the stroller for some time. Nephew is so good with Baby. He doesn't need to be around her all the time, but he needs to know that someone is taking care of her. Then, every once in awhile, he'll come back from running all over the place and take a good peek at her to judge how well she's doing. He pats her head or holds her hand, makes sure she's not drooling, makes sure she has her pacifier (whether she wants it or not), and makes sure she is without any hat on her head. He really dislikes her to wear hats or maybe he just knows she'll regret wearing the bunny hat and is saving her from future humiliation.

Now that we're home, I'm pooped! I definitely will sleep well tonight. I didn't realize that Baby had skipped an entire meal. She usually eats around 3-ish and then again at 5 or so. She didn't fuss once. She barely napped either. She was so busy taking it all in. So, we got home, and she ate immediately. She fought sleep a little and was restless when she finally fell asleep, but she definitely crashed. She'll sleep well tonight, too!