My Trip to DC

Last month I got to fly to DC for a weekend to visit my cousin, Carrie, and her family. First off, let me say, that in 10 1/2 years of motherhood, this was the first time I had ever gone on a trip without my kids. The sad thing is, I didn't even realize it until a few days before this trip. Anyway, in no way did separation anxiety, on my part, keep me from having a blast! The kids did great and had some quality bonding time with Dad.

It was a fast trip, but we made the most of it. I flew in on Friday night and we stayed up as late as we could chatting. Sad to say, that I don't think it was as late as it used to be. On Saturday, Carrie took me into DC to see the sights. This was my first trip to the capital and I was amazed! We walked miles that day. First we went through the mall, seeing the WWII monument, Lincoln memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Wall, the Washington monument, and probably some others I'm forgetting. Next we headed to the Museum of Natural History where we ate lunch before going through the museum. Lunch was good and the museum was AMAZING! I really felt like a kid again. On Sunday, we headed down to Fredricksburg, VA, where Carrie and David have just finished building a house. I went to church with them and then got to fall in love with how cute Fredricksburg is!

This is Carrie's little girl, Rachael, posing with me in front of Abe Lincoln. She was so adorable, that I seriously wanted to hide her in my suitcase. I think she helped ease my separation issues.

Carrie and Rachael posing with the humongous elephant in the Natural Museum of History. Rachael's favorite character on Sesame street is Horatio the elephant. As soon as we walked in she started squealing "Ratio, Ratio!" Too cute!

So, this picture has a story I have to tell. We visited the gift shop in the mammal section of the museum and Rachael found 2 stuffed elephants that she fell in love with right away and decided that they were a mommy elephant and a baby elephant. Needless, to say gift shop toys are not the cheapest, and Carrie was only planning on buying the smaller one for her. At the last minute we smuggle the "mommy elephant" away and buy the baby. Rachael fell apart and cried for the mommy elephant until she fell asleep. In the car on the way home she would occassionally cry, "Mommy" in her sleep. I assumed she was talking about her mommy, but Carrie set me straight that this all about the elephants. Too funny. She was very happy later when Carrie found her a little 2 inch high elephant at Wal-Mart. We held our breaths as she showed it to her and after a moment it gained acceptance as the new "baby elephant."

Unfortunately, it was over all too soon and at 4:00 on Sunday I had to head back to the airport. I had no idea exactly how much I've missed my cousin! I'm so grateful for the time we had together and I can't wait for her to come visit me here in El Paso!

Carrie and I have a history of trying to make a new recipe and utterly failing. This time, however, we got it right. Here's Carrie with our first batch of homemade sopapillas. So yummy!