Always take pictures...

... cause then when you look back it'll seem like you had a good time!

So much for the 'just do it' theme. Although it took us three hours to get ready to leave the house, although Bradly wanted a snack the second we jumped off the train at the Smithsonian, although she gave up walking the second she was done with her snack, although the kids were finished sightseeing with the first dinosaur they saw, although Bradly threw up at the Great Wolf Lodge, although Lorenzo spent all but the last half hour afraid to swim, although driving to see our dear old friends 15 miles away took an hour, although the play area let all the kids in except Bradly, although Bradly threw up again, although Lorenzo then threw up all night, although Chris and Jamus also began the vomit routine, thanks to taking pictures... it does appear as though we had a wonderful week as a family!

But seriously, we finally got out the door on Saturday to visit DC and the kids were sooo done. If we could have have just ridden the train to DC and then ridden it right back home they would have loved it. Then Chris had Veteran's Day off, so we thought it'd be fun to drive down to the Great Wolf Lodge- hotel with a waterpark inside- monday night. I really tried to get Lorenzo to go down this one slide, cause I knew he'd love it if he would just try it once. Yep, that started a huge panic and crying fit. Then Chris had Bradly go down a kiddie slide without a life jacket and she sorta went under -before I was there, obviously- so, then she refused to go down anymore, even with a jacket on. Within minutes of being there we had the kids afraid of doing anything :) Great parenting I tell ya. Usually we hafta push our kids quite a bit or they don't do anything- didn't work this time... And, to top that off Brads puked all over the hotel. So, we came home, just as Lorenzo worked up enough courage to go down some slides by himself. Go figure, now it's time to go. We got home and found out our dearest old friends from Charleston were in the area and we set up to meet them the next evening at IKEA. It was my first day going to Russian class, so Chris was going to watch Bradly and Jamus and try and study while they napped. Yah, no nap. At least we got to meet up with the Morrissey's, tho. Lorenzo and Leia were the bestest little buds. Bradly and Jacob were just months old and now look at 'em. Unfortunately Bradly was like an inch too short for the play area, so in go the other three kids. We had to get her an ice cream cone while she sat with all the adults and babies. Then we headed upstairs and just let them play while we chatted. Jacob kissed Bradly a hundred times. You wouldn't have known that it was two and a half years since we last saw them. Get home late and of course, no time to study for either of us. The next day is pouring down rain and I hafta load all the kids up and go to gymnastics. Somehow we survive the trip out and I am in a crazy hurry to do some homework and get ready for preschool. Run to get Chris, run to school, run home. We were having a Wii/'Office' party with our neighbors a couple hours later and Bradly throws up again. Cancel that. Then Lorenzo gets sick. We were so proud of him for making it to the toilet. Got all the children in bed and a while later I hear rustling in the bathroom. Lorenzo was trying to get a wipe to clean up his own vomit. I held back tears. He was so dissapointed with himself that he didn't make it to the bathroom and got throw-up all over his bed. Heart breaking. Get that cleaned up and sleep on the couch with him- then hold up a bowl every half hour. Luckily our neighbors are mormon. We got Lorenzo a blessing and he finally got some sleep. The real kicker is that Chris got sick, too. It was the first time I've seen him sick- like throw-up sick. Didn't think it could happen. So, ten loads of laundry later and a thousand blankets and pillow sheets later, Jamus decides to be sick as well. We make it through the day and then Brads starts up again that night. Lorenzo makes it through the night, but starts again Saturday morning. By the end of the day everyone has seemed to recover. Bradly came out of the bathroom with much excitement, "Dad, I don't have the diaries anymore!" A perfect end to a perfect week.