A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
~Lao Tzu
For the Labor Day Weekend, Michal and I spontaneously decided to drive up to DC and see what a road trip with Lily would be like.
One speeding ticket and five and a half hours later, we safely made it to the hotel and decided to immediately head out and walk the mall.
I don't know what it is about walking the Mall in DC, but it always is so hot and so exhausting. We even have friends who live in DC who say that when they walk the mall with family and friends visiting from out of town that it is a daunting task and can be very tiring.
The two states that Lily has lived in. Maybe each time we go we will take a picture of new states that she has traveled to and it will be fun to see the progression over the years!
The remainder of the day, Michal & I decided to visit with good friends.
But the next day we got an early start and started the day with the Iwo Jima Memorial.
Where Lily got her first jumping picture!
We then headed to the White House, but for some odd reason (like the President of the United States leaving the White House) they kicked everyone out of the "park" or lawn until further notice. We patiently waited, but figured we'd hit it on our way back to the car.
You can't see it, but the white house is directly above Lily's head.
By this time, little girl got tired and pooped out on us.
Next we walked all the way from the White House to the US Capitol Building. I love the architecture of the Capitol Buildings in the United States and how they are all the same, thus making it easily recognizable as to which city houses the capital of its state.
When Lily awoke, she was full of smiles and didn't want to miss out of a photo op with her and the capitol as well.
We didn't want to push ourselves too much, or wear out Lily... so we meandered back to the White House. On the way, we ran into some students at the US Naval Academy who fell in love with Lily and fought over who got to hold her and take their picture with her.
She loved the attention that she was getting, but soon lost interest just wanted to play with all of their "tags."
Continuing our path to the White House, we saw a whole street completely blocked off for a volleyball tournament. We asked some players who they represented and who was playing, and it was the Asian North American Volleyball League. If you didn't know there was one, don't feel bad... I didn't either.
And finally, we made it. And it made Michal's day. Of course, he would have been more excited to see President Obama waving from his window (like the Pope at the Vatican), but he said that this would do.
We then tried to get Lily to visit "another country" while we were in DC, but the Polish Embassy was closed.
Since Michal got to see his "home" (kinda), we ventured off to find mine...
I always hear from my mother that we grew up in this tiny 400 square foot apartment, with no heat, and we had to walk uphill both ways. In any case, it was a home of memories and love.
Which speak of memories and love, we were able to reconnect with the Staples Family. He was the Branch President during our tenure in Warsaw and Hannah was a seminary student of mine. We missed seeing Kristina and her cute baby boy - but we loved the good food and conversation with this truly amazing, genuine, wonderful family.
(and Lily loved all the attention that she got too).
Before heading home on Monday morning, we decided to see old family friends - The Peters.
And Since Payton and Lily were having so much fun playing together, we decided to document it.
The drive home wasn't ask exciting and took us longer than the drive there (thanks to Michal's reduced speed). But Lily was such a trooper, and even told us the other day that she is so excited and can't wait until she gets to go back and do more things and meet more new people!
... to adventure!
