d.c. is a trip. well, we made it one.

as most of you may already know,

my Lover is set to leave on a 7 month deployment

to afghanistan very soon.

being the sweethearts that they are (ahem),

the marine corps gave us two full weeks of leave

to enjoy our family.

how kind of them, right?

2 weeks = 7 months...?

anyway.

we didn't have a lot of money to spend,

thanks to dave freakin ramsey,

so we decided on a small trip to quantico, VA

where we could visit the museums in d.c.

5 hours in the car with a loaded car and 5 kids.

fun times.

no really, they were all actually very good.

on the way there we stopped at a podunk pizza hut.

my guppy lyn enjoyed tasty bread sticks

while we ate the pizza buffet.

pronounce that: buff-it.

it was fancy no doubt.

while there, i took a trip to the bathroom

only to find this lovely gem hanging inside my stall.

there were no other pictures in the entire bathroom,

just this ONE inside the handicapped stall.

he liked watching me as i used the latrine.

and i liked watching him.

just in case you can't read that sign it says:

"lets keep the heat set permanently on tropical."

and at that very moment i knew this trip was going to be good.

you rock that ribbed sweater you manly man.

rock it in the stall of the pizza hut bathroom.

we stayed in the hotel on base and to my surprise,

it was actually VERY accommodating.

it had two rooms AND a kitchen!

the kids went bazerk as soon as we stepped foot in the room.

some of them were literally hanging from the rooftops.

penny's favorite part were the elevators.

i think that may have been the first official time

he's ever ridden in an elevator when he was old

enough to realize what it was.

we settled in the hotel and then took a trip to target to grab some necessities.

afterwards, a stop at my most FAVORITE taco place on base.

mmm. taco del mar.

i can credit taco del mar for successfully keeping my weight

at a steady number during our short lived stay in q-town.

after many two hour workouts,

bonnie and i would jet on over to grab some grease wrapped in a tortilla.

nothin like a hearty after workout lunch.

we got some much needed rest that night

and day 2 of our trip started off just right!

haircuts at the old barber shop in q-town.

once isaak saw the older boys getting theirs,
he HAD to have one of his own.
ladies and gentlemen:

introducing isaak's FIRST professional haircut.

here he's saying,

"what did i just agree to do?"

"are we almost done here?

i'm getting really uncomfortable

having some foreign hands on my head."

and the finished product?

"okay, okay, i know i'm DANG cute but i like to pretend i don't."

we spent the rest of that day
visiting a few of the smithsonian museums in d.c.
kora fell in love with these beauties.

the moment i laid my on this swimmer,

i knew i had to somehow steal it for my beauty queen friend

michele.

(who i forgot to link up in her birthday post. sorry michele)

she. needs. this. swimmer.

and i know i look like pure dookie in this picture,

but it's kermit.

my man. we go way back.

i have no idea why i was so intrigued by this display.

but i was.

i guess i never really acknowledged that there was a day

where there was no such thing as birth control.

how weird, huh?

over at the natural history museum

we explored our roots.

kora embraced the awesomeness that is

neanderthal woman.

please excuse the niplet.

you should have seen her booty. it was really intimidating.

jake made friends with the locals.

this reminds me of how michele

described the way afghany men sit.
again, pardon the testicallia.

(yea i just made that word up)

on a more serious note,

i learned quite a bit by visiting the museum.

like how to deal with Lover when he misbehaves.

over in american history,

we learned how to pose dramatically for pictures.

or maybe she's just really tired of walking

and throwing a big fat fit.

even Lover and i tried it out.

dangit.

i just realized i should have done this picture in black and white.

shoot.

i really have nothing to say

about this self explanatory picture.

wait, my kids are cute.

there.

jake found an area that suited him just fine.

one day he'll be the proud owner of one of these fine medals.

of course,

that more than likely means he'll suffer an untimely death.

but look at that thing, TOTALLY worth it.

although the whole day was spent taking turns with Lover

either wrangling the big kids

or pushing the babies in the stroller

and feeding them snacks and drinks to keep them happy,

we really did enjoy just being together.

unfortunately,

we didn't plan that day TOO wisely

and got stuck in d.c. rush hour traffic.

but Lover is quite the wise guy

and brought sustenance or his manly muscly body.

by that time, gussy had had enough

and he was letting all of us know about it.

but no worries.

it was nothin a little smithsonian rock candy couldn't help!

on day 3 we went to the national zoo

which is actually part of the smithsonian as well.

it was NOT hot there at all.

our car thermostat did NOT read 105 degrees.

i was NOT dripping with sweat so badly that i felt like fainting.

because of the weather,

we spent most of our time inside buildings

or standing under the little water sprayer thingies.

aaaaaaaand,
i just realized i'm missing about 58798823 pictures from the zoo day.

i hate when that happens.

now i can't show you the scary alligator.

or the panda.

or my Lover hugging ponyo.

or the orangutans that swing on wires above your head

all throughout the zoo.

or when Lover got so hot he stripped down to nothing but a loin cloth.

oh well.

use your imagination.

i had to take a picture of this hotness.

to me, there's nothing hotter than a guy pushing a stroller.

i dunno why i think it's hot.

it just is.

it's even hotter when it's MY Lover.

i DID realize one thing as i looked through our zoo pictures.

all of my kids make the silliest faces.

where do they get that?

after the zoo we went all high dollar

and stopped at red lobster for some grub.
i kid you not, this is what jake's plate looked like.

and he ate every. single. bit.

hey...it's vacation :)

the ride home was interesting.

jake kept the babies happy by flipping his eyelids

inside out.

answer me this you doctor friends you,

why are his eyelids blue on the inside?

somehow he persuaded me to try it.

he promised it didn't hurt.

but he lied.

because not only did it hurt.

bad.

it pained me for HOURS afterwards as well.

wanna know what Lover thought

of all this eyelid flipping nonsense?

yea.

that's his annoyed face.

and finger.

our last day was spent at the marine corps museum.

the place where i spent almost every single day during TBS with my friends.

well, not IN the museum, but at the park there.

it brought back many memories.

this little guy was just 3 months old during our days here.

now look at him.

he's a bonafide mini marine.

the kids love this museum because of all the displays.

izey was obsessed with the bloody ones.

he would just stare and stare at the "owies".

and if we walked away

he'd ask for the owies until we found another one.

we tried out all the marine gear

to see if we were really all fit to be marines.

and then Lover looked at me with his cute face

and i couldn't help myself so i jumped on top of him

and started making out with him right there

in the middle of the museum.

wait, what?

did i just say that?

sorry.

i got carried away.

that night we chowed on YUMMY five guys burgers.

peanuts.

fries.

cheese.

meat.

mmmmm.

i want more.

the trip turned out to be suPERB.

it was crazy.

and there was madness.

and sleepless nights.

and lost kids.

and screaming and crying.

and fits and tantrums.

but,

we enjoyed it. every minute of it.

apparently, we're going to miss this stage of life one day.

(or so i've been warned about 298982980283 times).

so i try to keep that with me

and enjoy all of it.

even the parts that make me want to stab knives in my eyeballs.

because there's always just as many (if not more) fun parts too.

and along with the bad parts, the good will dissapear one day too.

*sigh*