Jetsetting

Rarely are we "on a whim" in our planning. Much of the time, I made plans that never come to fruition because we overthink and over plan ourselves into oblivion. 

So when we decided on a Wednesday night to leave on a Saturday morning to fly up to Maryland for the weekend, you could say that we were definitely out of character. But tickets weren't too bad (they're plane tickets, so "not too bad" is still "yeah, that wasn't my favorite expense but they're a means to an end") and Carson's brother just moved there so we went for it. 

We flew out of Jacksonville, which is two and a half hours from Tallahassee, so we had to get up at 3 to make it to the airport on time. 

Here we are in the airport parking shuttle golf cart, riding to the terminal.

We asked to sit next to each other and they gave us new tickets, then called us up a few minutes later to bump us up to first class for no reason. Not complaining.

The seats were comfy and Carson slept the whole way there.

They gave us drinks in real glasses and passed around snacks and remembered what we had and we got refills. It was the way to travel, and I wish all flying was like this. 

We arrived to the DC airport at 9am and Trent picked us up. Erin and I picked up lunch for the four adults at a barbeque place, and then later went adventuring. We were looking for a particular wharf/town on the water area and Google Maps took us to this (the only other thing there was some sort of processing plant), so we re-Googled and finally found it.

We explored some places but really liked this one called The Vintage Source. They were having a special event and it was clearly the place to be. 

They had all kinds of neat refinished furniture and things, and so Erin and I officially got bitten by the refinishing bug. 

We returned to watch the end of a fierce memory matchup show-down. The girls won, and not because anyone let them. 

The girls seemed to enjoy horsing around with Uncle Carson. They've gotten so big and although we always have fun with them, they were the most fun this weekend. 

It's great fun being a part of this family. 

The next day, it snowed! We went to church and caught snowflakes on our tongues and talked about how great snow was. I personally don't love snow very much any more, but the girls LOVED it. 

We went to a restaurant for lunch that served crab cakes! The fries were great too but I got the mashed potatoes, which I always always regret ordering places and remember too late.

The snow really came down while we were at lunch and by the time we got back to the house, the girls were so excited that they went running around in it (and then quickly went back inside because it was cold and windy).

Scuttle (the dog and yes that's the name of the Little Mermaid dog who he resembles) really liked it too. 

Carson and Trent stayed home with the girls and dogs (this is Chloe) while Erin and I went to a mall in Annapolis. It was a great mall with a Trader Joes and Jo-Anns and Homegoods next door so we spent a few hours out and then came home. 

The next morning, Carson and I got all packed up and then all of us got in the car to go to DC. First, Zariah decided to "do" Carson's hair. 

My car buddies for the first leg of the trip there... Brooklyn and Laela.

Kennedy is such a sweet big sister to Kiara. 

Everyone else went into a gas station for coffee and the rest of us stayed in the warm car. 

Okay, so it was 20 degrees or something and it was supposed to be a lot warmer so I didn't pack for that weather. Oh well. I would have still been a popsicle if I'd packed my warmest coat. We all ran to the Air and Space Museum to get out of the cold... two strollers, four adults and one kid walking... we were probably a sight. 

This was my first time at any of the Smithsonian Museums. They were closed for something when I came in 2008 and my other trips into DC have been for something else and I just haven't spent much time exploring it. It's one of my favorite cities still though and I really want to get a lot of time to explore sometime.  

Kiara, Brookyln, Laela, Zariah and Kennedy - they are getting so big and I wish I saw them every day!

They dropped us off at the airport but I had to get a picture with Erin first - my big sister!

That should have been the end of the adventure but in reality, our flight out was delayed a bit and then our connecting flight (in New York for no reason) was also delayed and then more delayed because they had to change a tire, and then that tire popped and the jack broke - twice - and then they finally got it on somewhere just before midnight. So this is us getting ready to board a plane after six hours in LaGuardia airport. 

This was our view flying out. Carson fell asleep before we'd even taken off so I accidentally knocked him in the head taking this picture and he wasn't happy. I should be sad but it was a cool view so he forgave me when he saw the picture.

We got home at about 5am because we'd flown into Jacksonville and it's almost three hours away. Because we thought our flight would be cancelled (and if it had the next flight which was also full wasn't until 11am), I used my first sick day at work because either way, getting home at 5am and then going to work all day long wasn't really a great idea.

It was all worth it and I loved that we did this short weekend.