Wherein we ride the metro for fun

One of our very last days in the District (sometime in the last week but I can't remember which day), I decided that instead of taking the girls to a museum, which is what I wanted to do, I decided to take them for a metro ride out to the airport. 

I know that doesn't sound exciting, but I just knew they would love it. I'd been out to the the airport via metro several times, but they hadn't. I wanted to take them because the metro goes above ground for a while when you go that direction (other lines probably do the same, but I knew about this one and how easy it was to navigate). Claire was too little when we lived in Boston to remember taking the T (the green line is largely above-ground, and we lived on the green line), but she LOVED it as a baby, and I knew that all three of them would love this, too. And, boy, did they!

Brynnie wanted to hang on, too.

When I say that my children are extroverts, I could not possibly stress that enough. They sat by this lady for all of THREE MINUTES and had her showing them pictures of her dog and learning all about him.

And Lily excitedly told her all kinds of things, too. Who even knows? Our new friend's train came before ours, but she told me that chatting with the girls made her day. Which made my day.

This picture just kills me with the cuteness.

The ride out to the airport goes through two or three Pentagon stops, so all manner of military personnel get on and off for a while, and let me tell you: they were thoroughly tickled watching the girls squeal with delight of going above ground AND over the Potomac. It was so cute.

We arrived at the airport, switched platforms, and waited on our train to take us right back. I passed out snacks, and we watched they different kinds of travelers who joined us from the airport. 

We switched sides of the train so we could see the sights on the other side of the tracks, if you will. They were just as excited and delighted on the way back, as well. Both of the big girls kept telling me how much fun they were having and how much they were enjoying it...so I decided to make an extra stop on the way home and take them to see the gate and fun crosswalks in Chinatown.

I very much cannot handle this picture. They posed themselves and I melted.

When we got back to Dupont, they were very tired. And ready for lunch. We got back just before we had some serious breakdowns. 

It was really such a good day. The girls talked about it for hours and thanked me repeatedly. I'm so glad I cleared off my museum to-do list and did the things that they enjoyed so much. They're growing up so fast, and I will miss the days when metro rides over the river are the stuff dreams are made of. I'll never regret spending our morning that way.