Virginia and Washington DC

After my Grandpa's funeral we thought we'd have a minute to breathe and relax and maybe catch up on a little sleep- but this was not the case! Two days after his funeral we got the call that Ben's grandma Hugo had passed away. Both our grandparents passed away just six days apart. We definitely spent too much of May doing funerals. Grandma Hugo has been sick for a long time, and honestly her death was a relief. She was a great lady, and she suffered for far too long. That night we immediately booked tickets to fly back for her funeral.

One small glitch was that Ben was supposed to be in Austin for work that week. Since he'd already stayed home from Toronto the week before, he didn't feel like he could skip another business trip. So we made a plan and hoped that everything would go smoothly. Ben was supposed to leave Austin on Thursday afternoon arriving in the SLC airport at 4:00 to meet me for our 5:15 flight to Washington DC. And all was going according to plan until Ben's plane in Austin broke down and they had to deplane. I was a little stressed at the prospect of flying by myself with all three kids- but I stressed needlessly. My dad was able to help me get into the airport, check our bag and get to the security line. Then it was just me and the boys! Every step of the way, I had kind strangers offering and stepping up to help me with bags and kids. I honestly didn't even once have to ask for help- people were just there and noticed me by myself with my gaggle of children and grabbed a carseat or bag to lend a hand. It was amazing. There are so many wonderful people in the world! 

The flight was long (4 hours) but the boys did great! They were so excited with the prospect of flying on an airplane again and I was prepped with snacks and tablets and all that. Davis was a little fussy, covered me in spit up, blew out of his outfit before we even took off, and then slept for most of the flight. We all made it though! And luckily Ben was right there at baggage claim to pick us up! (He took another flight from Austin straight to Dulles). 

We spent a big part of Friday driving from DC to Powhatan. Normally a 2.5 hour drive took us well over five hours! Traffic was heavy, and we were traveling with a newborn who doesn't like his carseat. But we made it!

The funeral was Saturday. This is the only picture I have during the funeral- of Davis is his back-up outfit, because he blew out of his original outfit. Unfortunately, I didn't have a back-up outfit for myself so I went through the rest of the funeral, luncheon and graveside service with baby poop on my skirt. It's a good thing Davis is so cute!

The funeral was nice. Ray spoke and gave a beautiful talk about his mom and how great she was. I'm so glad we got to be there for it.

The rest of the weekend was mostly spent playing with cousins. The boys haven't seen much of their cousins, until recently when Brandon's family moved to Utah. Chase hadn't seen Elli since they were babies! But they all got along really well. They spent hours playing in the back yard with bubble wands and bubble guns. It was fun to see them together having such a fun time!

Monday morning we said good-bye to Ray and Diane and packed up to head back to Washington DC. We wanted to take advantage of being there to show the kids some of our nations capitol. Chase has been checking books out of the library about the various memorials in DC and about some of our Presidents, so he was well prepared to experience it all!

We took the metro into the city (which the kids LOVED even though it took forever) and started our day at the Air and Space Museum. The kids loved this! We saw a bunch of early space exploration stuff from the apollo missions- which completely fascinated Chase. We all touched the moon rock. We saw the Spirit of St. Louis and the Wright Brother's first airplane. And the boys experienced the hands-on kids play room doing experiments about flight. We could have stayed there much longer, but there is so much to see and we only had the one day, so we kept moving!

We headed out of the National Mall and started seeing the monuments and memorials. It was such a fun, educational day. As we walked we talked about the things we were seeing and why we have these memorials- their impact on our history and lives today. As we walked past the Washington Monument Hudson suddenly exclaimed "I wanted to touch it!" So we trekked up the little hill so he could actually touch it. It was the highlight of his day! It was fortuitous too, because from up on that little hill we could see the White House in the distance- so we didn't have to walk the extra mile to get there! 

I kind of forgot how much walking it takes to see them all! Our boys were troopers! Hudson was so tired climbing the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (which is my personal favorite) and we told him once we got to the top he could rest. Well once he got to the top step he immediately plopped down and refused to get up- with out even going inside! Ben convinced him to come inside and at least see it, and then they returned to rest on the steps. Chase and I spent a few more minutes inside the memorial and talked all about Abraham Lincoln, read the Gettysburg Address together and talked about what he did for our country. I think this memorial is so powerful and I love it. 

I love the view from here! As we sat on the steps, I had Chase on my lap and I told him about the last time I was here. I had just found out I was pregnant with him. I came to DC with the nursing program at BYU and I stood right in that spot on the Lincoln Memorial steps. Watching the world turn pink at sunset, I had this overwhelming impression that this little baby would be a boy and I wanted to name him Lincoln.  Well, Ben vetoed that idea and we named him Chase instead, which fits him perfectly. I loved having a moment there to share this amazing place with my little boy almost exactly 7 years later. He totally got why I love this place so much, he loved it too. 

Once we finished with the memorials we needed to get back on the metro- the problem being that there isn't a metro stop anywhere close to where we were at that point. So we walked over to Arlington Cemetery. The boys were so tired but they were troopers. Hudson had to be carried for some of that last mile, and overall I'd guess we walked 5-6 miles that day, which is a lot for a little kid. By the time we got to Arlington they were completely beat. I would have loved to show them more of Arlington, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, JFK's grave and all that, but those sites are a long walk from the entrance and we knew we were already pushing the boys to their limit. Instead we showed them the graves, explained the uniqueness of that cemetery and what it is there for, and hopped back on the metro. Almost as soon as the train started moving Chase fell right asleep!

I wished we had more time to spend in Washington DC. We wanted to make it back to Utah so Chase could go to his last few days of school, so we only had that one day. There is so much more to see and do and I hope to take the boys back someday. But for just one day there, we saw a lot and made the most of the time we had. Our flight home was very smooth and easy. Ben got upgraded to first class (thanks to his medallion status from flying so much) so he gave the first class seat to me and Davis and he sat with the boys in our normal seats. It kind of made up for me having to fly by myself with all three kids on the way out.

It was a whirlwind trip, but one I'm so glad we were able to take. I'm glad we were able to celebrate Grandma Hugo's life. I think our boys made lasting memories of such meaningful people and places. And we got in some good family together just the five of us.