Re-Entry is Hard...Overwriting is Inevitable.

OH HI!

I feel like it's my turn to pin the tail on the donkey. I've been in line for almost two months and I'm dizzy and have no idea what direction to take.

Of course, I'm talking about where to start after almost two months away from this site! At least I'm not blindfolded.

Let's begin with what I've been doing all this time. Basically, working and devoting all of my free time to the DC Listen to Your Mother Show. Yes - I know that was on May 2nd and it's now June 3rd! But there was a lot of wrap up work to do. And then I just kept putting it off. Like my son on the Spectrum, I'm "not good at transitions." Maybe he just gets that one from me...

I DID book most of our hotel stays (hooray for points!) Now I just have to figure out our Mount Rushmore stay. Apparently, the girlfriend of a family member has a house (or her family has a house) in that area, and we might be able to use it. I have visions of arriving to find "the family" already there and completely unaware that some woman and her THREE children are expecting to stay the night. Okay, so I doubt the people involved would let that happen...but worst case scenarios and all...

So aside from a few loose ends, the big ticket logistics have been pretty much handled. Now I'm getting back to researching our stops and coming up with some draft itineraries. I think I've mentioned before that we HAVE to enter each destination with a plan. If not, we will spend our entire stay in restaurants and touristy shopping areas. Food and Shopping: they are my "death and taxes." And I'm trying to stick to a tight budget.

I'll start posting regularly about that next week. For now, I thought I'd throw in some things I meant to write about this Spring but never did.

We never travel for Spring Break. Every year, I have to put together some staycation plans for the kids and me so we don't end up on our various devices all day. (Because I am just as bad as them. When Oliver wants me out of the way, he tells me that I should go "play on my computer." Ooops!)

Finding things to do in DC is not hard - and since we live in the suburbs, it really does feel like a day trip to go check out a museum or wander around Georgetown. These are things I used to do when I was bored as a kid/teenager. I could walk to culture back then, and that's one thing I super duper miss about city living. Not gonna lie though - getting there is a pain in the ass. The DC metro line is now in my area of Northern VA, but we still have to make the five minute drive and pay to park. THEN we have to go through the complicated and time consuming process of  purchasing multiple fare cards for the 20 minute ride to downtown DC. By the time we find seats on the train, I'm exhausted and ready to go home. But the kids love the metro, so I just carve a few more martyrdom notches in my motherhood cross and get on with it. I also usually ask a friend and her kids to come with us. Solidarity!

Too many words. Here are some pictures...

[WARNING: I am visiting from the future - i.e. about a million words and images later - to say that this is NOT going to be a few pictures of "What I Did Over Spring Break". Be prepared for an onslaught of information. I would delete some, but I'm too deep in it now. Just thought I'd let you know.]

We took a boat ride!

We saw cherry blossoms!

And monuments!

Finally, we forced marched exhausted and dehydrated children over a mile back to the the metro stop because THAT is the price they must pay for fun. Also, they got to absorb city culture like this:

Another day I took my kids plus our neighbors' five and seven year olds to see James and the Giant Peach at Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo Park. If you've never been there, it's very pretty - cool original architecture with several attractions. And plenty of space for kids to run around:

We've been to Adventure Theatre several times. James and the Giant Peach was probably my favorite production - no pictures though since the theater didn't allow photography. Also, my phone died by the time we got to our seats.

Well that covers two days. I can't remember the other things we did that week... Probably played on electronic devices. Mom of the Year!

But our big finale of Spring Break is always Easter. For the first time ever, we didn't stay home for the big day (which in my heathen household is celebrated with chocolate bunnies and brunch). We visited Chris' Uncle Steve, who recently moved to Philadelphia. He's leasing space on an estate that includes a studio/apartment in a barn, where he paints. The walls are covered with his artwork and the deceptively "rustic" looking space features very comfortable living accommodations.

George, in particular was very interested in the set up. We were looking at the paintings, and I told him that I thought these two were my favorites.

He said, "OH! Because they're framed in GOLD." I started to reply, "well no - but now that you mention it...the frames do kind of confine them in a way that directs your focus to..." And he was already standing next to another painting, saying, "yeah - THIS baby needs a gold frame."

So George has pretty much figured out the art world. Internationally too! He picked up Steve's palette and informed me, "French people use these."

But enough about art (and enough pictures of George and his AWFUL bangs - that was one bad haircut...) This is supposed to be a blog about travel stuff. The reason why I even mention the trip is that we got to spend a fun afternoon in Philadelphia!

After seeing how long the lines were for the Liberty Bell and other big attractions, Uncle Steve did the thing that no parent in my lifetime (including Chris and me) has ever done. HE SUGGESTED paying for a horse and carriage ride to take in the sights. Can I tell you how much I wanted to do this when I was a kid? Then I became an adult and realized that my parents would have thought it was too expensive (and probably embarrassing). But Steve is FUN and a grandfather - so clearly he would think this was a good idea. The kids wholeheartedly agreed.

Oh really carriage driver? That was "a good one"?
Maybe take more than ONE next time because my eyes are closed!

Vindication.

Who are those dorks in the...oh yeah - that's us.

Thanks horse!

Before heading back, Chris said we HAD to get a cheesesteak and it HAD to be from Jim's. But OH NO! There was a line around the corner. Here is a picture of Chris who haz a major sad.

That black SUV is in front of all of the people who were willing to wait in line. We are not those people, so we wandered down South Street a bit to find other options.

We didn't go here either. But I was playing "photographer" that day
and while snapping away, thought it made for a good "Philadelphia" shot. Snap snap!

Now Chris is happy! Where did we end up? No recollection - that was months ago!

I was also planning to write a post about an attempted day of cross country skiing that ended in ice and tears... But I think we can now consider ourselves caught up on (almost) all of the travel and touristy stuff of note. 

Tune in next week for more about THE TRIP. Spoiler alert: all posts will be five billion times longer than I intend them to be...so you add THAT to "Death and Taxes".