Cupcakes and monuments...oh my!

I woke up early and went running. I have to get it in while I can. I had great intentions in New York, but there was just too many other things to get into. So I must keep this thing going. It does feel good to get up and run without an internal battle, I have been waiting for this feeling. I came back and gathered up the girls to head over to see what papa and the gang were up to. They showed us a secret woodsy path through a to their house from the hotel and the girls loved that, so we walked to their house as much as we could. They were figuring out their day, so we sat with them for a bit and then decided to do our own thing. We went back to the hotel and went swimming in the pool. The young lifeguards had a lot of rules for us. I was starving and trying to eat a snack and coffee, but was told no drinking or eating anything. The girls  got in and 2 minutes later the lifeguard blew the whistle and said it was time for them to take a break?? What?? I guess they have a rule the last 15 minutes of every hour is break time in Virginia. I was super irritated so we decided to venture out into the world.  We headed to Georgetown to find Georgetown cupcakes for Kaiya. She really likes cooking reality shows and has enjoyed watching DC cupcakes which is about Georgetown cupcakes. We made it to Georgetown and searced for parking and finally found a spot down by the Potomac river. Wow does that river smell bad. So sad what we have done to some of the most naturally beautiful parts of this country. That has been a constant theme for me on this trip. I find myself often thinking about what it once looked like and how clean the water in the rivers, lakes and oceans once were. Boo. Anyhow, we apparently made it at a low cupcake time of day (does such a thing occur) since the line was not very long and we were warned about the line. It was very exciting for Kaiya. The hard part was deciding which cupcake to order. She went for red  velvet. We all got cupcakes and sat down and watched them make cupcakes while we endulged. Yum! We ate lunch after cupcakes because we can! Mila was very tired and we decided a nap was in order. We headed back to our hotel room. We checked in with my dad and Steve and decided that we would head to their house after naptime and have dinner and then go on a monument night tour. Naptime went a little long and we rushed over just in time for a Chinese food order to be placed. We ate food and headed out into the night all loaded up in our van for a tour of DC after dark. Steve was an excellent tour guide giving us the grand tour of the layout of DC and a lot of history. We stopped and the girls, Jeremy and I ran a block down to see the white house. Kaiya was probably the most excited to see it, but also secretly hoping that she would see the Obama girls frolicking on the lawn?? Who knows. It was still great fun for the girls. There is something magical about the white house. We continued on our journey and went to the Lincoln Memorial, which is lit up at night. I love the Lincoln memorial, mostly because I love Lincoln. I think I have an old dead man crush on Lincoln...I know, that isn't right, but he was an amazing person and brilliant. I wish we had leaders like him now. We certainly need them. The view from the memorial is wonderful as well. Looking out across the pool of water to the Washington Monument is always so inspiring. To stand where Martin Luther King Jr stood to give his most famous speech makes you feel strong. It was great to share these things with my girls. Just a reminder to them of all they can accomplish in their lives if they choose to. As we were walking back to the car we saw one of the white house helicopters speed by above us in a sporadic pattern. We decided it was the president and that was exciting! It was starting to rain on us so we ran back to the car. My dad wanted to go tour around Howard University, which is his first real teaching gig back in the 60's. It was so fun to go with him and hear stories about that experience. It has grown so much since he was there, that was a long time ago. My dad has done so much in his life and I am continuously more and more impressed to know of all he has impacted and all the people's lives he has changed. Howard represented another of those experiences. After the Howard tour we had two sleeping beauties in the back because it was after 10pm. Bedtime has surely been thrown out the window on this trip. It will be a tricky transition when we return home! Bedtime is now!