Thursday, May 15, 2014

Our Trip to Virginia



I am really stingy when it comes to vacations; I always tell Ben that I want to go on these lavish trips but when the time comes I can never justify the cost.  At the end of last year, Ben and I decided that we wanted to have an experience and make our fun feel justified (to my cheapness) so we planned a big trip out east to visit the Dawson's (over their spring break) and take them to NYC! It was so much fun to plan and prepare for this trip and I was so excited to spend this experience with the Dawson's.  The plan was to fly into DC on Saturday April 19th, spend an amazing couple of days near Stafford, VA and then drive to NYC, from where we would fly home the following Saturday April 26!

Day 1: This was going to be our first flight with Elizabeth.  Ben was really nervous about how we would entertain her on such a long flight (3.5 hours) but the flight correlated with her afternoon nap, so I was not worried.  We got on the flight, Ben took his Dramamine, Elizabeth sucked on a sucker and we took off.  This is where our stories waver; Ben get's very sleepy and out of it on Dramamine and although he says he did not sleep the entire flight, he kind of did.  I would wake him up to hold something or get something for me or put Elizabeth on his lap so I could get something but he was a sleepy mess (which I would take over a sick mess any day).  
Unlike how I thought our flight experience would be, Elizabeth did not sleep AT ALL.  I had things prepared; games/tv shows on the i-pad, coloring things, books, 'new' $1 toys and tons of yummy food.  However the attention span of a 1 year old is short; games/tv shows about 45 minutes, coloring maybe 15 minutes, books a good 20 minutes, new toys about 5 minutes before they were thrown on the floor, and the yummy food never really took.  So if you add up my 'planned' activities you will see that I still had a LOT of time to burn.  We played 'I spy' with all the people's heads (all we could really see), she jumped on my lap (poor lady in front of us) and there was a lot of wrestling but we finally MADE IT!!
We were picked up by Ben, Andrea, Emma and Spencer and Elizabeth quickly became the favorite (she soaked it in).  We got a quick scenic tour of DC and then headed to their home in Stafford, VA for an amazing 'real southern' meal (bbq, fried ocra, collard greens)!  It was so much fun to be there and to get to relax and talk to our family. (Elizabeth quickly fell in love with Ben Dawson and by the end of the week she would go to him before me!)
Day 2: HAPPY EASTER!! We woke up on a beautiful Easter morning and reality quickly told us that we were now on eastern time and waking up at 7 felt like 5 in the morning- wow!  We got to see the amazing things the Easter bunny brought us (thanks Easter bunny) and had a great breakfast of hot crossed buns! We enjoyed going to church in the Dawson's ward  and a leisurely afternoon with long naps! (Elizabeth got the most adorable Easter dress and we got some cute family pictures.) That night some of the Dawson's friends came over for a yummy traditional Easter dinner of ham, potatoes, frilly-frothy-foam and rolls.  We again spent the evening talking and playing with the Dawson's! It was a great Easter!!




Day 3: This was such a warm beautiful day so we spent the afternoon at the lake in the Dawson's neighborhood.  Ben Dawson is an expert fisherman and he constantly fixed the poles as we all fished.  I had never fished before and my first cast off was long and beautiful and it quickly went down from there; I almost hit Ben in the head with one, broke the line on one and tangled the third one to almost disrepair.  It was fun watching everyone fish and although we didn't catch anything, it was really relaxing.  We also got to use their kayaks and go around the lake; while going around Ben and I saw fish and a ton of turtles.  Elizabeth liked to stay on the shore and throw rocks and play in the sand. 







That night we had a wonderful Easter Themed FHE from Emma about the atonement; It was so good and put in such a great simple way.  We had pizza for dinner and Elizabeth got to show off her awesome pizza eating skills! For dessert we had cronuts- this is an amazing artery clogging mix of a crescent and donut. 


Day 4: On Tuesday, Andrea offered to babysit while Ben and I went to the Washington DC Temple.  We had not been to the temple together since Elizabeth was born and neither of us had ever been to the DC Temple.  It was amazing; the session was great (and Ben and I got to sit next to each other and hold hands!) and the inside of the temple was beautiful; there were 7 stories and beautiful winding stair cases, with artwork on the walls and fountains and flowers.  The grounds of the temple were spectacular in a beautiful spring blossom.  





The trip took longer than we thought (because traffic was crazy) and ended up being gone all day.  When we got home we all loaded in the car to go to Fredericksburg to visit some historic Civil War sites. We first went to the Historic Kenmore House; this is George Washington's sister, Betty's house and is restored and preserved in its historic state.  The house was closed by the time we got there but we got to walk around the grounds and it was beautiful!!  We then went to the Frederickburg battle ground. It was shocking walking around the old battle ground and reading about the Civil War; it was eye opening to see how small the battlegrounds were and how many people died there.  I am grateful for the freedoms we have because of the brave men who fought in the Civil War.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Day 5: Wednesday we took the light rail into Washington DC and got to walk the park and see the many memorials.  We went to the American History Smithsonian and got to see the history of electricity and transportation, the original Star Spangled Banner and learn a lot in the hall of presidents.  We went to the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and saw the white house from afar. It was so much fun to walk in the shoes of history; I think Washington DC is amazing and such a wonderful place to visit and remember.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Day 6: We had a nice relaxing day playing at the park; we flew kites, played on the play ground and put off the rockets that the guys got from the Easter bunny (they went WAY higher than I expected).


 
 
It was such a beautiful day and so nice to relax. That afternoon we dyed Easter eggs and we played egg-roulette (russian roulette with eggs)- it was so funny! We had a hot dog roast that night!

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