Earrings

Jess has gotten her ears pierced. Such a little change, but it is a BIG change to a little girl. We had got to the mall to spend gift cards that each of the kiddos had received for their birthdays. Rather out of the blue, she annouces that she wants her ears pierced. Both of us questioned her about being sure. While she has been on the fence about sticking to her decision on other occasions, she was sure this time. So we did an about face and went to find one of those little boutiques... ya know, before she changed her mind again. She has been so tickled about having earrings. It has been quite the easy feat to keep her hair pulled back. (which makes a momma happy) Because now she can show off her earrings.

Purple, of course.

Finally, the last post of vacation pictures!

Did you ever think it would end? This is it. The last one. And not too many either. You're welcome.

The same day that we went to Arlington National Cemetary, we went on a night trolley tour. It was nice to get a new perspective on the monuments. To finish out our trip, we also went to the Natural History Museum and the Archives. The Declaration of Independance, the Bill of Rights, the Magna Carta. No pictures allowed as it is harmfull to the documents. At the Natural History Museum we also saw the Hope Diamond. It is just a tiny little thing of 45.5 carats. Lots of pictures taken of some very beautiful jewelry. We also hit up the Hard Rock Cafe; which was right down from Ford's Theatre.

Overall, I think that we all enjoyed ourselves. Other than the fact that it was near-record heat the whole time we were in DC. There would definately be more to see on another trip. Easily, any of the other Smithsonian museums. On the Friday morning that we headed home, Jess was feeling a bit on the icky side. We're guessing it was the late night pizza. She perked up later and we arrived home without incident.

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Post #6 The Capitol Building, Air and Space Museum and Arlington National Cemetary

We are coming to an end. (I promise!) I've put 3 slideshows on one post in order to try and finish this up. I think I will only have one more left to do. We had gotten pretty proficient at riding the Metro. Not only was it easy to get around, it was also cheap entertainment for the kids. We had wanted to make sure that we visited the Capitol. Not just view it from afar. We were able to take a tour through the building without making arangements ahead of time. We are spontaneous like that... :)  It is a beautiful building. I should probably leave out the fact that at the end of our tour, instead of visiting the gift shop, everyone was corraled into one area. Apparently, there was an "unattended backpack." We waited around for a while hoping this "situation" would be cleared up so we could take the kids to get a bite to eat in the cafe and look at souveniers. Didn't happen. So let's just skip the fact that we had tired, cranky, hungry kids that we took out into the oppressive heat to go to the next stop... Don't worry. It was the Air and Space Museum. And they have a food court. Air conditioning + food = happy children. They really seemed to enjoy the Museum. Lot of hands on exhibits to keep their attention. Lots more that we didn't get to see, but we were trying to finish up the day a bit earlier than what we had been. The kids had been begging for some time in the pool at the hotel. So that's what we did.

It was for the next day that we signed up for a night trolley tour. That afternoon we went to Arlington National Cemetary. We took the shuttle bus (as opposed to walking). We thought that would be much easier to get the higher profiled areas. We had taken so many pictures here. There is quite a view of DC from the Kennedy plot and also Arlington House, which is further up hill. Home of Robert E. Lee. Before the Civil War and he became a General for the South. I learned a lot from our short visit at the Lee House. A must see, is the Tomb of the Unknown. The shuttle we were on arrived just minutes before the changing of the Guard.  During the summer months, there is change every half hour. Normally, it is on the hour. We also saw a wreath laying ceremony. I don't really have words for it; you just have to see it for yourself.

The first 3 pictures in this one are of the Library of Congress, which is across the street.

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Make your own picture slideshow I'll pick up from our night tour next. Then finish up with the Natural History Museum. And a few miscellaneous pictures. Really, we've just about got this vacation wrapped up!

Post #5 We finally get to DC

We finally made it! We found our hotel, but it was too early to get checked in. We thought that we would get started on seeing as much as we could and so off we went. We walked and walked and walked. Tons of people everywhere. I don't know if it is always so crowded or the holiday weekend added to it. We had initally planned to walk to and from the fireworks on Sunday. But our hotel is only a few blocks from a metro station. We decided instead to ride the metro in to catch the parade, saving the kids some walking. Hoping it would be enough for later when we would be walking backl. (and not having to get in the huge crowds trying to get onto the metro to go back) They loved, loved, loved the fireworks. Brandon now wants to live in DC so that he can see the fireworks every year.

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Post #4 Port Discovery and the Aquarium

This was a fun day for the kids. We hit the Children's Museum and the Aquarium on the same day. Outside in front of Port Discovery, the Lego people were there. Legos has a new line of games out (or coming out) and they brought the life sized versions for the kids to play.
It was during this time that I had gotten phone call that one of my brothers had been admitted to the hospital. Talk about sending a girl into a panic! All boo hoo-ey and weepy, hours and hours away from home.... (not to mention that earlier in the week I had gotten a call that my Uncle Bob had passed away) To cut to the good news, he was sent home later in the afternoon with appointments scheduled for a follow-up. The whole day I kept checking my phone and checking in with one of my other brothers and my sister in law. I tried not to think too hard about it because just remembering that first phone call made me all weepy again.
We finally made it inside the Children's Museum. They have a 3 story climbing structure. I think we could have just found a place to park ourselves and let the kids play on this all day long. They did enjoy all of the exhibits, just so you know. :) I may be biased, but I am pretty certain that our Children's Museum is much much better!! And a funny little side note, the Bob the Builder exhibit was brought to them in part by.... The Indianapolis Children's Museum.... thankyouverymuch
And the last picture of the slideshow (aquarium) just cracks me up. Jess and I side by side reading our books. Steve said that we even turned pages at the same time a few times.

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This was our last day in Baltimore. We checked out of our hotel the next morning and headed to DC.

Post #3 The Inner Harbor, Baltimore

Thursday we went to the Inner Harbor.  This is a very cool area. Lots of shops and restaurants, but just being on the water... ahhh.... We walked all over the place. We bought some Historic Fleet passes so that we could tour the historic ships in the harbor. Three ships and one submarine. We took a paddle boat out, had ice cream, checked out some of the shops and went to the National Aquarium.

I'll put the Aquarium pictures in a separate slide show. Trying to make this manageable...

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At the pool

Here are a few from one evening at the pool. Not quite sure how, but the kids had talked Alan into going swimming. Don't know what it was about being out of the office, but the kids took to Alan like their long lost best friend. He was a great sport about it.
I don't know why I didn't take the camera to the pool on the other days that the kids and I were there. So this is pretty much all the pool pics you get.... :)

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One of many, I'm sure

I have tons of pictures from our trip out of town. It is almost embarrassing how many there are. And I don't think I could 100% say that I have seen every picture. That being said, I'm thinking that this should be the first of many picture posts trying to get caught up on our adventures.

We started in Baltimore, MD. Daddy had to work and the kids and I tagged along. The first couple of days they were happy to just go to the hotel pool. Who am I kidding? They would have spent every day at the pool!! We didn't go all that way to swim at the hotel! So we found the zoo. The Cartoon Network people were there promoting the Move It Movement. I think we spent nearly an hour at this area trying all the activities (and collecting pins) before we finally made it so see some animals.

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