And we were off to D.C...

I have a lot of pictures I need to upload but for now I will simply tell you the story of our adventures in Washington D.C.  As we all know by now Keri has a heart condition and in order to figure out how severe the heart valve is Keri needed to have a cardiac MRI. It seemed like something simple however as it turns out nothing is simple with our family.  Apparently none of the major hospitals in North Carolina (like Duke, Wake, UNC) could do this cardiac MRI so we were told we were off to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC to get this done! Walter Reed is one of the major military hospitals. When soldiers get wounded while deployed they get sent there to help in their recovery. I was pretty excited to see it. It has some pretty great history but that is for another blog by someone with a lot more knowledge than me on the subject. 

As it turned out Keri and I had been wanting to take a trip to D.C. and now that he had to be sent to Walter Reed we thought it was perfect. We could mix a little business with pleasure.  The MRI was going to take two hours and Shannon said she would go with us so I could go to the hospital with Keri during the test. We left early on Monday Feb 11th and arrived around dinner time in Bethesda, Maryland.  The military was putting us up in a Mariott the first night and Keri found one a few miles away from the hospital.  We had some chinese take out and called it a night. The next day we were up bright and early for the MRI.  Let me just tell you Walter Reed is HUGE! We walked for days to find the right part of the hospital where they do the MRI'S. Luckily they had some candy out at the desk because I had worked up an appetite with all that walking! Keri was taken back after about an hour and I nestled into a comfortable seat to wait and of course to gawk at all the men in uniform walking by. Keri got done with his test and we headed back to the hotel. Since we were staying a few days we decided it would be cheaper to stay on Andrews AFB instead of staying in the Mariott. We arrived and man was I impressed with Andrews AFB. Andrew's claim to fame (in my mind) is that it houses Air Force One in one of their hangars. Pretty cool! We checked into TLF and headed back into D.C. Now for someone reason when I told Cambree we were going to Washington D.C. she kept talking about seeing a train.  I had NO IDEA what she was talking about until she said Chuggington.  Chuggington is a show on Disney JR about a train.  Now the train part made sense by I wasn't sure why she thought she would see Chuggington in D.C. She informed me Chuggington lived there. (Duh!) On the drive in she was so excited to see this train. Obviously I was feeling bad because I knew she wasn't going to see this train so as we came close to the city I happen to see a train go by. Thinking quick I told her "Cambree, it is Chuggington." She was SOOOOO excited. She was like it really IS Chuggington.  I was feeling very proud of myself when she asked "Where is Koko??" (Another train from that blasted show!) 

Well we parked the car and headed towards the Washington Monument. I had been to D.C. once when I was a kid.  I only have a few memories of it so I was glad to be back.  We walked around and saw everything in the National Mall. Buddy was soooo happy to run all the way from the monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Coincidentally we were at the Lincoln Memorial on Abraham Lincoln's birthday. After our looooooong afternoon of walking we retired to our TLF room. The next day we decided the white house and the capitol were top on our list of things to see.  We parked our car and walked foooooooooooorevvvvvvvvvver to the White House. On the way we passed a huge group of Asian tourists. They were all smiling at the twins and one stopped and actually took their picture.  Once we got to the white house it happened again. I turned around and an Asian couple TOOK TURNS taking pictures with Cambree.  I smile when I think about them going home to their families and my kids being a part of their vacation to America. We didn't stay long at the white house (Keri turned cranky for whatever reason) and we decided to hop back in the car for the capitol.  Keri dropped Shan and I off and we wandered around the capitol without the kids. After that we were all freezing and tired so we went back to Andrew's.  That night Shan and I drove in the SNOW to meet up with an old friend Michael Priem.  Our families were stationed together in West Point a thousand years ago.  We had a good dinner and had fun chatting! The next morning we got up, Shan and I went shopping at the BX (I think Cambree owns the entire Osh Kosh B'gosh line this year! It is SO cute!) and we headed home.  All in all it was a fun trip! I was glad to check one more thing off our list of places to go visit.  Next up, New York!!!  In the meantime we will wait for the results of the cardiac MRI!