Washington DC Day 5

We went to the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, MD to see the grave site of Frances Scott Key. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it, but they didn't have a monument recognizing him.

Frances Scott Key Monument

After that, we went to West Virginia to Harper's Ferry. There was a battle site from the civil war and then the little historic town. I didn't get any pictures of the town because there is nowhere to park there and there is also no stopping. We could also see mountains!!! More like hills, in our opinion. :)

"Mountains"

cannons at the battlefield

battlefield

Battlefield

We went on to Charles Town to try and find a souvenir for Kristen, but W. Virginia is pretty low on stuff. After 5 stops, and no luck, we headed back to the airport. Bellatrix took us through some pretty rural areas of Virginia.

We had a very fun time and were happy to get away for a few days!

Washington DC Day 4

Dover, Delaware....Not my most favorite place in the world. Delaware isn't very populated--at least where we were. Lots of fields, very small towns, etc. It was really pretty, but I have bad memories associated with it, I guess. Dover is basically about a 5 mile strip with stores and businesses on either side. No high rises; no booming capital. Our hotel was 3 separate buildings that were a single story. There were some people on the end and then us.

Reasons why it's not my favorite place:
1. After we put our bags in our room, we went to dinner and the people were out front and the lady almost spilled beer on Kristen.
2. We came back from dinner and Kristen was watching tv while I was talking to Kendall on the phone. I thought the people next door had their tv up really loud, but soon realized they were fighting. And not just fighting. YELLING and SCREAMING and SWEARING....at each other. Right in front of our room. It was 10 pm and I was ready to call the cops, but then heard other voices out there. I peeked out the curtains and saw that the police were already there. I heard them say that they could lock them both up and that they didn't want to be called back out that night, so they'd better come with them or work it out. They opted to work it out.
3. It's 2 am and I'm rudely awakened by yelling and screaming and swearing again. Kristen nudges me and tells me that she's scared and can't sleep. Great. What do I do? If I call the cops, the drunks will know it's me. If I call the front desk, again, they'll know it's me. And what will they do? Wait and attack us in the morning? Trash our rental car that we didn't get extra insurance on? I hear something being thrown (I'm assuming a shoe, since there was one out there in the morning). I dialed 911 on my cell, but didn't send. They finally calmed down and weren't fighting, but were just yelling and then he left. Then the thunder and rain started. Fun. Not much sleep that night.

We wanted to go to a fun beachy beach, but the rain put a stop to those plans. Fortunately, I'd made a back up plan. We went to Slaughter Beach, DE. It was sooo cool!! It's the epicenter for these Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs. The tide washes them in and then end up on their shells. They have signs posted that if you see them, flip them over so they don't die (birds, sun). We saved many, many crabs. We only spent about an hour there because the rain moved in full force.

Reasons why I love the beach:
1.  The smell
2. The sounds of the waves crashes and of the birds
3. The feel of the breeze and salt air on my skin and of the sand beneath my feet.
4. The sun, the water, the sand

Slaughter Beach, DE

Horseshoe Crab on its back with a rock stuck in there.

Horseshoe Crab flipped over

Kristen loved being able to save the crabs

Atlantic Ocean

 After the beach, we headed to Frederick, MD. It was supposed to take about 2 hours and 40 minutes, but with traffic, construction, and pouring rain, it took about an hour longer than that. Kristen wanted to go swimming. I'm such a wimp--it was 91 degrees with 60% humidity and I still felt like it was cold.

Swimming at the hotel in Frederick, MD

Washington DC Day 3

Kristen and I decided to take it a little easier on Day 3 of our trip. We spent most of the day at the National Zoo. Entrance is free, but you pay an arm and a leg to park ($15 for 0-3 hours and $20 for over that). We got our first taste of an Eastern rain storm. It hit and pounded. We were eating lunch in a pavillion, but when it started to let up, we thought it was over, made a run for it, and another wave hit. We were soaked!! And you don't dry off with that humidity. :) Speaking of which, we really liked the humidity. My skin didn't dry out and Kristen developed some ringlets. It was very, very muggy. A zoo is a zoo. Here are a few pictures of things we don't normally see at our zoo:

Giant Panda

Spectacle Bears (Andean)

The humidity gave Kristen some ringlets

 After the zoo, we went to Kensington, MD to see the Washington DC Temple. My sister served a mission there, so it was fun to see where she was. That temple--I've heard about the accidents it causes and it's true. All of the sudden, out of the trees and nowhere, it pops up and is absolutely beautiful!!! Sad news--I heard that the earthquake yesterday knocked off parts of 4 of the spires. Speaking of earthquakes....I am SOOOO glad we missed this one! We'd probably never  have been able to get Kristen to travel again. After visiting here, we traveled to Dover, Delaware for the night.

DC Temple grounds

 

 

 

Washington DC Temple

DC Temple grounds--this is more of what I imagined the Mall to look like. :)

DC Temple

 

Our Favorite Monument.....WWII

 Kristen and I both decided that our favorite monument in DC is the one dedicated to WWII. It was beautiful, peaceful, and amazing. There was a big wall that had a star for each person who died.

