Mr. Evan Goes to Washington

I think that Evan's first trip away from home (other than Mana and Papa's house) deserves its very own post. We had such a great time I wanted to save the memories for him, since he won't remember it all. The fact that we had such a great time, in fact it could not have been more perfect, was a complete surprise to me...since I was sure that we'd have sleep troubles or daytime fussiness hampering our touristing. It turns out Evan is a fantastic traveler! I can't wait to take him on more trips...and we'll have the chance soon. He's going on his first road trip to the beach next weekend! Here's how things went in D.C.

So the reason we went to D.C. was to visit Daddy on business. Mike was in D.C. doing inspections for two weeks, which was the longest time he has been away since Evan was born. Let me tell you that I have renewed respect for single parents! We did great though and had lots of friends come over for dinner to keep us company. Aunt Cynthia came over and spent the night before we left so I could have time to pack and clean the house really well (we're trying to sell it right now). And thank goodness she did, because otherwise I would've been up all night, and Evan had a pretty bad night so I was taking care of him a bunch in the early morning. I was really worried that he had an ear infection or something b/c he kept grabbing his ears and crying, which is very uncharacteristic for him when I am holding him. I think it was just residual pain from his shots earlier in the week.

Evan's first flight - Aunt Cynthia got us to the airport and helped us check luggage. Then we had to go through security with ourselves, a diaper bag, a backpack, a car seat and a ginormous stroller (totally worth it). Luckily Evan is still small enough to fit in the baby bjorn and he had a grand time watching all the people and being fussed at by anyone and everyone near us. If I couldn't have carried him like this, I don't know how I would've made it through. The stroller didn't fit through the xray machine and I thought it was going to get broken by the security people...they finally gave up and hand inspected it. Then we were homefree, until the flight.

For the flight, we ended up next to a business dude (I was hoping for a fussy baby-loving grandma) who was only very mildly interested in Evan (and probably thought "oh S***" as soon as he saw us). Evan was very good though and enjoyed watching the flight attendants gossip in their kitchen area right next to us. He got mad every time the business dude put his paper up and Evan couldn't see, so he had to put it down in his lap. Ha Ha. Evan spent about 20 minutes sleeping in my lap and the rest of the time doing jumping jacks. He is very wiggly! But he barely fussed at all and his ears didn't bother him at all! YAY!!

On the way back we struck gold with a nearly empty plane. So we got an entire row to ourselves, which meant Evan could ride strapped in his carseat. He slept that entire flight and I got to finish my book (The Alexander Cipher - it is really good!). The funniest thing about this leg was that in the terminal Evan was very loud, practicing his babbling and it was very quiet otherwise. So everyone had to come see who was making so much noise. The two flight attendants womanning the counter were tickled with him and allowed a very long line to accumulate before they noticed they weren't doing their jobs...they blamed it on Evan and his bib which said "chick magnet" on it.

As for the actual trip. It was awesome. We had two days with Daddy and one day on our own. We'd get up, eat breakfast and head out the door to see the sights. We just packed everything on or under the stroller and Evan slept and ate when he felt like it. When he was awake we had him in the bjorn facing outward so he could see the people and museum objects too and he had a great time. I think he really enjoyed the art museum. He also liked the times we spent in the shade on a blanket just playing. Unfortunately, it was reallllly hot outside so we didn't get to spend as much time outside as I would've liked. We wore Evan out during the day and staying out late eating dinner, so he had no problem sleeping every night...one night he slept nine hours straight without a peep! But I guess he wasn't too tired, b/c he was quite cheerful during the day. I'm sure all the new experiences, seeing everything, riding on planes and subwaytrains, and seeing so many people was a lot to process! Other than the museums and sites we got to see, we also visited with our friends Tim and Felissa at their new house and my highschool friend Katie. It was so much fun! Can't wait to travel some more!

As for me, I think the natural history museum was my favorite. They had some amazing skeletons of evolving marine mammals, including one that was so long it looked like a giant sea serpent. When it was first found, the paleontologists thought it was a lizard! They also had a great exhibit on criminal forensics with murdered skeletons. It showed how CSIs figure out how someone died. I guess some of them were just "mystery" skeletons at archaeological sites too. They were all neat...I love CSI. I also just plain enjoyed walking around the white house and the capital and all the sites knowing that we now have a new President. It felt goooood, and I was proud. :)