62884825827 stuffed bags, ruined nap schedules, soiled laundry and expensive restaurant meals, that's what a real family vacation is made of.
Then add the curve ball of an OCD parent in a city of germs carrying a child with an auto-immune disease, tube feedings, potty-training, medical supply, equipment and toddler-roid-rage, that's called The Bishop's in DC!
The girls were beyond excited to take our overnight trip to DC. An anonymous angel donated our family a Marriott stay for whenever we choose to use, we decided our family needed to get away before things get crazy with Annabelle. I can foresee things getting so shaky, I don't like many of the things I am seeing going on with Annabelle right now and my gut is telling me to prepare quickly. AK and I know what life is like for all in our little family when Annabelle is going downhill, so we wanted to proactively do something enjoyable - mostly for Mady before she begins Kindergarten in a few short weeks. So we planned a spontaneous trip to our capitol! The zoo, museums and train ride will be fun, right?
Kinda.
Annabelle was happy when she woke that morning. We packed our bags and she was sure to pack some of her favorite things in her own bag like her sissy. We boarded the train and before we knew it, we were moving along between train stations. AK and I were giddy with excitement for the both of them, the girls loved sitting in their own seats beside one another.
An hour into the train ride, and everything turned around. Annabelle began to get extremely clingy, she wanted to be held, but then wanted down, and then wanted to lay on her belly - side - back - belly, etc. She began begging to go home. I told her we were going on vacation and she cried, she begged repeatedly to go home... see that's the thing with these amazingly strong kids - they adore an adventure, but they tightly hold onto their security of their comfort place. Annabelle's is her home. If she's uncomfortable or nervous, she wants to go home, and most often she requests to go back home to lay in mommy's bed. She wants to snuggle tight over my shoulder into my neck and just lay still in my bed. It's her safe place, and I respect that. Riding on a train towards Washington, DC however, made things quite frustrating for Belle when she realized we weren't headed home. My heart began to sink.
The Zoo was fun, but not convenient for a special needs child as I hoped. Most the animals or sights were behind a glass, or against a window that you needed to be near to see anything. This involved unbuckling Belle, unhooking the feed tubing from it's connections, loosening tubing from her backpack and putting it on my own back, picking up belle as limp as she was, carrying her bag and ensuring i wasnt going to snag tubing, making sure her face mask was still on and she not touching anything... then surrendering the stroller bc it won't fit around the billion people, then fighting towards the window where the animal should be... only to find "Ooh, ok that's it! The monkey is going back inside to eat lunch now, let's see another exhibit kids!" ... thats basically how our morning went, along with a cranky 5yo that moves as fast as an energetic 5yo does but constantly being told "Mady, you need to wait for your sissy hunny.. i need to hook her back up.. your sissy needs to go potty.. Annabelle is choking Mady, I need to help her". Before noon - I looked at AK with a worried face and said "I think we messed up.. maybe we shouldn't have tried this". Then Annabelle asked to go home, again. My heart sank deeper.
We went directly back to our hotel and as a family, we all took a long afternoon nap in the dark quiet. Annabelle snuggled over my shoulder with her soft breaths tickling my neck, Mady cuddled up with daddy on the other bed and soon, we were all snoozing.
The entire trip wasn't bad. The girls absolutely enjoyed themselves and got to see many important monuments and things that we only discuss in conversation. Annabelle's favorite thing, hands down, was the Washington Monument. I have no idea why, but she was mesmerized by it. She couldn't stop looking at how tall it was and asked if it was a tower, she also wanted to know if 'Punzle' lived there (Repunzle).
When we showed the girls the White House, Annabelle was quite disappointed to learn it wasn't a GINGERBREAD House. I have no idea what gave her that thought, but she was certain we were going to see a Gingerbread House and not the President's house. Mady pipped up with an insane amount of excitement when we showed her the White House, I asked if she liked that and she responded, "Oh, absolutely mom! My very favorite president lives there, do you think he's in there right now? President, George Washington is so cool, I hope we can meet him later today" :)
Kinda.
