Runaway Trip to DC

During fall, my oldest sister called to share with us that my brother-in-law was being promoted in the Air Force to Major. When she called, I knew an airline we usually revert to was having an extra good sale. I checked prices and then decided to test the waters with my husband with the idea of me traveling across the country (again) with his son.

The text went as follows:

Me: So Javier is getting promoted. There's a big ceremony I guess at The Pentagon in January.

Mark: Oh really? That's cool.

A few minute break where I think "okay he didn't pick up on the hint". Then:

Mark: You should totally go...if other people are going and that's cool.

See why again I love my husband so much? No obligation of "if you take the baby you can go" or "if you can be there and back in a day sure". 

Although it was quite a debate and I felt guilty up until the trip, I didn't take Jack with me. As much fun as I thought it would be to let him meet his cousins, I decided that with no one to fly with me (I picked different flights than my parents and sister), and the icy cold weather and the touring we wanted to do, it was not a good idea to bring him. He'd meet his cousins this summer and he could still have his own environment to revert back to for sleeping, napping etc. So it really did feel like I had run away from my life for a few days. 

Thursday evening was a flurry of getting things ready for the ceremony and post celebration. Though not planned, I ended up staying at my sister's house that night and helping into the wee hours of the morning getting things ready from food trays to making sure the bag with all my nieces' clothes, hair elastics, straightener etc were ready to go for the next morning. 

Sadly, I do not have much in the way of pictures to document the day. No surprise The Pentagon is a high security building. We were not allowed to take any pictures, nor was there any cell phone reception. An entire day without technology! We were all surprised to be still standing by the end of the day!

 The weather was kind and not as chilly as we were prepared for. Still, though dark, this is how I layered in my dress: tights with ankle socks and then black socks over the ankle socks. It looked pretty strange but my feet were nice and toasty until we got to the Pentagon and I changed into my heels.

 Escort required was not a joke. Once through security, we were either closely in tow with my brother-in-law or escorted by other Air Force members who he works with. They walked us to the bathroom, escorted us to the ceremony room, and even escorted us around the food court at each restaurant we picked.

They had this set up at the visitor check in desk. We weren't sure if we could take pictures at the podium but we figured we were in an area where they do tours, and other people were taking pictures. So why not go with the crowd right? I look pretty official if I do say so myself!

Again, no pictures but after the ceremony and lunch, my brother-in-law took us around The Pentagon to see different parts. One of the neatest parts was the 9/11 memorial and the area of the building that the plane crashed into. In the memorial chapel, there is a visitors book where you can write messages of comfort to victims families. When the books are filled, they make copies and send them to each family. 

Being in The Pentagon was more impressive than I imagined. Not that I didn't think it would be, but we were walking past doors labeled "Air Force Chief of Staff" and "Navy Head Secretary" and other "uppity up" titles that let you know you're walking the hallways where some seriously important leaders work. 

Saturday was full of touring. In case you live under a rock (somewhat like me), DC is huge. There is way too much stuff to do in just 1-2 days of being there. But here's what we managed to hit up in just 1 day's time:

• Washington Monument (There's actually a tour inside of it!)
• National Museum of American History (1 of 19 museums included in the Smithsonian grouping)
• White House Tour (cool, especially if you know your White House design/history but for 1 day of touring, you'd be better off just getting a picture in front of it on Pennsylvania avenue. We didn't even get that!)
• United States Holocaust Museum
• Saw the Lincoln Memorial from across the Reflecting Pool
• Walked by the US Agriculture Building- HUGE!
• Saw the Lincoln Memorial lit up at night when I failed as navigator, we missed a turn and ended up behind the memorial. If you have the option to walk or drive in DC, walking is much less stressful. It can be cold, but the roads there are insane! 

Obviously, I'm not a photographer, and some things aren't that cool in pictures. But here's a slew of photos from that day. Obviously you can tell it was cold and I was more focused on staying warm than looking glamorous in the photos. A little bit of hat hair never hurt anyone right?

Washington Monument

Checking out the Lincoln Memorial while we made my brother-in-law Eric run back down the hill and get tickets for the Monument tour. 

