A two-burger kind of day

Today is our first full day in the Washington, DC area--specifically, Old Town Alexandria, VA. We woke up early (thanks, little guy!) and got a jump on the day by hitting up the super-busy hotel breakfast buffet. No wonder there weren't any bigger rooms available... this place is *packed* and with tons of kids, too.

I toasted a wheat English muffin and smeared it with peanut butter and honey, then had some scrambled eggs, cantaloupe, and coffee with creamer. The little guy packed away 1/2 cup scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, a whole banana, diluted apple juice, and Froot Loops (and we suffered with him on a sugar-high the rest of the afternoon...).

We spent the morning hoofing around near the Capital(ish), trying to stay warm and not blow away. Who invited the Michigan weather to follow us?!

I almost bought a hoodie sweatshirt from a street vendor and put it over my long-sleeved shirt and denim jacket. We stopped for coffee at a little cafe:

Here we paused to let our fingers thaw enough to check a map, and then walked to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

I munched a Trader Joe's blueberry cereal bar on the way, and The H had a PowerBar energy bar.

With free admission, the museum was a perfect choice for us. The little guy was in awe of everything!

He kept asking for more rocket ships and airplanes for the rest of the day.

Lunch was at the museum cafe, which is a fancy name for "two-story McDonalds with an elevator that reeks of bowling shoes." I threw clean to the wind here and devoured a quarter-pounder with cheese (I removed one of the two plastic cheese slices; it just wasn't doing it for me), a few fries, four of the little guy's apple slices, and about 1/2 cup of watery Coke. The little guy polished off half of a hamburger, apples/yogurt/grapes from a fruit & walnut salad (he didn't care for the walnuts), The H's yogurt, and some water. The H put me to shame and got a grilled chicken salad, no dressing. I traded drinks with him so he had the big Coke that came with my meal, and I took his small cup.

Afternoon snack was a chocolate protein shake before I spent our life savings at Whole Foods while The H and the little guy tried to nap. We shared a giant chocolate chip cookie when I got back, with some fresh coffee with half-and-half from my grocery-getting adventure. Naptime was a big fat fail today, except for the half-hour snooze he snuck in on the way back to our room from the museum...

so we left for an early dinner and a quick stop for diapers.

This is what my dinner looked like:

A veggie burger and peppery grilled asparagus from BGR The Burger Joint, in Old Town Alexandria.

Holy yum. I got my burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and "mojo sauce" which I'm quite certain was neither clean nor "good" for me, but man alive was it tasty! The burger was made from black beans, brown rice, oats, and molasses, and had an overall BBQ-saucy flavor that was simply delicious.

The H opted for a Southwestern burger (no bun, of course) and by the time he got back to the table after picking up his fries, the little guy had eaten half of the black-bean-mango salsa from the top.

We had ordered him his own grilled cheese...

but he only ate about half of one mini "burger" and some of mine (it was HUGE) in addition to his fries.

My meals for the rest of the week should be a bit cleaner now that I have some groceries to use. My Whole Foods haul includes whole-wheat lavash wraps, unsweetened apple butter, black beans, cheddar, salsa, red corn tortilla chips, fresh spinach, organic apples, gluten free pasta and marinara sauce, Nature's Path agave granola, eggs to hard-boil or microwave-scramble, yogurt, low-fat milk, and half-and-half. In my suitcase I'd stashed some almond butter, an endless supply of granola bars, homemade taco seasoning, steel-cut oats, chipotle peppers, some more chocolate protein powder, raw almonds, dried apricots, and my bullet blender. I intend to snag a banana or two from breakfast every day -- the older ones will get made into smoothies.

While I intended for us to "eat in" every other day thanks to our in-room kitchenette, my plans have changed. My goal now is to make the cleanest choices for breakfast and lunches for me and the little guy, and do my best with restaurant options at dinner. Tomorrow the baby-equipment rental company will be delivering the jogging stroller we reserved, so perhaps we will suit up for a run to work off some of the experience. :) Looking forward to it! As long as it's not as windy as it was today, that is. I left my winter gear at home!