Annabelle was happy when she woke that morning. We packed our bags and she was sure to pack some of her favorite things in her own bag like her sissy. We boarded the train and before we knew it, we were moving along between train stations. AK and I were giddy with excitement for the both of them, the girls loved sitting in their own seats beside one another.
An hour into the train ride, and everything turned around. Annabelle began to get extremely clingy, she wanted to be held, but then wanted down, and then wanted to lay on her belly - side - back - belly, etc. She began begging to go home. I told her we were going on vacation and she cried, she begged repeatedly to go home... see that's the thing with these amazingly strong kids - they adore an adventure, but they tightly hold onto their security of their comfort place. Annabelle's is her home. If she's uncomfortable or nervous, she wants to go home, and most often she requests to go back home to lay in mommy's bed. She wants to snuggle tight over my shoulder into my neck and just lay still in my bed. It's her safe place, and I respect that. Riding on a train towards Washington, DC however, made things quite frustrating for Belle when she realized we weren't headed home. My heart began to sink.The Zoo was fun, but not convenient for a special needs child as I hoped. Most the animals or sights were behind a glass, or against a window that you needed to be near to see anything. This involved unbuckling Belle, unhooking the feed tubing from it's connections, loosening tubing from her backpack and putting it on my own back, picking up belle as limp as she was, carrying her bag and ensuring i wasnt going to snag tubing, making sure her face mask was still on and she not touching anything... then surrendering the stroller bc it won't fit around the billion people, then fighting towards the window where the animal should be... only to find "Ooh, ok that's it! The monkey is going back inside to eat lunch now, let's see another exhibit kids!" ... thats basically how our morning went, along with a cranky 5yo that moves as fast as an energetic 5yo does but constantly being told "Mady, you need to wait for your sissy hunny.. i need to hook her back up.. your sissy needs to go potty.. Annabelle is choking Mady, I need to help her". Before noon - I looked at AK with a worried face and said "I think we messed up.. maybe we shouldn't have tried this". Then Annabelle asked to go home, again. My heart sank deeper.
We went directly back to our hotel and as a family, we all took a long afternoon nap in the dark quiet. Annabelle snuggled over my shoulder with her soft breaths tickling my neck, Mady cuddled up with daddy on the other bed and soon, we were all snoozing.
The entire trip wasn't bad. The girls absolutely enjoyed themselves and got to see many important monuments and things that we only discuss in conversation. Annabelle's favorite thing, hands down, was the Washington Monument. I have no idea why, but she was mesmerized by it. She couldn't stop looking at how tall it was and asked if it was a tower, she also wanted to know if 'Punzle' lived there (Repunzle).
When we showed the girls the White House, Annabelle was quite disappointed to learn it wasn't a GINGERBREAD House. I have no idea what gave her that thought, but she was certain we were going to see a Gingerbread House and not the President's house. Mady pipped up with an insane amount of excitement when we showed her the White House, I asked if she liked that and she responded, "Oh, absolutely mom! My very favorite president lives there, do you think he's in there right now? President, George Washington is so cool, I hope we can meet him later today" :)
The weekend was eventful. I ended up carrying Annabelle most the entire time while AK pushed a half-empty stroller around our 100mi of DC walking we did. Why she only wants me to carry her, I will never know. I secretly think she's just trying to break me down ;) after our days of me carrying her, she only wanted to sleep in the bed with daddy - and at that point I had to tell her just how unbalanced this love-spoiled rotten-picking favorites thing is she has going on lol. She is a daddy's girl, thru and thru!The sight-seeing was great and the weather couldn't have been any better for our trip. Madelynne had a wonderful time and I am so happy we were able to deliver that for her. Annabelle did enjoy herself, but she couldn't wait to get home. She laughed and smiled when we showed her another big monument, but before we could catch our breaths, she asked to go home... again. I know she couldn't have waited much longer so we decided to catch an earlier train home and soon we were all back in our happy place, our own bathtub, jammies and bed. It was a great escape from Richmond, VA and a perfect break before life takes off on the fast lane.
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