How I Visited Washington D.C With a Toddler

Alright- we’ve just got back from a successful, (no one got hurt,) trip to Washington D.C. We didn’t get inside the White House, but we saw it from the outside while smiling at the security guards and talking with the anti-Trump protesters.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather or timing. I have to say that we are blessed to have a child who can last pretty long in a car without screaming, which, if you have a young one, you know is a feat. Our son pretty much only starts whining when it truly is time for all of us to stretch our legs, or there’s a diaper issue or a hunger/thirst problem. 

And so, thankfully, driving was a pleasure. Pennsylvania is beautiful. It was a great tourism-only road trip and while we couldn’t see it all, I loved what we did see and where we went.

Here are some of the highlights and some of what we didn’t see but would like to, what we forgot, and why we trespassed, (but only just once, and not on White House property, no worries). Here we go.

DESTINATIONS: GREAT THINGS TO SEE IN WASHINGTON D.C

      The Air and Space Museum 

The Air and Space museum is overly impressive. Even if you don’t think you’re interested in all that the history of flight has to offer, seeing the massive machines suspended from the ceiling and roaming from the first attempts at flight, to trips to the moon and back is something memorable. 

Our son isn’t yet ‘into machines’ so it’s hard to say if he felt wowed or not, but he enjoyed the kids section, which has some hands-on activities for older kids, but also spaces for toddlers to explore.

We saw bits of each section, with my husband voting for the flight simulator ride as a personal favorite. 

We didn’t get the $25USD commemorative photos to go with it, but he took the memories of his fear home in his mind, lol.

       The Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Washington Monument

 
    I put these in one category but every place really deserves its own. They are unique and each of these monuments left a prominent memory in my mind. Awestruck. 

They are all at one end of the Mall, which is huge and requires a lot of walking, but for us it was worth it to trek around it to see these marvels, and to watch our son chase birds in the sun as we tried to keep him out of traffic along the way.

(Being able to pop in and out of the stroller was key at this point, for our son. Either having one, or a wagon seems necessary to me. The distances are big on the Mall, and too far for a toddler to walk I feel, and a bit lengthy for carrying a child in a sling.)

The Smithsonian Zoo

  washington.org

This was a favorite for our toddler- he loves faces and animals. We struck it lucky- the pandas were out, a baby cub was sleeping in a nook in a tree for all to see, the elephants were roaming and the birds singing. The cheetah looked as though he might jump from his lair with no bars and nothing but a hill and a small dip between him and us, but my toddler loved it. 

Tips: bring your own lunch, and eat at the outside tables. Food is sold but pricey.

Admission is free, which seems awesome at first, but parking is paid and so this pretty much makes up for the free entry. Hopefully most of it goes towards the upkeep of the zoo. 

A bonus: wild deer pass through the area as part of a surrounding wood lot that's integrated with the zoo. Pretty cool! 

So, we were only in D.C for a total of three days, with two days of driving on each end of the trip, and obviously, we couldn't see it all. It actually feels like we only saw a drop in the bucket. 

I would love to go again and visit a whole host of venues including: the inside of the White House (tour required,) the Jefferson Memorial, the missing Smithsonian Aquarium, any of the museums on the Mall, street cleaners, (never seen! The place is IMPECCABLY clean-you could probably eat lunch off the commerce building-) the ceiling on the Library of Congress, a lecture at the Supreme Court, an informative bus tour, and the Turtle Park sandbox. 

And since everything went rather smoothly- except for some very early morning tantrums at 4:30 AM-I’ll pass on what worked for us. Most of it was by chance and maybe some things can work for you. 

TIPS

1) Go for naps in the stroller.

If there were strollers for parents, I'd sleep in them. For kids, it's not ideal for more than a few days if your kids is a big napper, as ours is, but for three of four days, I say you can wing it. You’ve come so far to see so many things, I wouldn't (and didn't) feel guilty about it. 

It just gives you the freedom to stay out and do more. I did actually plan to go to the hotel with my son so he could nap, but gave in a stayed out. That being said, he did sleep for 5 hours, our first afternoon back home. Bad mom and dad?

2) Use the hallways in the hotel to run wild. 
 

 hillarydavistravels.typepad.com

With a kid I've learned something new: hotels have hallways for a reason. To let loose. 

When our room got too confining for our son in the morning before heading out, or at night before turning down to sleep, my husband and I took turns letting our toddler take us for a walk down the hall. Or, up and down the elevator. Or, around the lobby. Did you know they have laundry facilities at the Comfort Inn? They do. We found them.

3) Bring bath toys 
 
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We forgot to do this and I'm sure my son would have loved some. Just a few- he ended up loving the hotel's plastic cups instead. Bath time was a great time for him to wind down, go splash-crazy and play. At home, we tend to rush through bath time because bed time is pending (something I'm trying to change and start earlier,) but in the hotel, we stretched it out and he had a ball. 

4) Let them eat junk. 
 
