D.C. lately.

We just reveled in a couple of weekends of incredible autumn colors here in the D.C. metro area, and those humid, sultry days have been replaced by fresh sunny breezes and chilly evenings. The leaves are so vibrant they appear to be ablaze in the sunlight, and daily they fall like confetti to create a crunchy blanket covering the ground. Yesterday, the kids and I spent the afternoon with rakes and clippers clearing out the campground’s walking trail in the woods surrounding the property. I’m thrilled to have such a beautiful spot to hike in nature right in my backyard.

Our family has had some enjoyable outings exploring the nation’s capital since we moved here, so I thought I would summarize them all here in a quick recap:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Our family was invited along with the Australian embassy staff to the official arrival ceremony for the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese. We awoke while it was still dark, dressed in our nicest business attire, and scurried along Pennsylvania Avenue to go through multiple security checkpoints to stand on the south lawn with hundreds of others, waving our miniature Australian and United States flags and tiptoeing to catch glimpses of the diplomat with President Biden.

What was most memorable to me about the experience was how excited the Australians were to be at the White House, even appearing more so than the Americans. It gave me some food for thought for the day, and I gained a renewed sense of gratitude to live in the U.S. As dysfunctional as our country can be at times, it’s still a place I’m grateful to live, and I appreciate our international partners who’ve stood by our side for the long haul. In this current world climate, no ally is insignificant.

THE EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA

After the arrival ceremony at the White House, Kelley walked us inside the embassy for a quick tour of his office. We were able to snap a few pictures of the kids, since they were dressed up so nicely (this was the boys’ first time wearing suits), and then we perused the Aboriginal and Indigenous Australian artwork and met some more of his coworkers. The Australians are extraordinarily warm and welcoming! And I basically want to move in to this stunning mid-century modern building, or at least model our next home after it. The Pacific Northwest vibes made me giddy!

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

The same week of the arrival ceremony, we were also invited to attend P.M. Albanese’s wreath hanging ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. What an absolute humbling experience to walk through the unending rows of white marble tombstones, knowing each one represents a name, a person, a life given to protect the freedom my family enjoys. Before our visit, the kids and I spent an afternoon learning about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier—the history behind the monument, the intense training and preparation the soldiers go through to become guards, the rituals they perform around the clock, how fiercely they protect the tomb. It’s all so intense and beautiful. We were honored to witness a foreign leader pay tribute to the unknown soldiers around the world who laid down their lives for others.

INTERNATIONAL SPY MUSEUM

Be forewarned: the International Spy Museum is a sensory nightmare. Cool? Absolutely. But also, five minutes in, I couldn’t breathe.

I purchased a family membership and we arranged our first visit for Liam’s birthday. I added on a birthday kit, which was full of everything we would need to go on a secret group mission through the museum. (And it came with fake mustaches!) But the museum experience already included a secret virtual mission, so now we had two to keep track of.

Let me back up a little…Our stress started when we tried to fit our giant extended length Ford Expedition into a tiny side-street parking lot. Then, we got turned around walking to find the building and then its entrance (listen, that part of D.C. is CONFUSING and there are LAYERS of streets involved), and I had drunk a bottle of water and travel mug of coffee, so I needed to pee so bad I was sweating. By the time we got to the building I was hot, irritable, and overstimulated from the traffic noise. So, when I was handed a drawstring backpack full of reading material that I was to digest in the 2.3 minutes we had before our ticket call time, I was sweating for a whole other reason. And my family was in a hurry. I frantically tried to rally the troops to decide on our group cover story as we were walking toward the elevator with a group of people. Immediately when we stepped off the elevator, we had to grab badges and get started on our cover for the museum tour. And not only did I have my own information to memorize, I also had to quickly memorize the kids’ as well (WHY ARE MOMS THE KEEPERS OF ALL THE INFORMATION??). The first 20 minutes of our visit was just more of that. Add in the changing, flashing lights and ambient and crowd noises and bodies, and my sensory-challenged brain began shutting down.

Thankfully, my husband made the executive decision to save the birthday mission for another day, after we’d toured the building and gained our bearings, and we slowed our pace waaaay down. I was able to reunite with my body and enjoy the museum.

This place is actually really cool and filled to the brim with intriguing information. I highly recommend a visit, and if you’re a family like ours and plan to go more than once, the family annual membership will more than pay for itself. (It already has for us after two visits.)

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

Okay, so we didn’t actually have a lot of time to spend in this one (or energy, as we dropped in this museum after our day at Arlington National Cemetery and visit to the Spy Museum), but it’s on our list to revisit because it is so cool! We spent most of our time in the Wright Brothers exhibit and at the Pan Am display, after spending a solid 20 minutes in one of the museum’s “quiet rooms” in the basement so we could rest our legs and gain a second wind. (You can see how tired they were in the last photo.) My favorite part was seeing the actual first plane that Wilbur and Orville Wright created.

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

This has by far been my favorite part about D.C. We visited this museum after watching Night at the Museum with the kids. (We also stopped by the National Archives to see the original Declaration of Independence after watching National Treasure, so I guess we’re starting a trend.)

My first time ever in D.C. was back in May when we visited after Kelley’s job interview in Pennsylvania, and I still cannot get over how beautiful the buildings are here. The architecture is exquisite; I kept getting distracted from the exhibits by the marble mouldings and breathtaking rotundas. The only thing more breathtaking was the Hope Diamond, which I didn’t know existed until our visit, when I realized I was on the wrong side of the glass that encased the 45-carat rock. If only they allowed try-ons! “Yes, I’ll try the Hope Diamond with the Marie Antoinette Earrings and the Indian emerald necklace, please…”

SMITHSONIAN ZOO

Honey, you had me at free zoo. Ok, so it doesn’t hold a candle to say, the San Diego or Memphis zoos, but who doesn’t love walking around a zoo? We came to the D.C. zoo on our Pennsylvania trip, but the kids and I returned recently (after our White House visit) to say goodbye to the Smithsonian’s pandas, which are heading back to China in December. The only ones left in the U.S. will be at the Atlanta Zoo until the end of 2024, so if you live in the states and wanted to see a panda in-person, you’re running out of time. Goodbye, sweet Mei Xiang. Ta ta, Tian Tian. See you later, Xioa Qi Ji.

I was a little sad watching the pandas gorge themselves into a sleepy stupor on bamboo in their individual cages. I always loved seeing the different types of bears at the zoo as a kid (sloth and polar bears are my personal favorite). I hate to think that this may be the last time our kids can watch the pandas at a zoo, though it’s nice to know the Smithsonian zoo has played a pivotal role in restoring the panda population through its conservation efforts.

AROUND THE CITY

Over the past few months, we’ve also been able to see the Lincoln Memorial, the Potomac waterfront, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Kelley and I attended a James Bond-themed black tie event at the embassy. It took me four hours to get ready and resembled the scene in Miss Congeniality in which Sandra Bullock was getting transformed into pageant-ready Gracey Lou Freebush. This is DEFCON-1, guys! Bring out the sandblaster. Grab the shellac! I bought a $40 dress on Amazon and pulled my pearls and heels out of storage. And then the dress got a hole in it when I cut the tag out of the seam, and Kelley had to sew me up right as we were heading out the door. But we were handed a free glass of champagne at the door and enjoyed chatting up the Aussies.

We’ve been apple picking in the countryside, seashell hunting in the Chesapeake Bay, and people watching at the recreational park down the road. We love spotting the Washington Monument or the Capitol dome peaking out at us above the buildings when we drive downtown. History was always my worst subject in school, but being in our nation’s capital really makes it come alive, and I find I’m learning just as much as the kids. Can’t wait to explore more!