Weekend 2 - Washington D.C.

We decided last minute to take a trip to D.C.! We were supposed to meet up with Elise and Dan and kids there but it was raining a ton on Friday and they got in an accident about an hour after leaving home. :( We were SO bummed they couldn't come. We thought about cancelling our trip too but decided to just go for it. We stayed in Stafford, VA with Mylinda (my cousin) and Mike Stone and their ten kids! They are awesome. The highlight of the trip was definitely getting to spend time in their home! Before we got there Sam was asking if they would have any guns (he's obsessed). Boy did they ever! He was in heaven. We got there late Friday night, had a yummy pancake breakfast Saturday morning, then headed out to do some touring. Most of the day Sam was begging to go back to the cousins' house with the guns.
Our first stop was Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home.

She liked "Washy's" ruffles

The Stones let us borrow their awesome double stroller which made the day much more pleasant! Still can't decide what kind I want so I end up just going without one. Grr.

They said George Washington used to say that this was the prettiest place in the world or something along those lines. Reminded me of Grandma Andersen! :)

The best part for the kids was feeding the goats clover. The goats loved it too.

No Eliza, you can't get in there with the goats. She does not like to not get her way! And she is not easily distracted. Once she gets her mind set on something it is VERY difficult to get her to move on. Learning patience over here!

Next we headed into D.C. Memories from our high school choir trip to D.C. came flooding back! That was SUCH a fun trip. We found free parking at the capitol building (of course Caleb is a master at finding free parking... I don't know how he does it but he almost always does!)then we walked to the Museum of Natural Science because that's the one we thought the kids would like best. Samuel fell asleep in the stroller while we were walking to it, and would NOT wake up. So he missed the whole thing. Eliza was very tired but wouldn't fall asleep, so we wrestled her the whole time. Finally I decided to forget about seeing anything and I just let her wander where she wanted and I followed her around. At this point in the day we realized that touring around for a whole day with kids is no fun. But the museum really was cool. Sam would've loved it.

This is the only picture I got.

It was a very hot day! Taking a break at this pond.

We ate at Chipotle and then headed back to the Stones to hit the hay!
Sunday we went to church with the Stones and then drove to the Steward's house for lunch. They were in our ward in Idaho Falls and our kids played together a lot (Sam and Ellie). That was probably the other highlight of the trip. Friends and family are what make life wonderful! They introduced us to Nathan's hotdogs. I don't know if I was just really hungry or what but it was definitely the best hotdog I've ever eaten. Our last stop before heading home was the D.C. Temple. I LOVE this temple! It was "my temple" when I was at school at SVU so I feel a special connection I think because of that. We spent some time in the visitors center too which was great.

Our future missionary

These pictures are all done by camera man Samuel. He loves taking pictures for us. :)

Artistic, isn't he?

The camera man himself. Usually the camera bag is his "bomb bag" (he'll pretend to be either Michael Hawks or James Livingston from Mountain of the Lord).

The Stones have some amazing systems in place. Their kids know what's for breakfast each day of the week, they know who's in charge of making each meal, they know everyone helps with dishes after each meal, they know that they get to stay up late one night a week for a movie night, they know when Mom and Dad go on a day they get "babysitter food" (frozen fish sticks, etc.), etc. I loved being in their home. The kids seem to really love each other and they all help each other and it's just so fun being with them. It strengthened my desire for a big family! Mylinda said 2 kids was the hardest for her. So good news -- it should get easier from here on out! :) Or maybe she just said that to make me feel better!! Since you don't see families that big very often anymore you start to think it's not possible in this day in age. But it's great to see it in action and to see that it is possible and it can even be very joyful! We definitely missed the Roberts but it turned out to be a great weekend.