vacation journal (day 1)

In an effort to journal our family's adventures, vacations, happenings, goings on, issues, blessings, joys, and well you get the idea, I am posting about our whirlwind tour of D.C., Baltimore, and Jersey.

first stop... D.C.

Georgetown to be exact

I think we started off our trip pretty tired to begin with and if you look closely, you'll see some tired faces. I see lots of joy, too, which is a good thing.

My daughters have seen the show that talks about this now-famous place.

Look at that line! It was the night of the new show's debut or something like that. We did not go near that queue, nor did we think about purchasing a cupcake for 4 dollars and change. It was nice to see the place, though.

Georgetown is such a quaint place. We only stopped in briefly and mainly to get a bite to eat.

The waiting for this place was a tad too long for our hungry bellies, but I love the signage.

Everyone's always up for ice cream!

And the place that was finally chosen to eat was none other than Johnny Rockets.

Next stop the next morning... Arlington National Cemetery

A place of quiet beauty.

We walked reverently toward JFK's Memorial.

There are approximately 350,000 grave sites here.

JFK

And his bride.

I love the way my camera caught the sun's rays in the pattern of a cross.

It's impressive to watch the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier."

Our family on our way out to visit other places.

We took our share of photos at the back of the White House. I'm glad it is picturesque, but we never did get around to the front. Maybe next time. I did say it was a whirlwind tour.

My daughter, Braaten, having experience with Flat Stanley, decided that her Polly family needed to experience all of these places, too.

I thought she had a brilliant idea.

The American History Museum

Edith & Archie Bunker's chairs. My hubs insisted I be in the photo. It might be because I can slightly mimic Edith's voice when she sings in the beginning of the show. My friend, Annette, sings Archie's part.

And after walking in the hot sun, my girls might have been thinking,

"There's no place like home."

If you look near my daughter's side, you'll see the movie camera that probably weighed at least 15 pounds back in the early 80's. Yikes! Now you can fit video camera's in your pocket.

Remember this dress? Oh, it's a classic.

Friends of mine in the 7th grade used to call me Carol Burnett for kicks. You know, it's because my name is Carol and it sounded funny at the time.

Abe Lincoln's top hat.

You know those Pollies want to live in that house.

Before we made it to the museum, we took this long walk to see the Lincoln Memorial.

I wouldn't recommend a trip there in July, but anytime you go, there is so much you just have to see.

I think this was after we saw it, that we had to sit down to cool off a little.

Doesn't every 12 year old girl want to go on her daddy's back when she is hot and tired?

Ah, yes, cool water. :)

Dive in, Coop. You know you want to.

Did I mention it was hot?

We took photos of 3 of our home states.

The Washington Monument & the Mall

Such a lovely design.

The Lincoln Memorial Building

No it's not boys.

And now you're smiling again.

We enjoyed our time in Washington D.C.

Next stop... Baltimore, Maryland

on the fritz

For the past week or so my computer has been acting weird. Does yours ever do that? Anyway, I kept trying to sign in on my yah*o page and my fb page, etc, and nothing! I uplugged and replugged my computer, refreshed, restarted, and again nothing.

I finally called my "server" and the guy on the other end told me to unplug my router, wait 30 seconds, and then plug it back in. Guess what?! It worked! Yaaaaay!

So here I am after more than a week of not posting and not being able to read anyone's posts, finally able to update my blog. It feels good to have computer capability again.

**Family Update**

On Monday, I drove 3 hours north of here to bring 4 of our 5 children to kids camp through our church. It was a haul and by the end of dropping off, picking up some lunch, and returning home, my husband beat me home from his work day. What a long day! Whew! Guess what, though. He gets to do the pick up on Friday. I'm considering doing some scrapbooking since I have so many hours at home.

The only one of our kids that could not go due to his age, is Austin, our 14 year old. We have been having such a blessed week just spending time as a family of "3". It's been 12 years since it was just the 3 of us. Last night we went mini golfing. My game was on even though my men decided to give me a 15 point whatchamacallit. Oh, handicap. Who needs a handicap when you are pretty good to begin with? hehehe I won in the end. :-)

My boy and I went to a high school meeting with his guidance counselor today. It went very well. He has been homeschooled for the past 7 years and we have decided to put him in the local high school. I think it will be a good thing for him, but having had him at home for all of these years, I have my concerns and also know that I will miss him so very much. We are confident that this is the path the Lord has for him, and so I will trust that he will bless and be blessed in this new adventure. After our meeting, we went out for breakfast. Now we are off to shop for school clothes.