Wall of stars

Utah

They had big pillars with a state or territory written on it with a wreath decorating it.
They had fountains and it was divided between Atlantic and Pacific and each of the battles in each of those areas was listed.

The Atlantic Side with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.

The Pacific Side

It made me reflect on my grandpa, who fought in that war. Very nice.

Washington DC Days 1&2

 Kristen and I were lucky enough to go back East on a little vacation--just the two of us. We flew out on August 11, early, and got there just in time for rush hour. :) We flew into Dulles, which at first I was a little dismayed about. It's not the "closer" airport to DC, but it ended up working out really well. Kristen studied the states in 5th grade and has since wanted to go to every single state. This trip helped her get 4 more states (she's up to 16 now). I am soooooo glad we have a GPS!!! I had no idea which way was north and which roads to take. We named our little GPS "Bellatrix LeStrange" because 1. She sometimes gives us strange directions. 2. She is "magic" in knowing where we are and where we are going. The name comes from Harry Potter, just in case anyone didn't know that. Anyway...I was completely amazed by how green it is. There would be signs telling us to take this exit or that to get to these cities and we couldn't even see them!

We stayed the first two nights in Beltsville, MD. I thought we might be sleeping in a tree house, but once we got off the freeway and a little ways out, there was a city. We were both really tired, so we went to bed "early." It was probably 10 pm EST, but to our bodies, with the 2 hour time difference, it was 8 pm. That was a good thing, because we had to get up really early for day 2. We weren't close to a Metro station, so we had to go to a park and ride place and apparently, they can fill up fast with all the commuters. We had no problems with it. The Metro is a train/subway. It's above ground far out and then goes underground as you get closer to the city. I was told to avoid the green line and that's the one we were one. :) We had to make a switch and got on another train and ended up right on the Mall. Okay...so I guess I was expecting paved pathways and beautiful garden-type areas around the Mall, but what did we get? Weeds and gravel/dirt paths. That's fine, but it was kind of a shock to me. We decided to walk and catch as many monuments as we could.

The Lincoln Memorial up close.

FDR Memorial

FDR Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

 

 

The Washington Monument. Very tall and beautiful!

The Capitol off in the distance. Note the "strip" of weeds/dirt between the dirt/gravel pathways.

Korean War Memorial. Very moving, with all the statues of soldiers in the bushes.

Jefferson Memorial

The cool marble feels sooo good!!

The Hope Diamond. I believe it's 45 carats.

 

One of the real costumes that Daniel Radcliff wore while filming Harry Potter 7.2.

It was hot--even at 8 am. Kristen and I also went to parts of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (had lunch there too--$24 for a side salad, 1 plate macaroni and cheese, fries, and 2 drinks) and parts of the Smithsonian American History Museum. We went to the National Aquarium and the White House. Funny story about the White House. It was smaller than I thought it would be; it was right in the middle of the city; and....we were blocked way far from it. There were tons of police and they kept pushing the crowd back.

The White House. You can see the cops right there and then right in front of the White House, you can see the crowd of the players and coaches/staff.

The Green Bay Packers leaving on one of their team buses.

There were lots of Green Bay Packer fans and so I texted Jon and asked what was going on. Apparently, we chose the day and time that Obama was out giving the Packers their congratulatory speech for winning the Super Bowl. We were really tired by the end of the day. I'd pre-purchased our Metro tickets, so we couldn't go back until 7 pm. We were both feeling kind of sick, but stopped at McDonald's right by our hotel and got a real fruit smoothie. We started to feel better and realized that we were probably hungry, so we ate. Oh, I'd had a brilliant idea of buying some water in the airport and then we could just re-use our water bottles and fill them up all over DC to stay hydrated. Well...little did I know, the water is NASTY!!!! Some guy was selling ice cold water on a street corner for $1 so we bought some. Kristen wanted to go swimming after we got back to the hotel. I had a headache and was exhausted, so I just sat and watched her for a little bit.

Cubanapolis 2011

For Jarren's pack meeting this month, the boys each designed their own cardboard box car and then had a race around the church. At first, they said they were going to run 20 laps. ??!!! WHAT ??!!!  Then they brought it down and down until it ended up being 6. It about killed some of the boys--it was probably more than a mile. They ran 2 laps and then got a drink; 2 more laps and had to change their socks inside out and put their shoes back on; 1 more lap and water splashed in their faces; and then 1 more and done. Jarren won out of the wolves and was so excited! It was a lot of fun!!!

Kristen's Room

 We moved Kristen into the basement into her own room in January of 2008. She debated and debated the color and finally decided on light pink. After about 6 months, she regretted it, since her favorite colors were lime green and blue. Especially blue. I didn't want to repaint, so I kept putting her off, but finally decided to re-do it this summer. I did Jenna's room first and promised Kristen I'd do it before school starts, because she'd be displaced for a few nights and I don't want to disrupt her sleep any more than necessary. So...last Wednesday, we moved her furniture, washed walls, taped, and patched. On Thursday, we got the paint done. Then on Friday, we moved her back in. She chose the color and she absolutely LOVES it!!!! I do too!! Now...we need to re-do the green in the kitchen/dining area, touch up the downstairs bathroom, and re-do our room. Jarren's desperately needs it but he is refusing right now. That's okay with me. :)

before

after

Fungus Update

Jenna's sore fell out completely while I was in DC (more to come about that trip later)!!! YAY!!!! The biggest patch didn't even leave a bald spot. Her hair was so matted (for months) that it broke off and is very short in that spot, but her scalp can breathe and we're done and over with that miserable thing! What a relief!!!

