The District

Earlier this week, jb had a work trip to DC for a few days.  I remember work trips.  After my meetings were done I would lay in my hotel room, order room service and watch TV.  jb was foolish enough to ask if we wanted to tag along...and of course we did!  And while there was no lounging around (there never is with with a four year old and two year old), we still had a pretty good time.

The kids LOVE staying in hotels, so they were thrilled from the get-go.

Our first night there we arrived just in time for dinner and we took the kids to Raku, a restaurant that we frequented back when jb and I lived in DC.  The spicy-crunchy-tuna rolls are still phenomenal.  

The kids enjoyed the food and liked hearing some stories about our life pre-kids.  Leo especially had many questions about what we did, where we worked, and who we spent our time with.

After dinner we walked to Dupont Circle to check out the fountain at night.  We also pointed out the Starbucks where jb used to work to Leo and Zoe.

Finally - at nearly 9 PM, the kids fell asleep.

The next morning they slept in so late that we missed saying goodbye to jb who was out the door early for her meetings.  We took our time getting dressed and took advantage of the continental breakfast offered by the hotel.  The theme that day seems to have been "sugar-covered carbs."  Kids did not complain.  I drew the line at Fruit Loops.

Then we set out for the zoo.  It was a gorgeous day, so I decided to walk it rather than take the Metro.  (Pro-tip: If you do take the Metro to the zoo, get off at Cleveland Park and walk downhill to the zoo entrance.  If you get off at Woodley Park it's three blocks straight uphill to the zoo.)

It was a perfect zoo day.

The kids were particularly impressed by the elephants and giant pandas (maybe because the Philly Zoo doesn't have these animals?).

We entered the zoo through the Woodley Park entrance, then walked through slowly checking out the exhibits and then exited through the other end near Adams Morgan.  We walked by a playground and the kids begged to play for a while.

At this point, we were all pretty hungry so we stopped by Tryst for some lunch - and chai lattes.  Zoe was pretty much done at this point.

Leo said the chai latte was so good it almost made him fall over.

That evening jb brought back some slices from her favorite pizza joint and we filled her in about our day.  The kids were happy, but exhausted.  I guess I was, too, because I fell asleep pretty early.  For those keeping track I walked, nay, pushed a stroller - from Dupont, to Woodley Park, to Adams Morgan, back to Dupont.  Not a marathon, but nothing to sneeze at - especially when you factor in the hills.

The next morning, we prepared to check out.  We packed up all our bags and with an hour or so before check out and jb still in meetings, I took the kids to visit the tea shop that I worked at when I lived in DC. 

I warned them that it had been many years since I worked there, so I might not know any of the workers...but as it turned out I knew three of the people working behind the counter.  It was SO SO SO nice to see them again and they were super sweet to the kids.  I hadn't done the math as to how long it had been since I worked there, but when I asked one of my ex-co-workers about his wife, who was pregnant when I was working there - he told me that they had just celebrated that baby's tenth birthday.  WHAT?!?  

I remember I would work here in the tea shop, while jb worked down the street at Starbucks.  We'd each work on the crossword puzzle when it was slow (this is why I became acquainted with the phrase: "If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean"), then after work we'd meet up and compare answers and progress.  

The kids tried the chai and the sencha tea with some ginger scones.  They were pleased, but made it clear that they preferred the super-sweet, syrupy, emulsified chai latte at Tryst over this complex, authentic, somewhat spicy chai latte.  Unsophisticated palates, those toddlers have. 

Finally, jb was done with work, we picked up our bags, and just before leaving DC we made one final stop at Eastern Market.  Zoe fell asleep the moment she hit her carseat, so I stayed in the car with her while Leo and jb went inside to get my favorite ravioli.

Tonight, back home in Philly, we boiled up the ravioli and ate it with some melted butter and oregano - just as good as I remember.  And so ends our DC adventure.  It was really neat to show the kids some of the places we hung out back in the day - it was also totally strange to be in these places with small children in tow.

Tomorrow we leave for our camping trip.  Not joking.