You know it was a happy spring break when it takes you 3 weeks (ish) and 4 separate blog posts to finish writing about it.  This was that sort of year, and if you missed the first few parts, you can catch up here:

Part I– The Shirt War

Part II– The Funny Stuff

Part III– Legoland Discovery Center

We now live in Georgia, so we decided it was time to re-visit Callaway Gardens. It has been 15 years since we were there before. 15 years ago to the day we re-visited, almost. Alan proposed to me on March 25, 2002, on the lake beach there. We returned on March 26, 2017. Pretty cool, huh?

Us, 2002, Callaway Butterfly Gardens. He proposed on the beach there.

We enjoyed re-enacting it for the boys. Caleb took pictures for you, but I didn’t like how I looked,so those will be on the blog never…

Daniel, taking off for that beach.

The boys were all supremely disappointed that they didn’t have their swimsuits with them, but it was a touch chilly for swimming still, and we wanted to scope out the whole place that day. We can go back to swim anytime.

Ever since we left California, and my beloved Point Lobos, I have had no place here to go and just revel in the beauty of nature. Actually, my back yard is pretty awesome because I do see red cardinals and an occasional snake (*shudder*), and I find little brown balls that lead me to believe that deer are occasionally jumping our fence, but Callaway goes beyond that.

Here at Callaway, our little family was all at peace and excitement, as we hiked the trails, visited the butterflies, and even got to see a captive falcon with a wingspan as big as me!

Caleb will tell you. Everyone in our family knows it. It is not possible to take Caleb anywhere that there is water of any kind and bring him home dry. He will always be beckoned in so far that he will always leave soggy. We love that about him.

This was a half-mile trail, but in the southern heat, it feels like more. Thankfully, some of it is shaded. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. It felt like home to me.

Me, feeling like I’d found my new Pt. Lobos.

There is something about being outdoors that is nourishing not only to your body but to the depths of your soul.

I was also reminded why, by the time I was a teenager, I thought I didn’t love being outside. When you grow up in the South, MOSQUITOS reign! Yeah, wear bug repellent if you do anything like what we were doing here. And sweat, of course, sweat. Mosquitos and sweat. Still worth it though.

I don’t think a person can look at a bed of tulips without feeling a little better.

A small dogwood tree! How I’ve missed dogwoods!!

Normally, tons of azaleas would have been in bloom, but a week prior a cold front had come through and killed all the azaleas at my house that were blooming or budding, so there were none. I also read that azaleas bloomed early at Callaway this year. That would have been such a beautiful sight to behold, but alas, we missed it. A week later the late azaleas did finally show off in our area, so that was some comfort.

inside the butterfly center

The butterflies were of course all over, and we were all excited to be a part of it…..except John David. JD sort of whimpered the whole time and got all sorts of freaked out if a butterfly flew anywhere near him, and so our time in the Butterfly Center was cut short.

After a butterfly actually landed on my hand for a few minutes, the boys took to trying extra hard to get one to land on them.

But alas, it never happened. Sorry boys.

JD, in panic mode…Butterflies are apparently terrifying.

Daniel kept picking John David up and carrying him, and JD only weighs 10 pounds less than Dan, so we started referring to Daniel as the ant man.

My camera phone died before I got to photograph the giant bridge with the water, over by the Discovery Center, which is one of the most beautiful parts. Next time! Because you know there will be a next time!!

“A cheerful heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”  Psalm 17:22

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”        Psalm 19:1

And now it’s back to work. I hope you all manage to squeeze in a little sunshine time today.

*

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What to Expect at Legoland Discovery Center in Atlanta

There are a few Legoland Discovery Centers around the country now. We went to the one in Atlanta during spring break. These are a fun way to spend a few hours together as a family.

If your kids have never been to Legoland Orlando or Legoland in Southern California, you should totally just tell them this is Legoland and never have to book the larger vacation. They’d probably be totally satisfied.

Of course, we actually did go to Legoland California, and I wrote about that here. Our boys are obsessed with all things Lego, especially our younger 3, so these vacations were the perfect fit for us.

This year we saved $$$$ by staying local for Spring Break, and Legoland Discovery Center Atlanta was the perfect fit.

The boys knew going into it that this was not going to be like the theme park. It’s more of a play center, and they saw a commercial for it on one of their Lego movies, so they were all happy.

We are firm believers in managing expectations. Give them low hopes and over deliver. That, my friends, is the key to spring break happiness.

Legoland Discovery Centers are scattered throughout the country, in many of the bigger cities, and this was our first time to visit one. This particular one is located in a large shopping mall, deep into Atlanta.

