Recap in "Marley and Me" style

Remember in "Marley and Me" when John Grogan goes through the quick, very fast recap of his life with Marley . . . just daily life. I tend to be a very wordy girl, but I'm going to try to recap our vacation in a John Grogan style. Here it goes.

• Leave house at 9:00 with "Noah's Ark" packed down.


• Drive over 9 hours to Washington, DC. Knit, sleep, and eat on the way while Jon drives.


• Sleep like a baby.


• Get up at 6 AM next morning, ready to tackle DC.


• First time on the Metro. A little nervous b/c was warned doors close quickly and kids/adults can be separated. Very nervous. Make a plan with kids in case this happens. Hold onto them for dear life.


• Take tour of the Capital.


• Eat $40 meal at McDonalds at Air and Space Museum.


• Tour Air and Space.


• Ask Jon and Alec why astronauts would need shark repellent . . . in case they fell in the ocean? Learned why . . . major blond moment.


• Loved reading about The Wright Brothers.


• Fascinated with all things Air and Space . . . very cool place!


• Museum of National History. Went in through a back entrance. Thought museum was a dud. Almost left.


• Found anthropology part of museum.


• Kids had to sole anthropology riddles using real bones.


• Laughed so hard when lady said, "Be careful with the bones. This was someone's loved one." Couldn't help my laughter . . . I may have snorted . . . oops!


• Kids put skeleton puzzle together with real bones.


• Wondering what the big fuss over National Museum of History is especially compared to Air and Space.


• See sign for Hope Diamond.


• Go take a looksy.


• Look over balcony.


• Oh? That is what the fuss is about. This place is great. We see the entrance.


• Head downstairs. . . go see Dinosaurs.


• Disappointed that the whole museum has an evolutionary focus. Think about the Creation Museum video we watched in Sunday School last week.


• So proud when Ashley says, "Mom, these people are wrong. These bones are not millions of years old." Yay, the children are listening to God's word and what is being taught at home.


• Head outside.


• Getting soaking wet.


• Grab Hanna's hand and start singing, "Singing in the Rain."


• Head for the Metro. Pouring very hard now. Running in the rain, splashing through puddles.


• Get to Metro. Alec is fuming mad because he is wet saying, "This has been the worst day of my life."


• Mad at him because he's acting like a 2-year-old. . . . telling him it's no big deal.


• Get to hotel. Get in the bed.


• Jon and kids go get dinner. Watch Fox news.


• Sleep.


• Up early next morning.


• Head to National Zoo, but spot a Starbucks right outside the entrance. Get a Pumpkin Spice Latte.


• Love the Panda Bear. Love the Cheetahs. See Anaconda eat a rabbit. Love the monkeys. Love the Zoo period!!! One of our favorite things.


• Head back to Metro.


• National Archives . . . loved seeing the original Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Very proud to be an American.


• National Museum of American History.


• Loved, loved, loved this one . . saw Dorothy's ruby slippers, Kermit the Frog, Abe Lincoln's hat, touched part of the Berlin wall . . .great museum.


• Went to Smithsonian castle. Just an information center.


• Jon goes to the bathroom to plug in video camera to give the battery some juice.


• Walked National Mall to Washington Monument.


• Rested our tired legs.


• WWII Memorial.


• Reflecting Pool.


• Lincoln Memorial.


• Korean Memorial.


• Jon contemplates walking to the Arlington National Cemetery . . . I know we've walked at least 7+ miles that day.


• Kids doing great.


• Very little complaining.


• Took a pit stop and got a Coke and fries to share.


• Fries are yummy.


• Jon goes to order more.


• He's gone a long time. I go to find him. Talking to lady about best way back to Metro.


• Get back to table and I sit on my Christmas ornament that I'd bought earlier . . .broken into pieces now. Oh well, just have to get creative and use its pieces.


• Eat more fries and drink another Coke.


• Decide not to walk to Arlington . . . decide to take suggested route to Metro.


• Check out Fashion Center outside our bus stop to go back to hotel.


• Pay $14 for 5 cookies.


• Disgusted we paid $14 for 5 cookies.


• Get to hotel. Get in car.


• Head to Williamsburg, VA. Alec complains of tummy ache.


• Do what I always tell my kids for every ailment, "Drink some water."


• He took me seriously. He drank 3 bottles of water.


• Get to Williamsburg hotel.


• Sleep.


• Midnight wake up to Alec throwing up. . . projectile. Throw up is on Hanna's head. Hanna doesn't budge. . . sleeping peacefully.


