March Madness (aka traveling with kids)

If you ever feel like you want to write a blog, but don't have anything to say, just have a child. Then have two more. And then travel with those children.  We have had a big time in DC, though I appreciate more fully my house and the space that it affords us. I'll be ready to put hotel life behind us for a while.

This picture is not indicative of true life in a hotel. This is a snapshot of the boys when they weren't tackling eachother, begging me to go swimming, spilling food on the ground, shedding clothes across the room, and basically driving me batty.

Nighttime hotel life brings it own challenges and thankfully, my boys are heavy sleepers and Avery's wake ups don't bother them (yes, that is all three boys I'm talking about). I lost track of how many times she woke up last night, but I can't count them on one hand, sadly. Which is impressive since Avery woke up for good at 5am. Lucky for me, I went to bed when the boys did about 8:45. Since Eric didn't get back to the hotel until midnight, I felt bad passing Avery off so early and figured I would make the best of it and go for a run. It was a gorgeous 70 degree morning and the good part about running at 5:30 (and there aren't many things) is that all the monuments were still lit up.

We went to the zoo later in the morning.  It was an adventure riding the Metro with three kids by myself. We boarded the busy train and Jackson started to climb out of the stroller at the same time the train started moving. A nice lady dropped her cell phone in order to catch the falling toddler and to Jackson's credit, he recovered well. Hopefully the phone did too. Then the stroller started rolling because mom hadn't locked it. Basically, we were a hot mess, but I managed to get my crew to the zoo in one piece where we met Eric's parents, who are staying with his uncle who lives in DC. The zoo was great, but with the baby strapped to me all morning, my back didn't love me and right now, I could use a good foot massage.

This guy kept hiding under the blanket. Monkeys are so close to our species that it sometimes feels to me like I am crossing a line and invading their space. Like paying $1 to see the freak show behind the curtain at the fair. But I do love monkeys, and they did not disappoint. 

Needless to say, the zoo wore the boys out.

Me too, but I didn't have this luxury.

Oh, and the reason we are actually in DC is to watch games. So far, so good.

Jackson knocked out quickly during yesterday's noon game.  Extra hands at the basketball games have proven helpful. 

I took about 10 pictures of the three of them before tonight's game and zero of them were any good. Although "good" is a matter of perspective. I personally like the second picture where "kiss your sister" looks more like "eat your sister."

I have to give props to my kids because we walked back from the game tonight at 9:30, just the four of us, and I was worried about Jackson making that walk, since I had to leave the stroller behind and he was working with a short nap today. It was a 1/2 mile at least and he didn't complain once or ask to be picked up. It's nice when your kids suprise you in a good way.

I won't push my luck though, and I will be watching the 9pm game tomorrow from my hotel room. Probably screaming at the TV by myself!

I will leave you with a picture of our peaceful room at 11 pm. Yes, both boys are sleeping in the center of their own beds. Clearly, the inmates run the asylum.