Ross Family Blog

Last day in D.C.

Clark told us one of their favorite places in D.C. is the FREE zoo! Since we saw almost all the sights we could to see (including the Smithsonian American History Museum), and neither of us can remember the last time we went to a zoo, we decided that would be a cool place to check out. And it was!

after we took the long metro ride and walk to the zoo, we fueled up at the Starbucks across the street and headed inside!

Here are a few of the cool animals we saw:

Sloth Bear

Cheetah

Pandas on lease from China

red tailed panda---super cute!

Elephants

Gorillas

Lions

Apes

Turtles

Zebras

And quite possibly my favorite animal of the day: The Naked Mole Rats

(if you haven't read Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems you need to)

On our way back to our hotel we stopped at Iwo Jima (to nurse!)

View from Iwo Jima (very close to our hotel)

Walking back to the Metro to catch a train to the airport. Are you impressed with our minimal luggage? What you see is everything we brought and Keith carried it all the whole time!

Crying a little on the plane :( Sorry other passengers, 4 hours is too long of a plane ride for us!

Once she fell asleep she was amazing the whole trip back!

All in all it was a truly wonderful trip! The wedding was so fun, the sight seeing was superb, the weather was fantastic (75-80 degrees and sunny the whole time!), and Kendall surpassed all our expectations! Someday we'll return so Kendall can actually remember it :)

Jon & Jenna Hudlow

In an adorable little chapel in Georgetown D.C. we witnessed the vows of Jenna and Jon!

Husband & Wife!

The reception was a dinner cruise around the city---Kendall was really excited about it :)

I did say "was" excited!

The beautiful bride!

It was a very special day to be a part of, Thanks Jenna for including us!

Travel trooper

Turns out we like to celebrate Kendall's month birthdays with trips! We started out small, by driving about an hour north to Stoneridge for a week, right around her one month birthday. The next step up was a 7 hour drive to Longview and Portland, around her two month birthday. And just before her three month birthday, we took her to Washington D.C! I guess we need to consider crossing an ocean for her four month birthday! Boy, things are going to get really pricey at this rate!!!

The real reason for the D.C. trip was for a dear friend, and former Young Life girls, wedding---makes me feel super old that now two of my campaigner group girls are now married women! Sheesh! The funny thing is they are only a year younger than I was when I got married almost 5 years ago. The age gap is shrinking quickly.

After a few flights, a little crying through security, and a really long night, we arrived Friday afternoon and began our adventures in D.C. We figured we would not be able to do all the touristy things considering we had Kendall, however she proved to be an amazing traveler and we saw significantly more than we anticipated. We also decided to not rent a car and navigate the city via public transportation. And also thought this would be extra tricky with a little one, but it wasn't hard at all! Once we found and settled into our hotel we headed out to explore. Keith's friend Clark recently lived here and we called on him to tell us which things needed to be seen. He suggested the Lincoln Memorial and the WWII Memorial should be seen at night. Here is a picture capturing both, WOW!

We decided after this night time trek that the stroller wasn't necessary. Kendall preferred to be carried in the front pack and the stroller takes up too much space on the metro. However, no stroller = no car seat = no last minute cab rides = plan ahead!