American Girl Store, DC, and DC Cupcakes...OH MY!

The very next weekend after the beach/Daytona, we packed up again and headed to DC for the weekend. Back in June, an American Girl Store opened up, so we decided to take Boo to celebrate what an awesome job she did in school this year!  She was over the moon excited about going to the store!  Her eyes lit up and she didn't know where to start, once we got into the store.  She picked out a new doll, some clothes for her doll, clothes for another doll she already had at home, and a shirt for herself.  She LOVED LOVED LOVED this store, but I have to be honest and say I was quite disappointed in it.  Having been to the AG store in NYC, nothing compares to it...I guess Boo and I will have to venture to NYC to see the "real" AG store:)

The next morning, we headed out to the National Mall.  Mackenzie can tell you all about Lincoln, so our first stop was the Lincoln Memorial.  Zach was like Rocky climbing those stairs:)  Oh, and another cool thing we saw was Obama!  OK, we didn't really "see" him, but we saw his helicopters taking him to the airport!  We were walking towards the Lincoln Memorial, and you could hear the helicopter coming so we stopped to look!  Greg asked if I thought Obama was on it and I said "if he is, then there should be another helicopter coming very close behind it because they always fly 2 helicopters for safety."  As soon as I said that, here comes the second helicopter.  (And for those no-sayers, if you google to see if Obama was in dc on July 9th, it will tell you that he left the south lawn in Marine One to head towards Camp David...so YES, we saw Obama:) Back to Lincoln...after we walked around for a bit, we grabbed a snack and took a quick break, and then started the almost 2 mile walk to the Air and Space Museum.  It was so hot outside, but with just a few stops in the shade, we made it!  Zach LOVED all the air planes in the museum.  It was really neat to watch him take it all in.  Boo, liked it as well, but being my daughter, she was ready for the gift shop and to find a place to eat:)  We spent almost 2 hours at the museum and then had a quick bit to eat at the McDonald's (which the kids will tell you was the coolest part of the museum!).

The next place that Mackenzie wanted to go was Georgetown Cupcakes...the cupcake store that is on the TLC show called "DC Cupcakes."  It was a very short drive from the National Mall, so we went.  We really lucked out that there was no line, because we have heard stories of the line being wrapped around the block!  We took lots of pictures and  $17.00 later, we left DC Cupcakes with 1/2 dozen cupcakes!  Greg liked his cupcakes, Boo didn't like her's, mine was ok, and Zach the true food lover that he is, took one bit and said it was disgusting and threw his away!  These cupcakes were made from fancy ingredients and I think that threw the kids off.  I myself have had much better cupcakes (like Magnolia bakery in NYC...)but Boo really wanted to see the shop and it was so worth it!!

Vacation Time

FINALLY we have made it to summer!  Our first vacation of the summer was different than most of our trips.  You see, Daddy and "Uncle" Charlie and some other boys went to Daytona to see a race, so "Auntie" Marie and I packed up the kids and headed to the beach!  I must admit, we had the best time!  Our clipboard of fun was full of great ideas, and our first stop was the battleship in Wilmington.  It was super hot that day, but the kids did great.  At first, Zach was scared (I'm talking crying, shaking, and SOBBING here) about going down the ships steep stairs.  It took a lot of help to get him down the steps, but then I figured out the secret...I told him all about how Dub was on ships like this in the Navy (many, many, MANY years ago:)...and Dub would be so proud to hear that Zach climbed up and down the stairs like a big boy...totally worked! After that talk, Zach was a pro at the stairs!  The kids had a blast seeing all the guns, where the sailors would eat, where they slept, etc.  Later in the afternoon, we made it out to the beach, and to my surprise the kids literally dove right into the water.  They had NO fear...waves were knocking them down and they would bounce right back up and keep going.  The next morning we took the kids to the aquarium to see all the fish and sharks!  Mackenzie had been there before and she loved it again.  Zach wasn't to sure about the tanks that you walk through...especially when he saw the HUGE shark about his head, but once he figured out that he was safe, I couldn't get him away from the tanks:) 

Seems like the boys also had a great trip to Daytona!  Greg said that even though he is not a race car fan, he enjoyed seeing all the ins and outs of a real race!  Although if I was to bet, I would say the kids and I had more fun:)