MONDAY
-Clean house.
-Set up beds.
-Everyone (but Owen) staying up late to see Grandpa, Grandma, Ryan, Ethan, Anna & Garrett arrive. Then staying awake a little longer to visit before sleeping.
TUESDAY
-Wake up early. Everyone up and out of the house by 9:20am for the Early Bird Showing of "Toy Story 3." Movie was enjoyed by all. Owen and Mason made Kevin leave a total of 3 times for potty breaks. Such a good Daddy, not a single complaint crossed his lips.
-Lunch at Chick-fil-a. A free sandwich with your movie ticket when you buy a drink and fry. MMMmmMmmMMmmm. Diet Dr.Pepper. A weakness.
-A trip to the National Cryptologic Museum at Fort Meade.
Leah decoded 14 messages and earned a circle puzzle. We'll be going back in the next couple weeks to explore in more detail.
I might not take the boys along. Mason’s idea of a good time in there was playing “Angry Birds” on his Uncle Ryan’s iPhone. That won’t be accompanying us next time.
-I then took the adults to Ann’s House of Nuts Outlet store off Berger Rd in Columbia. No pictures, but we did get a steal of a deal on some nuts and dried fruits.
-The day ended with Susann & Frans Martin’s family joining us for a dinner of personal pizzas and salad. (Susann is my in-laws niece.)
WEDNESDAY
-Drove into DC and parked instead of riding the Metro in. $16 all day/car.
-Spent much of our day inside the American History Museum. We found an exploration lab that Leah and Mason had a great time in.
-Went over to the National Archives building. My brother-in-law Garrett had a large pocket knife with him that wasn’t allowed in the building. Mason and I volunteered to wait outside with the knife instead of going up to view the documents. We had some fun snacking and taking pictures.
-We finished of the day with a quick visit to the Natural History Museum and a walk past the Smithsonian Institute Building.
-Came home to dinner 1/2 prepared by Kevin. I finished it up and we were off to bed…after waiting for our turn to shower. ;) Having one shower really has its draw backs when you have company.
THURSDAY
-Grandma and Grandpa stayed home with the grandkids for a low-key day together.
-Kevin went into work.
-I drove the Young Adults and Teenager into DC once again, but this time to tour the Memorials and Monuments. I didn’t bring my camera along. I didn’t want the extra weight. I was the official photographer for everyone else using their cameras. Because of that I do not yet have any pictures, but that’s ok I wasn’t in any pictures. (I would like to note that it was over 90-degrees with humidity that day, probably over 100-degrees. I didn’t really want to know. I was so glad we left the kids at home.)
***Each pin represents a stop we made. In the following order.***
- Parking garage
- Thomas Jefferson Memorial
- FDR Memorial
- Korean War Memorial
- Lincoln Memorial
- Vietnam Memorial
- World War II Memorial
- Washington Monument
- White House
- Holocaust Museum (This was my first time and it was AMAZING!!! I could’ve spent ALL of our time in there. Informative, creative and worth every minute spent there.)
- Air & Space Museum
- Parking Garage
-We got stuck in horrendous traffic when there was a miscommunication between me and my navigator. A typical 30-minute drive ended up taking 1 hour-40 minutes.
-We were cutting through DC to get to the Washington, DC Temple. There is an exquisite display right now of bronzes statues depicting the life of Christ. Amazing craftsmanship! Anyone in the area reading this? Be sure you get down there to check it out. It’s on display till October and I plan on taking the kids down a couple times before they are gone. Beautiful.
-It was a record setting 36-minutes from the Temple to Home. Dinner was waiting for us---Chicken Broccoli Casserole. Thanks Mom!
FRIDAY
-Leaving our home behind at 10am we drove up to Palmyra, NY. Getting to our hotel and KFC at 5:35pm and to The Hill Cumorah Pageant by 6:10pm.
-The Pageant was fabulous. Despite being ‘oh so very tired’. I stayed awake by photographing the program and taking kids to the bathroom.
SATURDAY
-Up early. 6am. To shower and get to the Palmyra Temple by 7:30am.
-Attended the 8am Endowment session in the Palmyra Temple. I was so tired. I stayed awake, but just barely. The building is beautiful. I love stain glass and that Temple has it everywhere. So beautiful.
-We got back to the hotel with 20-minutes to spare before checkout. Everyone got packed up and out of there with minutes to spare. :)
-We went straight to the Joseph Smith Family Farm. Where you can tour the Log Home, Frame Home, a Threshing Barn, Cooper Shop, and The Sacred Grove.
-We ate lunch at the picnic tables.
-Drove into Palmyra, NY. Walked Main Street, past the Print Shop where the Book of Mormon was first printed, saw an intersection with a different Faith’s church on each corner.
-At 5:14pm, we parted ways with the Grandparents, Aunt and Uncles.
-We headed home from there. It took us 12 hours to get home. Mostly because I was SO TIRED I couldn’t keep my eyes open and help my husband to stay awake. We pulled over twice to sleep. The first time for only about 30 minutes. The second time for about 2 hours. I still couldn’t keep my eyes open enough to read to Kevin, but he was wired and awake. We pulled into home just after 5am on Sunday. It felt so good to fall into bed. I didn’t wake until after 2pm. My husband is the best Daddy…he got up at some point to take care of the needs of our 3 children.
And so I say, THE END…to this adventure.