By the way, Atlanta traffic was not nearly as aggravating that day. We miraculously managed to keep our car moving forward, not sitting still, the entire time we were on the road.

We booked in advance because that saves you a few dollars on each ticket.

When you are a party of 6, a few dollars on each ticket adds up fast. Sometimes you can find coupons online too.

When you book in advance, you also choose a time to arrive. We did that because we didn’t want to drive all the way over there and then the place be full and have to wait in line. We waited in no line to get in, and we waited in the shortest lines ever to go on the rides. That makes this non-line-waiting-Momma very happy.

As soon as we got in, JD began to ask to build Lego men.

JD’s interest in Lego is pretty much limited to just the men at this age. All of our 3-year-olds have been that way.

But JD took the request to the level of whiny, repetitive begging that will put your teeth on edge. All the building stations are for bricks, not tiny men.

After listening to his tale of woe for a solid 10 minutes–I mean it could have been 5, but when you are listening to a toddler in despair 5 minutes feels like 45 minutes—-Alan said, “Well, I wanted to wait to give them their men until we get home so they don’t just lose them.”

“What Lego men? Is that what’s in that yellow bag? Our admission tickets came with Lego men???”

“Yeah, but I mean it’s just like this policeman. I don’t know…”

“Alan, pleeeeeaaaase, I cannot keep listening to him saying ‘where’s the Lego men? I want to build Lego men.’ over and over again. I can’t.”

So we went on our first ride, a really fun one where you shoot the Lego bad guys with a little light that blinks, just like at Disney World, and that kept him completely distracted.

After that was over, we gave him the one Star Wars Lego man in the bag. He doesn’t even care about Star Wars, but he was so happy to receive a Lego man it didn’t matter. He was content the rest of the day. Yay!!!

And the little boy who started the tower in the first place (JD) was long gone, up in the pirate tower shooting a cannon over and over again.

This is why family outings and vacations are so important.

You get out of your house, away from your screens, away from your friends, away from your JOB, and you have no choice but to focus on each other for a little while. You have fun together, which strengthens your bond as a family.

I hope you all get to go on a few good family outings or vacations this summer. We did this and we did Calloway Gardens this Spring break. I’ll tell you all about Callaway on a future post. Did you know that Alan actually proposed to me at Callaway?

We also spent a ton of time chillin’ at home, with a lot fewer cares than we normally have. I wrote about that in Part I and Part II of my Spring Break 2017 series. We enjoyed those days too. Who can go, go, go ALL the time? That’s plain exhausting.

We did everything there was to do at Legoland Discovery Center, except for eat at the snack stand.

Instead, we went to Johnny Rocket’s right across the hall.

We did everything in 2 hours, and everyone left happy. Everyone. Oh, and of course, we made time for the Legoland Discovery Center Store.

I zipped through the store picking out a little box for their Easter baskets, yeah, it’s going to be an awesome Easter, and then I parked myself on a bench outside the store. Anytime I go to Lego anything with Alan and the boys, I spend time sittin’ on the bench. I don’t see how they manage to fill up that much time gazing at Lego sets.

This was a perfect family day out for us.

It was such a breeze sticking to day trips this Spring Break, rather than a big vacation. Come back this weekend for Spring Break Part 4: Callaway Gardens! My new favorite spot in Georgia!

The post What to Expect at Legoland Discovery Center, Atlanta appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I love watching my boys play ball.

Having my kids home all day cracks me up. I mean literally, by 5:30, when my husband gets home, I’m a little cracked in the head.

But I love it. I do.

What do you do on the lazy days of Spring break? Well, for any parent who decides to stay home with the kiddos during their week off of school, these are definitely not lazy days. Duh, right?

But it’s still fun. I cooked 3 meals yesterday. Do you think anyone will notice if I only “cook” 2 today?

Daniel helped me make last night’s dinner. He even helped come up with a recipe.

“Mom, can we have a bowl of carrots for dinner?”

“Um, well…”

“And bwocowi! Bwocowi and carwats for supper. Nothing else.”

“Um, well…we do need to have some kind of meat. Chicken, maybe?”

“No. How about if you put the meat in with the bwocowi and the carwots, all in 1 big bowl?”

“Hmmm. Yes, that sounds good. How about this sausage?”

“Yes! Yes.”

helping me bake his cake….Actually, at this point he was lickin’ the bowl.

So Daniel and I made a delicious dinner that, believe it or not, was heartily consumed by all SIX residents of the House of Tiny Men.  Here’s the recipe. Alan made me write it down.

So I typed it out for you to print for yourself.

Just click on the link below to download and print the recipe.

