Someone wrote on the dining room wall today. Any guesses who it might have been?
Monday, September 29, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
And then. . .
Because the day wasn't long enough yet, we tried to stop at the Air Force Memorial. I keep promising Jonah next trip we will. Turns out, since it's the birthday of the USAF, the AF band was there giving a concert and there was no where to park (according to the security guard.) Major bummer since they sounded great and I'm sure the kids would have loved the concert.
So we hit the Pentagon Memorial as our last stop. Incredible to think it's been 13 years (yesterday). Such a beautiful memorial, but so heart wrenching. We learned the oldest person was born in 1930, and the youngest 1998. So the ages of the 184 who lost their life there were between 71 and 3. We really have had so little tragedy in our country, compared to other counties, but it's still so frustrating to think of senseless deaths.
As it turns out...
It WAS Marine One and we got to watch him land and take back off. They kept us pretty far back for that so we were unable to actually see the President, but it was still pretty amazing. Totally the right place at the right time.
And then....
As we headed back to the van, me claiming that we were done, I spied the white house of to the left. Somehow I'd never noticed it so close and easily accessed from the national mall (we've always walked to the other side! Which is a long walk!)
And as I tried to get the boys' attention to make a detour (they'd run ahead) I heard this guy coming overhead, nice and slow. It was impossible to not notice that it looked just like Marine One. ..
Last of the monuments
We then trekked on to see the Washington Monument up close (and the kids were so disappointed that is nearly impossible to get tickets to go inside unless you plan months in advance.) Then we saw the WWII memorial. One of my favorites, it's so well done. This shot is from there.
Ice Cream!!
Because they were good at Arlington, I promised them ice cream (mostly to encourage Micah or Selah-whomever was walking at the time-to keep walling because we were almost done. It worked, more or less.)
They did have to suffer through the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Wall, and Korean Memorial first. Hey, they were on the way. Noah got French fries since he couldn't have anything else. And since they were re-energized, and we were parked in front- I drug them into the American History museum, too. The American flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner is quite the sight to see. Enormous. We only had an hour, so we basically saw that and the war section. And we got trapped inside as they tried to close by a reenlistment. Another cool experience for the kids.
Arlington National Cemetery
Started our day at Arlington. Besides Selah climbing on a wall at JFK's site and getting yelled at, it went well. We saw the changing of the guard and also observed the funeral procession and most of the ceremony for an AF veteran. It was quite incredible.
Dear Dad,
Don't worry, I'm making sure mom will be happy to share a bed with you instead of me when you get home.
Love,
Elijah
Thursday, September 11, 2014
The view
The boys raved about the view from the tower, so I climbed up to see. The view was indeed incredible at the top (this picture doesn't do it justice, better ones on my camera). But the view going up and down the steps was a bit much for me. Next time I'll just go with viewing the pictures.
Observation Tower
Jonah, Noah, and Paul went up to the to and took some pictures. I love Selah at the bottom looking up- I was not comfortable taking her up. She has a history of climbing onto things she shouldn't. This way we all came home alive.
Devil's Den
Here's a better shot of Devil's Den from Little Round Top. The kids loved playing on the hill until the big, mean mom said they'd ventured far enough.
Mellow Mushroom at the Zoo!
After a long, hot day in DC, Mellow Mushroom at the National Zoo pleased even the pickiest in the family!
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Still there. ..
These stones were used to make a wall with small stones during the Civil War. There was a picture of them in the wall. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of it, but it was cool to see, and then for the kids to play on them.
Devil's Den and Little Round Top
Behind Noah is Devil's Den. Picture was taken from Little Round Top.
DC bound!
Is time for our yearly sojourn to DC. We brought a stowaway this trip, as well. Halfway there!
Saturday, September 6, 2014
A week of funerals
Our kids have now been to 3 funerals, two were this past week. On Tuesday, we attended a funeral Mass for the grandfather of their friends. As we left, we found out that Bryan's Aunt Patti had passed away Monday night. It was most unfortunate in that she was only 59. But she had suffered from early onset Alzheimer's for a good number of years already and we knew it was coming. And because of such, in many ways it was quite joyous, knowing that she can now live eternally without all of that misery. It was still quite difficult on her family so please pray for them and for her soul.
The kids are in front of Uncle Paul's old cars, in front of the gorgeous church where a beautiful Mass was offered. In fact, both of the Masses this week were very moving. We were very fortunate to participate in such wonderful celebrations of good lives lived and moved on to the next life.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Browns-lions preseason game
Find this on Bryan's phone. Not even sure who took it. But it's true that Elijah was quite well behaved when he was wearing Kayla's headphones!
Selah is 6!
Not sure how that is possible, but our sweet, little daughter did turn 6 this week. She makes a bit less trouble nowadays but is still quite the curious child. 1/3 of the way to 18 and I fear that was the easy part.
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