Trip to Virginia

Alex and I took a trip to visit baby Cole at the very end of August (it would be his last vacation and free time before the new school year started) and once again I had quite a bit of things planned out ahead of time for this trip. We flew into BWI and went to spend the day on Nancy and Paul’s boat and motored out to a very cool marina where we docked and had a delicious lunch and after eating Alex got to swim for a little while since there was a small beach nearby.

Alex and Uncle Paul looking for crabs!

Me and my favorite nephew!

Alex and Aunt Nancy as we are pulling into marina for lunch

The happy little family

We drove back to Nancy and Paul’s house and spent some time with Cole just relaxing and visiting.

Some of the things I had planned out for this trip was a visit to the International Spy Museum in downtown DC where Alex got to try out his skills at being a Spy with their newest attraction, Spy in the City and we had a lot of fun going that. You get a handheld GPS and you have to follow instructions and find clues throughout the city and complete your spy mission. It was a great way to walk around and see some of the sights, in my opinion.

After our walk through the city we had lunch at Potbellies and then walked back to the museum to see the indoor exhibits before taking the metro back to Nancy and Paul’s house. On the way home I had planned out 2 stops that were off the Metro…a very quick walk into Arlington cemetery where I wanted to pay my respects at the Kennedy grave because Ted Kennedy had just passed away from glioblastoma and it was just something that I felt the need to do for myself and for my mom. We also stopped at the Pentagon to see the memorial for the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Paying my respects at Ted Kennedy's grave and Alex posing at the Pentagon Memorial

The next day we drove out to the Marine Corps Museum and really enjoyed seeing the work that went into building all of the exhibits. I think Alex liked the indoor digital rifle range the best.

A stop at IKEA on the way home to check out a few things and then it was back home to diner and an evening of quiet time. Our last day we spent some time at the pool even though the water was a bit chilly for Alex he did go in for a little while. We made a quick trip out to the National Cathedral to check out the gift shop because Jim wanted me to see if I could replace the cross pendant that he lost which I had purchased for him there a few years back…I didn’t find the exact one but something similar.

We took Amtrak home from Alexandria back to Penn Station and the only regret I had in this planning was that we got back to NYC during rush hour and had to squeeze on a rush hour train to head back to Long Island with our suitcases, a lesson learned for sure on my part.

All in all this was a great trip and we got to spend a lot of fun time with Cole…every time we see him he is getting bigger and bigger and his personality is really emerging, I can’t wait to see him again!!