Nationals Game Without a Phone

This is how the Thursday started.

As per usual, we woke up and had breakfast.  I was making the bed when I gave Dagny the phone to play with.  Since we were in a row home with a tall staircase, I liked having her with me if I left the boys downstairs to play and the phone kept her occupied so she'd stop climbing all over the bed and this big treasure chest that was in our room.  I guess I forgot she had the phone as I moved towards loading the laundry.  The laundry machine is outside of the bedroom and right above the staircase.  At some point, she started pointing downstairs with a grunt of some sort.  And that's when I knew it happened.  My iPhone had fallen down the VERY TALL flight of stairs.  Oh no.

I found the phone on the floor face down.  The screen was half gone (on the left) but since I have imessage on my computer, I was able to get in touch with Andy.  The plan we came up with was for me to go by the Eastern Market Ifixit Store, or to Georgetown to the Apple Store.  Along the way, since I didn't have my phone to show my game tickets, I also had to swing by a FedEx store to print the tickets.  And then, I'd have to navigate to the Nationals Stadium and meet up with Andy after work without a phone.  It was going to be an adventure...

So we went towards Eastern Market to get our tickets printed out at FedEx, and then we decided to go to Georgetown since the IFixitStore was more expensive and would take about 2 hours to fix my phone.  Off to Foggy Bottom and Georgetown I went with my three kids.

Upon arrival at the Apple Store, I was drenched.  It was a beautiful sunny day out.  The kids enjoyed playing at the ipad kid station while I worked out details on the phone.  Without an upgrade discount, the phone I wanted was about $800 dollars, so in a flurry, we left without a new phone and headed to the ball game.  A transfer and some comments about "how brave I was" later, we made it to the stadium around 3 PM.  The game started at 4 PM and it opens 2 hours before, so we enjoyed the playground without many kids while I asked around for a pay phone.  They don't exist anymore!  I ended up borrowing someone's phone from Guest Services to let Andy know we were there and we could meet him at our seats... but I felt a little helpless and scared.  I was also a bit perturbed I couldn't take any photos of the kids on the sweet slide at the playground.  Oh well.

We met up with Andy and his lawyer, our buddy Greg, and Greg's wife, Shannon, and we enjoyed the ball game with some sweet seats right in back of Bryce Harper.  We witnessed his 100th home run and first grand slam, and almost caught the ball (it landed right in back of us).  Andy and Greg both got photos of us in the stands.. you can see Dagny and Jordan in the video.  I almost got a ball that Bryce threw to our area but this big guy trampled over me and since I was holding Dagny, I decided not to sacrifice my child and let him have it.  Not without muttering jerk.  Andy was surprised he didn't give us the ball, like we had witnessed our good friend Bryan give the ball to a kid who was also going after it... oh well.

all our kids would yell BRYCE! even Dags (Bryyy)

that kid in the shadow on the bottom right is Jordan.. 

Bring Your Kids to Work Day

If you live in the District, you probably know a lot of people who work for the government.  On April 28th, it was the government's "bring your kid to work day" and Andy didn't think he'd be allowed to bring his kids since you have to be 8 and up to participate in any of the sponsored activities.  On the morning of the 28th, Jordan picked up the phone to hear Andy tell him he could go to work with him today.  He ran into the bathroom, interrupting my morning alone time, yelling that he was going to work with Daddy today!  Confused and distracted, I had no idea what was going on.  Eventually, I was able to chat with Andy and figure out that we would head to the American Indian Museum with our friends as planned and then drop him off at the Department of Labor afterwards so Andy could take Jordan to lunch.  Bubba, Dagny, and I would head off to McDonald's at Union Station and then go home.  It was a plan!  

And then it started to rain.  So for the first time on my own, I braved the rain with the kids.  Dagny and I were a bit soaked, me a wet dog and her just damp (not as much hair), but the boys stayed dry under our stroller cover (which we probably will never use again in Utah or elsewhere haha).  It was pretty insane, strangers even asked me why I didn't have an umbrella.  "How am I supposed to hold an umbrella while pushing a stroller?" I retorted, only to hear an innocent, "how come?" ... There aren't a lot of people in DC with a lot of kids so most people are just ignorant.  I'm constantly getting comments like "wow, that's a lot of kids" but with a negative air of arrogance from strangers, tourists and locals.  The ones with kids always give me a look of awe and "you are awesome girl" it's like a silent fist pump in the air, and then there are the security guards or Capitol police who are always so exceptionally kind and understanding.  I love them.  They are always so nice to my kids too, always telling them how cute they are or asking them how their day is.  They make the negativity from others all okay! 

I think we forget to give our kids one on one time, this was a reminder that they need it.  It's always fun to have the whole family together, but I think Bubba also enjoyed some alone time with Mommy and Dagny.  When a friend came over to say good-bye later that day, she asked Jordan about how his day with Dad was at work and before Jordan could respond, Bubba explained that he also had a date with Mommy and Dagny.  So cute.

