Alla, your mission should you choose to accept it , is to take 2 children and a husband, drive 5.5 hours, pass three state and somehow manage to be on time, in a place with no parking, at one specific hour to complete paper work.
for some months we were debating where to go. in the summer we will be visiting saint petersburg. to avoid the need to obtain a Russian visa, we decided to get the kids israeli passports- no need for a visa this way. the problem is a lack of consulate around here, so Chicago, Washington new York and Miami were debated heavily. Thanks giving was the only time we can take the kids away without taking a priceless vacation day.
we started getting ready, get kids photos, get hospital birth record (its not birth certificates), get birth certificates certified and get clarification on when the consulates are open.
on Wednesday was working and alla spent all day, packing, at 4 i picked up Mattan and headed to Nathan's birthday- happy 4th... kids were running around on slides and trampoline and i returned home to finish packing and around 7 PM we finally left and headed east. driving is always fun after a long day, at night, with complaining kids.. Tal fell a sleep after a long hour, mattan took another hour, i somehow stayed awake as we pulled into Haggerstown Maryland after 11.
Alla fell in love again, not with me, with the hotel. homewood suites. parking, pool, , 1st floor room, breakfast , fairly large room with kitchen and the crib was already there- the full check list. we loaded up the room and after a few minutes of kids jumping on the bed, way after bed time. the key for the love was Tal's room. we needed a quite room for the crib and this specific room was perfect, had its own internal door and some extra features- like toilet and sink. the bath room was perfect for a sleeping baby, the crib slid right in. lucky Tal will not remember this. I also crashed soon after.
I woke up and took bathroom baby out for breakfast, few minutes later the table was full with cereal, raisins , milk and other stuff. a Christmas tree with full lights was in the room and soon one of the fruit looking decoration was broken by bathroom baby. soon Mattan wakes, short breakfast and pool and we leave early around 11 am and head for the national zoo.
we reached the zoo an hour and a half later and Tal falls a sleep, i stay in the car with him and leave the lights on while Mattan\Alla team go and enjoy the cheethas.
a bit later, i get the now awoken kid to the zoo, after the car refuses to start.
we go fast to meet the rest and head directly to the zoo restaurant. strange zoo, i see no animals, its a bit cold but not that cold, all the animals stay hidden, we see sculptures of various mammals. lunch is pretty horrible, avoid the mane restaurant.
we continue on, the urang utang are hidden, so are the lemurs. we see some snakes and various lizards. the gorillas were interesting- one of them was stretching and doing yoga.
the enjoy the cheetahs and red wolves and the car finally starts 2 minutes before the AAA person arrives. too much for the kids and we head for the hotel with a stop at trade joe's we are low on Mattan's "special rice that i like"
cookies and very good lemon tea awaited for us at yet another home wood suites, in Bethesda now. the pool was ok and the kids move from the cold pool to the hot tub. mattan was playing with a 6 year old girl hide and seek in the pool without hiding really well. after special rice dinner we all went to bed with tal in his bathroom nightly prison.
in the morning, we found the consulate, we came early and learned there is no parking.. great location. we went to a nearby play ground for a while and returned. the cops on duty let us park in the Pakistani embassy lots - there are several embassies here, passed security. we feared long lines, but found it fairly empty. but a small room with only chairs and a water fountain is not ideal, we kept chasing after them in the automatic doors, away from the water fountain and the one fountain that Tal just had to explore... twice.
after about an hour we finished all paper work and headed out, mission accomplished.
we went to another playground in chevi chase. regular slides but this one had lots of bikes and other kid rides. i wondered how they are not stolen. the kids enjoyed running around.
originally we were meant to see friends in Baltimore, a single stomach virus change out plans, we had no choice but to go to Uncle Julio's... mmmmm... by far the best Mexican place. after a serious stuffing, we went looking for victor.
we bribed Mattan with Victor (an engine from Thomas the train) if he would sleep a week in his bed, the bribe is working, but now it was time to pay. we left the restaurant area and didn't find a good toy store, on black Friday mind you. and finally searched for Barns and Nobel (also sell trains) and found one, right next to the restaurant, we drove back and i stayed in with a napping Tal while Alla went to find a 10$ toy
and hour and 75$ later Alla returns with ice cream wake up and headed out of downtown Bethesda row, we looked for trader Joe's again only to find out it again a street next to the restaurant, this time we decided not to go back, that area is busy, especially on black Friday. the rest of the day was spent at the hotel, pool once more and early nap to digest the Tortillas
lucky for hotel breakfast, we don't have to clean up after the serial cereal droppers.
there was a kids shop, right next to uncle Julio's that area has everything but instead we went to the KID museum, which is a big room filled with kids science activities. the kids spent two hours pushing ping pong balls into vacum tubes, building vavum pipes, creating pipe networks. this place is for a bit older kids but they had fun. the place also had 3D printers and i saw some printed creations. neath.
later it was time for lunch, we didn't think long and headed for Uncle Julio's .... so good.
with the kids half napping in the car we drove for 3 hours to seven springs.
we stopped at a rural Italian place for a bit of pizza and a little dropping water on our table and the one next to ours.
we reached seven springs after dark and the whole resort is full of lights. trees are lit all over and it looks very pretty.
we checked in to this ski resort, enjoyed some pool time, and finally Tal had a crib in an actual room.
this is opening weekend here and all the snow is man made. in the mronign we had an excellent breakfast - chef made omelette, and some other goodies. and a frosty surprise.
Frosty himself came to breakfast. at first Tal was scared, but then he wouldn't stop hugging the mysterious person in the frosty suit. mattan was hugging him two and Tal wrestled him out of the way to get another hug.
this resort, the hotel part is spread out and we kept going back and forth. we spent some time at the arcade. i had both kids then and trying to play video games with both is a bit much, since they want different machines. there is a big slot machine game and someone won 1000 tickets, jack pot twice in a row.... the machine was printing tickets for 30 minutes. with 2500 you can get a zebra... so big money on the table. they had so much they handed us a handful of tickets and both received some knickknacks.
these winners had so many rewards that they gave us the rest... we were just in the right plane at the right time for a few little things we don't really need.
we passed the little Santa village , rode the indoor train, Tal loved it Mattan is beginning to be too old for this (yes... already :( ) and took a horse and wagon ride out side in the big parking lot- kind of lame, but Frosty was on with us and Tal just loves frosty.
we played a few more games in the arcade, i shared a Jurassic park shooting game with Mattan, he loved it, but wasn't really aiming his laser gun.
it was a bit after noon when got some pizza, ice cream, a cookie and we hit the road, and around 3 hours later we reached home where there is no pool, but tal has a private room
on the way Mattan reached state #6 with Maryland + district of Colombia - so 6.5
Tal is now with 5.5 states.
and poor me, no new destinations.... just a great event less weekend
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