These posts have been a bit out of order. This one is all about our day trip to Washington D.C. that happened the day before I flew to L.A. to see my sisters. Kind of last minute we decided to take the kids up to the Washington D.C. Temple. It was recently renovated, so it was opened to the public before it was re-dedicated as a functional temple. I want my kids to be able to really understand what our temples are like so they can understand why we are trying to make it a priority to go there as often as we can. Plus it’s a massive, gorgeous building unlike anything they’ve ever seen and I’m all about new experiences. The first thing Naomi asked when we told them we were kicking around a day trip was could we go to the zoo to see the pandas. Long story short…that’s exactly what we did. Our temple tour reservations were later in the day so we went to the zoo first, after driving past some landmarks like the Washington Monument and the entrance to Arlington. I need to take them there to see more of our capital. Each kid had a top animal to see and we saw other animals on our way to check those off the list. The pandas were a highlight and we even got to add a pressed coin to our collection. Layna’s poor feet got blisters from her sandals (I thought they’d be good walking shoes, and I was so wrong) so she hung out and rested with Neil a lot. Ice cream went a long way towards restoring morale.

Then we went to the Temple. It was everything everyone was hoping for and we felt the spirit there very strongly. I’m glad my kids are learning to love the temple as much as I do. I almost started crying when we got there…the building was beautiful, the art was poignant, but that’s not what got me. That’s never what gets me. What makes me tear up is knowing that I’m in a house of God, and there is nothing quite like that anywhere else.

By the end of the whole adventure all my girls were done with shoes. We got home late after driving through a freak hail storm. I slept for a few hours then got on a plane.

As always this guy was with me through it all. I love how he is the perfect dad for each of our kids and could not be a better fit for me. I couldn’t ask for a more solid adventure buddy.