A few months ago we knew Randy would be having his fall break in October, and with the upcoming CPA and then starting his accounting job, we knew we wanted to go on a family trip while we had the chance!

So we booked tickets to the next U.S. city we were wanting to see, Washington D.C.!!

We had SO much fun in D.C. and I still can't believe how much we got done, all the yummy food we ate, and more.

Day 1: Got to the airport and Graham ran around making everyone smile. We got on the plane and saw a friend from Kaysville also heading to DC. Graham was great on the flight and watched a show, ate snacks, played with stickers. We had a short layover in Minneapolis where Randy saw the Prince store and was so excited! Grabbed McDonald’s for lunch and had to bring it on the plane because our layover was so short. Graham napped a little and was really great on the second plane ride too. He watched shows and colored and was so well behaved!
When we landed in D.C. we took a taxi to our hotel which was on the Wharf and was soooo beautiful! We saw the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial on our way to the hotel.
We went to grab a lobster roll at a food truck and a Milk Bar cookie, then off to bed!

Day 2: We woke up at 8 and had hotel breakfast. Graham loved the donuts! We figured out the local shuttle to the National Mall and had a blast walking around. We saw the Washington Monument, MLK, WWI AND WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Lincoln memorials/monuments. Randy and I came around the corner and you can just see Lincoln sitting in the monument, and we both teared up. Korea and MLK also made me very teary. When we walked to Vietnam there was a high school class there walking by in silence and that was cool to see. We went up town to eat lunch at Le Diplomate, grabbed a Shake Shack concrete while we waited and had a delicious lunch. Randy had duck and I had mussels. We had an amazing dessert! We went back to the Mall and Graham fell asleep while we were at the Holocaust museum. It was amazing but so sad and hard. We went back to the hotel and walked around the wharf, grabbed some Shake Shack for dinner and then had a lonnnnnng night where G didn’t want to sleep!


















Day 3: We woke up very early after not a ton of sleep to go to the White House. Hopped in a taxi and met up with Dallin in front of the White House and he took our stroller and backpack. We went through security and someone in front of us tried to bring in a razor blade! It was hilarious. We got into the White House and it was so amazing. Secret service said the rooms we were in are used all the time. We took pictures and had a blast. We got our stuff back from Dallin and had a delicious breakfast with him at Founding Farmers. We went to the Air and Space Museum and Graham loved playing with the buttons and seeing the planes. He was getting tired so we went to the National Gallery of Art while he slept. We saw some of our very favorite painters and it was perfect. We went back to hotel to rest for a few minutes and then it was off to the Capitol tour. The tour guide was great and told us all these fun stories about the building, statues, and more. After the tour we went to Chinatown area to have dinner. We went back to the National Mall and met up with my dad! It was a blast to hang out and to see the mall at night.
Got to the hotel and put G down, went and got Ben and Jerry’s for a treat!

Day 4: Randy woke up and went for a bike ride around the National Mall, and we he got back we had breakfast in the hotel. We got a taxi and went to Arlington National Cemetery. We loved seeing the changing of the guard and a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
We saw the graves of all the Kennedy family, Martin Ginsburg, Thurgood Marshall, and President Taft. We took the metro to Georgetown and had lunch at an Italian restaurant called Il Canale. Delicious pasta and pizza! We taste tested Baked and Wired, Laudre macaroons, Olivia Macaroons. We shopped the expensive stores and walked up to Georgetown. Tried to take a water taxi but we missed it by just a few minutes which was a bummer! We went to Hanks Oysters for dinner and had oysters and clams and lobster. Ben and Jerry’s for dessert and wandering around the wharf which was a blast.





Day 5: We had a slow morning and had hotel breakfast. We went to the Washington Monument gift shop, then grabbed a snack and waited for the Museum of Natural History to open. G LOVED the giant elephant and the animals, buttons, and everything. We loved the gems and jewelry.  We then went to The Hamilton which was so swanky and fun and delicious!!!! We shopped for a little bit in downtown, saw fords theater and the IRS and a few other buildings.
We walked to the National Portrait Gallery which was beautiful. We loved the presidential portraits and the In Mid Sentence photos. The suffrage and civil war photos were also amazing. We went to grab some gelato from Dolcezza which was super yummy.
We went to the museum of American History and saw the 1st lady dresses which were sooo beautiful. Saw the actual flag that was the inspiration for the Star Spangled Banner which was breathtaking. The George Washington by Horatio Greenbourgh was really cool. The ruby slippers and Captain America shield was cool. Met up with Dallin at Nandos and had a delicious dinner. We had to have Ben and Jerry’s dessert again to eat our feelings with how sad we were to leave D.C.