Day 6....My dawgs are barking, cupcakes, wild animals and soul food!

Last night as we sat in our hotel room, we looked up the TLC's show DC cupcakes' store, Georgetown Cupcakes...My friend "CG" had told us that instead of waiting in a LONG line, to go online and order our cupcakes the day before so that when we got there, we could just pick them up at the counter... We let the kids look and pick their own flavors...6 cupcakes for $15!  We found it by Metro this morning and got there for our 10 am pick up time...and as "CG" said, there was a line forming outside on the sidewalk and I walked right in, told them my name and picked up my cute little box of cupcakes!  They were delicious!

John was proud of his hummingbird cake cupcake!

The National Zoo was on the agenda for today....it rained a little on us walking from the Metro to the zoo but we made it and it cleared up rather quickly.  Oddly enough, the zoo is free and you walk up to it and just walk in...no lines, no gates, no bag checks..it was strange!  They are apparently known for all their Asian type creatures, especially the Giant Pandas!  We got to see lots of animals and it was a nice relaxing day after our trot across the city yesterday looking at all the monuments!  We still walked a lot but we walked slowly :)  We saw lions and tigers and bears and more...Molly really enjoyed it and got to walk around a little more than normal..she pointed out all the animals poop!  She loved anything that had a waterfall or water in the exhibit..we ate our own food and bought an ice cream treat!  The kids also got baby panda stuffed animals...why do kids always go for the stuffed animal souvineer?  It was a nice day and a good break for the kids with all the history/museum/monument stuff.  Of course I have tons of pictures!

After a long walk from the zoo to the Metro then to our hotel...all OUR DAWGS were barking...feet that is!  We walked in to our hotel and they had courtesy pomegrante and mint water in the foyer...oh how refreshing!  This hotel is really nice...they have a front door manager every morning in a suit and tie standing in the front circle helping, offering directions, lending a hand...bell hops are everywhere...it is nice to be waited on every once in awhile isn't it! 

My dear sweet brother offered babysitting services tonight so that John and I could go out on the town!  Seriously, for anyone that has kids, this is the nicest most generous gift anyone could ever give!  He and his friend recommended a restaurant in town called Eatonville...which is an upscale soul food restaurant (that is the best way I have to describe it)...My brother came over after work and we had the kids all ready for bed and fed.  He had to put Molly down and then just play games/watch TV with the big kids...they were really excited about this!  We left and John decided to get a cab instead of walking at all...like I said, our feet are sore!  The doorman whistled for a cab and one was there in like 2 seconds.  We drove to Eatonville and had a delightful evening by ourselves in the big city...what a TREAT!!!!  Get ready for some more pictures of food....we are dorky tourist and took pictures of everything!  The restaurant is cool because the motif is "the south, front porch".....so we sat on a "fake front porch" up on a little platform, in rocking chairs, with a cute little antique table.  We drank from mason jars...they had sweet tea...only place in DC to have sweet tea!  The murals on the wall are all very Southern...kind of like from Mississippi or Louisianna....but it is really snazzy!  We ate the most delicious food...and here are the pictures to prove it :)

catfish and jalepeno grits and greens, pecan crusted trout with greens and rice

see how we are sitting behind a picket fence...so cute!

Seriously, the best mac n cheese ever!

Oatmeal pecan pie with homemade whipped topping!

We splurged and had a ball...but we have not really done that this whole trip...we have eaten our own food in the hotel every morning for breakfast and packed PB and J sandwiches many days!  We even heated up microwave dinners at my brother's place one night..we like to save our funds for fun times like this and special treats with the kids.  We walked back to the hotel to walk off some of the food we stuffed ourselves with...it was so fun being out and about in the city by ourselves!  We had a really sweet waitress too...John taught her to say "pecan" the way us Southerners do.  Thanks Uncle Nic Nic for a great evening!