Someone is turning five this week, and today she shared a birthday lunch with her Baltimore friend. We dined at Chuck-E-Cheese, opened a few gifts and won lots of tickets. Carolyn in particular spun the wheel-o-tickets and got 100 which was pretty much a highlight of her seven-year-old life. Julia was super excited about her gifts and the fact that she could continue to remind us that this is her birthday WEEK!

I totally did not even realize Julia's dress was on backwards until I saw these photos... it's an East Coast hip five-year-old thing I guess

Wow, wow and wow. I absolutely loved our day at Mount Vernon. By far this is the most engaging, educational and well-done site we have visited so far. The museum and education center was like nothing I'd ever seen, with life-sized models, phenomenal movies, and a room for younger children to read books about Washington, dress in colonial clothes and play with toys of that era. The educational map the girls received had a puzzle that walked them through the whole site, with the promise of a 'prize' for completing the clues (the prize was a pressed penny). We saw a demonstration on how chocolate is made (who knew!?!), and toured the amazing mansion.

The girls learned a TON, I learned a TON and have a new respect for George Washington's ingenuity, and Brandon got a TON of gorgeous photos.

We even had lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn, served by a waitress in colonial-era dress with great food grown on the farm.

Fantastic day!

PS - Did you know that the Kennedy's hosted a state dinner on the lawn of Mount Vernon overlooking the Potomac? Did you know Queen Elizabeth visited Mount Vernon? It is all so darned fascinating!!!!

On some days they do school in the suite, but for a change of scenery there is always the library. Today Carolyn learned about fractions and Julia worked on reading with her Tag Reader. There was also ice skating and naps, sounds like a pretty sweet setup to me.

Our {glorious} four day weekend began with adorable Thanksgiving place cards. Brandon's Aunt and Uncle hosted us in their lovely West Virginia home. Their grandchildren (our second-cousins) made place cards and played Polly's with the girls. Brandon and his cousins chatted about life-and-such on the back porch in the unseasonably warm weather, and I dreamily gazed on the acreage in the middle of gorgeous West Virginia and imagined something similar back home.

On Friday, back in the suite life, we trekked to Whole Foods and purchased a small tree. The girls made ornaments with felt, glitter and pipe cleaners. It was... messy. Thank you to the housekeeping staff who magically made all the excess glitter disappear.

And Saturday we headed into D.C. to see the Muppets with our good friends.

The girls enjoyed the photo props in the lobby, and the loved the movie too.

I mostly enjoyed holding sweet baby Jad as we walked through D.C.

Oh he is scrumptious!!!

Back at our friends' apartment the girls played Wii,

the mamas went shopping,

the guys watched some football,

and the baby slept.

For dinner we recreated Thanksgiving,

and I learned about the joy of roasted chestnuts (who knew?!?!)

On the Metro ride home we looked at a {Kids} National Geographic

and I said a little prayer that we not die in a fiery Metro crash

because my gosh those things sounds fast and terrible sometimes.

I hope the nights when tears come easily and they ask "how much longer do we have to stay here?" are soon forgotten. I hope instead they remember making leaf angels at the National Zoo, riding the Metro, and making no-bake cookies for the first time. I hope they won't think of their mommy always at work or on her computer, I hope they remember the walks we took in the woods, the hours of Sequence we played, and bedtime stories every night. I hope someday when they are fighting over clothes or makeup they remember this year when they had to be besties everyday, when they cuddled together at night and ran to check the mail every morning. But mostly I just hope they are happy.

Carolyn brought her science notebook and new pocket microscope. But we forgot a pencil so Brandon had to photograph her findings (see deer track above). Julia timidly climbed atop the moss-covered rocks, Carolyn wanted to go further... and further... and higher...

See all the photos of our day HERE

Turning seven in the suite life looks like phone calls from the front desk telling you *another* package has arrived. Turning seven in the suite life looks like opening a check from Grandpa and telling all of the business men on the elevator that you are "RICH because you just got ONE-HUNDRED-DOLLARS" (displaying for all to see - and all are impressed). Turning seven in the suite life means ordering a cookie cake from the mall but telling Mommy that "I still like your cookie cakes best". Turning seven in the suite life looks like video chats and emails full of birthday wishes. Turning seven in the suite life looks a lot like this....