Trip down Memory Lane

It has been a lot of fun to see what spring has brought at our new house.  Lots of beautiful blossoms!!  Lily thought so too.  I keep telling her not to pick them, but I guess it's irresistible.  So I took a picture so they could last a bit longer.

 The view from our bedroom window.  It made waking up in the morning so much better.

Cute sisters

 Jake had a lot of business travel for a few weeks so we decided to join him on his last trip to DC, since we hadn't seen much of him and it was his birthday weekend.  We pulled the kids out half day so that we could beat traffic.  We made great time and stopped on our way to the hotel to visit the White House.  This blue sky and sunshine could fool you.  Moments later we were dumped on!  We then decided to go get dinner at Cafe Rio :)

 Tommy had some questions for the security guard and earned himself a little pin

 The next day Jake was in meetings for most the day, and I decided to brave the city on my own with these four hooligans.  It was not easy getting through the metro station!

 We hoped to make a tour of the Engraving and Printing but it was all booked :(  We walked to the monument and the Lincoln Memorial.  It was FREEZING!  The big kids were awesome, they had really good attitudes considering.  Lily had a hard time.  I told them we would take a taxi after the memorial to get to the Air and Space Museum.

 I have a dream!

 Landing on the moon!  The kids had a great time here!!

 We met up with Jake that evening to enjoy a trolley ride, dinner and ice cream in Old Town Alexandria

The next morning we walked through Arlington Cemetary.  It was a little rainy and wet and Lily slipped and bruised her chin really good.  So Lily and I sat most of it in the car.

 The kids enjoyed it, earned another pin and some coloring books

For lunch we went to the place Jake often went with his grandma and family for dinner.  Angie's pizza.  We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.

 Picked up an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins just a few doors down

 And then stopped by Jake's house he grew up in till he was 7 years old

 We stopped at the dollar store on the way Jake picked up a few harmonicas so they could reenact an old childhood movie of Jake.  I love this series of shots.  It was really fun.

 Crazy story.  One day Jake's mom was taking groceries in from the car and left Jake and Natalie in the car.  Jake somehow pulled the gear shift to neutral and coasted backwards out of the driveway, down the street, around the corner and eventually hit this dead end sign.  We went through the whole thing and Jake determined he had angel watching out for him, because we got going pretty fast in neutral.

His old Elementary School.  It was the perfect way to celebrate Jake on his birthday.  The kids loved hearing (and reenacting) some of his memories.

The following Saturday we decided to explore one of the local state parks

Tyler State Park.  I love how much joy these kids can find in nature

One day we visited a friend and met up at one of our old favorite playgrounds.  It makes me a little sad how empty this place always is.  What has happened to childhood???

We had a wind storm that blew down our neighbors tree.  It made for a great natural jungle gym for a few days.  It was sad to see the guys come take it away.  As they were sawing the trunk I said it would be fun to have a few stumps for an outdoor checkerboard table.  Tommy said, why don't I go ask.  I responded I was too shy.  Then he says, "I'll go!" and out he runs to ask the men for 3 stumps.

It reached 80 one day and the kids thought it was summer!

 Story time at the Cotsen Library was about a Gingerbread baby.  The librarian dressed as a Gingerbread man and had the kids chasing her all around campus.  It was hilarious!!  There were at least 3 large tours going on on the campus, and they were all probably wondering if they were at the right ivy league school.

 We have friends that live up in New York City that we met when Jake was interning back in 2005 and I was pregnant with Rachel.  We were only there a few months but they befriended us and we have stayed in really good contact these past 10 years.  An amazing family!  They came out to visit us one weekend.

 I was hoping to take my family to this tulip garden but with the limited bloom time and all the forecasted rainy days I took advantage of the one sunny day to take my girls.  They loved it, and we'll have to do it again!  This place is pretty amazing.

 Lily flowered tulip

 The aroma in this greenhouse was out of this world!!!

 There were three different tree houses the kids got to explore.  Super fun!