A Look Back at D.C. Vacation

We arrived in D.C on Tuesday, August 24. We stayed with our good friends John and Becky. We met them at Eglin AFB when Becky and I were both childless. There are now six beautiful children amongst us. They have made MANY trips to our farm so I am sure you have seen them around and about. I actually failed to get a single pic of our six kids together, but I did capture this picture which includes our buddy William later on in the trip so I'll include that.

John and Becky's sons are in the front. That is Jonah (left) and Joshua (right)

We hung out Tuesday evening and went to bed super early. Becky made an AWESOME curry that we just gobbled up and had for leftovers the next day as well. John and Becky had a wonderful guest set up for us in their basement. After living in one tiny room, it felt like a palace!!! They are such wonderful people and a great family. We love having them as life-long friends. Becky and I realized that Isaac will turn ten this year. She and I met right before we adopted Isaac. SO NEAT!

JB also LOVED their backyard. It backed up to a nature trail. He saw SO many birds from their backyard and said it was the best birding backyard he has ever seen. A huge compliment! :)

On Wednesday morning, Becky let her boys go in late to school so the kids could play and then we decided to take off for the UDVAR HAZY MUSEUM. Neither JB or I had ever been there and it is amazing. It has the Enola Gay and the Space Shuttle Discovery among many, many other things. Here are some pictures from our day there:

Space shuttle Discovery

We let the kids decide if they wanted to try a simulator or not. These three said yes.

Our more cautious boy opted to take a turn operating the controls on a plane.

Scavenger Hunts for my kids are such a great idea. Isaac especially takes the museum on in a whole new way. It was so cool of the museum to have this for the kids.

Abigail the Astronaut

On Wednesday evening, my good friend from the Azores, Claire, came to Becky's house for dinner with her kiddos. It was so nice of Becky to host everyone. Here is a picture of all of our children:

A great picture of all the kids I love how kids can just play like they haven't not seen each other in so long.

Not a great picture, but here is Abigail with Claire. She went right to her!

On Thursday we decided to do a BIG day touring in D.C. since it was the only day with really good weather. We went just the six of us and oh did we have a wonderful day. The weather was GLORIOUS. And it was just so fun.

The kiddos at a fountain by the building housing the Declaration of Independence!

Abigail saw the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and asked, "Is that how tall he really was?"

Me: "No."

Abigail: "Even without the thing he is standing on?"

Abigail: "Is Thomas Jefferson still alive?"

Sidge: "No, he died."

Abigail: "How?"

Hannah: "Probably from oldness."

Probably one of my favorite family fotos ever!!!

We got to see the White House. We also had lunch at the famous OLD EBBITT GRILL which has been open across the street from the White House since 1856. We took a chance and showed up without a reservation and were seated right away! I love traveling in off-season time.

We did a quick jaunt around the Natural History Museum.

So fun!

There were even some Cherry Blossoms in bloom. I must admit, I really see myself in this little face.

In front of the Capitol Building

Hannah actually said, "Dad, take a picture of me with this rock. It's my very favorite rock."

When we got home from touring, everyone wanted to watch National Treasure after seeing the Declaration of Independence up close. Oh, and by the way, when we saw it, Hannah said: "That's just a very old piece of paper with nothing on it.

Here we are watching the movie!

On Friday, my good friend Stebbs who lives not far from Becky, let her William play hooky to go touring with us. She dropped him off at Becky's and we took two vehicles to the metro stop. Becky and her boys joined us for a fun day at the Bible Museum!!

Here's Hannah getting herself dressed for the day. She picks out the most interesting clothes.

The kiddos reading on the Metro ride

First up was the Bible Museum. Oh was I excited to see this!!!!

The highlight of my day was being able to see a copy of the TABURU scriptures in the Bible Museum.See all those yellow boxes behind me? Those are all the languages that still do not have a Bible in their language!

There's my Aunt and Uncle listed under the translation team!!! (Ed and Jan!) Folks the Bible Museum was simply AMAZING!!! Truly I could have spend a gazillion more hours there. I can't wait to go back.

Fun with William in the Bible Museum

Check out Abigail! Lol!

Check out this picture above of my boys walking with their buddy William. 

Stebbs put these side-by-side. This was them when we lived together in Turkey. Man oh man. Emotional.

A close up look at Hannah's outfit 

Sidge and Joshua -- these two are like two peas in a pod. (That's his mom Becky in the background.)

Hannah and Jonah. Jonah usually pops between playing with all four of my kids. He plays Legos with Isaac or goes on adventures with Abigail or does whatever it is a Hannah does.

Me with the kiddos in front of some beautiful tulips (my favorite flower!)

When we got back on Friday, we headed over to the Stebbins' family house, saying good bye to John and Becky. Ryan made homemade pizza the first night and smoked a pork butt (his specialty!) the second night. Both were sooooo good, and we had such a great time. I also got to run over and see Claire one more time and introduce her to Sarah Stebbs. (They live only a few minutes away from each other!)

The rest of the weekend was spent laying low. Chik-fil-A, Target, sword fights, video games, and just having an awesome time catching up with our friends.

Stebbins sent me out front to watch the kids playing. Major FAIL here folks. That's me -- enjoying vacation. I work hard but I am not afraid of a vacation!!!!

Graham, William, and my kids. Graham and Hannah are six weeks apart in age and really played great together!!

The three amigos. I think the best part of this picture is seeing Sidge in an Auburn sweatshirt! Roll 'Tide. Oh, wait, that isn't Auburn it isn't. Isn't it a War Eagle?