My dearest, darlingest Jennie Bunny was visiting the coast of the east recently and was going to be at the DC Visitor's Center one Sunday afternoon. Aaron and I talked at church and I told him I couldn't get up there because I would be watching the kiddos (Monkey and Bug). He said, "Bring 'em with." Now you know it's a special kind of guy who suggests I bring along a very active two year old and a four month old baby with reflux to any activity. What was even specialer was John. We told him we were going (Me, Christy and Aaron) and invited him to come along. He looked like he was going to say no. Christy said, "We're taking Lindsey's nephews with us" and he said, "Okay, I'll go." That was his decision maker! See how ADORABLE my nephews are?!
So, off we went for an adventure. It was highly possible that both boys would cry all the way there and all the way back. Monkey was without nap and Bug just gets really tired of his car seat. But I had medicinal instructions for both boys (Monkey was getting over a virus at the time) to maintain optimal cuteness. About 20 minutes before we were going to be leaving, Bug could no longer keep his eyes open - he fell asleep while John was holding him.
Let me just say here that John is a bigger baby hog than me. That's saying a lot. He hardly shared Bug with me the entire time.
So, Bug slept half way there and woke just in time for Aaron to feed him. John and Monkey hung out in the back seat and read some books. Everyone was happy!
When we got to where we could see the Temple, Monkey loved it. He occasionally called it a castle and was happiest when he could get a good view of it. We met our friends (Jennie and Co.) and went to the Visitors Center. Christy and John took the boys inside while the rest of us took a couple of photos. I went in to check on Monkey and found this...
He was patiently waiting to hear Jesus talk to him. He couldn't get enough of that statue. A sister missionary talked to him and told him he would hear the words of Jesus and he just soaked it in. While we were listening to the recording, John was talking and Monkey turned around and said, "Jesus talking!" as in, "shhh. This is important!" He just kept telling us all how Jesus talked.
Later there was an announcement made by an Elder telling us the Joseph Smith movie was going to be playing in the large theater and Monkey looked around at us and said, "Jesus talking!" Now we are waiting for the day when an announcement is made over a loud speaker at the airport or store and he thinks it's Jesus.
We went and looked at a lego version of the Nauvoo Temple which was cool then we headed back to see and listen to Jesus again.
This wasn't posed at all. I asked him to go sit in front of Jesus and say cheese, but he couldn't stop looking up at him. This is one of my new all-time favorite pictures.
Then we went to see the photo exhibit of President Hinckley. These were my two favorite groups of photos. I am so happy we got to see this exhibit. I hadn't realized it was up, but it was so beautiful and touching. What a great man he was.
Finally, we headed out to take photos of the boys in front of the temple. This was a feat in and of itself. In the end I got a few good ones considering how tired they both were at this point.
Picture this. Two tired boys, overdue for a nap. One toddler who has just been told that if he sits and holds his baby brother for one photo and says cheese he will be given a piggy back ride. This sounds like a fair trade. So he sits. He "holds" the baby (who is half his size) which consists of grabbing his foot. He looks at the camera, says cheese while making his forced smile, blinks half way and considers his side of the bargain fulfilled. At this point, he gets up. The baby is still in his lap. Bug has not perfected the art of sitting by himself and ever so slowly (yet in the blink of an eye) falls over and does a face plant in the grass. He doesn't cry, but lays there, confused, bewildered, wondering what is on his face and how he will escape. Auntie picks him up, Monkey gets his piggy back ride and we call it a day.
All in all it was a nice afternoon. They both slept on the way home and Monkey still talks about hearing Jesus talk to him. The other day we asked him who he called on the telephone and in the list of names he gave us that weren't right he said, "Jesus." I just can't get enough of this kid.
