Adventures around DC: A family friendly dispatch

My posts have been travel heavy over the last few months; we've been on the road almost as much as we've been home, which doesn't leave much time for creative endeavors. Believe me, it takes all the creativity I can muster to get our luggage together to fly with two tiny kids. (Crayons? Check. Treats? Check. Books? Check. Sanity? Hmm...)

We have one more trip on the books for this month—Colorado!—and then I'm planning to stay put for a few weeks or even months. I've got a long list of neglected project ideas to tackle, and I'm sure the girls would appreciate spending their afternoons playing in the backyard before it gets too hot to venture out.

Next week I'll be sharing a post about the one project we've managed to complete lately: our new raised garden beds. Until then, here's a quick DC dispatch.

This post was supposed to be filled with gorgeous photos from the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It is not. Our recent trip up to DC happened to coincide with the estimated peak bloom dates. But after a few weeks of colder-than-average weather, we arrived just as the estimated peak was pushed back by several weeks.

Regardless, we had a lovely and snowy visit to the city. While there a million activities to do and places to eat in and around DC, I'm going to share with you just a few that we hit up this time.

First let's talk about family-friendly food. Cafe Deluxe in Bethesda was packed with families enjoying Saturday brunch...though we may have been most boisterous family present. Guapo's has been a decades-long favorite Mexican spot of my DC relatives (and therefore a decades-long favorite of mine), so naturally we had to introduce the girls to it via take-out. And have you tried HomeMade Pizza? They sell prepared pizzas and calzones to take home and bake. A friend brought over some calzones, along with a giant chocolate chip cookie. We baked them while we got the girls ready for bed, then devoured dinner as soon as the house was quiet. The cookie lasted approximately 30 seconds.

Now we must discuss one of my all-time favorite bookstores: Politics and Prose, which I first visited as a kid with my aunt and uncle about 20 years ago. (I’m not really old enough to say that, am I?) It’s always on my list of stops when I'm back in town.

Of course this visit was different for two reasons: 1) I had the little one with me and 2) I've become a caffeine addict, preferably in mocha form, since said kids arrived in my life. These differences caused me to make the following discoveries: 1) The store has a great kids' section. We even happened upon a musical story hour, about which Nora was hand-clapping enthusiastic and Cricket was mildly terrified. And 2) Modern Times Coffeehouse, on the lower level, makes an incredible mocha, which is the measure by which all coffeehouses should be evaluated.

Oh, and did I mention that Politics and Prose has an espresso book machine? I've been dreaming of printing books on one of those nifty machines for years but haven't finished anything worthy. Yet.

Unlike musical story hour, animals are popular with both our girls. We spent a morning at the National Zoo and are still talking about all our animal sightings. I had forgotten how pleasant it is to walk around the zoo, especially on a cool morning before the crowds arrive.

Planning your next adventure? Click here for more ideas.