We Love Georgetown

One of my favorite places to stroll through is Georgetown, mostly cuz it's filled with retail therapy, but also because we always have a fun time filling ourselves on cupcakes.  The news that Sprinkles had come to DC also made us happy.  Cupcake connoisseurs we are definitely not, nor are we cupcake enthusiasts in the very least, but there's something about being in DC that makes us go overboard with cupcakes.  I think it's because five years ago when we went with Andy's family to celebrate his parent's 30th anniversary, we went overboard trying cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes, Crumbs, and Baked and Wired.  From then on, we couldn't look back and a tradition was created.  

We started our Saturday out by heading over to Georgetown for some lawn bowling.  We had no idea it was actually a lot more yuppie of an activity once there.  The place was called Pinestripes and it was like the Lucky Strike of bowling in DC.  They asked if we wanted anything to eat or drink and being it was right about noon when we were done, we bounced out of there so fast to avoid the over priced hoity toity food.  We found ourselves back at Munchieez, a favorite from our trip with Andy's family five years ago.  It was just as good as we remembered from five years ago, but they had some new art of the wall so we had to take photos.  

Then, we made our way over to Baked and Wired.  Apparently, we were not alone.  Locals in line kept complaining about how the "tourists" probably found out about this place now.  Andy said they were full of themselves since the line at Georgetown Cupcakes was still two times longer.  Reality shows can go a long way to promote a brand.  I'm surprised nobody was at Sprinkles, but if you're not from LA, it's probably not as much of a name as it is there.  Or if you don't watch Cupcake Wars because hello... need I say more?!

We didn't mind the wait.  What else did we have to do?  No money to shop in Georgetown anyway, plus the cobblestone roads were not only old and wobbly and narrow, but the entire sidewalk was slanted so it made stroller pushing really hard with our group.  

I made Jordan take a photo in front of this pink bike which looked a lot more deflated than it had five years ago.  I meant to grab a photo of my nieces Sophie and Violet who were right next to it five years ago (Jordan was carried by OGO cuz he was only 1 then), but couldn't find it.  I'll update if I do later...

After enjoying cupcake tops (except for Dagny, she eats the bottoms of our cupcakes), we got some Easter stuff for the boys' baskets from Grandma, decided to "treat yoself" with some Sprinkles cupcakes (we are loyal to LA) and headed to a nearby park, Rose Park Recreation Center.  This place was so awesome, we would return later as well.

Cherry blossoms lined the big lawn by one of the playgrounds and it was just beautiful.  I had to take some photos.  I can't believe how quickly they go.  A couple of weeks later when we returned, everything here was green.  I'm so grateful we were in DC during the cherry blossom bloom because it really is something else.  Absolutely breathtaking.

Arcadia Friends Are The Best!

My posts are all out of order but now that we're in Orlando, I feel this sense of urgency to blog everything before I forget it.  I am having huge DC withdrawals since we got to Orlando on Saturday night.  I miss everything from our row home to the Hill, our new friends, our beautiful new Church building, walking everywhere, the museums, the parks, the playgrounds, the adventures without a car or a phone....  just everything.  I told Andy I don't think I've ever missed a place that we've left so much as I have with DC, but I think it's because without a car and three kids, I really was forced to go outside of my comfort zone and explore and do a lot, and also be really proactive about making friends, getting phone numbers, etc.  It's really uncharacteristic of me to just go and be so adventurous, I'm more of a homebody, but DC changed that about me.

One of the reasons we were able to make life in DC without a car work was having a rental a few times to stock up (when we arrived, when we went to NY, when we went to Philly) and having generous friends who helped shuttle us around for a Costco run or pick up stuff for us.  One of those friends was my sweet high school buddy Nancy from Arcadia who I actually knew since childhood through our families.  Here's a photo I had my dad dig up knowing I'd see Nancy.  I'm on the left and she's on the right.  I actually have no clue who the kids in the middle are anymore... oops.

It was fun to meet up with Nancy for a Costco run one weekend, we brought our littles and I definitely loaded up.

Then, a few weeks later, we met up at the Zoo on Good Friday with her oldest and her.

It was the second time I braved the metro alone with three kids, but the first time I took it all the way to the Zoo and walked there from Cleveland Park (a little DC trick insiders and locals know since it's a downhill stroll, albeit it tiny bit further in my opinion) and then home via the Woodley Park/Zoo exit.  That particular day, I decided to stroll through Union Station while the littles napped and it was just me and Jordan.  We shopped a bit, and then finally made our way home.  Exhausted and spent and two hours later, I let the kids watch TV until Andy came home.  And that was our first zoo adventure while out in DC (we'd go two more times later with family).

One thing I found funny was Nancy made a comment about how ugly the pandas were in real life.  Jordan, young but impressionable, could not forget this comment and would go on to repeat it to everyone in our family everytime we talked about going to see the pandas at the zoo.  "Well, they're not really pretty in real life," he'd tell everyone.  "Yeah, they're pretty ugly."  He'd say here or there.  HA!  Reminds me how kids really do hear everything.

Kids Garden in US Botanic Garden

We finally made it to the kid's garden in the US Botanic Garden and though it was small and our time spent there was short, it was quite sweet.  The kids had a blast watering, planting, and digging (no photos of that one).  Dagny also had a blast cleaning... meanwhile Jordan and Bubba kept refilling their pails again and again.  I think they are going to have a lot of fun with all that water stuff in Orlando.  ....