Virginia

Our trip to Virginia to see family was so, so unexpectedly comfortable and relaxing. I don't know if our hosts felt the same way...sick kid, hours at the hospital a couple days in a row, and houseguests taking up the whole basement...but I certainly thought it was a wonderful and worthwhile visit. I'd love to spend more time with them again.

Even the 11-hour car rides to and from Virginia weren't TOO terrible. Maybe our family is growing up a little?

I am eager to respect this family's wishes that we don't post pictures or information about them on a public blog. So, this post will be a little scarce on details, but at least Bobby took pictures :)

I'm glad I brought the head lamp so James could work on his projects in the dark car. That Scratch Art book by Melissa and Doug kept James in the "flow" zone for hours. HOURS! Totally worth the $5.

Portable CD players and books on CD from the library kept Alice and Robert entertained for HOURS. They also had no problem pausing the story or turning it off when necessary, unlike screen time. Oh, screen time, how I love and hate thee. So glad we didn't bring any movies or shows this time. This really worked for us. Also, we let Alice run the snacks. Amazingly, and completely without precedent, there was no whining. She distributed them freely and all were grateful. No stress for me. LOVE IT! Alice, I never want to let you go.

Matthew turned 4 while we were there. I figured it wasn't a big deal to kinda gloss over it and celebrate when we got home, but it turned out to be pretty important to Matthew. Our host family had bought him a cake and sang to him, which made his day. Loved it.

We drove into Washington D.C. and walked the mall. Here we are in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. It's actually a lot bigger than it looks here. We're standing pretty far away.

James, if you don't let us take your picture, then you won't have any pictures of you at this age *stern eyebrow*. (Here's James at the World War II Memorial. You can also see the Lincoln Memorial way, way back there).

A little hike at Harper's Ferry (Okay, James, if that's how you'd like to be remembered, you got it).

I guess I can't say we didn't bring ANY screens. This is a handheld video gaming device that has games from when Bobby and I were kids: Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, Pole Position, and a hundred others. It was nice that Robert enjoyed it so much, because that freed up a CD player and headphones for James once his own projects were depleted.

What did Matthew do in the car for 20+ hours? Well, mostly he listened to a few different CDs over and over and over and over. He is too young for a portable CD player, so it was playing through the car speakers. I never need to hear "Stinky Cake" ever, ever again. It is burned into my psyche.