My Favorite Four Plus One!

My heart belongs to these beautiful people~

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter

It was a great Easter...we kind of felt like we were being catapulted back into reality and I can't even believe I found every one's shoes and clothes for Sunday but we did it! Resurrection Sunday was a Blessing...complete with the Hallelujah Chorus and flowers on the cross!  We then traveled to Thomasville and hung out with John's family and friends.  We ate and had a big Easter egg hunt...it is tradition at his Grandmother's house!  We all then fell fast asleep until about 6:30 when John had to leave for work!  I love Easter but truly I want us all to remember that he died for us, took all our sin, acted in perfect obedience, and rose again... EVERYDAY!  Easter can be celebrated everyday...the days that we have really messed up, the days that we have yelled at the kids, fought with our spouse, been poor stewards or on the other hand had a great day, been blessed beyond belief, etc...He is ALIVE and it needs to be remembered EVERYDAY!

Our Easter baskets always include a new bathing suit!  What can I say, our Easter Bunny is practical!

Molly's first Mr. Potato Head...






They posed perfect for me!  Yay for cooperative kids!


She kept posing in front of the cross and saying cheese!

Mr. Dawson telling the kids the Easter Story around the baptistry.

Children's Easter Mission Project...all the church kids donated baby items for baskets for preemies at the Ronald Mcdonald House.  They made over 11 baskets to take to the house for new mommies and daddies!






John Daniel won the prize for most eggs found!



trying to convince her Daddy to open more candy!

sweet Grandma!

Day 10.....last day, 11 hours of driving, 1st chick-fil-a in 10 days, It's Easter tomorrow!

Well we left our dumpy hotel at 8:30 on the dot...none of us wanted to stay there long that is for sure!  We got on the road, ate breakfast in the van and started our trek!  The kids loved when we passed from state to state..they knew we had to go through VA, NC, SC, GA, and then FL...Again, I'm not as patient as John and he is so much better at entertaining miss Molly.  We took turns driving...Emily did better with the motion sickness this day...Dramamine is our friend...first time my kids have swallowed pills I think!  We knew we entered the south when we found a Chick-fil-a and sweet tea for lunch!  Our first Chick-fil-a in 10 days..that is surely a record!  We really pushed it once we hit GA  and we got home at 7 pm or right there after!  Praise God for safe travels!  I thought, "Oh my it is Easter tomorrow and I have NO Easter basket goodies"...off to Target I went at 9 pm...

What a wonderful trip of learning, experiencing, and touring we had!  It is certainly one of our best vacations!  I would recommend everyone taking a trip to DC and John and I can tell you how to do it with a little less money!  My favorite part was spending uninterrupted time with the kids and John for 10 whole days...now that we are back to the norm...John and I both agreed, it feels weird being so far apart at work and school and other activities. 

Day 9....More Planes and other things that fly, I95, and motion sickness









I wrote this is the van on I95.....didn't get around to posting it until now...but here it is:
John woke me at 5:45 this morning and asked if I was ready to get up and get everyone ready so he could walk to the Metro, take it to the airport, get our van, bring it back to the hotel and load it up....he told me last night it would rain today and if we wanted to go to Mt. Vernon, then we would have to go early. In my benadryl and half a glass of wine hangover, I said noooo....I can't get up...so we slept! We did get up around 8 and finally got our van, loaded, and checked out by 10. I'm a little dissapointed that we aren't going to Mt Vernon..it is the LAST thing that was on my list of things to do...so my OCD self feels like I was just one place off in accomplishing my mission 100% but I need to get over it. We did SO MUCH while here!!!!! And it is plum cold in DC today and the rain started at like 11 am so it would have been miserable being outside all day...of course it crossed my mind, "What could we have done yesterday different so that we could have done Mt. Vernon yesterday and done the museums today and still made it out of DC"...like I said, the Revell part of me is a little obsessive! We traveled into VA and stopped at a Logan's Steakhouse for lunch but not before my mini-me Emily got car sick three times...poor thing...she has a stomach just like me! I think the car sickness will get worse..I remember I was really bad when I was a pre-teen and teenager! It doesn't help that the roads in VA are terrible and the traffic is crazy...(Mom, when you go visit Nic this summer....FLY...you won't be able to handle the traffic!) It was a good break and she seemed to feel better. We drove to the Dulles National Airport where there is an extension of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum called the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It's a HUGE airplane hanger with over 300 planes, aircraft, fighter planes, helicopters, jets, and the Enterprise Space Shuttle. Emily and I were kind of over the plane stuff BUT it was pretty cool seeing the Space Shuttle right before your eyes. John was totally in to all the WWII planes and Japanese planes. I liked the F14 from Top Gun :) They also had some Blackbird Spy Planes that were way cool...can't believe men fly in those things! John Daniel liked looking at all the engines and missles. John and John Daniel rode two simulator rides there...one was a 3D moonwalk experience and the other was a flight simulator ride. John Daniel thought those were way cool....the two motion sickness sufferers stayed on the ground. After we left, we made a Starbucks stop and then got on I95 South headed home....and we are still on I95 and have been for almost 4 hours and haven't made it far. The traffic and rain have been awful! The traffic has been moving at like 30 mph most of the time....that coupled with more car sickness and molly crying has made for an unpleasant 4 hours BUT a little worship saved us! John is convinced that VA drivers are from another land...he can't stand them and I thought I was gonna have to throw cold water on him BUT instead I stuck a little Bluegrass Gospel in the CD player and our moods turned around for the better...the Isaacs saved us or maybe it is just a little Praise and Worship on this Good Friday that helped us get through it with happier hearts....we are just now passing through Richmond, VA and it is 7:30pm. I am writing this as we drive and it is pouring down rain...traffic is still terrible but we are all o.k. and praying for safety as we pass wreck after wreck. John is determined to get through VA before we stop. I'm pretty sure Molly might start throwing things at us at any point but the big kids are doing great...they are loving our music...Happy Good Friday!