Daniel’s Sort of Gazpacho

Okay, it may not be that pretty, but I promise it was yummy. Even my picky eaters did eat it, believe it or not.

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Daniel tries to hang out with the neighborhood boys, who are all 2 to 3 years older than he is. They are Caleb’s age, and as far as they are concerned, Daniel is just Caleb’s little brother. Daniel has been persona non grata to them.

I told Caleb he was going to have to tell them we can’t play if they can’t include Daniel.

Yesterday I sent them out to play, and I asked Caleb later how it went.

“Oh, I told ’em, ‘If you guys can’t accept the little guy, I’m going to turn you into rotten flesh.”

!!!!!??????

“Ew, Caleb! What does that even mean???”

“It’s from Minecraft.”

“What did they say?”

Caleb made a face that looked sort of like this          8 /

Nothing more was said. So no one said anything unwelcoming to Daniel. Raising boys is apparently not for the easily offended or overly refined….

__________________________

The leprechaun came to John David’s class. I asked him who the leprechaun was. He said, “Jesus!” I couldn’t help it. I busted out laughing before I tried to explain Jesus isn’t the leprechaun.

It’s been a fun week so far. Lots of driveway basketball, Lego Star Wars video games, and popcorn eating has taken place.

Caleb’s genius plan for spring break was announced on Day 1:

“Let’s make a rest schedule for this week.”

I laughed, but he appears to be sticking to it.

JD loves playing with the magnet letters he got from my friend Amy. Also, JD loves pajamas. He changes back into his pjs the moment he re-enters the house. Sometimes, when I’m going somewhere in the afternoon, I don’t even have time to change him for the 3rd time that day and he picks up his big bros in his pjs.

People probably think I never dress him. hehehe

Hope y’all had a great week too!

SaveSave

The post Spring Break Part II: Funny Stuff They Said with Daniel’s Recipe Printable appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

As we speak, Joshua and Caleb are playing basketball in the driveway while John David and Daniel are rolling around on the trampoline together. Alan is eating supper, and I am updating my blog for the first time in a week. Slacker.

I’ve been working on photo albums through Snapfish lately. Y’all, photo books are 70% off this month (March), so I am making as many photo books as I possibly can. I have about a hundred I could make since the last time I was caught up on photo printing was 2013…

One of my newly created albums came in the mail today, of photos from 2 years ago. One of the boys was a little embarrassed to realize that in this album was an adorable photo of the 4 boys reading together in a chair, and he was in his underwear. Just his underwear. I might have jokingly threatened to share said photo album with future dates. He might have retorted back that the page will definitely be torn out long before that. Sigh. Oh well.

The photo is safe for now, and the picture is so cute. I’d show you, but well, I am at least nicer than that.

I’m trying to hold the boys to just family parties this year. Well, family parties + just 1 or 2 friends.

I took a vote this morning, asking everyone here if they’d rather go hiking today or stay home. Everyone but Daniel voted to stay home, so here we are.

I tried to go walking, but it started raining on me so I cut that short. I passed Joshua on my way inside. Apparently, rain drops don’t phase him. He came in with soaking wet hair.

Y’all don’t want to know how many squabbles I have refereed today. Ugh. This should definitely count as a special skill on my resume. I am extremely experienced at sending everyone to different rooms.

We did have an epic game of driveway birdie tonight, though…wait. No, that’s not what they called it…badminton! I had to ask them what the game was called. Ha! But it was super fun!

Remember that Mother’s Day that they bought me a Badminton set, and so we played that for Mother’s Day? Only now, the boys are actually way better at it than I am!

Joshua, Alan, and I were sitting in the living room today getting quite a show from a new sport taking place on our trampoline. Daniel and John David were out there together, and we watched them take their shirts off and have a shirt war.

Joshua observed, “John David sure is good at whipping Daniel with his shirt!” They had a better view than I did, and they kept saying, “Ohhhh Owww  Whoa! Ho! hahahaha! Is he okay…..yeah.”

For some reason this game made Daniel and JD quite happy, so we didn’t intervene. Perhaps we should all try it…. ha!

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I came home a couple of weeks ago with the complete DVD set of the original Full House. Why? Because I’m the world’s worst person at sticking to any sort of budget…..also because we have already watched Fuller House, so I felt like the boys had to see the first series to understand it better.

Alan took so long at Walmart this afternoon, on a trip to buy Daniel’s birthday present and Tostitos, that we watched 4 episodes of Full House while he was gone. Our family is all about it right now, so don’t be surprised if you hear the boys say “How rude!” or “Have mercy!”

*************

I heard 2 funny quotes this week that I wanted to share.

