July

July was a blast!  We saw some of our best friends this month as well as spending a lot of time with our friends that we've gotten to know here.

The boys' best friend, Sam, came to visit us for 2 weeks.  We were all so happy to see him!! 

The boys are playing at the park by our condo.  I love this view because you can see our building as well as others in our city.

We went to the Newseum (a museum dedicated to what has made news, obviously) and saw part of the Berlin Wall there.

4th of July

We drove to Great Falls Park in Maryland and rode on the historic C & O Canal in the mule-drawn boat behind us.

After riding on the canal, we walked to see the falls.

Another view of the falls

The National Zoo with Sam

National Harbor

FBI tour

A Duck Boat tour took us past most of the major sights on the streets of D.C. as well as in the Potomac River.

View of the Capitol from the tour.

My childhood friends and twin sister came to D.C. this year.  We meet every summer for a long weekend together.

The Potomac River, behind Mount Vernon

Grant turned 11!!  He wanted to go to Sportrock, an indoor rock climbing gym, for his birthday!

Brock

Will

The boys and their friends went to Oxon Cove Park for a week-long Jr. Ranger Day Camp.  While they were at camp, my friend Cindy and I would shop, eat out, go to Georgetown or Old Town Alexandria...a really fabulous experience for us all!

We attended the Marine Corps Iwo Jima Sunset Parade, which included music by the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and precision drill by the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon.

Iwo Jima Memorial

After the parade, the Marines came back out to talk to the crowd and let kids hold their weapons.  Nice guys! 

Brock holding a Marine's hand-polished, 10-and-one-half pound, M1 Garand rifle.

June

The boys and I spent a week at my sister-in-law's house in South Carolina while Cory was out of town.  Crissy and I also drove to Charleston during that week to see our oldest boys, who were at Boy Scout Camp, on Parent's Night.  She and I set up our pop-up camper at a nearby campground, and 5 of the 7 kids with their (awesome) moms camped and went to the beach.  

Foley Beach

Will and Jack setting up their shelter at Boy Scout Camp.  They slept outside that night!!

I had to include our camper because I'm so proud of Crissy and me and the kids setting it up and managing a camping trip...without our husbands!  Also note that there are no pictures of the moms because it was SO HOT there...but it makes for beautiful scenery!!

All the cousins together!!  Fun times!!

I saw this driving down a road near our home.  I followed it, and when I saw it parked in a parking lot, went up to the owner to ask what it was all about.  She was more than happy to share her political views with me.   She's all about individual freedoms and rights.  This is a thing of beauty. Wow! 

These kind of pots, beautiful flowerbeds, and foliage are up and down our street, and downtown too, in the spring and summer.

Cindy and I took the kids to Oxen Hill Cove Park one day to check it out.  It's a little farm tucked away in Maryland that the War of 1812 reached at one point.

We also visited the National Cryptologic Museum which is affiliated with the NSA.  

The boys went to Grandkids' Camp at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA at the end of June.  Grammy and Paw Paw were kind enough to find a place on the East Coast!!

April/May 2013

  

In the month of April, there is a 5K every Friday in our neighborhood.   Grant ran one of them with Cory.  A great accomplishment for Grant!

My friend Cindy and I walked the Susan G. Komen 5K held downtown on a rainy May morning.  There were about 20,000 other people with us.  Awesome!!

We toured several embassies during Passport DC, an annual celebration of international culture.  

This is a beautiful dining room in the Luxembourg Embassy.

We drove to Virginia Beach one weekend.  The first evening there was pretty chilly, but the next day the sun came out, and we all warmed up.  The boys played in the ocean, cold or not.

On Memorial Day, we went to Harpers Ferry, which is situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and where Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. 

Harpers Ferry's quaint town.

Picnic on the Mall.  The weather was perfect that day!!

A family friend from Midland was in D.C. on a school trip.  We met him at the Air and Space Museum.  It was a treat to get to visit with a long-time friend!

The National Gallery of Art has an annual Spring Concert Series.  This was the third concert I had attended.  The concerts are amazing (and free!), so I made the boys go with me one day to hear a Finnish soloist.  They were BORED, but they got their culture for the month. To hear such talent is a blessing!