Ruby plays b-ball!

We just started the foray into competitive team sports!

At Practice last Monday!

At her first practice!

Practicing her defensive drills here.

Cheering on her teammates from the bench

Throwing the ball into Rebecca

Washington DC, November 2016

Where do I begin? We went to Washington, DC from Nov. 3-Nov. 7.
This was an amazing trip for a variety of reasons... and now it seems so long ago!

The inspiration for this trip was that my sweet friend from grad school in Boston, Jessica, was getting married in DC. Another sweet friend Amy offered to host us for the duration of the stay and also offered to watch our kids so that we could attend the wedding. It was a hard offer to pass up... and then I found an amazing deal on tickets, so it was sort of "meant to be."

So all 4 of us headed East to see the nation's capital! It was parts trepidation about how busy and ambitious the weekend would be, but mostly excitement to see old friends and sight see in one of the most beautiful cities on earth. We were very lucky, because the weather was gorgeous and the kids did very well with all of the touristy stuff. (One day, my fitbit counted over 17,000 steps... so that means our kids walked AT LEAST 17,000 steps with their strides!)

Day 1: Get into town via shuttle, and check into the hotel. The kids basically think that the Hyatt that we're staying in is the Plaza where Eloise lives. Try to convince people that they really want to see stuff and take an uber down to the White House which is surrounded in scaffolding. Booo!

Day 2: Get over to Jared Polis' office to get tickets to get into the House of Representatives gallery. Jared Polis' people weren't there, so some nice people from Ohio and a representative there gave us some tickets.

At our breakfast location: Corner Bakery

In the hallways of the offices of the House of Representatives

Then, we hustled to the museum of Natural History to meet up with Amy and her boys.

Obligatory photo in front of the elephant in the entrance

From the Museum, we headed over to Union Market to meet up with my cousin Joanna and her husband Kevin. I was out in April for their wedding, so it was nice to see her again.

Me and my dopey closed eyes

  After our visit with Joanna, the kids and I headed back to the hotel to rest for a moment while Cory went to the National Gallery. We met up with him after that.

 The next day, we decided to go back to the contemporary art section of the National Gallery. They had a great program where they gave out free sketch books to everyone that day, so we found ourselves sitting and sketching. It was a great way to keep the kids involved.

Our badged visitors to the capitol

 Here's a video of us looking around the rotunda with the kids.
Here's the video of us looking around the room with all of the statues... I'm sure there is a more official name than that, sorry!

Then we walked over to the Library of Congress.

A view from one of the library of congress windows

After our big adventure, we stopped and had something to eat at a local tavern/restaurant.

Sweet little girl is thinking

More sketchbook!

After getting a little something in our bellies, we walked back to the hotel where Amy and Elena were picking us up. On our way, we stopped by the Supreme Court building to take photos and we also took photos on the lawn near the capitol. 

 After Amy picked us up, we went to see the monuments: MLK, Lincoln Memorial, and the FDR, and along the way we saw others as well.

And by Sunday, it was time to take in the wedding! It was great to see old friends and celebrate Jessica and Juan's big day.

Shabbir and JoAnne

Jen & Jeff

Eventually, we had to return home...

It was such a great trip to DC. I hope that we can go back again one day!