Have a blessed Wednesday. I'll be reading your blogs later today or tomorrow to get back in the groove.

miscellany monday

Carissa over at "lowercase letters" hosts "miscellany monday" and I decided to give it a try.

And, boy, do I have some major disorganized randomness to share.

Since it's been a busy, happy, blessed, and fun summer, I decided to share a little of this and that.

1.) paint crazy!

I have been repainting furniture, distressing it, or spray painting it. You can often find me with paint on my arms or legs clearly when a shower should have taken it off. That goes to show just how much painting has been going on around here.

This desk is in Braaten & Melanie's room. It used to be yellow. I love it and so do they! Whew!

2.) the big day

Our dear friend, Melanie, got married a little over a week ago and she was absolutely gorgeous! We had the honor of witnessing their beautiful wedding and had lots of fun at the reception.

3.) a mini family reunion

This is my mom's side of the family (it's where our daughter Braaten got her name; also my mother's maiden name). My mom was so very blessed when our little girl was named after her.

22 people slept in our home and 4 outside in campers.

I must blog about that weekend. We had an amazing blessed, non-chaotic time.

God is so good!

4.) these chickens rule!

We recently adopted 9 hens from friends of ours, Chris and Terri, who could no longer keep them.

They lay beautiful eggs!

They normally lay the type you see in the middle.

On this particular day, one of those brave little girlies laid the one on the left.

And she survived. Whew!

The golf ball on the right can regularly be found in my son, Austin's, possession.

Golfing is something he did all the while that we lived in England. Not technically all the while, but you get the idea.

More pictures of the awesomeness of that egg.

Are you in disbelief, too?

I think maybe I haven't made my point. We still have one more photo to go.

Normally one would hope for a double-yoker. On this day the hope was clearly for a triple yoker.

We were getting greedy I guess.

Have I mentioned how much better farm-fresh eggs are?

5.) Uncle Mike & Aunt Peggy's annual summer bash

My mother-in-law and Chyenne (my niece) on the left and Brittany (Chyenne's sister), Jill (cousin AND sister-in-law), April (sister-in-law), and Kris (sister-in-law) on the right side of the table from back to front.

We had great conversation, food, and fun!

6.) hostess with the mostest

Linda (friend of the family), Aunt Peggy (hostess), and Haley (cousin), recent high school graduate.

7.) joyful cousins

Cooper & Nicole playing beanbag toss.

8.) happy-go-lucky grant

Grant playing the toss-the-golfball-on-string-game-over-pvc-pipe.

What's the name of that game anyway?

I love it and didn't get to play that day.

I guess I was talking too much.

9.) host with the most

Uncle Mike (host), and Jill's husband, Timothy.

OK, we call him Tim, but he calls me "Carl" clearly trying to do it in a Jersey accent, so I call him Timothy.

10.) hunk of a husband

My precious husband playing volleyball.

11.) cute Katie

Playing volleyball, too. She is extremely athletic and fun.

12.) wedded bliss

Speaking of fun...

Brittany and Richie, just married for 42 days at this point, were showing us all how to keep fun in a marriage.

Brittany innocently poured a little water on Richie and he wasn't having any of it. He grabbed her, picked her up, and intended to throw her in the pond. She pulled, scratched and bit her way out of it. In went the flip flop instead.

13.) firstborn fisherman

Austin not only likes to golf, but he LOVES to fish, especially at Uncle Mike's pond.

14.) photographer wanna-be

And I like to try to photograph flowers and insects, along with taking thousands of pictures of my family and friends.

Isn't that a cool shot?

15.) on the fritz

I mean this is Uncle Fritz and apparently he can sleep anywhere.

16.) honorable men

Nothing more needs to be said.

I love them dearly.

17.) family love

April & Chyenne chatting it up and posing for moi.

18.) floral photography

pretty

19.) the all-day quad squad

I am not even kidding!

They rode this thing all day.

Melanie (precious daughter), Rachel (cousin), Braaten (precious daughter), and Abbey (cousin).

20.) handsome honey

Meet Ethan Joseph, quite possibly one of the cutest babies I've ever seen! And this is his mom, Jessica.

He is my 3rd cousin and will be a big brother in February/March.

21.) more re-dos

My plan is to paint all of the furniture in this room from pickled wood to distressed white

Stay tuned.

21.) kitty cats

This is Molly in her happy upside down state.

She seriously loves for me to hold her this way.

Silly kitty!

22.) more wedded bliss

I absolutely adore my husband.

23.) surrounded by love

Emma manages to entertain all of these children as she is the center of attention.

How precious is that?

If you have made it this far, WOW! Thanks and hugs to you.

It is way past my bedtime and I stayed up all in the name of a post and documenting our family. Well worth it in my book!