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I wanted to stress about the french fries and hamburgers we inhaled on the road, but we were on vacation. It’s going to happen. Each has their own path but for me, the health benefit my family would have reaped from the energy I would have spent trying to source constant healthy snacks and meals and keep them fresh while traveling was outweighed by the fact that I got to rest and not think about nutritional content for a while. Hey, nobody died. And Iowa’s saying thank us for having to house fewer potatoes.

5) Watch T.V.
I don’t have my toddler watch too much of the boob tube when were at home but in the hotel,  I didn’t monitor time. Again, we were on vacation. And when he woke up at 4:30 AM and screamed about his teething gums, smacking his forehead with his fist, I put on PBS cartoons. For a long while. Sometimes we all need a little Paw Patrol to come to the rescue.  

6) Don’t worry about your child’s screams disturbing other people, (until someone complains, and even then). 
 
www.livescience.com 
# 4 leads naturally into this point. Our son woke up too early on our trip. He does this when he’s overtired. One day he pushed it to 4:30 am, and when he woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, he complained. Loudly. I cringed and feared that the fleet of construction workers staying down the hall would be paying the price for our tyrant, but no one complained. And so I stopped thinking about it-ignorance is bliss.

7) Be prepared to spend money on food. 

Washington doesn't have much in the way of restaurants or fast food that is easily visible while walking around the Mall, and many museums don't allow you to bring in your own food. There might be food sources in the museums like McDonald's, but if you're going to be walking outside, the line of food trucks near the Air and Space Museum might be what you've got to choose from, come noon. 

They all take VISA, debit and cash but you'll pay about three times the price of a regular street hot dog-be forewarned. Granted, you're getting Korean bbq or delicious vegan food in a box, but it still came as a surprise. 

8) Driving can cost the same as taking the subway. 
FYI, we spent around $20 USD to park by the Mall in Washington for the day, and would have spent exactly $20 on public transit round trip from the hotel. We did spend on gas to get there, but it was about 10 mins from the hotel. For us, the convenience outweighed the extra cash. We did take the subway on the first day, though, and had a good time doing it.

9) Don’t rush, if you don’t want to.
 


















I figure we're at that point in life where everything has to slow down a bit. Having a toddler, you know what I mean. Getting into the car for grocery shopping might take 20 minutes, as we walk up the street to check out all the lovely the lawn ornaments of our neighbors, and the sewers just to make sure they're still full of water. 

In light of this, we took two extra driving days on either end of our trip and felt the benefits. As a result, nobody was super-extra cranky and screaming or holding their pee for too long. 

We stopped in a church parking lot and let our son walk in the back field for a good 45 minutes, knowing we had a lot of time to play with, and he was so much happier once back in the car. My friend says her father used to make her and her sister get out and run behind the car when friction erupted on family trips-ha! 

Hopefully going at a slower pace helped avoid some of this grouchiness.

10) Trespass 
 
www.popsugar.com
Ok, so I don't advocate climbing wire fences, breaking into stores and factories after hours or swimming in someone's pool while they're away, but a little wandering never hurt anyone, imho. We walked around a farmer's field in back of the Marriott Courtyard hotel in Pennsylvania, stretching our legs and loving the surrounding hills, and technically we weren't members of that church we had a stopover at but nobody seemed to care. 

The cops weren't around, and neither was the farmer, or the minister- actually, not a soul was in sight in either case. I guess you could argue that we were lucky no one got their shotgun out, but driving through the countryside of Pennsylvania there aren't a lot of sidewalks or public parks for kids to play in-what to do? It turned out o.k. and made some fun memories.

11) Bring clothes for all seasons. 
Some days we could wear t-shirts and on some, my toddler's big one-piece snowsuit came in handy.  We forgot to bring shoes in place of boots- we could have used some. The trials of traveling in spring.

12) Even if there is no pool, bring a bathing suit.
 
www.whatsupfagans.com
We booked an extra night in a hotel at the last minute. Our original hotel had no indoor pool but this one did. Dilemma: Walmart in Altoona doesn't stock swimming diapers in March. The disposable diaper lasted about 10 mins. in the water and I dove in in my unmentionables, when no one was around. My husband was fine in his boxers. Bathing suits would have been great!

13) Eat at Sheetz 
 
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If you’re driving from the Toronto area to D.C you’re going to come across Sheetz. When in Pennsylvania and in need of a quick dinner, try it. It has pretty good made-to-order sandwiches. We thought it would be just like 7-Eleven but it's got a lot more. When in a glitch for dinner, hit up the made-to-order sandwich counter- you won't regret it.

So glad that we went and I can’t wait to get back to see more. Thank you, Washington D.C!

How to Survive Against a Lion

  

So, this is the hole in our ceiling. We're living with my dad in the suburbs, as my husband goes back to school to gain some Canadian credentials and some new skills to drive on forward in the grand old world of graphics and computers. We’re down in the basement, (sometimes), and share the rest of the house, too. And I’m at home with our 1.5 year-old son, most of the time, and blogging.

