Our trip to D.C.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go with my husband on a business trip to Washington D.C. There are tons of blog posts out there about traveling with kids, so I almost skipped this one. But no two blog posts, trips, or families are ever exactly alike, and anyone who has ever read this blog knows we are one whack job of a family. So I figured I would add it. It wasn't that bad in all honesty. I hope no one is looking for the secret service coming to kick us out, because that didn't happen.

First warning to anyone thinking about taking the kids on a trip when one of the spouses is working: be prepared to do a lot with the kids by yourself. You may be on a vacation and your spouse may have some time to do some of the fun things with you, but they are there for work and they have to work. Accept that before you get in the car or plane to take the trip. Do not guilt them that you dragged kids around alone. There is a time and a place for that, but not when you get a free hotel out of the deal. If you cooperate, you might get more trips later. If you are not adventurous or on the independent side, don't do it. I just wanted to make that disclaimer first and foremost. A work trip is a work trip and if someone goes and doesn't work, well, this isn't the best economy for that. Now onward...

Although my husband was working, I had some wonderful family friends who were free one day and able to meet us at the hotel before tracking out to see the sites. We started the day off right with the metro. My children would have been happy just to ride the train around all day. My son could not get over the fact that we were "underground." Of course we had to assure him no worms or dirt would get inside the train. Two days later we were sitting in traffic trying to get to Air and Space and he piped up, "Daddy, if we had taken the metro..." I love my little Know it all...

This is my formula for a happy day: One museum or monument area, lunch, run around one of the parks, dinner, pool, hotel for bed. You can not expect to cram it all in. We had three days there and this is what we saw: The Wall, Natural History museum, and The Air and Space museum. Each day, one big thing. That was it. That is called not killing yourself. Now no offense, but if you take little kids to D.C., pick little kid things to see. I really don't know how excited they would have been to see the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence as much as it would have thrilled me. Let kids be kids and know that places are obviously going to be there later since they have been there for a while. If it is something you really can't leave a place without seeing, then tag team it on a day spouse isn't working.

Meals-it isn't like my kids are used to perfect home cooking in the first place. But-one thing I struggle with is how they take a few bites and tell me they are done. It drives me crazy. Therefore I didn't really want to pay tourist trap prices for three of them to take a bite and say let's go. I packed a lot of their favorite foods and snacks and that held them for breakfast and lunch. They only ate at actual restaurants three times. The first was a Mexican restaurant where the waitress let them eat rice with milk and chips and salsa. The second was a wonderful family restaurant in Georgetown, complete with crayons and coloring books. The third was at the Air and Space museum-someone had the brilliant idea to put a McDonalds there. Thank you Smithsonian marketing department and big franchise America.

The hotel-that place was wonderful. I'm not going to lie, we did get two complaints about the noise, but it was six o'clock in the evening and we were only up there to get bathing suits. I can tell you how I avoided it other than that. First, keep them out of the hotel. I do not get hung up on a schedule when they are on vacation. Both nights they swam in the pool until closing, and then watched television until they fell asleep in the king sized bed. Do I let them whine and fuss if they aren't happy at bedtime at home? Absolutely. Is that appropriate in a hotel where the anal guests have already complained about pool excitement? No. Even the strictest of the strict parenting books advise against that. So don't do it. I also had them shower at the pool so they wouldn't be playing submarine-torpedo-splash in the bathtub and irritate others then either.

Now for the autism part of it-if you want to call it that. My child hates crowds, but she loves what she loves. If she really wants to see something, she will brave a crowd. The best thing in the new millennium for children like mine is the virtual tour. We went to the museum websites and toured the buildings before we set foot in them. She knew what to expect. She wasn't too thrilled about Air and Space, but told her brother she would do it for him because she knew it meant a lot. That was really sweet. The other snag was asking the hostess at each restaurant to please tell me if they were going to have to sing Happy Birthday to anyone so I could take my child out of the place. I am used to the quizzical looks I get on that one.

Last but not least-the cursed gift shop. One gift shop. One souvenir. Go figure they all chose Air and Space. My daughter picked a beloved stuffed animal for her collection that I thought was cute until I remembered NASA sent the chimps into outer space. We hid it from the PETA booth on the way out....

Want to turn business into family pleasure? It can be done, and hopefully my children will grow up to remember that trip fondly and not write an "I hate my mother and this is why...." poem about the weekend in D.C.

Enjoy your summer-mine started off just right!