Lizzie's days off

I kept Liz out of school of few days while her cousins were in town so she could go sightseeing with them. The first day we went to Williamsburg.  It was a first visit for my girls, a third for me.  I'd been gone first with my parents and one of my brothers when I was in fifth grade and then again with Drew about a month after we married (so nearly fourteen years ago for the last visit).  It was nice.  I sprung for a season pass so now Andrew will get the chance to go back with us.  When I texted him the news he wrote back, "Great I'm looking forward to it."  I suspected that he was being sarcastic, but he insisted that he wasn't.

 When Liz saw the houses she said (a little disappointed), "These look just like our houses do now" and had to explain that it was actually just the opposite.  I suppose she was expecting log cabins.

My favorite quotes from the day:

Watching some chickens peck at the ground my niece said, "They should name that one Pecker."

While Lainey and Ellie were standing behind me I heard Ellie exclaim, "You hit me!  You're going down!"  I turned around just in time to stop her from hitting Laines.

I suspect Ellie may have heard that from her cousins while they were playing wii (a nightly pastime for them and Liz).  Elle also ran around one night saying "Run for your lives!"

On the way home we stopped at a barbecue place for dinner.  Lainey ordered a hot dog then happily told her cousins, "I'm getting a hot dog that means I'm going to be eating a pig!"

 

 

 The second day Liz played hooky we went with the cousins to the National Gallery of Art.  It'd been so long since I'd taken Liz there and she didn't seem to remember it (my bad).  She loved the visit and I loved that she was so interested in viewing the artwork and reading about various pieces on my phone.  Her favorite was the Thomas Cole Voyage of Life series.  I really enjoyed seeing the Pre-Raphaelite exhibit.

Lainey liked pictures of pretty ladies in fancy dresses.  Ellie like pictures that had babies or animals in them.  Of course their attention span was extremely limited.  The little girls spent most of their time playing with their cousin and her stuffed animal (I spent much of my time trying to keep their feet off the furniture and their fingers of the artwork). 

 

The kids didn't last as long as the adults.  Lainey feel asleep in the stroller before we even left.  I took the three little ones home early and the other two little girls feel asleep soon after we pulled out of the parking lot.

On Lizzie's final day out of school we went to the National Zoo.  My favorite animals to view were the otters and the seals because they were so active.  Lainey squealed with delight and surprise every time they swam past her (and Ellie twitched or jumped in fear).