Easter Break Part II (Washington DC)

We decided that Easter Sunday (the day we were leaving) we would stop on our way home at Mt. Vernon.  But of course we had to go to church first and so found a bldg. just about 2 miles from Mt. Vernon.  It was a beautiful building that depicted the time period of when George Washington lived there.  The church was built on some land that Washington used to own.  In fact, that church bldg. is the only church that has been given permission to build there.

Since it was so beautiful we had to take pictures.

Tim and the girls facing the buildling.  The Patomac River is right behind them.

If you have never been to Mt. Vernon.  You HAVE to go.  It is such an incredible place.  My only regret is that we didn't plan on more time there.  And I understand more why Washington didn't want to stay in DC when he had this to come to.  The home was great to see but the grounds were incredible and the museum part was outstanding.  I could have spent hours and hours more there.  It was the best history lesson I've ever had. 

 Of course, here he is on his white horse. 

Some of the grounds.

In front of the house.

The overseers quarters.  It looked quite spacious and comfortable.  In fact, I commented to Tim that all the quarters for the workers were quite nice compared to what we have seen at some of the plantations in the south.

Here's Martha.  I could have sat and listened to her all day.  She sat and told stories about George, his parents, their marriage, etc.  Whatever you wanted to hear about.  You could ask her any question about the Washington's and their life and she had an answer.  I think it was my favorite part of the day.  You would have thought it was really her.

Livie and I waiting patiently in line to go into the house.

McKenna waiting patiently to go into the house.

Alexa NOT waiting so patiently to go into the house.

Here is the view of the river right off the back porch of the house.  It looked like this for as far as you could see even on the left and right of the house.  I could have sat out there all afternoon.

Here is the tomb of George Washington.  He had written up all the plans in his will of how the tomb was to be built.

They had a great cafeteria there also.  That we ate at.  Yummy food and the girls loved it all.

If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend going.  When we got home (which was pretty late since we stayed longer than Tim was planning on) the Easter Bunny didn't disappoint.  There were 4 Easter baskets full of yummy treats and goodies waiting for the girls when we got home.

Spring Break 2011

Ever since we moved to NC my plan was to take my children to Washington DC.  I felt like it would be so educational and inspiring for them.  After almost 4 years we hadn't taken the trip as a family.  I talked Tim into making sure we went before we moved.  He was already working in Tucson and only able to come back once a month.  So I planned a trip for when he was going to be back in town.  It happened to fall on the same weekend as Easter.  I didn't want to detract from Easter but I also knew we were on a serious time crunch.  The girls were concerned that we weren't going to be able to have an Easter egg hunt but we came through.  They came home from school thinking we were leaving for DC and I had all the eggs hidden and ready to be found before we left.

I love this pic of Livie.  It captured the true her.  Love that smile.

Miss McKenna.  Showing off her goods.

I can't believe these girls already look so much older from just a few short months ago.

"Oh!  Yeah!"

I wish I knew if that egg actually landed in her basket or not.  Great action shot!

Finding one in the kitchen vent!

Poor Alexa.  Only had 6 eggs in her basket.  What a sweet sister to help McKenna out and sacrifice her own hunting time.

Our trip to DC was great.  We actually enjoy road trips.  The girls do really well and I love spending that time getting away from the hustle and bustle of every day life.  This trip was especially nice.  After being a single mom for a while, I really needed the time away.  While driving up to DC all my worries subsided, and I had that reconfirming feeling that moving to Tucson was the right thing to do.

Tim at the hotel waiting for the shuttle to take us to the train station. 

Funny thing.  Before we left I had found out that some friends of ours (The Stringham's) from church were going to DC.  I made a joke about seeing them up there (as if that was possible with all those gazzilion people.)  Wouldn't you know, Tim walked in that night to the hotel and there were the Stringham's staying in the exact hotel we were.  It was fun seeing them and their DARLING family.

 Of course, we had to go to the Smithsonian.  Alexa has really taken to baking and wants to become a pastry chef.  She had just read a book about Julia Child and watched some of her old shows and was hooked. 

Here's Alexa in front of Julia.

 Here are the girls in front of her kitchen.

 The Lincoln Memorial

One of my favorite places.  There were a ton of people around but still such a reverant place to be.

 The girls thought this display of these robots were great.  They showed them driving without anyone on it.

 Despite what this picture shows.  We did have a good time.  The first day it rained and we had forgotten to bring McKenna's stroller so she was a little harder to keep track of.  Thanks to Target $20 was well spent on a new stroller.  Well worth every penny.

 Here we are in the Tram.

 The Korean War memorial.  This was so great.  My neighbor, Heidi told me to make sure and see it.  Well worth it.  I hear that it's even better to view at night.  Maybe next time.

 The World War II Memorial was also another one of those reverant places.  What I loved and could hardly contain my emotions was when I saw so many veterans walking around with such solemn faces.  I'm sure it had a bigger effect on them than it did me.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the wall of stars.  Each star represented 100 people that died in WWII and their were 1000's of stars.  It was overwhelming to comprehend how many people died to keep us safe.

 No words to describe this picture.  I just love it.

Stay tuned for Part II

We're BACK!

I know, I know.  It's been FOREVER since I have posted.  I can't believe it either.  I just downloaded 100's of pictures from my camera that have been sitting and waiting for me. 

