We embarked on our first air travel as a foursome to Philadelphia and Washington D.C. to bury Nana and Poppop in Arlington National cemetery and to allow GG (Great Grandma) to meet her great grandsons. All things considered it was actually quite easy. We had a direct flight to DC and had a minivan waiting for us there. Ben was super excited to ride on the Light Rail in the morning to get from our parking to our terminal.
Yes we are those people at airports that everyone looks at with evil side eyes and dirty glances as we have tons of stuff impinging on the overhead bins. Little do they know I am all about stuffing everything within arms reach so it all gets put in the one square foot of space they allow for one's personal bubble whilst traveling in coach.
Ben was stoked to have the window seat but not at all happy to have Jimmy anywhere near him.
And Ben got to ride a real train and meet an actual conductor once we were in Wayne. We wanted to check out the new house the got built where Nana and Poppops had been so we drove our van and Saaron and Ben rode the train from Wayne to Devon.
Then we ventured out to Valley Forge Park. It couldn't have been more beautiful. We left a white and snow covered Minnesota to arrive in what some would call past peak in the East Coast but what I would call fall. So nice to see colors again.
Jimmy appreciated the significance of the location more than most of us did.
Then we decided to have a little precursor to Jimmy's birthday since the funeral was going to be on his actual birthday and we didn't know what was going to happen. The little chunkster wasn't as in to cake as I would have imagined. Maybe it was just that particular cake. More on that on the other post though.
Grandma even consented to photos with the boys which about blew my socks off. The whole experience at her house was so nice. I was very nervous as I remember not being able to ride the stair chair elevator thing and having to be very careful, with two boys I didn't see careful in the cards but it worked out amazingly.
Ben was given permission to ride up and down as many times as his little heart desired. He loved it.
Grandma did not consent to this picture, but it was a wonderful moment so I decided to "check my email" just then and happened to capture it.
Grethel even got in on the Jimmy action. Ben got a little stir crazy up in Grandma's room so would sometimes come down and the most amazing chef in the world is apparantly a toddler whisperer too and she and Ben would play on the couch.
We had to leave to get down to DC to check in to the hotel and meet up with the rest of the family. We had a couple free moments to take in some sights though. . . These two. Can't help but re-enact wedding photos whenever given the opportunity.
Giulia has been in DC pretty much since college (except for a stint in NYC) so she was so kind as to meet up with us in the epicenter of tourism that is the National Mall to go to the Air and Space museum on a Sunday. And I got to meet her man. Her man that she has been with for 10 years and I have heard all about, through the ups and downs, the multinational long distance thing that they had going for TEN years and survived. What a great thing. And you know he is good when you have to chase an over tired and hypoglycemic three year old around while dealing with an overtired and sick of being in the stroller one year old and never lost his cool swagger.
How can you not stop for cheesy photos in these locations?!
As we were walking around I kept thinking that someday DC is going to be what ancient Greece is to us now with all the statues and monuments and what not. Whatever, it is cool to see.
Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate for the burial. It was a very special ceremony for something that happens every 15 minutes every day of the week every day of the year. Their gravestone overlooks the Airforce Memorial statue thing which is only fitting. After the ceremony we had an Irish Wake at a pub.
It was great to see Matt and Alex and to meet Matt's lady friend. She's a keeper I hope.
The kiddos did really well all things considered.
And Ben got to compare his tats with some real ink.
Two different generations of James with some DeWolves thrown in.
It was short and sweet and unfortunately too long since seeing this whole part of the family but it couldn't have goon more smoothly. Until next time.
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