Washington D.C. - Day 2

The National Smithsonian Zoo and Crab Dinner with Friends

Tuesday started with a trip to the Smithsonian National Zoo.  With a little one who loves "amels," this was bound to be a hit!  This only being our second zoo experience, we were off to a great start when we walked in and saw these...

Their ROAARRR would shake the ground under our feet.

Who knew there was such a thing as a snake-neck turtle?

The ape house was pretty neat.  It was all fun and games until the alpha male entered the room.  He made every other gorilla (and human) jump when he ran in.

The orangutans were allowed to swing on these cables above our heads throughout the park.

A GIANT tortoise with civil war musket holes in his shell.

And a real, live giant panda!  You don't see those everyday.

And my favorite, the flamingos!

After a day of walking through the zoo, we loaded up and headed for Maryland to visit my high school friend, Allison, and her family.  Let me just say, if I lived where they live, there would never be any need for a vacation.  Waterfront property, a beautiful, historic home, crab traps awaiting in the back yard.  It's pretty close to heaven!  When we arrived, there was a full table of steamed crab waiting for us.  Jimmy had to give us a short class on how to break into our crabs and off we went!  Whenever I had questions, I just asked Olivia.  She taught me how to tell if my crab was male or female and how to properly use a mallet.  Crabs and mallets, fun for all!

After dinner, the kiddos swam in the pool until it was dark.

The girls were sooo cute!  They just wanted to play with Ethan and 

"ride the horse" until he finally died on the trampoline.  

After many years and several miles of distance, it was really nice to spend some time with old friends.  Thank you so much for such a wonderful evening!  Now, it's your turn to come see us in Tennessee!

Washington D.C. - Day 1

Sunday - a 12 hour car ride with my family :)
After many hours of driving in what is now my most favorite vehicle EVER, we arrived safe and sound in Washington D.C. just in time to pile up in our hotel beds and get some rest before out first big day in the big city.  There were three major heroes that emerged from this journey...

Our new van.  Comfortable seating for all.  Plenty of room for all our luggage.  A DVD system with headphones for all the viewers while the pilot and co-pilot listen to something else.  A complaint about being a van mom with never again cross my lips.  I drive this baby around with pride!

Happy Feet.  I should count my blessings that my sweet boy has good taste in kid's movies.  I could be worse, he could be addicted to Barney, or The Wiggles, or like Kayden and his Kid Songs.  But no, my boy wants "Hapeet," a swingin', penguin tap-dancin' story of love and courage choc full of great music!    And because we love Sam (or just need to chill him out) we watched it several times and can now quote every line, our favorite being "Wives hoooo" at the top of our lungs.

"Brudders."  Sam's two big brothers are superheros in my book.  For every time they watched Happy Feet (again), picked up blankie and duck off the floor, played peek-a-boo, and otherwise entertained a 1-year old in a car seat for 12 hours, I am thankful!

Monday - Arlington Cemetery

We started our D.C. trip with Arlington Cemetery.  Everyone was very silent and reverent as we toured these "hallowed grounds."  

As far as the eye could see, identical head stones in neat little rows.

(and a bunch of fancy lawn mowers, which Sam loved)

JFK's burial place

The first rotunda at Arlington

  We walked this structure in search of a few seed pods on the ground from the trumpet vines that now completely canopy the perimeter and found a few.  Now, to try and grow some of our own...

Changing of the Guard at 

Tombs of the Unknown

I had no idea there was such a great story behind the tombs of the unknown soldiers.  There is an unknown, unidentified soldier who fought and died in each of the WWII, Korean, and Vietnam Wars who was exhumed from his/her original burial place and placed here in Arlington to represent all the unknown soldiers who were lost in battle.  In the late 80's the "unknown" from the Vietnam war was exhumed again and identified using modern forensic technology.  

The guard changes every 30 minutes at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers...we watched it twice.

 

The Rotunda Room

Made completely from marble, the current (and past) presidents have held a many a 

meetings and delivered speeches here in this very place where my handsome boys sit.

Iwa Jima - Marine Corps Memorial

My marine man looked like he had a little dust caught in his eye when visiting this place.  The last entry on the wall of all the battles fought by the Marine Corps was Somalia.  