In case you have been wondering, we have made it safely to Tucson.  Did you know we moved?  We have been here for almost 2 months now.  We are still trying to sell our house and it has been nothing short of a miracle that we finally found a rental.  After much searching, praying, driving around, phone calling, and a few disappointments we were able to secure a place to live.  Our ward seems nice and we are anxious to get to know people and make some friends.  The girls have already succeeded with finding friends at school and at church.  Just another answer to one of our many prayers. 

It's going to take sometime to organize my downloaded pictures and get posting on here so I thought I'd just post a few pics of the babe (well, she's not a babe anymore). 

How's this for comfy?

This girl LOVES blueberries.  I don't think I can describe how much she LOVES blueberries.

Here she is after having a nice bowl of them.  A face (and hands) only a mother could love.

Stay tuned for more Van Fam fun.

To: Grandma Gibb and Abuela

Happy Mother's Day!

We put together these "poems" (to use the term loosely for you both.)  Tim even helped all the way from Tucson.  Hope you will enjoy them.  We love you and all you do for us.  Have a great day!

(Since you probably couldn't understand McKenna, she said, "A is for Always wanting us near.")

What's up with Google, Blogger, Picasa, etc?

I have been trying to get my blog up to date tonight but haven't been able to upload my pictures.  So I'm just wondering if anyone else has this issue?  When I try to upload them it says I don't have enough room and I have to by space to post my pictures.  I obviously don't want to buy more space and so I'm just wondering if anyone who reads this blog (if there is anyone) has an answer.

In the meantime, I was looking back at some old posts enjoying looking at pictures of my girls and how little they were even just 2 years ago.  They grow up so fast.  I also read my opinion posts about politics, being a mom and funny things my kids say.  I really need to get back to adding that stuff. It's so fun to go back and read.  I really need to get these priceless memories put into a book.  Any suggestions on how I should do that are welcome also.

St. Patty's Day 2011

I enjoy celebrating the little holidays like St. Patrick's day with my girls.  The past few years it fell on nights when I had Relief Society activities.  This year it was on the right night.  I decided to try my hand at corned beef and cabbage.  It was a hit.  I loved to see the look on Tim's face when he tasted the corned beef.  It was the same look he gives when he cooks something fabulous.  So I knew it had his stamp of approval.

Can you tell this girl loves the camera?

I forgot to add that Alexa and I made potato rolls also.

Tim was so proud of me he had to get a picture of me with my fabulous dinner.  Check out that presentation.  In the words of Julia Child:  "It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someones fingers have been all over it."  Yep!

Great Night Out!

In case I haven't mentioned it before, my parents served a mission here in NC for the past year.  It was so fun having them here and getting to see them more than usual.  They worked hard updating and renovating a camp site that the church owns.  Not to mention they were a blessing to the ward they served in.  Just before they left, we all got together (when I say we, I mean the adults) to go to dinner and see Brian Regan.  We had a great dinner and fun conversation and then headed over to the concert.  They had a red carpet when we walked in so we all had to take a turn posing for the "paparazzi".

Maren and me at the restaraunt

 Andrew - he's such a natural.

 What a beauty.

In case you haven't seen Brian Regan, here's a few of our favorite clips.

Happy Valentine's Day! (A little late.)

I didn't realize how behind I have gotten on this blog.  So many things going on and not enough time to blog about them.  Here's our traditional Valentine's evening.  We made heart shaped grilled pizza.

Just had to document the awesome grill marks on this dough.  Tim's quite the expert when it comes to our grilled pizza.

 Here's the ham and pineapple.  (Notice the effort I went to in making the ham heart shaped.  Yes, I love my girls THAT much.)

Everything pizza.  It was DELICIOUS!

 A few days later I watched my neighbor's little boy and caught McKenna and him dancing in the living room.  It was so cute and I thought fitting to add to this Valentine post.  They are too cute. 



Lazy 5 Ranch

The girls have been wanting to go to this Ranch ever since Maya missed the opportunity to go with her class as a field trip.  We had 4 snowdays in one week and then the next week they had Mon. & Fri. off.  We decided that we had been in the house far too long and needed something to do.  We took the drive to the Lazy 5 ranch and they loved it.  WE loved it also.

It's like going to a Wild Animal Park where you ride in your car and the animals come up to you.  We had buckets of food to feed them and so of course they kept coming.  Poor Maya was bit twice by the Ostriches.  We found out later that you are supposed to hold up the bucket to them and not feed them from your hand.  We just made sure to keep the windows rolled up everytime they came to the car (which was OFTEN.)

It was so cold that day but the girls wanted to get out and see the rest of the animals so we suffered through it.  Poor Tim only brought a sweatshirt.

Here's a little video of McKenna feeding a llama.  I love how she keeps calling him, "Llama, Llama" in her high pitched voice.  This was such a fun place.

He's a REAL dad!

My dear sweet husband did some canning for me the other night.  Alexa and I were laughing at his outfit and had to get it on film or well not film but, what are you supposed to say these days - I guess we wanted to get it on the memory card (just doesn't quite roll of the tongue, does it?  Anyway, here he is.  Doesn't he look like a REAL dad?  Note:  he's not wearing any socks with those tennis shoes.