Caleb's Story: Washington D.C. Trip & Farm Playgroup

So, last Friday we left to go to Washington D.C. for the weekend. We were mainly going because of a wedding on Sunday. It was for Alicia Jencks, the daughter of one of our former pastors. Alicia was only 2 years old when they moved to the Cape and shortly after they arrived, her brother Adam was born. I was their babysitter for several years while they lived on the Cape, so it is crazy to think that she is getting married! My parents and Jeff and Dania also came with us, and we had a great weekend together. We flew out of Providence on Southwest because we had points so we were able to fly for free. On the way down, the flight wasn't full, so they let us bring Caleb's car seat on the plane and he had his own seat. That was a nice thought in theory but he spent most of the flight kicking the back of the seat in front of him. Steve was sitting next to him and kept trying to get him to stop but it was hard. Luckily the guy sitting there was very understanding, but I am glad it was a short flight.

So Caleb didn't nap on the way to the airport or on the plane, but he was handling it well. After we got our rental cars, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for supper, because it was right near the airport and we were hungry. We had a great supper and Caleb behaved well despite having no nap. Then we stopped at a grocery store before sundown so we could get some food for the weekend. Steve stayed in the car with Caleb while I went in and he finally gave in and fell asleep and stayed asleep until we got to our hotel.

Waiting for the rental cars

We were all staying in a 2-bedroom unit of a timeshare my parents have. Jeff and Dania slept on a pullout couch. We love staying at the timeshare because they have full kitchens and the rooms are always very nice.

We didn't get to our timeshare until around 8:30 and we all went to bed pretty much right away after getting settled in.

On Sabbath morning we went to church where the Jencks were going to be (the same church where the wedding was going to be) because Pastor Steve was going to be preaching there and they had invited us to stay for lunch since we were from out of town. It was a very big church but the people were very friendly. The guy that Alicia is marrying is Indian and the lunch afterwards was all Indian food. It was good, but spicier than I like! It was really nice to see the Jencks family. They have always been special friends of ours!

After lunch, we headed down to the Washington National Zoo. Again, Caleb hadn't napped yet, so we were hoping he would fall asleep in the car. He did, but unfortunately, it wasn't a very long drive, so he slept just under 30 minutes, but that was enough to tide him over until bedtime. The zoo was absolutely packed, but we were still able to see quite a bit. We should have spent several more hours there but we ran out of time because we had to get Caleb back to get ready for bed.

We saw tigers, lions, a panda bear, elephants, monkeys, flamingos, and lots of birds. Caleb really enjoyed it, especially the tigers and lions.

Steve's cousin Bethany and her husband Darren met us at the zoo and then they came back to National Harbor with us so we could hang out a little bit. We put Caleb to bed and then my dad was nice enough to stay in the room so we could go out with Bethany and Darren. My mom and Jeff and Dania also went out to get frozen yogurt. We walked around awhile looking for something to eat and we finally decided on sandwiches and milkshakes that we ate outside overlooking the harbor. It was very nice and a beautiful view of the town.

After that, Steve drove Bethany and Darren back home and I went back to the hotel and visited for awhile and then went to bed.

Sunday morning my parents and Jeff and Dania headed out to Arlington National Cemetery because it turns out that Jeff has never been to Washington D.C. so he needed to see as many sights as possible in the short time. We stayed back at the hotel and relaxed and went in the pool since that is pretty much Caleb's favorite thing to do. They had an outdoor pool and an indoor pool. We spent most of the time at the outdoor pool but we checked out the indoor one as well. Caleb really enjoyed himself!

Then we got changed and walked down to the harbor because they have some sand down there and we thought Caleb would enjoy that. However, by that time, it had gotten really hot, so we didn't actually stay long.

After that, we wanted to make sure Caleb had a good nap because he hadn't been able to nap well the last couple of days and we knew it would be a late night because of the wedding. He did sleep about 1 1/2 hours, so that is not phenomenal, but much better than the last couple of days. I went out shopping for a few minutes while Caleb was sleeping, but again, it was so hot that I didn't want to stay out too long.

