The Rooks Take Virginia By Storm. Well, After the Storm.

On the afternoon of Christmas we took down all of our decorations. Poor Eli led a sobbing protest at the removal of the tree, "No take my Kiss-mas tee!" Nevertheless, everything was packed away until next year. I'm one of those people who cannot leave a messy house when I go out of town and we left the next morning at 5:00 a.m. for Granddaddy's house. The 12-hour drive up to Virginia was pretty easy. Brandon got us a DVD player for the car. Normally the children won't sit still long enough for one episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but when you're stuck in a carseat, you have no choice. It seemed to keep them entertained (along with the bags full of toys and snacks I packed).

We had to make a few extra stops along the way this time. I put M&E in pull-ups for the drive thinking they would probably fall asleep and have an accident. Boy was I wrong! They would not go in their pull-ups and we made several stops along the side of the road to pull the frog potty into the front seat for a quick tee-tee break. I am so proud of these little ones - they are doing awesome with the potty training. They have been wearing underwear all day for a couple of months now and I put a pull-up on them just to sleep in but more often than not they wake up completely dry. Okay, enough with the potty talk. Here was the view once we entered Virginia...


On Sunday, Granddaddy took us to Monticello. Brandon had never been and it had been years since I had been. Here are M&E enjoying some customary 18th century snacks on TJ's lawn with Granddaddy. They had Goldfish back then, right?


Here is what we learned on our tour of the house: Madeline and Eli wanted juice. Here are M&E enjoying said juice on TJ's back porch after the tour.


The nickel shot:


Brandon gives thanks for the visit and Eli holds tight to a founding father's ideals. Now if only our current government would do the same... sigh.


The next day, we boarded the Metro and headed into D.C. for the day. Our destination? The National Museum of American History. As soon as I stepped out of the station, I regretted forgetting my gloves. It was COLD, so a quick pause for a picture and then a beeline for the museum.


M&E enjoyed the "big choo-choo"...


... and the "big truck".


Also included were "big boats," "big horses" and "big guns." Personally, I always love the First Ladies' inaugural gowns display but I was disappointed with how small it was this time. We grabbed some lunch at the museum, looked at a few more things and decided it was getting a little too crowded to drag around two worn-out toddlers any longer, so we headed back for the metro.


On Tuesday, we had lunch in Charlottesville with a dear friend and got to meet her precious 4-month-0ld. All in all we had a great trip and a wonderful visit with Granddaddy and Vivian, who by the way, gifted M&E with a giant blow-up ball that they can climb into and be rolled around in. It has provided hours of entertainment during this seriously cold weather we've been experiencing here in "Awabama", as M&E say.


Sometimes, they even play in it whilst wearing their "Mamajello" shirts.