School's out for summer!

Well, today I sent my little boy to kindergarten....but when I picked him up, he was magically a first-grader. (Did I do a little happy dance when I saw that he was assigned to the first grade teacher I was hoping for? Maybe.)

Teacher gifts were brought in,

Sidewalks were decorated (thanks, Meghan!),

Moms were indulged at dismissal time,

Brothers and neighbors were happy to be together.

One of the major bonuses of living in a duplex is our neighbors. When we moved in, Jacob was 22 months old, and his sister, Catherine, was just a twinkle in her mom's eye. Fast-forward to today and Jacob is heading to second grade in the fall and one of our very favorite friends. 

We have loved Ian's elementary school--it's one of the last, true neighborhood schools where the principal knows each child's name by October. Make no mistake--we are thrilled for the summer to be here, but come September, we'll be excited for our next first grade adventure.

Joe's Other Favorites.

I thought I'd like to give a perspective too... even though a bit redundant.

Heidi was absolutely indispensable in helping our boys have a good time on the trip. 

I like how Blake's form of peak-a-boo is any time we don't have eye contact, we just have to regain the connection!

This wonderful woman was VERY happy to have a sentimental meal.  Unfortunate that the recipe is just not quite how she remembers it.

My boys join me at a reverent place.   Not fully acting reverent, but someday we'll talk to them more about this place.

The two treasured passengers.  Heidi and Nat get to do some very neat things together, don't they?

Blake found a cozy spot in Grammy's bed.  "Nammy.  Bed."

Catching a peak at his Auntie, no doubt.

The budding botanist.

The prospering patriot.

The cuddling cohorts.

The determined docent.

The fatigued and the friendly.

The tickled tourist on a significant staircase.

An original origination document.

My fantastic family members.

Photo Bomb: Lots of Pictures-- DC & Philadelphia

Hi, folks! Are you still here? It's been a full three months since we've updated--which is shameful.....sorry about that.

We just returned from a lovely working vacation to Washington, D.C. while Joe shmoozed with the Navy at a conference. For added fun, my mom and sister, Natalie, tagged along and a fun time was had by all!!  As an added bonus, we detoured to Philadelphia on our way home.....why have we never been there before? It was phenomenal.

So, as promised, here are a LOT of photos from our trip. Our kids have grown a lot in the past 3 months, as you'll see. =)

Rest stop #1: Dinner somewhere in Connecticut. Thank you, Grammy, for coordinating the cooler!

I think Natalie could make a killing as a road trip buddy. That girl was worth her weight in gold for all she did to keep Ian entertained and downright giddy about driving 480 miles each way.

Did you know there are not one, but two Cafe Rios in the DC area? Mmmmmm. Truth be told, the pork wasn't exactly the same as it is in Provo....but I'll take it.

Did I mention my kids love their Aunt Nat?

We arrived in DC on Saturday, but Joe had conference business to attend to. So our first day to be out and about was on Sunday. We thought venturing to the new Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery were some nice, Sunday things to do. (Followed by lunch with Travis & Kelly...which was awesome. I wish you all knew Travis & Kelly.)

Eventually Blake realized that this wasn't a slide. It took some convincing. He was more reverent, I promise.

Mom & Nat on a shady bench.

The whole memorial is exceptionally lovely and well done. The benches are arranged by age of each victim (the youngest was 3 years old), and situated based upon where they died (benches facing the building were for people on the plane, benches facing outward were for those in the building).

Paying our respects to President Kennedy.

There's something fun for every kid about staying in a hotel. But staying in a hotel with your Grammy? EVEN BETTER!!

On Monday, we spent the day at the National Zoo. Of the hundreds of animals to be seen, can you guess where Blake wanted to hang out? In the barn yard. I take him to a local farm a lot--sometimes multiple times per week--so he was most intrigued by the cows, the pigs, and the goats. 

"Mooooooo, Mama!"

Bonus to the barnyard? Llamas. Or were they alpacas?

What can I say? My boys love cows!

Within the barnyard, they have a place where you can go in and groom the pygmy donkeys. If you were wondering if pygmy donkeys are remarkably adorable, you'd be right. 

