Washington D.C. Trip (Home of Oma & Broccoli Mama)

We spent a great 5 or 6 days in Washington D.C. visiting my mom and all the sites. It was Dane and my's first trip to D.C. and I must say I was quite impressed with how clean, friendly, and safe the city was. I would definitely consider living there. All in all a very enjoyable trip, thanks Oma!

 

We took the same airplane as Chris & Laura and were there to help calm down the boys in case there first airplane ride turned out to be traumatic. Luckily I don't think there was any crying the entire plane ride. Laura did an excellent job keeping them entertained and happy. Carter got a little fussy the last hour so he came to visit us for a few minutes and we gave him some chocolate cookies which turned out to be a big mess. Then he threw his last one at the back of the guys head in front of us.

First stop, The National Zoo. Although we couldn't find anything to eat there on this rainy day, we had a blast walking through all the different animal exhibits. The most alarming part was there was really no ditch or thick tall cement wall or anything to keep the cheetahs and leopards from you instead they had a metal railing then a few feet in they had an electrical fence. Can't these cats jump like 30 feet or something? Pretty cool stuff none the less.

Meet Mai Xiang, the inappropriate panda... Anyone? Really?

 

 

The real Mai Xiang, and more giant panda education (ps- LOVE how everything in DC is free to attend, we have got to hit the aquarium next time!)

This Emu was oddly obsessed with me. It would follow my every move and change direction with me for the entire length of the enclosure. We read more about it and apparently the big eggs that they lay are bright green like my sweatshirt, so maybe that was it?? It was pretty entertaining.

Well it just so happened that we set out to see all of the memorials on September 11th. It was neat to be in a place of such significance on a day of remembrance as that. All flags were at half mask and flowers and memorial wreaths were everywhere.

 

Hanging out enjoying the fountains and views at the World War Two Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial from across the water. Such a fun day, good memories!

 

 

Various Washington Monument Pictures

 

The Korean Memorial, the most solemn of all the memorials we went to. The statues were amazing and looked totally real.

 

Lincoln Memorial including a 'Teaching Moment' from Chris about the backside of the penny

 

Taken on the Lincoln Memorial steps

A bad picture taken at freeway speeds but I thought it was slightly ironic and it makes me smile... It reads 'George Bush, Center for Intelligence'

 

 

We also stopped by the D.C. Temple. The grounds were beautiful and D.C. is a temple that I have always wanted to do a session in. Unfortunately it wasn't in the cards for this trip. We walked around and found the cutest little stray kitten (whom Chris and HJ named Templeton) who followed us everywhere and I called my mom to try and talk her into a new cat. A holy cat. But no takers. So we waited until a local group of YW/YM came out and we sadly made a run for it and hoped that someone would take this little kitty home.

 

The official home of Broccoli Mama. At one point we convinced Harrison that we saw him in a window waving

Upon dropping Chris & Laura off at the airport, we discovered that Harrison's most beloved prize (Baby Bear) was in fact missing and it apparently was going to make for a tumultuous four hour airplane ride home. We had him in the car previous to our stop at the White House before we went to the airport but he was definitely gone. The only thing we could figure was that when Carter had a melt down as we were getting into the car maybe he threw baby bear out of the car -probably out of jealousy :)  Well we told them that we would swing back around to our impeccably close parking spot near the White House and see if somehow Baby Bear was still there... And indeed he was. (I'm actually surprised he hadn't been blown up by a bomb squad or something)

The following week, back in Utah... Reunited and it feels so good! Baby Bear got a bath to remove the tire marks and surgery to remove the broken music box. Harrison was very happy that baby bear made the flight home with us.

We also celebrated Dane's 28th Birthday while we were in town. Go Dane!

The day after Dane's birthday is always my Mom and Karl's anniversary. We tried to ditch them so they could have the evening to themselves but to no avail. So their good friends Ed & Chiako took us all out to this amazingly authentic and extraordinary northern italian restaurant. I can still taste the gnocchi and hear the Chicken Tetrazenni jokes.

Our last two days we tried to hit all the Smithsonian Museums that we liked under our belts. The Air & Space museum was awesome along with Natural History and everyone's favorite the American History Museum (Soo cool). Oh and on our last day right out side of the museum my sweet sweet iPhone fell onto the cobblestone and the screen shattered. Bummer way to finish the trip!

This one is for Dwight & Laura... The First Omlewaffle maker (1910). Dead serious! Apparently they did exist before we invented ours at ZYTO.

Two Iconic pieces and Dane's favorite exhibits

Here is some jewelry I am hoping to add to my collection in the near future... My birthday is coming up you know (hint, hint)

Um... Anyone else shocked that this was a display at The Smithsonian?!? Canning Really? Cracked me up.

Dane enjoying the BEST gluten free pizza he has ever had from Pete's New Haven Style Pizza. Oh soo good! Dane was ready to move to DC for this fact alone.