Botanical Gardens

I've been living in the D.C. area for about twenty years and have never gone to the National Botanical Gardens. We decided to take Nanny and the kids there for a new adventure and for the most part it was fun (I'll get to the un-fun part in a moment). The gardens were beautiful - it was wonderful seeing flowers in full bloom and taking a warm walk through the jungle and desert in the middle of winter. The best part was smelling the flower sculptures filled with natural scents such as "Mexican Hot Chocolate" (cinnamon, saffron, and cocoa).

Now for the un-fun part of our adventure. After the visit to the gardens, we decided to go to the American History Museum that recently reopened after a few years of renovation. We needed some nourishment and a potty break. Well, some of us needed a potty break - after lots of unheeded coaxing and bribery, Hannah decided to postpone her break once she realized that the toilets were automatic flushers. I knew this could mean trouble but I can't force her to go so Hannah and I went back to lunch with everyone else. She decided that she needed to sit on my lap (any other mother could sense this was bad news but not me). All of a sudden Hannah looked at me with huge eyes and cried "mommy I just went pee-pee." Of course she didn't need to tell me - she was sitting on my lap, after all and I felt the warm trickle running down my lap and legs. I took the kicking and screaming child back to the restroom and dried out her pants under the automatic hand driers but had no luck with my pants. I tied my coat around my waist like I did when I was in junior high and grinned and bared the adventures with my daughter. Hopefully, one of these days I'll look back at this and laugh. Right now, it's still not too funny.