For several years, (including the last time we were in DC for this same conference), they have been renovating and enlarging the elephant exhibit. Other than the barnyard, this was Blake's favorite thing to see.

The next day was the Air & Space museum (on the mall). We make sure to include this stop whenever we're in DC, and our offspring have come to expect it. Ian was so completely and utterly happy that he was just a giant ball of giddiness. And quite frankly, if you were a 6 year-old boy, you'd be the same way.

Hey, look how excited they are about being at the seat of democracy!!

My favorite place-of-all-places in Washington DC is the national Botanic Garden. Oh, my stars, it's amazing. Pictures don't do it justice, folks. You just have to go there and enjoy the splendor. Don't leave it off your itinerary the next time you're in our nation's capital. 

Lots of places to sit = Blake's favorite.

Watering daisies in the children's garden.

Playing with the watering fountains  in the children's garden.

Blake spent almost a full half-our in this little house in the children's garden. He loves that sort of thing--it's quite adorable, I'll admit.

Blake's new favorite thing is to hold hands with Ian. This was no exception.

There is a canopy walk in the jungle/rain forest room of the botanic garden. Again, pictures do not do this justice.

Found Grammy's glasses!

Examining the water feature in the medicinal plants room.

Play time in the giant model of the pitcher plant.  (Again, he likes little houses, right?)

On our way out of town, we decided to hit up the off-site Air & Space museum. They recently acquired one of the space shuttles, WHICH WAS AWESOME TO SEE. You guys, YOU HAVE TO GO TO THIS PLACE. It's about 45 minutes outside of DC in Chantilly, VA, and IT IS WORTH EVERY SINGLE EXTRA MINUTE OF DRIVING. Wow.Zers.

You'll see why in the next picture.

This isn't even 20% of the collection.

Mom and Nat checking out the Concorde.

I promise that the shuttle wasn't boring them.

Um, I had no idea how much texture there was to a shuttle! And each individual tile had its own serial number. It was amazing.

Blake was about done for the day. Guess this one won't be on the Christmas card.

In a relatively last-minute decision, we decided to spend the morning of our drive home in Philadelphia. We only had a few hours, but it was enough time to see the important things. In order to actually get inside Independence Hall, you have to get a [free] ticket for a tour. Their website indicated that most tickets are distributed by 1pm, so get there early......but when we arrived at 9:30am, the only ones left were for the 4:15pm tour. (We needed to leave by 1pm).

Thank GOODNESS we got to the liberty bell when we did....

....because the next thing we knew, it looked like this.

Independence Hall.....from the outside....with people who were convinced that they weren't going in.

BUT! As a tour was starting, I sent Joe over to just ASK if there was room....and there was!!! Doesn't hurt to ask, right?

Blake will someday appreciate where he was standing.

You guys, you might know how much I geek out over the musical "1776." (Answer: I REALLY geek out about it.) So when I turned the corner and saw this set of stairs, I nearly yelped with glee. (Really, I almost did.) 

During our time there, Ian earned his Junior Ranger badge--and Ranger Paul was kind enough to swear him in.

...And this boy was a trooper. We carted him to and fro, we messed with his naps and his bedtime...and he was [mostly] happy the entire time.

There are some other under-photographed days, including some attractions photographed by only Ian (I'll have him post later). We also went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (Dinosaurs!), the monuments, Good Stuff Burgers, We the Pizza, and some metro rides....and we also got together with Joe's college roommate, Steve, our neighbors-in-Provo, Kelly & Travis, and my cousin, Brian and his wife, Jenny. 

Every time I'm in DC, I swear I'm going to do something new (still haven't seen: National Archives, Library of Congress, National Cathedral, Capitol Building, Museum of the American Indian, Spy Museum, Supreme Court....and several other things that are on my "must do" list), but with two little boys, the old stand-by's never disappoint. Animals, airplanes and dinosaurs? Yes, please.

Oh, and also? I don't know how we did it, but we won the weather lottery. It was sunny, dry and in the low 70's the entire time we were down there. If you're familiar with DC in June, you know how unusual that is. You're also probably familiar with how I feel about hot, humid days. This was more than a bonus: this was a miracle.