We had lunch at Pentagon City Mall, and Oh My Lanta was it big!  Four stories, as far as the eye could see, was nothing but retail shopping overload!  Too bad we are on a tight budget and we didn't buy a thing, except lunch in the food court.  It was hard to believe our country is in a deep recession.

We ended the night at George Washington's Gristmill with a photographer.  

Here's a sneak peek of the photos she took. I will post more on that later...

And, I won't go into all the details of finding dinner and our way back to the hotel that night, but I will say we were happy to see a Checkers and at least one of us just gave up on food altogether and fell asleep with no dinner at all.  Ah, good times.  

A Heart Flip

I'll just be honest, when I think of myself, "courageous," isn't the first word that comes to mind.  I'm more of a feet planted firmly on the ground, extremely conservatively invested in government bonds kind of girl.  I happily hold everyone's stuff at Six Flags while they risk their lives enjoy themselves on  roller-coasters.  I don't do risks.  I don't do thrills.  I don't do heights...but Character Quest does.

For a week each summer, 4th-6th graders gather together for a week of physical and spiritual challenges.  We learn more about God together and form relationships that will never be forgotten.  My role this year was a 4th grade counselor.  It was my job to teach 10 girls about various characters in the Bible who found their strength in the Lord and encourage them to stretch their own faith in several challenging events this week, like this one...the HIGH ropes course.  

Weeks before camp began, I began praying that God would use me as his vessel to speak to these girls and that God would give me a spirit of courage, so that if the opportunity ever arose for ME to participate in any of these events, I would be able to SHOW my girls strong faith and be a fearless example to them.

During the actual camp, there was never enough time for me to actually do any of these events myself, but I did coach a many a screaming, sniveling, scared girls to conquer their fears and complete these challenges.  And, each time they did, they positively beamed with self-confidence and really experienced what it was like to lean on God, trust in Him, and accomplish amazing things.  I could not have been more proud of the progress my group of girls made.  They pulled together, supported and prayed for each other, and overcame some serious fears.

Last night, at the Character Quest banquet, I had the opportunity to complete the high ropes course with my sweet husband (who really is fearless.)  My heart was filled with fear.  It was really high.  The obstacles were awkward.  But, I replaced that emotion with faith. In God.  In the equipment.  In my capabilities.  I had a heart flip...and it was GREAT!

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 1:7

Park Picnic

Still working on the summer bucket list... 

Today was the perfect day for a picnic at the park.  Anamana had to work today, so it was me and the Big 3.  It was a group effort in the kitchen this morning to make sandwiches and pack snacks.

Then, we loaded up the wagon and walked over to the park.

By the time we got there (which only took about 10 minutes),

 everyone was hungry and agreed we should eat first and then play. 

Today's Menu:

Homeade PB&J uncrustables

CedarRock blackberries

Fruit Snacks

Roarin' Waters

 When we finished our lunch, we moved on to party tricks.

Kayden showed off his headstand.

 ...which made Sam have to try it too.

 And, Cameron would certainly not be outdone.

Then, we played "parachute" with our blanket.

We held hands and ran down the grassy hills together...

...until someone fell.  

And we finished up with some quality tire swing time at the playground.

Picnic at the park with these guys...CHECK!

Picking Blackberries

This year, our summer bucket list includes picking blackberries and making homeade cobbler.  We went out to CedarRock and picked until our little fingers had enough.  When Kayden and Cameron had finished baiting the trot lines, they came to join us too (with a little Gator help from Kimmie and Pawpaw).

The cover rows had blackberry bushes everywhere!  We would pick a 

while in one spot and get back in the car and move on to another.  

Speak of car...did I mention we got a new one?

I am officially a van mom, and I love it!  We got a new Nissan Quest on Tuesday.  

Sam loves the DVD player.  I love the backup camera for little people and their little toys.  

Bring on the long car trips and soccer games!

We ended up with half a gallon of blackberries, ripe and ready for cobbler.

I whipped up some mini-cobblers and Sam would run to the oven every few minutes to check on the "back-bellies".  I would ask him, "How are they looking?" and he would smile and say, "Good!"

Fresh blackberry cobbler made from hand-picked blackberries...CHECK!