Roving Cooks

March 28-April 2 Madison, WI to Washington D.C.

Well, hi there. I’m getting caught up for the year a bit, where we spent Q1 distinctly NOT roving (someday I will get around to the story of Broke Arm Mama in the Time of Covid). The rest of 2022 has been a distinct improvement.

We decided to take a spring break trip to Washington, DC, as a location easy to travel to, likely warmer than Madison (with hopes of seeing the cherry blossoms), and because we thought we’d be able to mix seeing the sights with catching up with a couple close college friends who live in the area.

We arrived late Monday evening after a delightfully direct flight and headed to our hotel for the week. Tuesday, we Intended a stroll around the National Mall, but a chilly wind blew us over to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History for most of the day. Grayson loved the gemstones (and directed us to take many pictures of fancy necklaces). We observed Egyptian mummies, bugs and tarantulas, movies about mammals, and carefully considered every object in the gift shop. We tried out a new approach to the “can I buy this?” conundrum – each kid had an allowance for the week, and we kept a ledger debiting their total as they chose various purchases. Madelyn started with purchasing “Wah-Wah”, the Hope Diamond stuffed bear…followed by many other stuffies throughout the week. Grayson got a small stone vase…followed by a large stuffed snake later in the week.

14,000 adult steps (~30,000-40,000 kid steps later), I left Greg to put the kids to bed and headed out with my longtime friend Vicki for a catch up over dinner. Good food, great company!

Wednesday we used our metro passes to head to the zoo. I learned a lot about pandas. Later, after a brief hotel rest, we walked down to the Wharf, checked out buckets of crabs, and then had a lovely Spanish dinner – during which the kids behaved remarkably well – followed by ice cream. Grayson spent most time on the boardwalk trying to catch a pigeon. We remain grateful that his efforts were unsuccessful.

Thursday, we met with Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, had the thrill of riding the senator elevator(!) and had a lovely tour of her office. She took about 10 min with us before needing to head into session to vote, during which time Grayson asked what she was doing about the Manzian White Lion situation, Madelyn showed her Wolfy (pictured below), and we briefly touched on Tammy’s position on the Wolf Debate (should they continue to be on an endangered list? hunting guidelines?). She also graciously let our kids actually touch many of the tempting objects on her bookshelves.

After finding lunch, we headed to the National Children’s Museum for the afternoon. Later, we bused over to Navy Yard where the kids found some other kids to play tag for a bit, and then snacked on small plates.

After kid bedtime, I again left Greg to his own devices to meet up with my best Syracuse ladies Shannon & Vicki for boozy milkshakes. Perhaps a bold statement – I think boozy milkshakes are better than wine slushies. And both are probably best as an occasional indulgence.

Friday was our last full day in DC; we walked to the International Spy Museum to learn how to be secret agents. While most of the content was too much for Madelyn (not quite 4 years old), there was enough to look at that she wandered through while Grayson assumed a secret agent identity and worked through intrigue with Greg, and I ready signs in many exhibits. This is a really cool place – especially for ages 6+, and I hope we make it back next time around. Washington DC is the type of city you can go back to over and over (especially if you are a museum loving sign reader)!

The last highlight of the trip was -surprisingly- on our travel home, where the pilot offered to let us go in the cockpit for a photo. More surprisingly, while many questions about the numerous buttons were asked, none were pushed by our children (to my relief).