Davis Family Travels: April 2016

Addison's birthday trip this year was to Washington DC. I feel like I need to share a little something about Addison. She is such a blessing to our family. She is the typical middle kid-meaning she goes with the flow 99.9% of the time. She is caught between a high energy big sister and a little sister that has always demanded a lot of attention. Addison has a servants heart. Recently she had a new classmate join her class. The classmate was deaf and recently adopted from Bulgaria. Addison was so excited and wanted to reach out to her that she took my work iPad and learned American Sign Language in an effort to be able to communicate with her. She is the sweetest big sister to Emily Grace and is going to be one heck of a mama. She goes out of her way to please Joe and I and her worst nightmare is to disappoint. If you raise your voice or "fuss" at her at all she is in tears. It breaks your heart as a mama as I don't always use my "inside voice." Ok, now that I've shared about our sweet Addie I can share our trip. It was so much FUN! Getting to skip a day of school helped a bit!

We decided to take Amtrak to DC. For many reasons. Mostly, it's the cheapest option these days and it gave her a new experience. So off we went! We boarded in Rocky Mount. Here she is...ready and excited!

Thank goodness for iPads...they kept her entertained as I read a book.

We arrived and were waiting on a high school friend to meet us. Meanwhile we got a snack made Duck tour reservations for the next day and explored the station. It was actually pretty neat.

We made it to our hotel-which was just lovely. We explored and rested....

Next, let me share that I'm from a pretty small town...in Virginia. One thing that is great about my hometown is that when you call on a friend from high school we are all more than willing to meet up, catch up and share our families. Jason Kello is a high school friend that was more than a host. He met us at a cool restaurant totally good for kids (it's always a great thing!) Addison was able to order dessert, which is a treat in of itself, that was a homemade pop tart. It was really good...I ordered one too. Then Jason drove us...which is quite interesting not in a taxi in DC...to the Lincoln memorial. There he spent time with Addison sharing DC history. It is always fun for people to reach out to my girls individually with out all the chaos that it goes along with 3 kiddos. Thanks to Jason, Addison felt on top of the world despite the rain. Thanks Jason for making our first night in DC such a sweet memory for Addison. It was great catching up!

The next day we were up early for the Ducks Tour. It was pretty good. We've been on many through out the years and a driver makes or breaks the trip. Our driver was above average. He let Addison drive while in the water and she loved that.

This is Addison riding the escalator...remember we don't have one of these in New Bern:) It's always exciting to ride on. HA!

We then headed to the DC Zoo. Addison has always had a heart for animals. She has LOVED them for as long as I can remember..so we went and she loved each exhibit. We treated ourselves to a taxi ride there but tried to navigate the subway system back. Well let's just say the Metro was a total bust. I was almost in tears but held it together so she wouldn't see me FREAK OUT! It was terribly and I justified the money for taxi's the rest of the trip.

Addison took this picture in our hotel with her iPad. She is a mess!

Addison and Dorothy's ruby slippers. She thought this was pretty cool and knows my BFF Dorothy loves Wizard of oZ.

We got a chance to talk a lot about our great country. While we can always improve...hint to our current Admin:) I think it's important to always appreciate our freedoms. The picture below of Abraham Lincoln's hat was for her daddy. She knows how much Joe is a Lincoln fan.

The one thing Addison kept saying she wanted to see was the White House. Well on our last day we walked and walked to The White House. It had more Secret Service than I could possibly imagine. CRAZY! Any who...she got what she wanted and it made her weekend.

Here are both Addison and myself in front of The White House. It would be our last picture as we walked back to the hotel to grab our bags and catch the train back to NC. It was a memory filled weekend for just the two of us. I would lie if I said I am always just a tad bit hesitant going anywhere by myself with one of the girls. We are blessed by God for all that he has allowed us to experience. As a family we don't venture off with out each other. While great to get away it was even better to get home to our people and one good boy basset hound, Hank.

So this year Spring Break would not be one big trip but instead it would several little ones. No problem for us, yes we have had a challenging year but we remain strong in our family and strong in our faith. It is spring, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and life is renewed; whats not to celebrate.

We began our week at Busch Gardens. We invited our friends, the Godwins to join us. It was a beautiful day to go to Busch Gardens and everyone realized it. It was the first day that we had been to Busch Gardens on a sell out. The gate was closed and people were turned away. We got in but we were not the only ones.

It turned out that neither of us thought to take many pictures. I took this one below because it is the customer service center where I stood in line for over an hour to get Emily Grace's preschool pass.