And this is what I’ve learned: no matter how fast your connections on LinkedIn grow once you’ve discover ‘People You May Know,’ no matter how advanced you become at programming the coffee pot the night before, and no matter how amazing it is that all your devices can be synced to let you know who emailed that pic of a zebra last weekend at 3 AM, a hole in the ceiling will never fix itself. 

Unless maybe it’s loaded into After Affects, and you digitize it’s healing. 

 But generally speaking, never, never. But maybe that’s OK. Because I think this hole somehow means something.

This is the house my mother developed dementia in. That means something. It's the house she lived in and left, going to live in a care facility worlds away. This is where she lost the ability to write, where we watched her handwriting slowly revert back to a child’s and slip away like a ghost. 

This is also where my dad’s new partner, who is still a partner but no longer able to visit, brought welcome, new life into vacant walls.

And for me, this is also where I practiced my flute, hours on end, where I started all those long, high school bicycle trips, where I dreamed of university life, and where I spent long, lonely afternoons playing solitaire in middle school summers while my friends were far away, with no one up the street and no camp booked to make new handy ones.

And so, maybe the hole means something about filling the gaps. I think it’s about combining the past with the present. Because my mom can’t see, and my dad lives in the present and can see but isn’t sure about anything around him, and while my wonderful husband and son are by my side, sometimes I'm still searching to make things right.

My son found an old rotary phone hanging around here the other day. (We still have a lot of  cleanup to do.) He loved it. I showed him how to ‘hang up’ and dial, tons of fun. 

He loves taking things apart and climbing. He can already say ‘hi’ and ‘bye’, and he’s learned so much watching my husband play guitar and drums that he now picks up sticks and pencils and bangs on any surface he can find, turning the world into an orchestra. Babies are so smart. I feel like we should be taking him on the hunt in Africa to show him how to survive against a lion, and buying old washing machines and radios from the Salvation Army to take apart and fix so he can learn about electricity and gravity and physics, and dragging him out to Mensa meetups, and enrolling him in language classes on Wednesday evenings, just to cover the bases. Do you have kids? You know what I mean, right? I mean, what if he’s the next Einstein??

I’m thinking of duct taping the phone to one of those old retro roller skates. I’d need to order some, or see if my niece has some I can ‘borrow.’ Or maybe I can use the skateboard we have hanging around. It would be kind of an homage to the Fisher Price rotary pull phone, and my way of pulling the past into the present.  

www.etsy.com

We’ll see if my son likes it. Or, maybe I could actually get one of those classic Fisher Price phones and do this and perform a little upgrade. I’m sure my husband would love to help- he’s studying app design, right? Perfect match.

Today, the little one climbed onto the dining room table and sat in the middle and reached for an apple, when I was busy in the kitchen. Smooth moves, son, smooth moves. You’ve gotta do what you gotta do when you’re teething. 

Hi, I'm back and Yes, It's Almost Spring 2016

Ok, I'm being a little rushed, but it is almost spring 2016, and that's exciting. Time flies. My last post was in 2013, as you may notice, and I haven't been posting to this blog, as my focus has been elsewhere. I am a new-ish mom with a 1-year old at home, in a new space and so much has happened!

My husband has pushed me to return to blogging and I have agreed since writing is a passion, and why not write on my own page. I have ideas to share and would love to connect with others more via this blog.

I am currently excited to be working with an illustrator in the GTA- the great Andre Allen- and we are striving to get an e-picture book entitled, "Eating I Forget" off the ground and running around online. It's still a baby, but we are training it well. The book has learned to roll over, crawl, and eat solid food so far, and we are trying to increase it's vocabulary from 'Da' to 'Hi', maybe 'Bye'.  It's hard work and it still won't sleep through the night, but here's to more training!

'Eating I Forget' by Victoria Simpson and Andre Allen

Ok, funnies aside, in reality, we have the story written, and Andre is working very hard at completing the illustrations, digitally. It's a book about a young 5-year-old who wants to ignore her aunt after school, as she let's loose in the park. Through continuous questioning about her day, her aunt alienates and angers Keziah, our main character, who has to find her own way of communicating for things to work between them.

'Eating I Forget' is our puppy and we are excited. We are planning free download days, contests, and our launch party, to happen at an as-of-yet undisclosed time and place in the future. How's that for a teaser-stay tuned for something, at sometime, maybe and maybe you will like it!

Really, we are finding our focus and hope to share relevant information with you. My focus is not just to inform you about promotions related to our book via this blog, but moreover, I will be sharing great ideas I come up with and that I come across online related to children's education, reviews for picture books, anecdotes on my daily life with my crazy toddler, (who's first phrase learned at daycare was quite usefully, 'Go away,') recipes for healthy food that kids might-maybe-touch-with a ten-foot- pole, and other musings I hope you'll find interesting around raising a child and keeping them entertained.

Thanks for reading and keep posted! Have a super Thursday,

Victoria