We dropped Ja off at some office building on M street in between 18th and 19th streets. The parking meter stopped charging at 4 pm so we parked and were off for a walk.
For some reason Macy said she had been there before and got an ice cream cone there. She hadn't so I'm not sure what reminded her. There was a McDonald's across the street so I caved and got her a cone.
I noticed we were only a few blocks from the White House. I had the girls in the stroller and off we went towards Pennsylvania Avenue. I noticed Anna reached into my purse that was in the stroller basket and pulled out my wallet. I contemplated taking it from her but decided to keep an eye on her instead. Next thing I know Anna is emptied handed! I search my purse and stroller to no avail! Anna must have dropped my wallet, but how did I not notice?! I immediately turn around a retrace my steps all the way back to the car, twice. I asked a few restaurants if anyone turned in a wallet. I was upset with myself for letting Anna play with my wallet especially with her history of tossing things out of the stroller.
I was stressed out having lost my wallet in DC. I was sure I would never see it again. Luckily my phone was still with me so I was able to call and have my credit cards cancelled. Which, by the way, American Express is great with. I called them around 5 pm and I had my new card by 10 am the next morning! After canceling my cards I wasn't as stressed and we continued our walk over to the White House.
We passed a guy selling flowers on a corner and Macy insisted we but some. I had no money since I didn't have a wallet but she assured me daddy did. I asked who she wanted flowers for and she said they were for me and grandma. So sweet.
We finally made it to the White House and Macy was a little confused as to why we couldn't go inside the house.
Macy scaled the length of the fence.
We walked to the little park across the way to eat a snack and to let Anna crawl around. As soon as I put her down she was off! It's funny that she chose to crawl to an old tree stump.
Macy noticed the ducks and we fed them pieces of ritz crackers. Anna was ready to crawl into the pond and grab a duck. Macy more timid and didn't like it as the ducks started getting out of the water and come towards us.
The ducks get pretty close!
Macy was calling out to the ducks saying, "yodel le he hoo!" She put her hands up to her mouth to amplify her voice too. She was sad she couldn't put her feet in the water. It was gross and full of duck droppings.
Anna really wanted to hold those ducks! You can see in this picture she was doing her give-me-what-I-want yell. I had a secure hold on her otherwise she would have crawled right in.
Just look at that longing look. She was so alert and ready to spring on a duck if he wandered too close to us.
We had a leisurely walk back to the car to meet up with Ja. As I got closer to the car I noticed a pink slip on my windshield! It was a parking ticket! The reason why the meter stopped charging at 4 is because you can't park there from 4-6:30. I knew our parking spot right in front of the building we wanted was too good to be true. I didn't see any of the signs because the signs were up the street from my car and behind us. Next time I will pay more attention!
By this point I was really flustered and stressed. I lost my wallet and now I have a $100 parking ticket! I was mad for even coming downtown. Ja was late coming out of his meeting too. I was planning on just sitting in the car waiting for him to come out but I had to move my car. The third strike of the night was the car was almost out of gas! I had to drive all around because there are no parking spots in the area during the hours of 4-6:30. I was so worried about running out of gas with two screaming girls who are hungry and tired. I found a very rare gas station in DC but I didn't have my wallet to pay for the $4/gallon gas! Ahhh! Frustrating. All the while Macy is still crying/asking to buy flowers because she sees the flower stand every time I drive around the block.
Finally 6:30 rolls around and I was able to find a parking spot and $20 in the center console of the car! I figured I would take the girls to McDonald's which was 500 feet away while we waited for Ja. I get the girls out and look up and it's Ja! What a great surprise! Macy was right and he had cash so we walked down the block to buy her (or me?) flowers. She picked some bright orange sunflowers. She insisted on carrying them to the car. She had to hold them with two hands straight in front of her because the stems were very long. It was a cute sight.
We were able to drive all the way home and didn't run out of gas. Ja wasn't mad that I got a ticket and he was so sure I would get my wallet back some day. He told me to look at the type of people walking the streets there- business people. He said they will mail it back to me. He's always a calm reassuring voice in a time of chaos. Let's hope he's right.
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