Taking Life by the Reins
It was going to be a long week without my main squeeze. Hubs had JAG training at Fort Belvoir for a week and I knew for sure we would miss him. Truth is, it’s hard when your best friend leaves, even if only for a week. (And yes, I have done the year long deployment… but that’s not my point. Sometimes, I miss him when he is only sitting in the other room. Get it?)
When he proposed that we tag along I admit I was a bit nervous at first. Tag along? Hang out in a hotel with the kids all week? Hit DC with just me and the kids, tackling things like the subway, the streets, the vagabonds without my fearless leader? It really didn’t take me long to say, “You bet we would love to come!” The hotel was paid for, travel paid for, even breakfast and dinner provided by the hotel as part of their room rate. It was going to be an adventure!
It was so much more then that though. The boys and I travelled to Baltimore to see the aquarium on Day 1. We saw their new exhibit and then I excitedly showed them everything I loved about the aquarium, including the sharks, the long walk down to see various levels of fish and the dolphins. They loved it!
A fun children’s garden
off the beaten path in Baltimore
Day 2 we travelled the subway (a highlight!) and walked and walked and walked around DC taking in the sites, the smells, the sounds of the many great memorials. We stopped in at a local grocery store that morning and picked up lots of fruit and a baguette for lunch. It was light and easy and made it easy to stop whenever anyone was a little hungry. I had a general plan once we hit DC but nothing hard and fast. It all turned out to be the perfect kind of walking attitude.
Riding the subway
Our last day in Alexandria was a hotel day. We found a local park (Jones Point Park), then made lunch in our room, and enjoyed the down time.
In many ways even in the craziness it was rejuvenating. I found I was /always/ on (no time to look away from the boys for their own safety) so when I fell into bed at night I crashed. But the boys learned a little bit about busy city living as we crossed major roads in Alexandria, bought subway tickets and found our way to downtown DC, even something simple like finding a creek running through town with little fish was a highlight for them. I loved that they were getting a taste of life outside of their little Midwest bubble.
Do you grab opportunity when you can? or do you sit back and think about the what-ifs and wish-I-hads? It only took a split second, but I know I made the right decision.
– Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com
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byUnknownonTuesday, August 13, 2013
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