Asher and Benjamin are FIVE

Asher & Benjamin

I plan to do a longer post about each of the boys, but since I am already so belated in posting, I will just talk about their birthday and our weekend.

The boys' birthday was on Thursday.  Eric and I made a surprise breakfast for them for their birthday- homemade cinnamon rolls (to die for)!

Cinnamon Roll Cheer

happy face

Then I went to their class and joined them for Morning Meeting, which was fun for me. At the end of circle, I read the class "Benjamin and Tulip" by Rosemary Wells, which was one of my favorites when I was in preschool- I have fond memories of my dad coming to my class to read it to me on my birthday.  The kids really enjoyed it, and laughed at the funny pictures and text.  I went straight from there to work, worked 4 hours, then flew home to start on their birthday dinner.

I made risotto for dinner (Asher's favorite) and an Asian-style chicken in a lettuce wrap, which turned out to be popular only with the adults.  Then, because we hadn't had enough dessert in the past week, I made a chocolate cake so that each boy could have his own cake on his birthday.

The boys didn't come when I called them for dessert so these 2 other March Birthday Boys showed up in their place 

"Hey! That's MINE!"

The next day, Eric took off from work, and we went down to Washington, DC as a birthday gift for the boys.  Many of their friends have gone on exotic vacations, on planes and on cruises, and my poor unfortunate boys hadn't even stayed overnight in a hotel.  So we got 2 nights at the Embassy Suites, which has an indoor pool and breakfast included and visited our nation's capitol. We had a great trip.  We visited Air & Space in Dulles again (at the boys' request):

By the SR-71 Blackbird

In the Observation Tower

Swam in the hotel pool, enjoyed a pizza dinner out:

Benjamin & Charlotte ate more than I did!

and I went for a nighttime run through Georgetown:

The next day we had our free breakfast, in which all 3 kids ate nothing but Froot Loops, then met our friends and went to Air & Space on the Mall:

Going down into the Metro.  Charlotte panicked and had to be held!

Kind of looking at the exhibit

With the sunny and freezing cold Mall behind them

Going back up, out of the Metro

Swam some more, enjoyed cocktail hour with Shirley Temples:

Charlotte took "Color Monkey" everywhere we went

Went to dinner at Aunt Elana's and had a great time trying on a wig she had:

She couldn't stop laughing at herself in the mirror

We left Elana's late, and I dropped Eric and the kids at the hotel for bedtime while I went trolling for a free parking spot.  DuPont Circle on a Saturday night is not exactly the home of easy parking.  I drove around for at least 30 minutes, some of it in stop-and-go traffic, before I pulled into the hotel driveway, resigned to paying $45 for parking for the night.  But then the man at the front desk said, "So sorry, our lot is full! You will have to park around the block, at $35 a night."  So I thought, well, I just saved $10, but what a pain.  I got in the van and then started to pull out of the driveway- but wait! A spot on the street, directly in front of the hotel, open and free.  Really! I couldn't believe my luck!  I backed in and handed back the ticket to get into the overflow garage and saved $35.  By that time, it was bedtime, and that was it for my evening.

Today my sister jogged to the hotel, and then we went on a jogging tour of DC, past all the monuments and down the Mall.  Very scenic.

Elana in front of the Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Monument

The Supreme Court

We ran to our cousin Susannah's house and picked up our cousin Jess, then ran another 2.5 miles.  I ran 8.6 miles and Elana ran 9.6!  It was perfectly sunny, but so cold.  I am really done with this unseasonable weather, and totally ready for spring.

We played near Susannah's, then had pizza there for lunch, and then hit the road.  Asher slept the whole way home, but then crashed before dinner- flushed, tired, lost his appetite.  I am hoping it's just exhaustion, and not true illness.

The weekend was not without its bumps (it's hard to sleep all 5 of us in one room), but overall I had a great time and think everyone else did, too.  So far, the boys have said the best part of the whole weekend was the hotel, but that is fine by me!  I loved our adventure with our big 5 year old boys.