Over Memorial Day Weekend Team Trenerowski decided to take a road trip, as a family of four, to Washington DC. It was a courageous undertaking, but the trip was a necessary one! There were two main factors driving our decision to get away.
(ONE) We wanted to get away.
(TWO) Michal had a bike up in DC he needed to pick up.
This bike isn't just any ordinary bike... this bike is from Poland and one Michal could just not part with. When we moved back to the United States from Warsaw, at least once a day Michal was talking about how much he missed his bike. So, for Christmas I tried to get it shipped out to the United States. The only problem. Shipping would have been around $800. It would have been worth the money to stop hearing about how awesome this bike was and how Michal would "never find another one like it," but... Andy Armstrong came to my rescue and told us that when he came back to the United States after his tour in Poland, he would bring the bike with him. So - that's exactly what he did.
Fast forward...
April 2013
The bike is in California. We have a newborn. No way are we driving to California to pick it up.
August 2013
We move to Winston-Salem. Now we are really screwed because California is even further away than Utah.
September 2014
Andy Armstrong moves to Washington DC and plans on living there until June 2015.
So, naturally, we plan to come out in September - only we decided to go to Atlanta for a mission farewell instead. October - Michal has a work conference and we plan our month around that. November - Michal's work get's really busy and picks up through the remainder of the year. December - Due to being pregnant, I can't travel more than 100 miles away from home. January - I have a baby. February, March, April - Newborn Baby excuses. May - We decide to bite the bullet and be brave and venture on a 5.5 hour road trip to retrieve a part of Michal's long lost soul.
We had no idea what we were undertaking. Lily was potty trained. But we thought that she would TELL us that she had to go when she was in her car seat. We were right - only that when she told us we weren't fast enough in getting to a toilet. So 2.5 hours into our road trip and we take our first pit stop to change outfits. Then every 30-45 minutes after we have to stop to ensure bladders are emptied and Marco's tummy is full. An average 5.5 hour trip to DC took us just shy of 8 hours to get there.
And the odd thing about our road trip is that Marco decided he wasn't going to like the car seat anymore. He was the happiest boy when we were out of the car doing things, but when we were in the car - he just cried and cried. Lily, on the other hand, was an angel... and that may be because we let her watch Sesame Street the whole way to greater DC.
Once we got to the Armstrong's residence we were elated and so happy that we made it! It was a success! And not only were we so happy to see them, but I think that Lily was so happy to get all the attention that she did. Right away they gave her a gift - which contained a talking OLAF toy. It was such a hit that that very night Olaf's name appeared in her prayers as she prayed for those she loved!
And Marco was such a happy baby also. He loved all the attention that he was receiving. (Either that, or being out of the car seat).
But while we were in DC, Michal had a double agenda. He wanted to go vote. Apparently elections in Poland occur every 5 years, and similar to the US's absentee ballots, if you are a Polish citizen you can vote overseas for your candidate of choice. So Michal took advantage of this opportunity. For those of you who don't know Michal - he takes pride and importance in being politically involved. Thus, this was very important to him and we made it a high priority for him to go and feel a sense of national pride. He wanted to show our children how important it is to be active in the decision process of electing leaders for nations. And even though I'm sure they were a tad to young to learn this, Michal felt like he was being a responsible parent by teaching them this young. (Notice how he made them involved in his voting process in all the pictures).
Lily was just excited to get a candy bar. A Polish Candy Bar. But I was a mean mom and wouldn't let her eat it because it was hot and would have melted in the sun and it wouldn't have been a very fun mess to clean up. (And, I knew that Lily was tired and within minutes the poor candy bar had fallen asleep with her).
Since Lily had fallen asleep we decided to walk around by the Polish Embassy. For nearly two hours Lily slept and we were able to see some pretty incredible architecture, over two dozen other embassies, churches, a mosque, and a car hit a speed bump a little to hard that all the oil in his car leaked and his vehicle started smoking. (Funny thing is Michal hit that exact speed bump too hard also... we are just grateful that we were fortunate enough to not have any damage done to our car).
We even saw a marriage ceremony at the mosque as we were passing by. It reminded us of our time in Istanbul - so we decided to go and eat some hummus to bring back even more memories.
Lebanese Taverna was the restaurant recommended to us that we go and visit. And while it was yummy, it was a little overpriced and portions were small for being in America.
For Dinner we met back up with the Armstrong Family and ate at Bangkok 54. Every person at the table was in heaven. Fireworks were exploding at our table with everyone eager to let the person at his or her side sample their delicious meal. I almost wish I could have had three stomachs for this meal so I could have consumed more!
All the other down time was spent at the Armstrong's home. Marco was the happiest baby, and Lily was the happiest toddler. She was in heaven. Cute Rachel played with her and introduced her to miniature figurines. The first thing Lily said in the morning to us in the morning was, "Rachel. Toys. Rachel. Toys."
(Unfortunately, I didn't capture any photos of Rachel playing with Lily. But Rachel was so awesome, she stayed up until ten o'clock each night playing with Lily and wearing her out. I can't wait until Rachel gets older and I can hire her to be my nanny!)
Before Church we decided to do a big group photo.
And Good-bye's are never fun. Every 30 minutes, the whole way home, when Lily was awake, we heard, "Rachel. Rachel. Rachel."
On our way out of town we stopped by and saw a dear dear friend of mine from good ol' college days: Courtney. I was lame and forgot to take pictures. But it was so fun reminiscing, catching up, and seeing how happy she is.
Friends are truly the best and we feel so blessed to have been able to have spent such good quality time with our friends this Memorial Day weekend. It couldn't have been any better.