• Jon helps me clean up while I check on Alec.


• Hear Jon gag.


• Afraid Jon will puke b/c he has weak stomach.


• Jon goes to get clean bedding. Get Alec cleaned up.


• Afraid Alec has swine flu (one of the first symptoms is vomiting).


• Google H1N1. . .shew, no fever, no other symptoms. Think he's okay.


• Sleep.


• Wake up. Alec feels great. He blames it on the $14 cookies. . . good blame I think!
• Take a step back in time and go to Colonial Williamsburg.


• Go on tour of a plantation. Jon is told he is a plantation owner, but is bad with money, his mother-in-law has to step in. . .kids are separating cotton seeds from cotton.


• Take in-depth tour of Governor's palace.


• Visit store and get King's Arm Gingerale. . . Alec and Jon are in love. . . best they've ever had.


• Take different tours and see different reenactments of times leading up to the Revolutionary War.


• Eat lunch at King's Arm Tavern.


• More reenactments and tours.


• Learned more about history in one day than I learned my entire time in school and college.


• Went and had hot tea, hot chocolate, Oreo cake, and cheesecake at Aroma's. Love the atmosphere.


• Walk around Merchant's Square.


• Visit candy shop.


• Head back to the hotel.


• Sleep by 8:00.


• Get up before the rooster crows. Must work this morning.


• Head to Yorktown. . .our least favorite out of everything we saw.


• Head to Jamestown. Loved this . . . .maybe even more than Williamsburg.


• Got coffee before going to museum in Jamestown. Gave our tickets to lady. Told I have to drink my coffee before entering the museum or the tour outside.


• Jon asks Hanna what she's going to do. . . he and Alec and Ash are going ahead to the museum.


• Hanna asks, "What are y'all going to do?" Jon: "Learn about history." She makes a B-line for me. One of those "you had to be there moments" but I laughed so hard I had the dorkiest, uncontrollable laugh EVER!!! Something may have come from my nose . . . I'm not sure . . . laughing so.very.hard.


• Finish coffee. Tour museum, watch movie, tour Jamestown.


• Loved the Jamestown tour, especially the boats.


• Went to "Food for Thought" for dinner. Cool place.
• Sleep.
• Got up early to work.
• Packed our bags.
• Headed to Jamestown Island. Stepped foot where Pocahontas, John Smith, etc. did.
• Watched an actual archaeological dig.
• Were the some of the first people to see archaeological findings in over 400 years . . . very, very cool.
• Looked in museum.
• Headed to Asheville, NC.
• Slept in car (of course). I was so tired even Jon's "drive me crazy around curves" driving, especially mountain curves didn't keep me awake.
• Arrive at hotel. Sleep.
• Woke up to work.
• Went to Biltmore House.
• Loved the tour, but much different from when Jon and I went last year. We did a "quicker" tour with the kiddos (only took a little over an hour).
• Spent $46 on hot dogs and pizza that wasn't even fit to eat.
• Visited River Bend Farm. Petted horses, goats, and held baby chickens. Hanna dropped her chicken. Started running away from us. Very funny watching "Farmer Jon" try to catch the chick.
• In love with the crisp fall colors of red, yellow, and orange trees. Tell Jon how much I love this place. I wanna come back.
• On the road again.
• Talk about staying overnight in North Georgia to go and visit an Apple Orchard. . . after all, that WAS my request!!! Hee-Hee.
• Or . . . talk about spending the night with Mama and James. We all vote for Nanna's and Papa's.
• Can't wait to see the now blog worthy dog, Cookie (he's been with us 7 months now).
• Stop and eat Panera Bread (yummo). Get Alec and Cookie's Halloween outfits.
• Home sweet home. . . well not my home now, but the home I grew up in. . . peaceful place. I love being there. Loved seeing Mama and James. Cookie was going crazy when he saw us!
• Sleep.
• Get up early to work. Internet is down.
• Have morning coffee with my Mama . . . so much better than working.
• Talk Mama out of cooking a breakfast casserole for us.
• Kiss Mama bye for her to go to work.
• Leave home I grew up in to home now.
• See our house. . . yard and driveway are covered in leaves. A little nervous about walking in the house because of the last vacation we took (remember we had a leak and kitchen was covered in water?)
• Drama free house. Love, love, love being home.
• Love to go, but love to be home!
• Wonder next year if I ask to go to an apple orchard what we'll do?