Nick isn’t allowed to take any vacation days during his year of language training, so when Nia’s week-long spring break rolled around, we came up with the next best thing–we had her Grandparents come here! This is no small thing, as Nick’s Parents, Robert & Joyce, live all the way across the country in Bend, OR. We were so grateful when they said yes!
Robert and Joyce lived in D.C. for 10 years, so they’ve seen all the major sites. However, I came up with two that they hadn’t to yet: the newly opened Planet Word museum (it’s AMAZING, by the way) and the often overlooked Postal Museum. I was quite proud of myself. The postal museum even had a baseball exhibit going on (both Grandparents love baseball), so it was a double win.
I have a tendency to want to jam lots of things in (Miller family trait), but they were insistent that we spend as much time just hanging out together as we did seeing sights. So in the day I’d plan one big or two small activities while Nick was off at school, then they’d take some downtime at the hotel before we all shared dinner around our small table each night. It ended up being a very good pace for all (I think I’m slowing down a notch in my middle age…) and the weather was absolute perfection too–sunny and 70s for most of the week.
Nia also insisted on doing 1-on-1 activities with each of her Grandparents. With Grandma, she chose to make cookies (something they do every time we visit), since Grandma is a top-notch baker.
Nia also wanted to die Easter eggs with Grandma, so that was another afternoon activity we slotted in toward the end of the trip.
With Grandpa, she wanted to do two major walking outings. The first was to visit all the monuments around the tidal basin (no small feat–that’s a ton of walking!) and the second was a trip to Nia’s other favorite spot, Arlington Cemetery. This time Grandpa was insistent on something–that they get Nia’s picture at Abner Doubleday’s Tomb (Abner was credited with creating baseball–I told you they were big fans!) Apparently this is a tradition, as we got to see a very old picture of Robert’s brother next to this very same tombstone. :)
As you can tell from the photos, it was a wonderful week. We loved our time together and are so grateful they were willing to make the long journey to see us. It made for a very memorable spring break!
