Washington, DC Trip Part 2

Wednesday was our first day by ourselves.  We took Michael to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and then drove downtown.  I did the math and figured out that it was cheaper to drive downtown and pay to park than it was for all of us to ride the Metro.  Cheaper, but not easier.  It took me forever to navigate the confusing streets downtown and to find a place to park.  Our goal that day was to see the White House.  I didn't have enough advance notice for our trip to score tickets for an inside tour, but we did get to tour the US Capitol building (I'll write more about that later).  So, we decided to walk to the White House and go to the visitor's center.  By the time we found parking, it was lunch time.  I foolishly thought that we could just find a place to eat on the way to the White House.  We asked one of the people at the visitor's center and he told us about the Ronald Regan building.  It wasn't too far, and they had a large food court.  We ate there many times.  Anyway, we walked to both sides of the White House, enjoyed the visitor's center, had our lunch, and then walked back to our car.  It was a lot of walking.  We were told there was a lot of walking, but I didn't fully understand until we got there.  We seriously should have been in training for the amount of walking we had to do.  Even our stroller gave out while we were there and we had to buy a new one.  It was still so much fun, and I hope the kids will remember this trip forever.

The north side of the White House


The south side of the White House
We were debating on which side is the front, and when we asked at the visitor's center they told us that there is no front--just the north and south side.

Emily thought this was a good view of the Washington Monument.  When I took this picture, the south side of the White House was behind me.

After we were all exhausted, we drove back to the hotel to have dinner, do laundry, and take baths.  Then we went to pick up Michael at the Archives.  It was a full day!

Washington, DC trip, Part 1

We had a wonderful, amazing, fantastic time in Washington, DC!!!!  I can't say enough about how great it was.  Our hotel was awesome.  We had a suite with a kitchen, the kids had fun in the pool, and I enjoyed not having to cook!  I made dinner on Sunday so we didn't have to go out, but the hotel provided a delicious breakfast every morning and even a dinner Monday-Thursday.  We stayed at the Homewood Suites in Alexandria, VA.

We left our house on Monday, July 9, at about 5am.  Michael and I got up early and packed the car, then woke up the kids and got on the road.  We made pretty good time; it took us about 16 hours.  On Tuesday, Michael went with us to the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center.  This is the one that is not at the mall but by Dulles Airport.  It was amazing!  Michael knows so much about all of the planes, so it was like having our own personal tour guide.  He actually hadn't been there before, but he had always wanted to go.  He has been to the other one at the mall many times.


Here are my cuties chillin' in their new shades.  

Inside the museum

Taking a break

At the observation tower

Nathaniel posing in front of the SR-71, also known as Jetfire to Transformers fans

They had a lot of memorabilia from the second Transformers movie, which was filmed here.  They had a TV where they played a scene in the movie over and over again, and it was really cool to be standing in the same spot where it was filmed.

We're just getting started. :-)

Boy Scout Camp

Here is Nathaniel at Scout Camp.  He was there last week from Monday to Saturday.  The kids and I went up to see him on Friday for "Family Day" and we had dinner with him.  He had a good time!

Father's Day Weekend

The kids got to spend the weekend with their Daddy, and I got to spend the weekend with mine!  Dad came down Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning.  Our big project was supposed to be to move a play set that one of our neighbors was selling.  We acually spend most of the day on Saturday taking down the tree in our front yard.  Out of nowhere, a huge branch of the tree fell down on Friday night.  It was so big that it covered most of the front yard, and we decided that the whole tree would have to come down.  It's not exactly how we wanted to spend our Saturday (especially since Michael had already spent a few days working on the yard), but we were blessed that Dad was there and willing to help.  We also had help from the missionaries and some friends from church, and we were able to get it all down and hauled to the curb.  I was sad to lose the tree and the shade it provided, but now you can actually see the front of the house. 

Here are the kids with Papa on Sunday morning.  Even though most of it was spent working, we had a wonderful visit!

Here is our "new" play set.  The kids are having a blast with it.  Nathaniel already took it upon himself to clean it off with a broom and the hose.  Emily even wrapped up the hose when he was done.  I love it when the kids pitch in and help without being asked! 

Happy Father's Day!

Gathering of Eagles

Michael was the faculty advisor for the Gathering of Eagles this year.  The students in his class spent the school year planning for the event, where they honor those who have made significant contributions through their military service.  We were excited to meet Colonel Gail Halvorsen, pictured with us in the red shirt, who is known as the "Candy Bomber."  He flew a C-54 (like the one pictured behind us) in the Berlin Airlift, and he distributed candy to the children in little parachutes.  He is a good man and we were so glad to meet him and all of the others.

Our New Lawn Boy

Nathaniel mowed the front lawn all by himself yesterday.  He did a great job!

He wasn't too thrilled about me taking his picture.

And his daddy rejoiced!

Daniel's Birthday

Daniel turned 5 on the 24th!  He has been looking forward to this birthday for so long.  Every time we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said, "Lots of presents and boys' night out."  He always insisted that Emily and I were invited, however.  He wanted his boy's night out to include watching The Avengers.  Later, he also requested a trip to Pump it Up.  He talked about all of this almost daily.  While the big kids were at school, I took him and Jonathan to Pump it Up.  Daniel had fun, but after about 20 minutes he said he wanted to go home.  Afterwards we went to McDonald's for lunch--his favorite.  That afternoon, when everyone got home, we took Jonathan to a friend's house and we all went to see The Avengers.  Again, he liked it at first, but he wanted to leave about (any guesses?) *20 minutes* into the movie.  The Avengers is not a short movie.  He made it through, however, and was excited every time Iron Man was on the screen.  After the movie, we went to Cici's Pizza for dinner and then home for cake and presents.  I think he had a wonderful day!

These are the cupcakes he took to his preschool class.  They are homemade, and we put a Squinky on each one.  They were a big hit!

Here he is with "lots of presents!"

He hangs this lantern in his room for a night light.

A new Thomas Blu-ray, Day of the Diesels

Unfortunately, this toy is already broken; it was a Cars 2 tin lunchbox.  I thought he could keep toys in it, but it's in two pieces now.

Here are his homemade presents from Nathaniel and Emily.  That's a giant paper airplane that Emily made.



He had to wear his new outfit from Papa and Nana to his last day of preschool.

This toy takes the prize for favorite, I believe.  All of the kids have been playing with this racetrack this weekend.  This double loop is really cool because the car goes around many times before it stops.

Happy Birthday, big boy!!!!