DC day by day: one

Our spring break trek to Washington, D.C. started off early. Well, early as in we had to wake the girls up rather than the other way around. The car was packed and we were mostly ready to go the night before, but we were on the road shortly after 6am. 

We drove tandem with the Holbrooks. Their car has cruise control. Ours does not. Poor Ryan.

We made a quick and freezing stop in the Bronx for some gas and goodies and then stopped for lunch at a classy rest stop {seriously, it really was classy compared to most I've seen!} in New Jersey. We, however, were not classy and ate Burger King in our traveling clothes, aka jammies. After bellies were filled and diapers were changed, we continued south down the turnpike to our destination. 

Our first stop was north of the city at the Washington, D.C. LDS Temple. It's a pretty astounding view as you head down the congested 495 and see it floating on the hill. Thank goodness for clean bathrooms in church buildings. You can always count on that. 

Our second stop was Great Falls, MD where we saw a roaring Potomac River. A quick walk over some bridges got us to the biggest falls and everyone except Kate was impressed. Kate was just mad that it was windy {really, really windy} and mom forgot to pack her socks. Don't worry, Brixton's mom packed him too many socks and just happened to have an extra pair in her purse, so Kate wore those for the next five days.

After Great Falls, we headed to Bethesda {the Holbrooks former stomping grounds} for dinner at Mike's favorite, Cava {yum} and dessert at Michelle's favorite, Georgetown Cupcake {also yum}. After a quick visit to a toy store to warm our hands, we drove south through Georgetown and around the city to our hotel in Alexandria, VA. I wish I could bottle the excitement these two had when they knew they were out of the car for good {and playing on Leah's mattress, to boot}. Since no bottling technique exists {that I know of}, these blurry pictures will have to do.

States visited: Nine {plus a district}: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The last three were firsts for all four of the Laytons!

And can I just say our girls are stellar travelers? 

Okay. Our girls are stellar travelers.

On to day two...