Trying to take goofy pictures. 

One of the 12 views from the top of the Washington Monument. They have pictures below of what it looked like 100 years ago. 

Smithsonian museums

US Capitol Building. We didn't even get close to it. 

How the Washington Monument compares. 

American History Museum: these were chairs and the bar from the first sit-in during the Civil Rights movement which took place in Greensboro, NC. 

I joked with my sister that my life was now complete. Well a huge item was off my bucket list anyway. 

Up close these shoes looked super uncomfortable. I'm sure Judy Garland would have much preferred the ruby slippers you can now buy online. 

They had a transportation section at the museum. We had a good chuckle when we saw a van in the museum that our neighbor and many other families had for quite some time until the 4 door style came out. 

After a day of seeing the city, we went back to spend the last evening with my nieces- and thaw out. As you can see my cheeks were pretty chapped from the bitter dry wind. It was great to hang out with extended family more. My two nieces just keep getting older and older. Kaylie on the right just turned 12 and is nearly as tall as me. Brandy still has a bit to go. Their baby brother who is just 7 months older than Jack was just a bit too active and too apprehensive to get in a photo with us.  

My grandparents also came out for the promotion ceremony. It had been about 6 months since I had seen them and it will be another 7 until they come out for our family reunion. I sure love them! Growing up a mile from them, it was a hard adjustment to move away so far, especially now that they've moved away from my hometown. I even got to try and help my grandma learn to use facebook better on her mobile device. That provided a few good laughs!

With minimal sleep and very tired feet, I was happy to be boarding a plane 3 days later. It was wonderful to get a break and celebrate my brother-in-law's advancement in his career. Truly it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I'm so grateful my husband who always does his best to let me go on these crazy adventures. I always wish he could come along but since he doesn't care for touristy type things, it saves us money in the long run anyways! :) 

Jack at 11 months old

Jack turns 11 months old (holy cow!) in a week. Since I will likely not get around to blogging for a while, I figure 10 months and 3 weeks is close enough. I'll let you all know if he suddenly starts walking and talking in a week. If not, come back for the big 1 year update and I'll catch you up!

 Jack is huge.
If you've seen him in person, you know that.
If you've seen pictures, you've probably noticed that.
I don't know where he gets it from....definitely not from mom.

Jack is currently wearing 12-18 month clothes. 12 month sleepers are too snug on his chubby thighs so he's hanging out with cousin Logan in 18 month sleepers. (So much for hand-me-downs because we've passed up our cousin 5 months older than us!) He loves to pull his socks and bibs off and HATES getting dressed after bath time, but bath time is great! He loves to look at himself in the chromework.

Obligatory naked baby in the bath picture. I gave him some dignity! 

Reading time in his book corner. 

Checking out the Christmas tree with daddy. 

Some of Jack's favorite toys are his new noisy dinosaur bouncy ball thing-a-ma-jig, any book, his red ball, and anything that makes a loud noise when thrown on the wood floors. He loves Baby Signing Time even though he doesn't sign, and loves clapping. He also loves the In Summer song sung by Olaf in Frozen. The look on his face is priceless when we watch the little video clips on youtube.

One of the first nights he pulled himself up. Motivated by cords and electronics. 

 He is a pretty good eater. He's started to get finicky when new foods but with trial and error we figure out how to get him to try it. He loves oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, goldfish, graham crackers, and puffs. He will NOT however accept cheerios anymore. I confess I gave him 1 honey nut cheerio the other day and he thought it was okay, but hes' moved on to tastier things in life I guess! Another milestone on the food end is we are just over a month away from being done with formula! We are also spit up free finally. I can't tell you the last time he spit up. It has been a long road, but we are finally done with that chapter and I think will be able to switch over to cow's milk next month no problem!

Playing with Daddy before he went back to work after lunch one day.

Help mom! How do I get down without falling?

 He is a pro crawler now and into everything! He can climb up the 1st 2 steps of our stairs to the bedrooms, but definitely does not understand the concept of gravity and its relation to him yet.  He loves looking out the window, pulling himself up into standing position (a new thing this week!), and loves to watch the trash can close. He also now expects to be chased up the stairs every night for bed...so much for a calm transition!

