here comes our niece

Our niece, Alexis, came to visit us for our last week here in Maryland. We did our best to show her a good time and to give her the ultimate Washington DC trip! We definitely kept her busy and took her to some good restaurants. She was pretty brave to come all this way to stay with her crazy aunt and uncle, and it turned out to be a pretty good time!
Our itinerary:
Monday: Kraig met his sister halfway in Pennsylvania and got Alexis. He brought her back to our apartment in Maryland, and I made a most excellent lasagna for dinner.

Tuesday: Alexis got her Metro SmartTrip card, and we rode the subway into Washington DC. I am glad that Alexis agrees with me on the wonders of riding the subway! We went to the National Archives to see the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Then we walked amidst all of the giant federal buildings and museums to the Capitol.
We met in our representative, Fred Upton's office and were given a private tour by one of his interns. It was fun and informative. We saw the Rotunda, the old Supreme Court, went in the Crypt below the Rotunda, and visited the Whisper Spot in Statuary Hall. In the middle of the Crypt there is a star on the floor. This is the point at which Washington DC is laid out and divided into North, South, East, and West. The Whisper Spot used to be where John Adams sat in an old room of Congress. At this spot in the room, you can hear what people are whispering about on the other side of the room. People used to think that he was sleeping when he was really eavesdropping! It really does work too.. we could hear people whispering from across the room. We saw lots of architecture, painting, and statues. We even learned about some of the controversial paintings and statues there. Another cool part, was that we got to go in the underground tunnels leading from the office buidlings to the Capitol! We learned a lot of things.. so many that I have already forgotten.
Then we took the taxi to Fuddruckers because we were starving. We were so hungry that we skipped touring the House of Representatives. The food was great and we rubbed it in my sister-in-law's face that we were there and she wasn't. She loves Fuddruckers, and that's why we went there. Then, we went through Ford's Theatre (where Lincoln was shot) and the Peterson House (where he later died). We shopped for souvenirs and walked past the

White House. Kraig and Alexis (with their wonderful eyesight) actually saw Michelle Obama get out of her car and walk into the White House! Lucky them. We ended the evening by riding the subway to Rockville, MD to eat dinner with my old college roommate, Ashley and her husband, Andrew. It was really fun and the brewery was pretty cool. It was good to see them again!
Wednesday: Alexis and I went to Six Flags in Maryland. We rode tons of rollercoasters, got ripped off by the sky high prices, and went to the water park. My favorite rollercoaster was the Superman.. it had a really big initial drop. Alexis liked the Joker rollercoaster, which I also enjoyed. However, I loved the water park the most. We went in the wave pool, lazy river, and down some water slides. Kraig picked us up and we met my old college swim teammates at a Mexican restaurant in downtown DC. After dinner, we got to see their cool apartment which is pretty close to the Hard Rock Cafe and right in the city. I really liked that and wanted to live there too! After we left, we walked to the National Mall to see the monuments at night. The Captiol and Washington Monument look really cool at night.

Thursday: We got to Washington DC early to get tickets to go up into the Washington Monument and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. We got tickets... We ate some breakfast at a dinky little cafe- then rode the Metro to the National Zoo. The Zoo was pretty cool and it was completely free! We saw pandas, hippos, and elephants.
After the zoo, we headed back to DC to go up in the Washington monument.. (Oh yah, it was pouring down buckets of rain by this time and we were soaked). We bought some ponchos from a street vendor and kept walking! Unfortunately, the only time that the Washington Monument closed due to the weather that day was when we were supposed to go up inside it! Oh well, we still got to see it up close (it sheltered us from the rain for awhile). Then we visited the Lincoln Memorial and circled back to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for our tour. They make all of the paper money for the East Coast here and make the money for the West Coast in Texas. It was cool to see all of the money being made- there was so much of it and that was just what they made that one day! After that we took a taxi to La Tosca to meet up with our friends Brian and Karla for dinner.
It was a really fun and different dinner because it was a tapas restaurant. That means that we all shared a multitude of appetizers and got to taste small portions of a lot of different dishes. We all had a good time and got to taste some really great food! We continued to battle the rain all the way to the cupcake bakery. Brian loves sweets and I know that he was all about the cupcakes! We all had a really great time. I am going to miss Brian and Karla so much. After that, we took our last subway ride back to Maryland.

Friday: recuperation day! We mostly just lounged around the apartment and Kraig and Alexis went to a movie in the evening (while I was at work).

Saturday: Kraig and Alexis went to Calvert Cliffs State Park to hunt for fossils. I guess it was really hot- but they got to see the Chesapeake Bay and did find some fossilized sea shells. I had my last night at work, which is always sad. I worked with a lot of really nice people here and the hospital wasn't too bad!

Sunday: We packed up the apartment and packed up the cars. We made our last visit to the duck pond across the street and took Alexis to Captain Billy's Crab Shack for dinner.

Monday: All of us made the journey back to Michigan. Goodbye Maryland and Washington DC! I will actually miss you. There were a lot of fun things to do there, and we will definitely be coming back!