Vacation wasn't perfect. It never is.
Nick and I planned what we thought would be a string of fun-filled adventures into a four-day East Coast jaunt. A one-night stay-cation in downtown D.C., followed by a train ride to the city of brotherly love and three days of sight-seeing there would surely be a recipe for a happy family.
And the adventures? Well, they were happy and fun-filled ... and frustrating, and exhausting and bitterly cold at times, which sounds pretty much like an average winter week at home.
Our every days are peppered with both warmth and love and whining, arguing and other disagreeable behavior, so why would a change of location offer anything different?
By the time Amtrak delivered us safely back to D.C.'s Union Station on New Year's Eve, we were ready for our home. For a little space from one another. For our own beds. For a washer and dryer at the ready. For healthy, home-cooked food any time we want it. For routine.
The big kids head back to school tomorrow and Nick returns to work, but before we seal up the photos and vacation memories in the family archives, I want us to remember these moments from our family trip:
* The way the ottomans at the D.C. Marriott made perfect rocking horses when tilted on their sides.
* A nighttime stroll past the White House grounds flanked by inauguration scaffolding and bleachers.
* Crab pad Thai and lobster mac-n-cheese with an Aviation chaser and grape cotton candy for dessert.
* Cheese steaks.
* The Liberty Bell. Independence Hall. The story of Caesar Rodney's ride.
* The lead singer of a '90s cover band at a Colonial-style Tavern who told Henry: "You've got awesome hair, dude!"
* Watching the electric engine disconnect from the front car and zoom away to be replaced by the diesel.
And these moments, too:
Here's to many more perfectly imperfect family memories in the year to come!
Wonderful memories! I love your sense of tell-it-like-it-is humor. (The pictures at the end aren't loading for me though.)
ReplyDeletegood stuff. glad you are able to do things like that with the kiddos. Yeah i cannot see the supplemental pics either.....
ReplyDeleteI don't know what's going on with the link. They look fine on my computer. I re-posted the link from FB. Maybe that fixed it.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!!! Looking forward to the new stories & many photos!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nancy!
DeleteI see my comment didn't post, :( I wonder if they ever do from my phone. Anyway... I enjoyed reading of your Christmas happenings.. All of them. We traveled a bit too (a little last minute trip to Ohio). Wile not perfect either, I'm glad we went. I am sure your kiddos will rember this trip with fondness.. They seem to forget that they fight and whine! Why is that?! I think my first response to this was better.. Oh! And yes! Henry has magnificent hair!!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes lose comments, too, mid-post. Blogger certainly isn't perfect (neither am I, but it can't be my fault!). Yes, that's a great point about the fighting and how they don't remember that stuff. I guess I should let it go just as easily. And I totally agree with your views on Henry's hair. I devour it daily. :)
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