Two weeks ago, we took a weekend trip to Northern Virginia to visit our friends. We were scared out of town due to all the hype around the pope, and how many roads would be closed, in addition to expected crowds and who knows what else. So rather than find ourselves trapped in the house with nowhere to go for a weekend, we got out of town.
We drove down on Friday afternoon, and made great time til we hit the beltway outside of DC. It took 1 hour for us to go the last 30 or so miles of our trip- rush hour on Friday! We had a nice dinner on Friday night, then managed to get the kids down to bed and the grown ups had time to play games- trivia and Pictionary-style games that you play through your phone.
On Saturday we got ourselves together and went out to Cox's farms, which was like a fall festival wonderland. There were animals, slides, hay rides, kettle corn, apples and apple cider, pumpkins... Eric said he felt like he had 4 kids, because I was always off and running to find the next thing to do. There was a big slide that we went down on a burlap sack that I loved more than the kids did!
 |
| My 3 and my friend's oldest on the hay bales |
 |
| Hay ride |
 |
| Mommy and Benjamin on the hay ride |
 |
| our Christmas card? |
 |
| Charlotte posing with a goat... |
 |
| Who loved her very much! |
 |
| Baby girl with a baby goat |
It was the start of fall weather- for which I am unprepared and in denial. But it was cool and gray, and the leaves were starting to change.
Saturday afternoon we attempted to get the kids to nap, and totally failed. So we ended up with the husbands taking the big kids to the playground, and my friend and I went on a long walk around the neighborhood with her baby. Then we cooked dinner and ate at our friends' house- they had suggested eating out but I worried what kind of behavior we would get from the kids after no naps.
On Sunday, we went out to breakfast, which was a disaster! Charlotte asked for eggs and then refused to eat them and threw a tantrum on the floor. I ordered oatmeal, which came with sliced bananas, and Asher (who was 2 people away from me at the table) pulled his "My tummy doesn't feel so good!" nonsense and stood by the table gagging because he saw the bananas.
Fortunately for my sanity, my sister and I coordinated a run in Arlington, VA, and DC- we met in Arlington, but ran back and forth over the bridges into DC and back again. Over the course of our run, it turned into a beautiful day. We did a little loop on Roosevelt Island, which is hard to believe is mere feet from the Capitol.
 |
| Roosevelt Island |
We then got in the car and drove home, with no problems at all. It turned out that things had been quiet and pleasant in our neighborhood while we were gone- so no real reason to flee, but we had a wonderful weekend away as a family. It's rare that we get to spend a weekend together, since Eric and I are always engaged in individual tasks on the weekends. We were together, and we had a great time- we hadn't seen our friends in ages, and they had just bought a beautiful new home with plenty of room for all of us. It was relaxing just to be away from our house and all the chores we always do, and we enjoyed the ease of being in the company of old friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment