AM routine
Once again, Josh and I both ran. The routine eventually became:
SHU run @ 6:45 (I got up about an hour before for coffee, reading + sometimes blogging purposes)
SHU arrive back at 7:45. Kids just starting to get up. SHU orchestrate kid showers while Josh runs 7:45 – 8:45.
SHU takes kids to breakfast @ 8:30ish // Josh meets after showering and we finish up by 9:30.
It worked pretty well. I would totally follow that schedule again!
Spy Museum
Our plans for the day were Spy Museum and then I thought we might do a hike around the Tidal Basin. BUTTTTT the weather was kind of iffy AND I think we all needed a little down time, so we ended up back at our hotel from around 3p – 6p.
The big kids enjoyed the Spy Museum. G did not. She ended up outside with me + a snack after about 30 minutes. Oh well. I’ve been there before (to the older location).
Testing ninja strength:
Group shot of grandparents/grandchidren before my parents took the train back to PHL:
Zaytinya
Based on your recs yet again, we had dinner at Zaytinya. It was excellent though I think we liked Jaleo even better.
HOWEVER at Zaytinya we did get dessert:
SOOO GOOD.
Headed back home now!
Annabel and I hit Jenni Bick this morning!!!! It was like Jetpens COME TO LIFE!!!!!! Two amazing stationery store experiences in one trip = heaven.
I got this stone paper notepad (had been dying to try), some lovely stickers and tabs, cherry blossom MT washi, and a tiny Mnemosyne notepad.
Sadly they do NOT carry April start Hobonichi products though they do stock every fall for the January launch.
OVERALL:
This trip was excellent. My only minor complaint is that I did not LOVE our hotel (Marriott Residence Inn Dupont Circle). It was perhaps worth it because having 2 bedrooms is hard to come by in DC, but we would have been better off perhaps in an airbnb because it was just not the world’s nicest — and I am comparing it to other family oriented hotels we’ve stayed at, not the Four Seasons. It seemed like it should have been less expensive than it was, but maybe it was the space/location combo.
Otherwise I think we had a fun mix of activities, AMAZING food, and a high level of activity that wasn’t exhausting. I would have loved to add a show or some kind of performance — next time!
The kids overall are at a great age for traveling. Their worst behavior was at Zaytinya which was (probably not coincidentally) after some iPad time — which they didn’t have much of on this trip, because we stayed busy! Personally, I loved running most of the days (ran 4/5) and I had a glass of wine 3/5 nights which felt about right.
I spent some time scheming our 2024 travel schedule and I think I have it figured out — I LOVE doing this on vacation! C picked out his ’10 year old trip’ destination (this DC trip was Annabel’s, though a year late!).
10 Comments
Do we get to know where Cameron picked?!? Last year when we went to Ireland and we were trying to decide which other destination to add on (ended up being Rome), we polled the kids and E said real nonchalantly, “How about New Zealand or Australia??” 😂😂😂 Like we could just make a real quick, casual jaunt over to New Zealand from Ireland!!! I was like, “errr…. let me rephrase that…” So I’m now semi-nervous to ever ask my children for travel suggestions again. hahaha.
I’m also curious whether you’ll share what C picked! Makes me wonder what locations my 10-year-old self would have considered. It’s hard to remember being that young! Kind of a fun thought experiment, I’m curious what others would think as well.
For me, at some point we had family friends go to Greece and show us pictures, so if Europe wasn’t off limits, maybe that! (I still haven’t been, actually, and it’s still somewhere on my list of desired trips). In the US, maybe NYC, which I did when my parents offered me a birthday trip at 16.
10 year old trip is a domestic only. I am hoping to offer international for 15- we will see!
I’m glad you guys have had such a nice time away. I stay at a lot of residence inns for work. I like that breakfast is provided. It is not fancy but I just want a bowl of oatmeal so it suits my purposes. But I wouldn’t stay there with kids – I’d opt to get an Airbnb. We are solidly in an Airbnb stage as I like having kitchen access and separate sleeping spaces since my kids go to bed early and one still naps. It’s probably more expensive than a room at a residence inn, but the other factors make it worth it! That said, the location of your hotel sounds great!
Yep, the implications for local housing markets makes me queasy, but it’s so much easier with kids. If it’s just me and T, a hotel is fine, I can read on my kindle, but with the grandparents, etc..
I so enjoyed reading about your DC trip! I bookmarked a few restaurants for a potential short trip sometime in the next year. I’m so curious to hear where C picked, too!
He has an activity in mind and it’s between two locations for it. One is near you 🙂
DC hotels are just expensive. It’s a popular spring break destination, so you pay for it. Plus there aren’t a lot of two bedroom hotels, so you paid for size. You may have saved money staying in a close in suburb.
Your trip looked awesome! We went 5 years ago when the kids were 4 months and 5.5. Now I really can’t wait to do it again. And you hit two of my favorite DC restaurants – Jaleo and Zaytinya! Another one we like is Matchbox pizza. I might put DC on top of our list for fall break.
yes do it!! and not even that far for you guys. We liked Jaleo SOOO much. Zaytinya was great but Jaleo stole the show 🙂