Enjoy the Journey.

I was visiting my mother in Washington DC. My aunt and my cousins came to see us. They really wanted to sight-see with us in the city. As you know when you're from an area that's very touristy you know not to go into the city during the peek times. DC gets crazy in the summer time with all the traveling.

So I took and the three kids and I along to the metro during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year. We started off rustling through the metro station going up escalators and down escalators to find the right train. We have to get on a bus that will take us to another stop. So I have to take the stroller, all three of my heavy bags, my camera and my three kids to go to the bus along with 57 other people.

Then we get off the bus to get on another train that goes to our final stop: the Air and Space museum. In the meantime, I'm trying to feed baby under a nursing cover and keep two other toddlers entertained.

We finally get to the stop and have to walk two blocks in 100° weather. After we get there, we realize that the Air and Space is a madhouse filled with lots of kids from different field trips and camps. We wait in line to touch and do everything in the kids section, including sitting in a replica Cessna plane.

Then we get in line to see the hands-on show where my daughter is the volunteer. But then the kids get hungry and want some food. We have to go find a place that sells a small bowl of hummus and pita chips for $8 and one small side salad for $10 (oh city prices). We have 10 people in our group, so imagine how much money we spent for lunch (goodbye hard-earned money!) Then somebody in our party wanted to go to the Natural History Museum, which was supposedly only "across the street." With 5 total children (all under the age of 5) and 4 adults and ONE stroller, it was really fun walking for over 35 minutes in the blazing sun!!! We looked at two exhibits and then of course the baby is screaming from being hungry. We have to have ANOTHER snack time ($$$) and watch at IMAX movie.

Now it's time for the journey back during rush hour! The metros and buses are CRAZY!. I get separated from my 3 month old all the way down the bus with my aunt and he starts screaming. I have to scoot past 25 people to try to feed him under my cover. Yeah, everyone was staring at me!

In the middle of train number two we have a torrential downpour. We try to keep the kids calm. But seriously, the adults were stressed. We just thank God that no one got separated, stolen, lost or got a broken anything. Nobody died, so I guess it was a good day.

I remember asking my daughter after all the travel, "What was your favorite thing from today?" I thought she would say the amazing elephant we saw at the museum, or that she was in the show at the Air and Space, or the IMAX movie, or the expensive food.

But she said none of those things.

She said, "Riding all the trains and the buses."

Haha. When I was freaking out about all of the transportation, the crowds and the potential kid-napping situations from today, she LOVED it! She loved it more than being in the show at the Air and Space, or sitting in a "Cessna" plane, or seeing a gigantic IMAX in 3D (worth 7.00 by the way), or eating over-priced hummus.

She just loved the journey, not the destination.

And that is what my daughter taught me. That life is more than getting to the destination, it's about enjoying the little steps to get to where you are going.

Enjoy the Journey.

Christal

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