After Caleb's nap, we got ready to go to the wedding. My parents and Jeff and Dania had already left because they went to meet our friend Perky and to see his school.

I couldn't resist! Looks like he belongs at Chippendales!

We arrived at the wedding at the same time as my parents so that worked out well that we didn't have to find them in the crowd. There were over 700 people at the wedding, most of them Indian from Ashish's side. The wedding was very nice and her dad married them. He did very well at holding it together! Caleb was well behaved during the wedding and was kept entertained by the pens in the back of the pews and Grammy's phone.

Then we headed to the reception. The wedding was about 30 minutes from our hotel and unfortunately, the reception was another 30 minutes further away. The reception was supposed to start at 5:30 and that's about when we got there. They did have appetizers and fruit and cheese and crackers, so we ate those, but we ended up just sitting there for over 2 hours before the bride and groom arrived. We did pass a little bit of the time by going into the photo booth. We waited until they had made their entrance and then Steve and Caleb and I left around 8:00 to get Caleb home to bed (since it was an hour drive), and they hadn't served dinner yet. My parents and Jeff and Dania stayed awhile longer but I think they left around 9:30 and it was still going strong, so I have no idea how late everybody else stayed. It was the biggest reception I had ever seen. There were tables that seated 8-10 people and we know there were at least 77 tables because that it is the highest number we saw. It was crazy, but very nice!

My mom kept my camera and got this picture and the next one.

Monday morning we all got up fairly early and got ready to head into D.C. for the day. National Harbor is only about 15 minutes from the city, so it was a quick trip and there was tons of parking (free!) since it was a holiday and not a normal work day. We parked right next to the Air and Space Museum which was one of the places we most wanted to visit. First we walked over to the Capitol and it turns out that there were tours of the Capitol that weren't crowded, so my dad, Steve, and Jeff and Dania took a tour of the Capitol while my mom, Caleb and I went to the Botanical Gardens. We would have gone, but you can't bring any food in and you can't leave a bag anywhere, and I of course had food with me for Caleb. Oh well. We had a good time in the Botanical Gardens and the others enjoyed their tour very much.

There was a kid's section in the Botanical Gardens and Caleb loved to fill the watering can with the pump and then water the flowers. I had to take his shirt off, otherwise he would have been soaked!

Then we met up with the others and headed towards the Museum of Natural History. Along the way we found a very good place to eat lunch, so we did that before going into the museum.

Looks like an important phone call - it was the beeper to let us know our food was ready!

We spent about an hour in the Museum of Natural History, mostly looking at the stuffed animals. I knew Caleb would like those.

We split up from everyone else because my mom and Dania were going to go to an IMAX about lemurs and my dad and Jeff headed to the Air and Space Museum to see an IMAX about D-Day. I would have taken Caleb to the lemurs one but it was 3-D and I knew the glasses wouldn't go over too well, so we skipped it. After the Museum of Natural History, we headed over to the Air and Space Museum. It is a pretty long walk, so we were hoping Caleb would fall asleep in the stroller. I laid the back down, gave him his pacifier and he conked out immediately. Once we got to the museum we just parked outside while he was still sleeping and I think he slept just over 30 minutes.

Then we went into the museum for a couple of hours and we enjoyed it a lot. That is my favorite museum. I have always been fascinated with anything to do with space. Caleb seemed to really enjoy it too. It will be fun to bring him back when he is older. Washington D.C. is such a great educational place and everything is free, which is awesome!

After we left the museum, we headed back to our hotel. My parents had graciously offered to babysit Caleb so we could go on a night bus tour of several of the monuments and memorials. They had been on the tour before and thought we would really enjoy it. The bus picked us up right at our hotel at 6:00, so we had to get back to get ready and to give Caleb supper before going. My parents took Caleb to the pool once we left and then got him ready for bed. He gave them no problems, so that was good.