1.”Who is I love Lucy? Were they zombies?”

2. A leprechaun visited John David’s school. He left them Skittles and a messy classroom of confetti and such. I asked J.D. who the leprechaun was. He didn’t miss a beat, “Jesus.”

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I came across some encouraging Bible verses in my reading today:

“Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”   John 6: 15

I’ve been thinking lately about how apolitical Jesus was. He was never interested in power or rule or talking politics. He wanted to teach about God, love, and healing people. I feel like as Christians we need to persist in getting our message of love out to the world. Things of this world are temporary, but our souls are eternal. Love is eternal.

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”    John 6: 27-29

Believe. Faith. Hope. Love. Against such things there is no law.

And now on to the rest of Spring Break. 1 day down, 8 days to go. I’m excited. I still have a  great deal of refereeing ahead of me, but it’s worth it because I also have days of Badminton and shirt-whipping.

I’d upload photos for you to have a peek into our adventures, but my computer is so full it won’t let me upload anything new. Issues. I can only give you pictures that I can steal from Facebook. Triple sigh. You know that’s driving me crazy. But don’t worry. I will not rest until I fix this problem!

Okay, one more hilarious quote from tonight:

“Hey, Mom, I am five, and you are thirteen. No! 14. You are 14.”

hehehe Nope. I didn’t correct him. Is that wrong? I say no.

Have a great Spring Break, y’all!

The post Spring Break Day 1: The Shirt War, Full House, Jesus, and The Vote appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

This week is our Spring Break. Wahoo! That’s something to celebrate! I have about 5 billion goals to accomplish and all of 5 days to do it in. Mostly, we are prepping for the big move. It’s three months out, but hey, that’s like three weeks in Mom years.

I could tell you what’s been going on around here, but I thought it’d be more fun to show you, so today’s blog is a photoblog:

My Raynaud’s syndrome has been acting up lately. 

 What happens is that the blood vessels constrict when you’re cold, cutting off blood supply to the extremities. First, the finger tips go purple and then they go white and extremely numb. I suppose I should start wearing gloves. This would happen to you too if you were freezing in Alaska or something, but this happens to me if I’m even in a building with too much air-conditioning. My cold threshold is crazy low. No worries. We’re moving back to the land of sweat and mosquitoes. 

The other day I put Daniel down for a nap. He’s five now, and he rarely ever naps, but sometimes he gets so sleepy and grumpy that I deem it a must. This was a must-nap day. However, once he was upstairs all quiet and alone, he got down and had a BALL playing in the hallway with cars and who knows what else.

As I came up the stairs, I heard that classic boy-running-to-bed to pretend to be asleep sound. Because apparently he thinks I’m deaf.

Now that Caleb and Joshua are too tall to fit into any of their costumes, they have taken to putting these size 8 superhero costumes on JD and Daniel. Who needs pets when you have little brothers?

This is a Velociraptor.

Woody and Buzz.

Because finding gluten-free pizza was one of the happiest things that happened this week. It is a big deal.

Don’t tell Daniel these are weeds. I think he is the sweetest thing in the world, always bringing his momma flowers.

One of my neighbors gave the boys a bag full of snacks, from the “Easter Bunny.”

Dan painted this at Cubbies this week. He even said, “I put blue on this side, and red on this side, and put it together to make purple in the middle!”

Daniel made this “shapes” bird-house at home-school this week. We do preschool at home two days and regular preschool three days.

Dan took his new Star Wars ships everywhere the last couple of days.

Actually, he’s already broken one ship. He explained, “Mom, that’s because he was shot in battle. Mom, that’s why he’s broken. He’s supposed to be.”

People are always giving us stuff! Our homeschool umbrella school director gave this set to Daniel, and he LOVES it.

But someone really should follow Dan around all day with a vacuum cleaner.

Guess what I did yesterday…..

Oh, yeah, I took my birthday money shopping. It was GRAND. (No, I did not buy a cooler. I keep that in there to hide the large amounts of Easter chocolate that I’m saving for some special people.

And guess what I found near the stores??? SONIC!!! I didn’t know these existed in California.

That afternoon I also took Caleb to a Star Wars-themed birthday party. She themed it out so well, y’all. They got to fight Darth Vader, hop on a tree-stump obstacle course, shoot a Star Wars ship with Nerf guns, and last but not least, they threw pine-cones at these clone troopers:

I totally wanted to play this party game. The kids were not able to pop them all, so the adults DID get a shot at it. It was fun!

close-up

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend as well. We have basically zero plans for Spring Break, other than to catch up on all the work we have to do, but that’s okay. Even work can be fun when you tackle it with the right attitude, with a little happy music playing, of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAsG__XjU8Q

(Enchanted move clean-up scene: You gotta watch it.)

