Touring the Capital City

I said we were going to squeeze every possible thing in that we could and we spent three days doing just that. People keep asking me what my favorite thing was and, to be honest, I don't think I can pinpoint one thing. I can tell about some of the great stuff we did so here goes.

We saw lots of monuments and it was every bit as cool seeing them in person as I thought it would be. The Washington monument can, literally, be seen from everywhere. I never realized just how tall it was but soon found out when we were walking up to it. It stands just a little over 555 feet tall.

We went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History and it was so interesting. We didn't have nearly enough time to see everything since there were four floors but we did make it to each floor to scan some really cool stuff. This was one of the magnificent things we saw. It's Abraham Lincoln's top hat. I just couldn't get over it. Our 16th president possibly wore that for very important decisions he made. It simply amazes me. They also had, among other artifacts, the suit and dress that he and his wife wore to his inauguration.

Probably my other favorite display(which we weren't allowed to photograph) was The Star-Spangled Banner.Very interesting.
This capsule was at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Now that's a cool place! It was the capsule that john Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. I don't think I would've had the nerve to be put in a space craft that small and hurled into space.

This is Julia Child's kitchen. Her actual kitchen. Exactly as she left it when she died. It is quite fascinating to see her handwriting on papers on the counter.

By the time we got back around to the white house it was dark. Boo! So this was all we got.

The reflecting pool as you look at the Washington monument from the Lincoln memorial.

Honest Abe

Because Blogger isn't putting my pictures in order this one is down here

World War II Memorial

Here is Christ Church. It is where George Washington, Robert E. Lee and many other prominent Washington figures worshipped. What did they talk about when they were walking into church? What was a typical Sunday like for these families? Fascinating.

Bleed Blue

Rob and I are Bronco fans.

We love to watch them every week whether it's at the stadium or at home on our comfy couch.

But who loves them even more than we do?

This guy...

He begged and pleaded

And pleaded and begged to go to the BSU-Virginia Tech game.

At first we blew it off.

Then we started talking about it.

We've never been to Washington D.C.

We love BSU.

The poor kid has been on his knees for weeks asking to go.

Sure. Why not.

So we on our our way tomorrow at 6:40 a.m.

Rob, me and that little football loving guy we call Taylor Tot.

We plan to see everything in three days.

The Smithsonian(s)

The monuments

The cemetery

The documents

All of it.

Will our feet hurt? Probably.

Will we be tired? Absolutely.

Will it be worth it? Most definitely.

Jamboree

Every year before the actual season starts the Optimist club puts on a jamboree. This is where the players get weighed, get their pictures taken and then get to play a mini game on the Blue. Pure heaven for this BSU fanatic.

My little guy is playing linebacker this year. All 68 pounds of him.

The pictures show how this play unfolded. Taylor saw this guy coming and wasn't about to let him score. Loved it!

Taylor is #10 and his buddy Joel is #22.

They are a good team.

Taylor went after this guy with all he had but in the end all he got a hold of was some turf.

My first drive in movie

Yes, you heard correctly...I had never been to a drive in movie before. Not as a child, a naughty teen or a young adult, but at 34 I finally made it! It was the perfect night for a movie.

Sneak Peek

A couple months ago Becky Higgins did a "Big Photography Giveaway" where photographers from all over were giving away free sessions. After watching her blog for days and days she finally had a photographer from the treasure valley. I was so excited to finally be able to have a chance to win. And guess what...WE DID! We won a session with Amber Fischer! And she was fabulous! She was so personable and actually got Austin to smile a few times ;o) This is the sneak peek we have and I am chomping at the bit to see the rest!

40 Years

We threw a surprise party in honor of Rodger and Terry's anniversary and, together, friends and family celebrated 40 years!

Surprise!!!

Green Box Scavenger Hunt

We teamed up with Rich and Steph and Marc and Skye to do the Green Box scavenger hunt. We had a ball driving all over creation taking silly pictures. Here are just a few of the things we had to do. Some of them were team photos, some were individual and some just had to be a certain object.

The rest of the team trying to figure out the first clue so we could get our big list of clues. It took a while cause it was three pages and coded.

The Preppy Potatoes. We came in 9th out of 14 teams. Not bad for our first year. We plan to do better next year.
In a dog house

Wearing hats

With a fish

Wearing glasses

On a trampoline

On rollerblades

In BSU gear

Getting a whole restaurant to 'raise the roof'

Mary Mary quite contrary...

We planted a garden again this year. We didn't plant as much as last year because we were gone so much in June but we did get some things in.

carrots/lettuce/spinach/broccoli/cucumbers/string beans/zucchini/potatoes/pumpkins/strawberries/cantaloupe/raspberries/tomatoes

The bad thing about planting a garden and leaving the country is you miss out on what it has to offer. We missed all of our broccoli because it matured and flowered during the ten days we were gone. Bummer. We also lost a lot of our lettuce and decided that planting spinach is worthless. Mature spinach is gross.

We were outside last night and the kids wanted to pull some carrots. We may have waited a smidge too long since they were so big but the kids loved them.

These carrots didn't fair so well.

We've been having a lot of crazy summer fun the last few weeks. My favorite so far has been boating. Marc and Skye have asked us a couple of times to go and we always have the best time.

Rob and Austin learned to wake board, one taking a little longer to get it than the other. Austin put on that board and it took him three times to get up and look like a pro. Rob took a little while longer but got the hang of it too.

Taylor really wanted to learn to water ski so Skye offered to teach him. She stayed in the water with him to help hold him up, explained everything he needed to know and when he was ready we took off. Unfortunately no one told him that when he fell he needed to let go of the rope. Poor little guy. He fell and all we could see were his two little hands hanging on for dear life. Needless to say that was his first and last time trying that for a while.

We love summer!