Did I forget?

The whole reason for our trip was that Curtis, along with some of his co-workers, received some national awards for all their hard work. I wasn't surprised--he's pretty great at his job, wether or not he'll clue you in on that. Here he is all handsome and ready for their awards banquet.

The National Zoo

We saw the real giant pandas, but this one was a little more accomodating for the picture.

Proof I was on this vacation too.

The lions were tired according to Sophia.

Between the zoo and the airport, Sophia got plenty of practice pushing a stroller. All courtesy of her own demands to do so.

They had TONS of elephants, but this one was flying solo.

The National Mall

Walking the national mall was one of the things I was most excited about. It really didn't dissapoint for any of us.
Except for this: the reflecting pool is under construction. But, if we looked into the sun just right, then looked down, it was almost like you could see the water where all the piles of dirt and pipes were.



Reppin' the home state...



Asleep with the TV and lights on and mom and dad still up. Something unheard of for this girl when we're away from home.

Planes, Trains, and.....Buses?

We took a quick trip to see the sights in Washington D.C. and enjoy some family time together.
We flew there, directly through a storm. Needless to say, it was the most turbulent flight I have ever been on, leaving me feeling pretty nauseous. Sophia, however, loved it and would just yell "Woah!" and smile everytime the plane bumped. Not sure our sleeping neighbors appreciated it, but I definitely prefered it over a crying/screaming 2.5 year old. When not busy shouting praises of our ride, Sophia enjoyed a movie.

Once we got to the metro, we took a hotel shuttle, aka a bus. Sophia was so excited that I'm pretty sure we could've just ended our trip right there and she would have been completely satisfied.
While there, we used the Metro train to get around. As someone whose never used public transportation like that before, I was really impressed with how clean and easy it was to use, especially since we had Curtis with his navigational skills to get us around.

Every time we went down into the metro stations, Sophia would say "I go see a movie!" because it was so dark and apparently she correlates that with the movies. Having a two year can make the most mundane things a lot more entertaining.

Big Girl Bed

Courtesy of one of her cousins, Sophia was the lucky receipient of a twin-sized bed. At first, she was super excited about the fact she could escape to our room any time of the night, but we remedied that with a simple child-proof door handle in her room. Now, she stays in her bed really well and in the morning bangs on the door and asks, "Are you there? Mommy? Daddy?" She loves playing, especially jumping, and reading on her new bed.

Sophia: "Mr. Incredible's doing the hot-dog dance!"

Skillz

Sophia's a sucker for her dad and will do just about anything for him. The other night it was learning to swing on a big-kid swing. Love these two.