Kid Prayers Trump Mine

Monday was our first official work week day in DC.  We got in late Saturday night and went to Church yesterday, but now Andy's gone at work, our car has been returned, and it was just my three kids and me on Capitol Hill, no car, a double stroller, a baby carrier, and lots of time to explore the neighborhood.

The morning started off slow, we did a relaxed breakfast, made the beds, loaded the laundry (it's a tiny machine so we have to do little loads often), and the kids watched a show while I caught up on work.  Once we were done, we got ready to go find a park.  our first park was Stanton Park, which is about a 10 minute walk.  As we were walking, the clouds looming above us seemed to say our day would go otherwise.  The boys were really scared looking at the clouds moving towards us, so I told Jordan he could ask Heavenly Father to please make the clouds go away.  I then added that if he didn't answer his prayer right away, we could just get our ponchos and stroller rain cover on and head home.  No big deal, I told him.  Mommy will probably get the most wet, but you guys will be okay.  He was hopeful, but upon feeling a drop of water, he exclaimed, "Well, I only felt one drop of water so that must mean that Heavenly Father is making it go away!"  I didn't quite get the logic but I went with it.

We arrived at the park, and just as we were getting out of the stroller, I swear the clouds just moved apart allowing the sun to shine in all its glory.  I distinctively remember standing there watching my kids and hearing some of the other adults comment about how crazy that the weather just cleared up miraculously.  I knew why.  It was the power of a sincere prayer from my kids, and it was so important for us to start off our adventures walking all over Capitol Hill correctly.

The kids all had so much fun at our first park experience.  There were so many people, more than I've ever seen at a park this size, kids and nannies (nannies everywhere here!), and a bunch of parked strollers because that's how everyone gets to the parks here!  I learned later there was a co-op preschool with a few parents for every four kids.  A bunch of the boys from the co-op quickly started following Jordan and Bubba around their run throughout the outskirts of the playground.  I noticed Jordan and Bubba seemed to be the oldest kids around (I would later learn that this is because Washington DC has free all day pre-school starting at age 3 until 5), but they didn't seem to care or mind, they like being leaders and are kind of bossy.  The playground floor was made of a bouncy rubber mat, which I love - I hate the wood chips in Utah, and everything was the perfect size for someone Dagny's age, so she had a blast as well.

On our way out, Dagny kept pointing at the statue that is in the center of Stanton Park, she seemed to really love it.  The boys had a blast too, they couldn't wait to explore more parks in the neighborhood.  I reminded Jordan that his prayer seemed to work, and he looked up and agreed.  It was honestly a beautiful sunny day.  The clouds from earlier might have suggested otherwise, but I'm glad we ventured out anyway and had a fun time.

We went home, ate, did some worksheets and practiced or ABCs, counting and reading, played in our cement backyard, and enjoyed our DC home on the Hill.  Andy came home, the kids went crazy over him being back, we ate, and then it was about time for bed!

And just like that, our first work day in DC was done.