Memorial Day in DC

Claire took her first plane ride to DC for Memorial Day weekend to see Grammy, Pop Pop, Auntie Kristin, Uncle Dan and cousin Liz (this was the first time the cousins met).  Ryan was a bit nervous thanks to all his years of traveling and not enjoying crying babies on planes...turns out he had a right to be nervous.  The trip out wasn't quite as good as I was hoping it would be!  Claire slept through take off but once we were up she screamed for about 45 minutes.  The nice flight attendant tried to help by asking "did you try changing her diaper?"  Um yes, we tried feeding, a diaper change, singing, walking around the plane...nothing helped.  She finally calmed down (and actually slept) towards the end of the flight.  The return trip was much better despite being delayed an hour and a half.

We had lots of fun in DC with the fam.

Here are the cousins together for the first time (on a walk to the grocery store).

We then had they "play together" on the carpet.  This was actually more of a "who can make the other person cry first" kind of game.

Liz noticed that Claire was unhappy so she decided to follow suit.

Kristin and I found this quite hilarious!

Claire has gotten a lot better (more tolerant) of tummy time, though she tends to drool a lot.

Pop Pop had the magic touch.  Totoo bad she woke up 30 minutes later screaming, which then woke Liz up who also started to cry.  The two kept each other up for quite a while (and kept all parents busy until almost 9pm!)

Hangin' out

Auntie Kristin read stories before bedtime. 

Every year we attend the Prairie Home Companion show at Wolf Trap.  We enlisted Grandpa Jim as a babysitter so we were sans child while Kristin and Dan decided to bring Liz with (she was a trooper by the way).

Grammy took every opportunity possible to spend time with her girls.   

Pop Pop wanted to get a picture with his girls in front of the Einstein statue.  We knew Rolling Thunder was in town but didn't expect to end up right in the middle of their merchandise area (ass-less chaps anyone??).  We were slightly out of place!

 We made a quick exit and found the statue.

Claire cooling off (out of the stroller) with Grammy.

Afterward we met up with Grandpa Jim at his apartment.  Both Grandpa and Claire were enthralled with the mylar balloons leftover from his birthday.

Then we had a little photo shoot with the girls in their matching outfits.

And had a little fun.

Claire is done.

One last photo!

We thought our flight left at noon but then realized we didn't leave til 4!  We weren't sure if that was good or bad news for the family!  But with the extra time we decided to get in a few more DC shots. 

Walking down the mall.

Entertaining the girls.

The Washington Monument.

The Capitol.

We ended the day by cooling off in the air and space Smithsonian.  (This exhibit was describing the standards women needed to fit to become a stewardess: be white, less than 135 pounds, have perfect makeup and hair etc.  We laughed out loud).