Our original plan for Day 4 was that we would get up bright and early and run over to the Department of Printing and Engraving where money is made. This was another of my favorites from when I went to DC as a kid. This was a difficult item to fit into our schedule though because they're only open Monday-Friday, fairly limited hours, and you have to be there at 8am to get tickets for that day. You can't get tickets in advance. Well, on Day 4 everyone slept in somewhat and was slow to get going-I think the kids were wearing down. 4 days was honestly the perfect amount of time to spend in DC. If we had stayed any longer we would have had to build in more down time, at least for Nora Kate and Clayton. They were getting tired.
When we saw how slow moving everyone was we decided to do breakfast and then just explore near our hotel. This ended up being perfect because the kids had a lot of fun with this-basically just seeing the little markets and grocery stores in a city and how it is very different from where we live.
They also thought it was funny that when we went in a McDonalds, you had to go to the cash register and ask for a special coin to be able unlock the doors to the restrooms. The kids thought this was a lot of extra work. Somehow we ended up with one of these coins coming home with us-hah!
It was the BIG and LITTLE things that were exciting to the kids about DC. The BIG things like the White House, the Capitol, the Washington Monument, but also the LITTLE things were exciting to them-the glass elevator, the subway, and, as pictured above-the door at the hotel.
After exploring the city, it was time to pack our bags and walk to the metro stop.
One last time in the subway with 4 kids, 1 backpack, 1 suitcase, and a stroller...we are pros now though! hah!
Then take the metro to union station. Buy a train ticket to Baltimore. Board the train-the kids requested to ride "upstairs" in the train this time, so we did.
On the train this was our "we did it!" selfie-4 days in Washington, DC with 4 kids travel by car, plane, bus, train, subway, and foot! And we had a great time.
See now we look like professional train riders-no one asking us if we are tourists!
Leaving Union Station by train.
One more silly selfie requested by NK.
Goodbye DC
We will most definitely be back!
Apparently my phone accidently snapped a picture during our long process of going through security. I'm sure it was when we were loading and reloading a million times our stuff to go through the scanner. It's funny that I have an accidental photo from this because this was very frustrating. Four kids with their shoes off, a stroller, 4 tablets, and a backpack and for some reason we got pulled aside for extra examination. UGH! So frustrating, but I guess necessary. They must have thought we looked pretty questionable because they also wouldn't allow us to tell the DOB for the kids, and they made Dawson tell how old each of his siblings were-I guess they figure kids won't lie. Haha!
After we finally made it through security we had a little time to kill before our flight.
The kids were so entertained just watching the planes out the windows.
Finally about the most turbulent flight ever!
There were thunder storms to fly over all the way back to Tennessee from Baltimore.
This time I got to ride by Dawson and Carter and they LOVED the turbulence. The seat belt light stayed on most of the time, and they thought it was so fun! Hah!
Everyone was a fantastic flier on our very turbulent flight, then we landed in Knoxville.
Lolly picked us up from the airport. We drove to Lolly's house where we switched around some luggage and then dropped the kids off at Nana and Grandad's where they would stay for 4 days and we drove on back to Alabama...we didn't make it back until about 11pm and we were exhausted!
We had had such a wonderful trip though that we were definitely on a travel high for a while re-living our experiences. This was such a fantastic trip that it has definitely made us start talking about all the other places we want to take the kids now that they are old enough to travel well and enjoy things so much.
The kids, John, and I all had a blast in Washington, DC, and we got to do and see SO much!
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