What Not To Do With An AirSoft Gun

Kendall and his friend were playing with their air soft guns and Kendall thought his friend emptied his. So...he picked it up and with it pointed to the ground, he pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, it wasn't empty. It shot into our newly refinished kitchen floor (and yes, it left a ding), bounced up and hit Jenna in the cheek, and bounced off her, hitting Kristen (clear across the room) in the arm. Jenna was at close range and started screaming. Kendall said, "I don't know why she's crying--I didn't even  hit her." Then we saw what happened and yes, it did hit her. We are sooooooooo lucky it didn't hit her eye--it was pretty close. He felt soooooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lesson: DON'T pull the trigger in the house or anywhere near anyone, even if you think it's empty because it might not be.

Flashback Friday....A Day Late.....

This is how Kristen's been spending a lot of her time this summer--reading. She comes up with some pretty funny positions. What? How can this summer be a flashback? Because....this is how I spent a lot of my summers growing up (I don't have pics of me doing this). She's been reading the Harry Potter series, which is kinda funny. She had NO interest in it until our van's DVD player shorted out. I checked out a bunch of books-on-cd for a road trip in April and one of them happened to be Harry Potter (book 1). I thought Jarren would enjoy it the most. But....Kristen got hooked. The reader was fabulous! We got more than halfway through the book, so she picked up where it left off and the reading began.

Back to the pictureless flashback...I LOVE to read and have for a long, long time. I remember reading when I was little. My mom would give me and my sister a stack and tell us to read them and then switch stacks and then we could go get her up from a rest. I remember not having a library, so going to the book mobile or the school's library and flying through those precious books. I remember in about 6th grade, getting a book and thinking, "I'll just read one chapter on the bus and one at home tonight so it will last me a few days." But then I wasn't able to put it down and it was finished that night. I remember a summer where a friend and I would choose characters and we read the book out loud. I remember going on vacations and spending a lot of time reading. Funny... Even now, I fly through books. Books are my escape and I make time to enjoy them, although it is much easier to do now that my kids are a little older. With this new exercise program I'm doing, it's harder to stay up reading late into the night (which I used to do), so I'm finding myself reading after I get home--while everyone is still asleep. That will all change soon, when school starts though. Maybe I'll spend my 2 1/2 hours of *alone* time (time when all other members of the household are in school or at work) reading. Ha! Too much to do...but maybe for a few minutes....

Scouts, scouts, and more scouts

Jon and I have been together for over 15 years now (not married quite that). He was in the stake Young Men's presidency when we were dating. Then shortly after we were married, he was put in Cubs (Bears and Cub Master). We moved just over 3 years later and he had a break for about 18 months and then it was back into scouting--Venturers (16-17), then regular scouts (12-13), then a short break, Webelos, 11 year olds, and now....he just got called to be the Varsity Coach (14-15). Once a scouter, always a scouter!! All of my "boys" are now in scouting in some form or another. And one of Jenna's greatest wishes is to be a scout when she grows up. Hahaha!!!

Three Days

Three more days until Kristen and I go to Washington DC (and Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia). Am I getting nervous? A little. Excited? Yes! I usually get cold sores when I'm super stressed and I got one a few days ago. Weird, because I'm not stressed...yet. :)

Nostalgia

I start thinking about things and then I get kind of sad. Jenna was born just over 5 years ago--my baby. It seems that we've had her forever, yet it seems like just yesterday she was born. Crazy. So....I was thinking...in 5 years from now, Kendall will be 18 and graduated from high school. I've heard a saying that goes something like this: "The days drag on, but the years fly by." That is sooooo true!!! I really need to take the chance to enjoy every day and make lots of memories because the kids are growing up right before my eyes.

So...I took the kids to Cowabunga Bay (a local water park) this week. They all had a blast, though some were ready to go before others. The next day, we went up North and went to a favorite park from my childhood for a picnic with my grandma, my parents, many of my siblings and nieces and nephew, and even a cousin! The camera is still dead--it died right after our vacation, but we have a new one ordered and it should be here soon. Phew!

Insanity

I've been doing a new exercise program called Insanity. It's by the same company as p90x. I guess that one uses weights and resistance bands and Insanity is pure cardio. I started on July 25 and have been sore every single day since, but....I can already feel my muscles getting stronger and more toned, and I feel better. I used to stay up really late reading, but now I have to go to bed (we do it at 6 am). I feel like I have more energy, but in the evening, I start dragging. I can't wait to see what the end results will be--hopefully I'll be in really good shape. I think my biggest problem with the workout is that my back hurts--my core isn't super strong (I'm getting there), so it's hard to support my back. Anyway....it's a great workout!!!!