Erik was granted a week off from his duties at the hospital. We definitely took advantage of the time together as a family. We played Hi-Ya!, read books, played outside, went out for ice cream, watched movies, and the kids were especially excited to have a parent in the house that would lay down with them at night. Michael seemed especially happy.
One problem was that Erik had no car. I sold his truck while he was in Afghanistan. So, with his research thoroughly done (of course) we found a dealer near DC that would give us a good deal on Erik's car of choice. We decided to make a fun weekend out of it. We found a hotel with a suite and an indoor pool, and we took off Friday morning.
We got to Fairfax in time for a late lunch at Chick-fil-a (a family favorite). Then, while the kids played on the playground, Erik walked across the street to the dealership to sign the papers on his car. While he was busy doing that for a few hours, the kids and I headed to REI to get new summer shoes. We met up at Target when Erik was done. We picked up a few things and headed to the hotel.
Swim Time!!
After 20 minutes in the pool, Erik wimped out and went in the hot tub. I have to admit it was nice in the hot tub. I dared Laurel to jump in to pool after being in the hot tub and she did it! And she stayed in! I couldn't believe it.
We took baths and waited for Daddy to pick up dinner.
Sweet. Chinese take out in a hotel after swimming. They were having the time of their lives!
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel while Erik had to take his car back to the dealership for a few things. We met him there and went together to the Metro station. The kids were totally excited. They were going to ride the subway train just like Curious George!
On the Metro
In DC - the Washington Monument
The Capitol Building
The Main Attraction - The Natural History Museum. The Laurel and Michael were eager to see REAL dinosaur bones.
Stinkin' dinosaur exhibit. I wish I could have actually enjoyed it. But I didn't. It was here among this crazy crowd of people that Erik and I lost Laurel. First stop. First exhibit. First time losing a child.
Scariest. Feeling. Ever.
There were steps to the exhibit, so while Laurel and Michael took off up the stairs with Erik, I went up the ramp with Benjamin in the stroller. The crowd was thick and it took me forever to get up to the top. Once I was there I couldn't get to Erik, so I followed the flow of traffic and took some pictures, thinking I would run into them soon. After a few minutes I saw Erik coming with Michael on his shoulders. I asked about Laurel and Erik replied, "She's with you." Crap.
We split up and started searching. Erik searched outside the exhibit while I searched within. After the second loop around with no Laurel, I started to panic. A man heard me calling her name and offered to help me find her. Security was alerted. Erik and I came back together. Still no Laurel. We split up again.
Erik had already been to security and so had the kind man that was helping us. This time I went to security, and by this time, I was in tears. The security man asked if my daughter had on a purple shirt. They had her. Whew! Talk about relief. They escorted me down to the ground level to their security office. The lady escorting me told me, "She's a smart girl. She told us her name and the man that wrote it down didn't spell it right, so she took the pen and spelled it for us." That's my girl. :)
I got to the office and Laurel and I hugged and hugged. I finally got a hold of Erik on his cell and we met back upstairs in the lobby.
Found! Love my bug! Evidently, when Laurel bounded up the stairs after Daddy and Michael, she stopped to take in the sights. Erik thought she was with me and kept walking. Some girls found her and took her to the Kodak man. The Kodak man took her to security. Obviously, this scenario wouldn't have taken very long, so I think security was a little slow to get the word around. BUT we are glad they had her.
Needless to say, we stuck close together for the rest of our museum trip. We all recovered from the trauma and had a great time. We didn't go back to the dinosaurs though.
After a late lunch, we got to ride the Metro back to our car!
Too much excitement for Benjamin.
Handsome dudes.
Goofy girls.
Glad to be home! I said to Erik on the phone as we drove our two cars home, "I am glad that we are driving home today with ALL of our children." He replied, "Yep, that's what we aim for - 100% retention!"
