The Wedding Vacation: DC and dear friends

When we found out our friend, Martin, was getting married in the D.C. Temple, we knew it had potential to be a pretty fabulous getaway weekend--especially once we got Dave and Jessica on board.  Thanks to many people who watched our kiddos, we were able to spend the weekend sans children--with the exception of baby girl.

Emmett got to spend the weekend with Vaughn, Margaret and Lucy in Charlotte.  It made for some extra driving for Clark, but we knew he'd be well cared for and have a TON of fun.  Way more fun that he would have had with us.  After getting Emmett situated, we finally got on the road in the late afternoon.  We had decently good traffic and made good time to Celia and Benson's new place in Arlington where they had Cafe Río waiting for us--bless them!  We had a nice evening talking with them, watching a little football and going through baby things.

The next morning we all headed into D.C. where we met up with Dave, Jessica, Regan and Ethan for a fancy little breakfast.  From there we walked around the White House and then checked into our apartment for the next two nights.  The place was a bit different than we were expecting from the pictures on Airbnb (we weren't expecting a basement apartment), but it turned out to be just fine.  After all, we managed to all sleep until 9:45 am the first night we were there (bless that baby girl who ate at 6 am and went right back to sleep).  I'm pretty that hasn't happened since, you know, back before kids came!

Saturday mostly dedicated to wedding celebrations.  Celia and Benson took care of Caroline while we attended the sealing in the D.C. Temple.  I was grateful they let me in despite not having my recommend with me.  Clark and I were both grateful to see members of the wedding party after being taken into the temple earlier than the others (due to the whole recommend thing) and spending quite a while by ourselves in what we hoped was the right waiting room.  The sealing was beautiful and we are really happy for Martin and Laura.

After the temple pictures, we headed back to Arlington where we met up with Celia and Benson to retrieve our baby and grab some dinner.  Good Stuff Eatery did not disappoint.  Excellent burgers and a toasted marshmallow shake to swoon over.

The reception that night was really fun and so darling with lots of sweet little detail.  The weather and company were both so pleasant, and Clark and I survived our performance of "The Two of Us" by Nicki and Tim Bluhm.  The great surprise of the night was getting to see Rebecca and Dan Mudrick who happened to be visiting relatives just down the street!

The next day Dave, Jess, Clark and I were set on eating fabulous food and seeing some of the D.C.'s greats.  We were moderately successful.  Some of the food we ate was great (Julia's Empanadas), some was not (GBD donuts--how can you mess up donuts that badly?).  The weather was horrendously hot and humid which decreased our desire to be outside and increased our interest in checking out the museums.  However, the other millions of people visiting D.C. that weekend also thought to take refuge in the air-conditioned museums--all of which were pretty packed.  We ended up parking down by the river and walking to the Jefferson Memorial (part of it was air-conditioned, and the rotunda had a nice little breeze blowing through).  After that we met up with Regan and Rachel and walked around the Capital and Justice buildings since the Library of Congress was closed.  Despite the heat, we had a good visit with our friends and saw a few things we hadn't seen before.

The rest of the afternoon and evening included dinner at Founding Farmers (most of the food we ordered was pretty fabulous), playing Heads Up while waiting in line for the National Symphony Orchestra free Labor Day concert at the Kennedy Center (which had to be moved indoors due to inclement weather), the concert itself (some pretty great talent--the best song by far was Shenandoah), and a quick visit to the Lincoln Memorial in the rain (our favorite--it's nearly temple-like).

Clark drove Dave and Jess to the airport early Monday morning, but before Clark and I headed home we hit up one more restaurant (Ted's Bulletin--homemade pop tarts and breakfast burrito were decent; we'll be returning for a slice of banana cream pie...) and a visit to Arlington Cemetery.  We got to the cemetery pretty early in the day but it was still so very hot.  Despite our serious sweatiness, we were glad we got to experience the beauty and reverence of the cemetery--especially the changing of the guard.  Celia and Benson also showed us where Clark's great uncle Howard Cannon is buried, which was very neat.  

On the way home we stopped in Richmond for a fast lunch with our friends Tony and Robin--so great to see them.  Our quick weekend trip actually didn't feel too short.  It was fabulous to see our dear friends and celebrate a happy occasion.  The success of our trip merits shout outs to Vaughn & Margaret for keeping Emmett so happy and entertained for the weekend and also to Baby Caroline who was such a pleasant traveler despite the heat, many restaurants, new people and non-existent schedule.  A dream baby, to be sure!

One thing we've decided though--the next time we go to D.C. will not be over a holiday weekend and it will not be during the summer.  :)