We had a really good time on our bus tour. We were the first ones picked up, so we got the best seats in the top of the bus right in the front. We went to the White House, the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Roosevelt Memorial, the MLK Memorial, and Iwo Jima Memorial. They were all really nice especially lit up at night. We also had great views of the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial.

This one just opened in late 2012, so we had never been there before

We got back just after 10:30, so that wasn't too bad. We then had to get up pretty early the next morning to fly home. We needed to leave the hotel around 7:00. We made it to the airport in plenty of time and we had a good flight home. The flight was completely full so Caleb didn't get his own seat, but it is such a short flight that it didn't matter.

We landed a little after 11:00 and by the time we got in the car to go home, it was close to noon. I didn't think Caleb would sleep in the car because he is not a great car sleeper especially when people are in the back with him, but he was exhausted and fell asleep about 2 minutes into the car ride. Of course he only slept about 40 minutes, but oh well. That meant I could put him to bed early that night!

We got home around 1:30 and spent the afternoon unpacking mostly. Steve had to go to a meeting at the church at 6:30 and I put Caleb to bed shortly after that. About 10 minutes after I put him to bed, he stood up in his crib and started crying, "Mommy, Mommy!" I thought he might have just lost his pacifier so I went in there and was looking for the pacifier and all of a sudden he threw up in his crib. I quickly grabbed him and brought him into the bathroom and he threw up 3 more times in the bathtub (it seemed like a good idea to use the bathtub at the time, but it wasn't too easy to clean up). After he threw up, he seemed fine. I feel really bad because the only thing I can think of that caused it is that I gave him some expired yogurt. He had no trouble eating it, so I didn't think it was bad, but it had to have been that. He had no other symptoms, and he has been fine the rest of the week. Poor boy! So, I had to change the sheets on his crib and put him in new pajamas, but then he went right to sleep.

On Wednesday I worked and Caleb was with Grammy. I was so happy because Caleb finally got a haircut on Wednesday from Wendy at the office. His hair was out of control, so I couldn't wait for him to get it cut!

After his haircut, Grammy & Grampy (what a treat!) took Caleb to the beach, which he loved, of course.

Caleb had also helped Grammy make granola earlier in the day. What a good helper!

On Thursday we had our first farm playgroup. We went to Taylor-Bray Farm in Yarmouthport and it was very nice. It was a pretty warm day (ironically, this week has been warmer than most of the summer), but we survived. There were lots of animals there, so all the kids loved it. Not all of the farms that we are going to have animals, but we were glad this one did. Caleb especially liked the roosters and he likes to imitate them.

Thursday afternoon after Caleb's nap, we went out and did some grocery shopping and got some diapers at Babies R Us. Here is Caleb wearing a Patriots hat that he tried on in Old Navy. Go Patriots!

Yesterday my mom watched Caleb in the morning and then Josie and Rissa babysat Caleb in the afternoon by themselves for the first time. Their mom came at around 4:00 after she was done with work, so they were only by themselves for about 3 hours. Everything went fine as far as we know! We went to my parents' house for supper last night with Rad and Jen. It seems like forever since have done that, so it was nice. Then we put Caleb to bed around 7:30. He never has any trouble going to sleep, but last night something was off. He started crying about 2 minutes after I put him in there and he would not settle down. If I tried to leave the room he would cry. So, I held him for awhile and he was fine, then I tried to put him down and he was crying again. This repeated itself for quite awhile and finally I just had to leave him there and let him tire himself out until he went to sleep. He didn't end up going to sleep until 9:15. I have no idea what was going on. We even gave him Motrin partway through because I know he's getting a tooth in, but that didn't seem to be the problem. I sure hope tonight isn't a repeat of that! And I am counting my blessings that this is not a normal occurrence because I know some parents probably put up with behavior like that fairly often. Unfortunately, Caleb was still awake at 6:15 this morning, so he was about 2 hours short on his sleep. He is napping right now, so hopefully he will make up for it! We'll see!

Well, that's about it. Here are a couple more pictures!