On a much later note...we didn't stop until 1 am in Selma, NC...it continued to rain and traffic was terrible.  A dumpy Days Inn was the only vacant hotel on I95...we tried like 10 before we found it...lesson learned, we will always have a reservation somewhere!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Day 8...US government, air and space, and some classical art

Sorry for the delay in yesterday's post..blogger wasn't working right and I was too tired to figure it out...I felt like I let my readers down..HA HA HA!  So now you will have to go back and read day 7...or not...I know I take a ton of pictures but I just can't stop!  Now for Day 8....Today was more of a relaxed day...finishing up things we had started, doing those last few things before we head home...it was a GORGEOUS day in DC and we enjoyed every minute of it!  First was a stop at the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the US Capitol.  John and I are amazed at all the structures and grand buildings.  The flowers and trees are also in full bloom and just beautiful!
Library of Congress

US Capitol



US Supreme Court









View of the Mall from the Capitol






Cuties!

We went to the National Botanical Garden next which was just beautiful...



The jungle..from above


Kid's area with a cute little playhouse.

After seeing some beautiful flowers and gardens we went back to the air and space museum...have I told you how big these museums are???!!?!?! 

John Daniel wanted his picture taken with every single air craft!

Hubble Telescope 3D movie.

John's favorite WWII plane.

For any man that loves flying, machines, bombers, heavy machinery, boats, guns, power machines...this museum is heaven...John and John Daniel could have spent the entire day in here.  I have never heard J.D. ask so many questions!  He wanted to know about it all, how it worked, what it was used for, and on and on and on!

Next was the National Gallery of Classical Art...which I just wanted to walk in to say I have been there.  There are guards everywhere!  I found the most significant/have to see paintings...they were about to close. 


Again the decorating is amazing!

Rembrandt's Self Portrait

I got a little too close to it when Emily was taking my picture and a guard told me to move away...that is why it looks like I'm scared to stand next to it!


da Vinci's Ginevra's de Benci
My kiddos looking at a da Vinci.  I tried to explain how cool that was...not sure they got it but I have pictures to prove it!

Then we played a little in the green space at the Mall again!



Walking back to the Metro we happen upon the United States Navy Memorial so I took this pics in honor of my Dad!

We ate dinner with Nic Nic at Chipolte Mexican Restaurant when he got off work.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel for an early evening. 


Molly says just let me go to bed!  Some cool odds and ends...we saw lots of WWII veterans around the monuments one day...they have a program called Honor Flight that makes sure every WWII veteran gets to come see the memorials before they die.  John has volunteered in Tallahassee to be a medic.  The program hires Medics to travel with veterans with oxygen or other health needs.  They fly them to Washington DC and let them visit the monuments and memorials.  We got to say lots of Thank Yous as they passed us during the day!  I have a rash on my neck and chest...not sure what it is..It is much like hives.  Nic and his friend "C" diagnosed it as a reaction to the water...they said they have skin issues from the water here in DC.  It itches and today I had to break down and buy some benadryl!  I think Metro riding is cool but if I had to do it for the rest of my life, I think I would be depressed...it makes me feel like I'm a part of a heard of cattle being pushed from one place to another...but that's just me:)  Molly picked up a lollipop from the grass in the Mall today and put it in her mouth before I could stop her...SO DISGUSTED!  John Daniel wants to go eat Ethiopian food again, loves anything that involves space and machinery and likes to work the coffee machine in the hotel.  Emily wants to live in DC and says she will stay here in be Nic's maid.  She also wants Pop Pop to build her a backyard to look like the National Botanical Garden.  Molly says, "COLD" every time we go up the 300 ft elevator from the dungeon of the Metro to the outside...because the wind and cold were wicked the first day we were here and she remembers that.  She also talks or plays peek a boo with a new person every time we get on the train...even showed a man her food the other day....I have so loved seeing the big city through their eyes!