Wrenzy Loves "I Love to See the Temple" - Flashback to Feb. 2017

I just found this draft post that I wrote in February 2017, when Wrenzy was 22 months old. I never published it and forgot about it. I guess I'll post it now, even though it's so old I don't even remember Wrenzy this little...

When I put Wren to bed, I read to her, and then she turns off the light and I sing to her before putting her in bed. I generally offer her "I Love to See the Temple," "I Am a Child of God," and "Families Can Be Together Forever." She always wants "I Love to See the Temple." Always. On 2/6, I asked, "Should we do 'I Am a Child of God?'" She said, "God" (because she often just repeats the last word you say). I started singing it, and she put both hands on my neck and got right in my face and said, in the cutest, raspiest voice, "I want 'Temple.'" I thought she was going to kiss me because sometimes she does that before I put her down. She grabs my face and pulls it to her and kisses me over and over again. But this time she just repeated "I want 'Temple'" about three times. So I switched songs.

Virginia: Harper's Ferry & Going Home

Thursday, October 4, we went to Harper's Ferry. It's quite a quaint, lovely place, and John Brown is fascinating.

Ever tries to climb everything.

I got this shot before Tiny started trying to climb up the side (guess it runs in the family):

It was unseasonably warm, so the little ladies were red-faced.

Jefferson Rock.

More climbing.

Wrenzy and Tiny got into a deep conversation, and then something really shocking happened.

Jim loved this picture in the John Brown Museum:

We had the museum to ourselves for the first little while, and it was really nice to be able to let the kids run free.

We crossed the bridge and walked briefly on the Appalachian Trail by the river.

I wished we could keep going and going, but we were short on time and had to hurry back. As we returned to the car, the clouds rolled in and created a fun sky that my phone did not capture.

Friday we traveled home. Coco, of course, sent us off with bellies full of Nutella waffles. Tiny was a big fan (as was everyone else, but I only got pictures of Tiny).

Big E played some Solitaire on the plane.

Good travelers, all. Love that they can haul their own stuff now.

Tiny is our happy-go-lucky lunatic.

It was a wonderful week that went way too quickly!

Virginia: George Washington University

On Wednesday morning, the littles caught up on their reading. 

We met Lucy for lunch and a brief tour of GW. George and Wren hit it off.

Lucy had to rush to class, but the rest of us enjoyed ice cream sandwiches at the famed Captain Cookie.

Virginia: Philadelphia (That's a Confusing Title)

On Tuesday, October 2, Coco took us to Philadelphia. Some of us were very tired.

We went straight for cheesesteaks since we got there at lunchtime. We ordered at Pat's, and then Coco ran over to grab one from Geno's so we could compare and opine. We unanimously voted for Pat's. It was amazing. I really, really enjoyed my first Philly cheesesteak experience.

After lunch, we went to the visitor center to try to get tickets to the room where the Constitution was signed. Coco was overwhelmed with frustration and sadness when we were told they were sold out for the day. She had to step away from the desk and let Jim and me talk to the visitor center lady. She had tried to take people there before and had the same problem. For our visit, she tried to purchase tickets online the day before but was unable. She said it's a really special experience being in that room and was super sad we couldn't go. We really didn't mind, though. There was plenty of other stuff to do, and we'll go back someday.

First historical stop was the Liberty Bell, which Ever had recently learned about at school. Coco tried to get a family photo for us, but the littles were uncooperative.

We walked over to Independence Hall. 

We saw copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, along with the silver inkstand that was supposedly used during the signing of the Declaration and Constitution.

Coco was at her wit's end with an exhausted Anson who refused to sleep, despite her best efforts at rocking and bouncing.

We took a tour of Congress Hall and saw rooms where things happened. I worried a lot about the movements and noises of the littles during the talk.

On the field across from Independence Hall, Tony took off crawling. Tiny went after him and tried desperately to convince him to go back to us.

We tried to be fun by going to a bakery and buying a ton of treats. As is generally the case at such places - even those that are highly reviewed - most of the treats were incredibly disappointing. Why can nobody make something that looks fancy and tastes great?

We made it to the Benjamin Franklin museum less than 30 minutes before it closed, and the young people had to hit the bathroom before we could start looking around. Wrenzy threw a tantrum over something as we finished in the bathroom, so I had to deal with that for a while. Needless to say, I didn't end up having enough time in the museum but enjoyed what I saw. Tiny was all over Anson, as usual.

Outside, the kids had the time of their lives putting leaves and rocks into the top of a cone. Never has there been a more entertaining game.

The last stop on the Philly tour was the Museum of Art. Jim played the theme song from Rocky as we approached. We explained the movie to Ever and promised to show her a clip later. We posed by the statue.

Then we ran up the steps to the museum and enjoyed the view of the city at dusk. I love this sequence of pictures - Jim and Ever photobombing and then joining:

We showed Ever the training montage from Rocky after we got home. Since that day, she has been totally obsessed with the movie. She talks about it all the time. She begs to watch it. She searched Pandora for "Rocky" and now plays Rocky music (and other 80's rock, mostly from movie soundtracks) all the time. She seems to have my addictive personality.