Noisy toy from GranMary. The motor in the middle bounces and makes the balls fall out. 

Jack is still not babbling or talking. This makes us sad and a bit anxious for the next few months. But he is far from delayed cognitively. He can clap is hands, find a ball if we ask him where his ball is, and loves to share his food. He's definitely aware of what's going on, he just can't figure out how to get going verbally. We'll get there eventually and are fine with whatever road takes us there.  

Here are 2 videos to make you smile. Now that were past another round of teething (totaling 9 teeth), he is back to the happy boy we think makes our family complete (and adorable).

    

Christmas 2014

We had so much fun this holiday season. Jack was just old enough to take everything in and be in wonder about everything. Our neighbors next door do holiday lights big time and since Jack LOVES bright lights/neon lights, he loved looking at them. Christmas lights helped keep him happy when we were in the car at night. (We are much better in the car but he still hates being in the dark car).
He didn't quite understand the concept of opening gifts, but he did great overall considering how overstimulating Christmas is for any kid (or adult!)

On Christmas Eve, we had a Christmas Party with Mark's mom and siblings. His sister hosted a lovely French themed event where we had crackers and cheese, yummy macaroons, mini eclairs and then a complete ham dinner with sparkling soda.

Be jealous! This food spread was delicious!

He enjoyed the new environment-- especially terrorizing Aunt Jamie's puppy!

 Santa was an unexpected guest at the party. He also looked strangely like Uncle Ryan-- that may have helped Jack from completely freaking out. Traditionally Santa has always come to Christmas parties for Mark's family. We had a break for a year or two but it was fun to have the tradition come back for Jack.

 Jack was a lucky boy and had a lot of presents to open! He got a new bouncy ball dinosaur toy from GranMary, fun touch and feel books from Aunt Jamie, a stuffed pig which he loves from Uncle Ryan, and his favorite toy of all: A red ball from Uncle Luke!

Are you sure it's okay that I make a mess mom?

 One of Jack's favorite games/songs is Pat-a-Cake. Aunt Jamie got him the best of both worlds: Curious George (who is a built in hand puppet in the book) and Pat-A-Cake book.

Jack did so good on Christmas Eve despite everything going on. We put him to bed and then Mom stayed up to help Santa finish up until about 1AM. Mark gave up around 11 and went to bed. I definitely learned the reality of Christmas productivity with a little one. Next year's goal: more ahead shopping/planning and more online shopping done. I hate to do it that way, but that's just how it's going to be for a few years.

This was 1 of 2 pictures we remembered to get Christmas day. This is him in front of our tree Christmas morning. I will cherish it as the last few Chrstmases we not only slept in until 8:30, but were able to eat breakfast without any begging to open presents! 

 That evening, we braved the weather and drove out to my parents' house. (On Christmas Day Provo got a good 6 inches of snow- my parents who live up in the mountains got over a foot!) The weather unfortunately prevented all of my local siblings from making it, but we had a great time visiting and playing with aunts, uncles, and cousins who could make it. Jack also took a 90 minute nap that evening which allowed me to play with one of my nephews who is 6 months old. It's great to have cousins so close together, but I definitely haven't gotten to hang out with Jack's 2 closest cousins as much as I'm used to. He gets a bit upset when I pick up other babies...or even look at them!

Matching Argyle!

Those coasters are an heirloom from Great-Grandma Stites! A 2nd generation "toy". 

 I got Mark a tool box for Christmas which used up most of my "budget". I decided it would be fun to start a new tradition of building a gingerbread house. So I wrapped up one of those kits and put on the tag "To Daddy and Jack". The idea was that they could build a house together the day after Christmas every year. This year Jack was too young so Mark and I put it together....of course thanks to sickness, craziness and other life adventures we put it together New Years Day. The icing tube exploded on us so we had to get a bit creative with icing and decorating.

Looks just like the box's picture don't you think? 

My husband is such a ham for the camera. 

We hope all of you had a merry Christmas filled with loved ones and happiness!