Day two (finally!)

The first thing we did on day two was to find the train from Fair Fax to Washington DC. We found it, road for about a half hour and when we got off at the closest stop to the White House, this is what we saw! Can you imagine an elephant! Lauren loves elephants! It was in the sort of patio area at the Ronald Reagan International building. It was pretty cool!




This is a close-up of a flower on a tree on the grounds of the White House. These trees are all over the grounds. There were all these pictures of previous Presidents digging holes to plant trees. Actually it was pretty cool! Some of the trees were a hundred years old! The flowers were beautiful.





This is the front of the White House. At least it's the side you always see in pictures. It was amazing to be actually standing where we have seen Presidents stand.














This is a picture of the Oval Office. If there hadn't been a guard outside that told us we would never have known. Pretty cool, huh?




After the White House we walked, walked and walked! One of the places we saw was Ford's Theatre, which is where President Lincoln was Shot. It was under construction so the sign was all we could see!








While i waited in line to see the Declaration of Independence, Steve and Laur went to the Navy Memorial,of course! Steven's future!!









The documents were really cool to see. Actually everything about Washington DC makes you feel so patriotic! It is amazing to actually see and be where all these famous historical things are!










We walked forever to get to the Capital Building and when we got there it was closed (and of course under construction!) But it is an awesome building even to see on the outside!

Well, that was day two. We found a train station and rode it back to Fairfax. We found a great little Italian dinner place really close to the hotel. Well, we thought it was going to be great, but they really screwed up our order and then really screwed it up again!! It ended up costing a lot of money! Oh well!

Keep watching for day three!

Here are some new pictures! We went to a thing called West Fest on Saturday and the boys got to take a ride in a helicopter ride. It was so much fun for them! Gage hasn't stopped talking about it yet!



This other helicopter is the army one that came when you were all here.

This picture is Gaven helping Chris run over all of those dumb cans finally! They are all gone yea!!! Chris took the boys to the cabin for a couple of days so there are a couple of those pictures. They had fun. I guess Gage kept trying to start the 4 wheelers without anyone's help and he almost got it going once! Gage has had some terrible allergies this summer. He looked really funny!

These two are of Gaven's birthday! He loved his cake, but you can tell that neither him or mom feel very good.

Well we are going to the cabin this weekend for the 4th so I will have more pictures to post. And can you believe that in a week and a half Gage will be 3! I can't! We are having a party at our house and I wish all of you could be here! I will post pictures of that too! We love all of you and miss you very much! Gage talks about all of you quite a bit!

East Coast Trip

Hi Everyone!

We did it! I almost can't believe it! Everything went so great, it was incredible! Of course I was so tired the entire time because of the long over night plane ride there. I couldn't sleep at all! But Lauren and Steven were patient with me and let me rest a lot.

So, let's start at the beginning.

When Lauren and I got to the airport in Phoenix and started through the security line she realized she had on two different flip flops!! So that's what she wore throughtout the trip. Ha, ha! Pretty typical,right?
(Sorry I'm not very good at getting the pictures and the words where I want them to go). First we flew to JFK airport and then we flew on this small jet to Baltimore. It was fun to be on it! Then we rented the car (a Dodge Caliber) and took off for Annapolis. Lauren was navigating and we made it without any trouble! I don't have any pictures of the acutal town. I can't beleive we didn't take any! But this one is of Steve in front of the dorms at the Academy. He had such a great time, and can't wait to go there in a year! Lauren is playing Sound of Music in a gazebo on the campus!

This picture was taken somewhere on campus as well. If you can't read the words, it says, "Don't Give Up the Ship".It was a really cool place, with lots of very old buildings and lots of green grass and trees.

Then on to Arlington Cemetary and the grave of the unknown. It was so hot! and Humid! I was sweating so badly! But this is really cool to see. There is a guard from the Marines that changes every hour. We happened to get there just as it was happening. Everyone is totally silent while it is happening. But not me! My phone went off! Michelle what were you thinking? (just kidding!)

Next stop was the Holocaust museum. They don't allow pictures there. It is so overwhelmingly sad!

But, on we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space. This was really great, too! Remember I am driving to all of these places and trying to park! What a nightmare! I had to keep feeding the meter. Finally it was late enough that the meters didn't matter anymore and we found a

good place to park before walking to all the memorials. We drove in circles for awhile, though!

Well, that's our first day. We drove to our hotel in Fair Fax, VA and arrived there after 10 PM. I was so tired, as was everyone. We all just went to bed. I wish I had a picture of our hotels just to document the trip a little more, but didn't think of it at the time. I'll work on day two tomorrow!

Love to all,MOM

Book Club

Hi Everyone, I have a little time at work so I am finally getting our book club started. I've come up with 6 books that I think are good ones. I don't know whether you would want to do one every month, which is the usual way or one every other month. I'm sure we can come up with 6 more books if you think one a month is better. Everyone will have to let me know. Here are the books:

Tisha by Robert Specht
This one is about a teacher in Alaska and I think it's true.

The Nine by Jeffrey Tobin
This is about the 9 supreme court justices and what they do.

Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
This is about a girl growing up in Kentucky and setting out on her own, heading to Tuscan, AZ. Fiction

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
This is set in China, and is about a family and what they go through.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith andAnna Quindlen
this is about a young girl growing up at the trun of the century in america.

Cold Sassy Tree ( a lot of "tree" books) byOlive Ann Burns
This has romance in a small southern town at the turn of the century.

Please feel free to add your own to this list and we can vote on them and then assign them to a month. I haven't read any of these they were all recommended at my book club. The Nine is the one we are reading in Septembe and Tisha we are reading in January.

I hope to hear back from you, either on the blog or on the phone. Love to all. MOM

I guess I am really stupid because I have been trying to respond to Michelle"s post for a half an hour. It won't let me do it with out signing in and I can't seem to remember my info. Now I have my information so maybe it will work although this is not going to go under the comment section. Oh well! I loved all the pictures you sent and hope to send mine as well when I get home tonight. It's funny that both Britt and I happened to go on the blog on the same day! What a connection! I love you all. Thanks for making my mother's day so special. You guys take such good care of me! Love, MOM

Sorry....more pictures!

LOTS of GIRL TIME!

Mom, Laure and I had a great couple of days in AZ! Poor Steve was sick most of the time so I dont have any pictures w/ him. We had a little too much fun without him...

Lots of cute pics from the trip!

Thanks for making our graduation so fun! I know things got a little crazy, but we had a great time and loved seeing everyone! We really appreciate all that you guys did to make it special for us!