Washington DC with friends Day 1, 2, 3 and 4

We got up bright and early to be at the airport at 0500!  Boarded our flight at 7:15 - and after a stop and a change of planes in Denver we landed at Dulles late Saturday afternoon.  We were SO excited to finally be visiting our friends who are so much more than friends, they are our family.  Our adoption journey has brought us the best experiences, the best people, just the absolutely best EVERYthing - we love the Clark family so much and we were beyond excited to finally get some quality time together with them.  We are Blessed beyond measure that Misty and Kumi were able to join me and Sakura for several days on our visit - there will never be enough time no matter how many days we get, we would always want more, but we are SO grateful that they were able to come and spend several days with us. Thank you Clark family - we can't wait until we see you again in a few months!!!

OK I have to brag on my daughter, she was THE best traveler ever - she sat so nice and quiet on the plane that when we landed all of the people around me came up and told me they didn't even know there was a child around! :)  Proud Mommy Moment!!!

We arrived late afternoon, so we didn't get much done, but I would bet Kumi's most memorable experience of our trip took place in the first few minutes .... Sakura is one that tells you she needs to go potty WHEN it's time!  Not a second beforehand.  So driving to our hotel she announced that she needed to go - I let Misty know, and of course we weren't in any place that was convenient so I told her to just pull over and I would take Sakura on the side of the road .... So Misty made a turn into a nice gated housing development I rushed Sakura out and behind the subdivision sign and we were back on the road in a matter of seconds.  Kumi kept telling her Mom that Sakura went potty in the grass!  LOL!  We got to the hotel, and headed out to dinner at a Thai restaurant.  Afterwards we went upstairs, played a few games of hide-and-seek with the girls, then bath and bed.  Auntie Misty had given Sakura a matching pair of pjs ... These girls were too funny (as you'll see in all of my posts, one would want a picture and inevitably the other one wouldn't - then the other would and the first wouldn't, so getting anything fantastic of both of them was quite challenging for me!).

Here Sakura was ready, but Kumi didn't want any part of it.

Day 2 of our trip I don't think I took a single picture, I did take some with my cell phone, but nothing with the SLR - we kind of got our plans all mixed up because of the guys.  Dean was arriving and Shane was coming to the city for work, so we decided to just hang out at the mall, do a little shopping, then meet up with them for dinner, so we could ALL be together, figuring this was our only opportunity.  Our dinner was pretty much a nightmare, and we probably should have done something else, but it didn't matter, we were all together so we made the best of the much longer than an hour wait for our food, mind you we were the ONLY people in the restaraunt - thank goodness my food was good, otherwise UGH!  We topped it off with a nice pink taxi ride back to the hotel.  Thank Goodness for GREAT company!

The best part of dinner was the Company!  We LOVE the Clark family!

Day 3 of our trip we got up early and headed to Baltimore to the National Aquarium, it was REALLY dark inside the aquarium and nearly impossible to get any pictures.

We won't let any old rain get in our way
of having a great time.  I snapped this
with my cell and loved it! The girls
look SO adorable with their
umbrellas, Sakura's 1st experience
with one!

Auntie and the girls

Day 4 we all headed to China Town and lunch at Auntie Misty's favorite Chop't, then we attempted to go to a store in Georgetown but found that it had closed, BUT we walked to Georgetown Cupcakes - which if I haven't mentioned before are THE best cupcakes EVER! They top Sprinkles and every other cupcake I've ever tasted!!!  OMGOSH, words aren't adequate!  Then we aught the Metro and headed to Misty's hotel where the girls and Auntie took a dip in the pool (Mommy forgot her bathing suit).

China Town

With Auntie

UGH - this fan caused melt-down ....
because it didn't "work" (as in stay open)

Excited to get on the Metro

Just after this, Sakura took a tumble
on the escalator, scratching her leg in
three places.

I love all of the porches/brick, etc, in DC

SEE what I mean, Kumi posing SO nicely
and Sakura sticking out her tongue .... silly girls

There's a nice one :) - LOVE the hydrangeas

Um yeah we don't have moss here, or bricks for that matter

BLISS!!!  Georgetown Cupcakes are the BOMB!

DELICIOUS!!!!!

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed!

Playing "dragon" with their towel while Auntie gets her suit on

The next few pictures are out of order and I couldn't get them moved so bear with me.

Sakura enjoying her cupcake (she chose)
after dinner

SO nicely taking turns in the pool

Sakura is ready to go swimming!

Auntie with the girlies

After the swim we headed back to our hotel room to catch up with Daddy for dinner .... actually the "reason" for our trip was because he was attending some mandatory LSS training at Ft. Belvoir.

I begged Dean to sit outside and eat since we don't
get to do that at home much, unfortunately seconds after
our food arrived so did a storm and we had to grab
our food and head for shelter!

See I really was there - Mommy and Sakura at dinner

This one is out of order too - seconds after we left Auntie's
hotel room, Sakura was HAPPY that we had the stroller again
and she didn't have to walk ... she fell asleep within a second!