Washington, D.C.

This is what I expected to see when we went to Washington D.C. on the way to OBX - After all, we did arrive in time for the last weekend of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Unfortunately, the Cherry Blossoms had an early bloom this year, and we missed them by about a week. Darn! I was so disappointed! But we had a great time anyway!

We arrived late Friday night at our hotel, The Capitol Hilton (yay Priceline!). What a great location, only two blocks from the White House!

Logan wated to check out the bed first thing!

We were so excited to see everything, that we went out for a little walk that night.

I think we stayed out a little past Logan's bedtime!

In the morning, we went out to see the sights.

We tried to teach Andrew about all the monuments and the people they stand for, but I think he got all monumented-out!Andrew and Logan were good sports and posed for lots of pictures for us.

Logan was very upset that we wouldn't let him swim in the Reflection Pool.

We were able to see the National Cherry Blossom Festval Parade. Underdog!!!

We all got a kick out of the 3-D IMAX show at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

What a great city!

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown Settlement was really cool! In addition to the indoor museum and film, there is an outdoor experience which includes a re-creation of the James Fort, a Powhatan Indian Village, and replicas of the three ships that the English settlers arrived in. Each area has costumed guides to teach you about life during that time and hands-on experiences for everyone to try.

Logan, Andrew, and Summer trying on armor at James Fort.

Andrew learning how to tie a Powhatan fishing net.

The ships were my favorite!

The whole fam below deck!

This is a really fun place to take the kids! If you get a chance, check it out.

Jamestown is also really close to Yorktown and Williamsburg, which we didn't have time to visit, but you could make a whole vacation out of just these sites!

Two wrongs don't make a right, but two Wrights make an airplane!

Okay, so I stole that saying fom a T-shirt I saw in OBX; I thought it was so funny!

While in OBX, we visited the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, where their famous test flights took place. It was even Wilbur Wright's birthday on the day we visited, so we got in free! Bonus!

I can see why this place would be perfect for testing gliders an airplanes, there is a nice high hill to launch from (Big Kill Devil Hill), a great stretch of field below the hill, and it's pretty windy up there!The thing that struck me the most during the visit was how grateful I am for those like the Wright Brothers who have that unbreakable pioneer spirit, who never give up on their vision, no matter what the odds.

The Glass is Definitely Half-Empty

Today sucked...... I worked from 6 a.m. till midnight yesterday. On the way home, I remembered that I had a 6:30 a.m. lecture. I wasn't going to go, but I felt I should attend (especially since I didn't go to the one last week) because it might help me with some study questions I've been working on. That being the case, I woke up early with less than 5 hours of sleep so I could drive to work on my day off for a 30 minute lecture that turned out to be of very little value. On the way home, this happened:

Luckily, the other driver was not injured, and I received only a minor abrasion on my forehead. Because it was 8 a.m., the sun was directly in line with the stop light, and I couldn't see that the light had changed. It was one of those moments that seemed to pass in slow motion - one of those where you brace yourself for the oncoming tragedy, just hoping that everyone will be okay.

On the plus side, no one was injured, the police were very friendly and didn't issue a citation, and our insurance company was very easy to work with (they even had an the appraisal guy out to our house within three hours of the accident).

On the negative side, I get to look forward to paying the $250 deductible and watching our rates double. FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Beach Blues

Outer Banks, NC

We enjoyed a wonderful week in Outer Banks, North Carolina! Our beautiful home away from home on the beach! We shared the house with three other families - the Huffmans, Bettingers, and Shupes - 23 people all together! It was a BIG house! Heading out for a walk on the beach on Sunday.
Summer and Hannah enjoying a beautiful day!

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy... this picture was taken about two minutes after we suggested to Andrew that we not swim in the ocean on Sunday. The soaking wet Andrew responded, "But I wasn't swimming...I was looking for sea shells!" Right.
Logan LOVES sand!!!

The Andersons, Huffmans, Bettingers, and Shupes all together for FHE. Cindy did a really fun lesson comparing Sundays and Sundaes. Good things to do on Sunday were yummy toppings (chocolate, caramel, sprinkles, etc), while not-so-good Sunday activities were not-so-yummy toppings (sand, grass, laundry detergent, etc). It was a huge hit! Treats were, you guessed it, SUNDAES!
The kids really bonded during the week! There were suprisingly few fights, condsidering that there were 15 kids (ages newborn-10 yrs) in the house! Since being home, Andrew keeps asking if he can have a playdate...with all the kids from the trip!!!

The water was FREEZING... but we all took the plunge anyway! You kinda get numb to it after awhile!

Our first day on the beach, poor Logan fell over in the water and couldn't get up, thanks to the waves crashing over him and pulling him down. It scared him so much that he wouldn't even get near the water after that without his Daddy!

Bryan and Logan watching the waves.

Currituck Lighthouse

One of our outings in OBX was to the Currituck Lighthouse in Corolla.

We're going to climb HOW HIGH?!! 158 feet!
Logan loved climbing the winding staircase! It was hard to keep up with him! It's a LONG way down!

At the top! What a view!