Destination: Washington,DC

So we are back home from our whirlwind tour of Washington, DC. We were gone from the 2nd to the 11th of August and what a time we had. It was the first time 3 out of 4 of the kids remember flying (they have all flown before, but they were too young to remember). The weather was great. It wasn't as hot as it usually is so we really lucked out. We did a lot, took a lot of pictures, and had a lot of fun. There's no way to fill you in on everything so I'll just give a few highlights.

We started our trip by driving down to Buena Vista, VA and spending a few days with Matt's sister Josie and her family. We got a tour of SVU--the new LDS college in VA, got to see the beautiful James River, walk around Lexington, VA, walk around Washington and Lee University, see Robert E. Lee's grave, and spend time playing with her two cute kids James and Ella. Aunt Josie even made brownies for Nathan's half birthday while we were there. It was fun and relaxing visiting them. Although Jacob was sad he didn't get phone coverage there. Boo-hoo.

We spent the next few nights in a fancy hotel in downtown DC right next to embassy row. The kids loved getting to ride the metro. I had forgotten how big the whole mall area is and how huge each of the museums are. I had not been there with kids before. Nathan did great though. We walked and walked and walked. One highlight for me was the Jim Henson traveling exhibit. I got to see the original Kermit!!!

After a few nights at the hotel we spent a few nights with my college roomie/high school friend Kimberly in Leesburg, VA and continued exploring DC. Some favorites that we got to see were the Air and Space Museum, The National Archives, the Capitol, The Natural History Museum, The International Spy Museum and of course all the monuments. Matt and Jacob got up one morning and ran to the mall past the monuments and the White House. We ate a lot of yummy food too.......expensive food (the Smithsonian's are free, but they get you with food prices everywhere close to them..urgh). Kimberly and I left the kids with Matt one night and went to the movies. We saw Mama Mia and loved it (and the men in it...).

After spending two nights with Kimberly we took a road trip and spent a day at Gettysburg's and Hershey, PA. It was a fun day. Much to Matt's sadness the kids (Nathan especially) did not have the desire to spend a lot of time at Gettysburg. They have a lot to see there. You could easily spend a couple days seeing all that they have. Three hours didn't quite cover it, but It was better than nothing. After Gettysburg we stopped in Harrisburg, PA and ate at a Cracker Barrel (always a highlight to me!). Had to make sure the kids got some real food before the junk.. Funny that it was one of the best meals and probably one of the cheapest. Next came Hershey's Chocolate World. FUN!!!!! YUMMMM!! Since we only had a few hours here too we just kept our visit to the Chocolate World part and not the huge theme park. The kids didn't seem to mind that much. I would say that about half of Chocolate World is the gift shop. They have a very cheesy "Small World" type ride that you go on that is a tour of the "factory". Nathan LOVED it though and made us do it twice. I liked that they had free chocolate samples at the end. So, this little side trip was worth it. From there, we headed to Matt's brother's house in Potomac Falls,VA just in time to see most of the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics.

At Rich and Jen's we got to have some down time watching Olympics, playing Wii, playing with cousin Max, visiting the temple, and eating yummy food. We did do some more sight seeing too, although the kids (um..and the adults) were getting tired of all that walking. We went to the Zoo and the Library of Congress---what a beautiful building!! On our last day before hopping on the plane to come home we went to the Air and Space Museum annex. It was just about as big as the museum on the mall. It was great though. We got to see the real Enola Gay, Space Shuttle, Concord, and the Double Eagle II. It was a fun place to end things on. So there now we have checked off many of those life must do's.

Now, sadly, it's time to get back to reality. And now I will end this forever long post..way to stick in there to the end.