Getting there was half the battle. Literally.

Fair warning, this post will a be LONG one, just like our first day in Washington D.C. We began on Thursday, November 4th as we loaded up our 15 passenger van and headed North. We didn't quite know what to expect but we knew we wanted to make a stop in Washington D.C. for a few days since

1) I'd never been and

2) the kids had never been and

3) it was the half way point and we were sure we'd all be screaming to get out of the car 5.5 hours in.

An amazingly generous member of this church provided us a place to stay for 3 nights while we spent some time touring D.C. and Luke and I proved to ourselves that we can handle being in public with all six of our kids. We will still choose to not prove that to ourselves on a regular basis, especially in a crowded metropolis, but we can do it.

We also realized that when there is a bathroom within mere steps of our children, we will insist that they use it to squeeze out whatever non-existent drops of liquid are in their bladders. Partenting's 1st Law of Bathroom Emergencies states that as soon as the bathroom that no one needed a short 5 minutes ago is out of sight, everyone will suddenly be on the verge of peeing their pants and/or poop their diaper.

It's pure physics, I think. Or Newton's 87th law of pee. I'm not sure. I was never good at science.

On day 1 of our time in Washington D.C. the kids woke up somewhat cheerfully, we enjoyed a relaxed breakfast then loaded up to drive to the nearest Metro station. We'd been told by numerous people that we'd better take advantage of public transportation in D.C. So, we heeded their advice and sought out parking for our vehicle.

Remember that time we drove a 15 passenger van? Oh wait....that's now. Can I just tell you that finding a parking spot for a 15 passenger van in a city that was built before 15 passenger vans likely existed was fun. And by fun I mean, notsomuch.

We parked in a parking garage where we could only enter and exit through 1 main door and we had approximately 20 yards worth of potential parking spaces before we no longer made clearance and likely busted a water main with the roof of our van. I asked the parking garage attendants where we should park since all the spots were reserved or for compact cars. They graciously let us park in the van parking for the hotel that was attached to the garage. They neglected to mention that the main door closes promptly at 6:57pm (or 7pm, but clearly 6:57pm was their target).

We unloaded the triple stroller, my anxiety and all the children and walked across the street to the metro. Several times during our journey into the city we heard, "One..two..three..four..five...SIX! They have six kids!"

(1st Metro ride. Clearly we are amused.)

We headed to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It was cool. I dunno, maybe I'm a little lackluster for the whole thing because, I dunno, I BELIEVE IN CREATION.

(Please take note of the 4 dwarfs, Cheesy, Climby, Grumpy & Diva)

(Lucas and Ashlee were done with getting their pictures taken. Done. Let me show you just how done they were.)

(This is the above photo zoomed in. Hysterical. Even funnier? I had no idea they were making these faces as I happily snapped away.)

Don't get me wrong, the dinosaur bones were cool. Super cool. And they had an exhibit from Cyprus which was also pretty cool. But the 3 to 4 ENORMOUS ROOMS that were based purely on human evolution got old very fast. I'm still struggling to figure out how I feel about the entire museum. I mean, if they'd at least presented creation as a theory then maybe I'd be able to process some of the validity of their other exhibits. But how can I trust science in some areas and then say that other areas are completely false? It's like cherry picking the Bible. It just doesn't work that way. I wish we'd have been in town for this event.

We also saw this really cool piece of jewelry.

Any guesses on what that is? If you're like me, you'd expect that thing to be a lot BIGGER in real life. I dunno. The Hope Diamond should be the size of my hand or something, right? Eh, notsomuch.

Anyway, the kids loved it. After we spent most of the day there, we decided to walk over to the White House. Can I just tell you that the map I had was a little sketch? I mean, we did get it off of a guy on the street who was raising money for the "homeless" but there were some serious errors. So after taking all these photos we realized we were actually on the backside of the White House.

Whatever. The kids didn't know the difference and clearly neither did Luke or I until the next day when we actually saw the front. I got several other photos from the Museum as well, but it was so dark in there that it clearly tested my photography skills and, well, they all stink.







Even though the kids thought that seeing the Dinosaur bones was the highlight of Day 1, I'd have to say that for me, seeing the White House was definitely at the top of my list for our entire stay in D.C. Not so much because I'm a huge fan of politics, but more because of what it represents. Every president other than George Washington has slept in that building. That's amazing to me. Freedom is amazing to me.

On the way home we managed to

A) Get the stroller stuck in the door of the Metro, while we were boarding.

B) Get Luke's backpack (that was still on his back) trapped in the door of the Metro.

C) Almost cause Olivia permanent damage by getting her head stuck in the ticketing thingy as we tried to exit the Metro. It was eventful. (Don't worry, Olivia wasn't really hurt. She thought she was but trust me, she was fine.) Thank goodness there was a Hercules type-ish man on the Metro who rescued Luke both times as he tried to re-open the Metro doors and save himself, his backpack and the stroller.

It was clear we were not from around them parts. Mercy. Stay tuned for day 2. Much less squishage in the Metro doors and even cooler sights to be seen!