It was real. It was good.

It was real good.

This weekend was fabulous in every way.  We've never done a mom/daughter^2 weekend before and we have decided we will make this an annual thing.  Definitely!

Heather and I arrived in DC around ohhh 11:30am on Friday.  It was so weird to just get to the airport (did I mention we packed so lightly we only had a carry-on???? Unheard of!), walk through security and hop on our plane.  No strollers, straggling children, diaper bags, sippy cups, carseats... nada!  Amazing!

We first went to my mom's house in Alexandria.  She rents the upstairs of a darling little bungalow.  It is darling.  And it is little.  But is is pricey!  I think the market value is $600k?  EEEEK!  Anyhow... her housemate (the house owner) is an older lady named Mary Ellen and she is sooo sweet.  She also has a little dog, Toaster, who I just loooove.

Friday we spent in downtown Alexandria.  It is such a charming little downtown area and the Waterfront is gorgeous.  We ate dinner at a delicious Italian place, shopped in some great little shops (and one Children's Boutique that had a $2,500 teacup chandelier... ouch!).  At the Waterfront we went into the Torpedo Factory and browsed a ton of little studios of local artists from painting to sketch to clay to blown glass and photography and metal work.  Amazing stuff!

 This neato "art".... Cracked me up... Heather inspects it and starts poking at it and saying "What is this?!"  Uhm... It's ABC.  Chewed up gum!

I almost don't remember Friday night because we were SO. Darn. Tired.   We'd walked soooo far and it was like 95*.  Our feet were swollen and sore and weak.  We got home and all crashed in my moms bedroom (like a slumber party!) and mom and I watched Grey's on Hulu while Heather slept.  

Saturday we were up bright and early and headed to DC.  I had visited DC about 15 years ago but I vaguely remember any of it... I remember Arlington Memorial Cemetery and that's about it.  

We were shocked at how large it was.  We had looked at maps online and me, being the big planner, had mapped out all the "must see" spots and had figured we'd walk quickly to all these places.  Uhmm... no way.  We ended up taking the Tourmobile, which was a super idea.  We'd ride for a bit, hop off at whatever place we wanted to see and then hop back on to go to the next stop.   

One of the places we all wanted to see was the Holocaust Museum.  So sad and depressing, and just crazy to imagine the people who lived through that.  Or lived and died through that.  

 And the Metro.  Oh the beloved Metro. Heather hated it.  Ok, she looks kind of happy here but oh my word on the way to DC she complained THE. WHOLE. Time.  She wanted to walk back to Alexandria.  HAHA! Luckily the ride back wasn't as bumpy, although it was jam packed with people.  Sweaty, hot people. EWWW>  Luckily we were so tired we were delirious so we didn't really notice.

And Sunday... well we had big plans to go to Mount Vernon but since it was kind of rainy we decided we'd save that trip for a time when the kids are with us.  There seemed to be a lot of "kid friendly" things there, according to the website.  

Instead, we went to Old Navy and Children's Place where we managed to purchase gobs of stuff for our kids and we planned to attempt to take it back in our carry-ons (remember... no checked luggage this trip!).  

We also went back to downtown Alexandria and visited The Christmas Attic and have lunch at Murphy's Pub, get ice cream at Pop's Ice Cream Shop and grab a few souvineers from the America Store.  (where mom was flirting with the sales guy who was probably our age...  he gave me a 10% military discount out of it though!)