The post Fun Times Photoblog appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

LegoLand theme park in California: Day 1

On day 2 of our San Diego vacation, Alan woke me up at 6am to tell me he was going to eat at the hotel and then head to the grocery store to buy breakfast. Did the hotel have free breakfast? Why yes, it did. Is there any way that our whole family of 6 will be dressed and ready before the thing closes at 9am?

No, not really.

Getting myself and the children ready for a day of major fun and adventure takes me a couple of hours, especially since I was determined to shower, look decent, wear make-up, and fix my hair every day.  I never once made it to that breakfast room. Don’t worry,though. Alan raided it for free milks, bowls, and cereals every morning.

And coffee. April runs on coffee.

By the time we got to Lego Land on Day One it was 10:45ish.

The theme park was 40 minutes from our hotel, but our boys were on nine clouds of joy and excitement, so no one complained a bit.

Also, we have DVDs in our minivan. This is a very important part of our road trip success. For this trip, they watched Penguins of Madagascar, Monsters University, Elf, and hours upon hours of Paw Patrol. The big boys complained about the Paw Patrol, but if you could hear sweet little JD say, “Ruff Ruff!  Go! Go!” well, it’s awfully hard to say no for too long.

I wore my glasses for most of this trip because I am very allergic to hotel rooms. Does anyone else have this problem???

When I say allergic, I mean that my eyes itch uncontrollably, and my nose burns.  Benadryl and zyrtec fix this, but they also sort of take away my personality. Ha! April tranquilizers.

Our Legoland day was very successful. We were all excited to see these Lego men as we drove through the gates:

We started out Day One in “Mini Land.”

That’s the part of Lego Land that has all of these incredible Lego versions of cities, Star Wars, and even a Lego Walk of Fame. While that’s all extremely impressive, this is NOT where you want to START your Lego Land experience, especially if you are traveling with a nine-year-old.

Lego Land caters to a very specific audience. This theme park appeals most to kids that are at least 34 inches tall (so that they can ride most rides) and are not at all entering the puberty-attitude phase of life.

One of our children spent his entire time in Mini Land saying, “Where are the rides? Why aren’t there any rides here? Can we go now? Can we go to another part now please? I just want to get out of this section. Can we hurry up?”

So lesson 1: Don’t START in Mini Land. Save that for after they have a few rides under their belts.

Meanwhile, the rest of us found Mini Land very impressive. JD even loved it. Here are my favorite photos from Day One. Alan took a ton too. I may share those on a future post.

We had lunch at a pizza place, and this Lego man often spoke up, inviting passer-by to come eat his Italian food.

Boys kept crowding around him, trying to figure out how he talked.

For 20 minutes or so, we split big boys and little boys up into two groups so that they could do age appropriate activities.

JD LOVED the Duplo play area. Daniel, on the other hand, missed his brothers and kept laying down. I think he really needed a nap.

JD was hilarious, and JD is truly a toddler than I am proud to take out in public. (I’m proud of all the boys, but for a toddler, I just think JD is really great. I’m his mother, after all.) He is so friendly. He kept checking out creations that bigger kids had made, taking people blocks, putting together a few blocks himself, and just having fun.

There were very few rides that JD was allowed to ride. Not being 34 inches tall really held him back.

We were all impressed to get to go in and see the ACTUAL Lego Movie set! This is the only place that you can see it.

There were a few terrible moments when we lost Caleb in the crowds.

We all agreed to head towards the boat ride, but the rest of us got distracted by the Splash Park. Caleb zoned in on heading to the boats and didn’t notice our sudden detour.

Nothing like a little emotional scarring on vacation. Poor Caleb was shaken up for sure, but we did find him  fairly quickly, and then he did get to do the boat ride.

Daniel took me by surprise on that boat ride. JD was napping in his stroller, and I was taking it easy on a bench. Suddenly, my phone rang. It was Alan. “April, can you come get Daniel? We’re still in line, but he has to go to the bathroom right away.”  

This was a forever long line. Groan. Poor Daniel. I took him to the bathroom, and he arrived back to the line just as Alan, Joshua, and Caleb were climbing into boats. Daniel melted down. He so badly wanted to ride those boats! It was called “Skipper school.”

So I waited for them to finish the ride. Then Daniel and I waited in the slow, long line, again, and whoa! That boy can DRIVE! He passed not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR other drivers! I was in the boat with him, but he insisted on doing the driving.  Three of the other drivers were adults! One said, as we sailed past them, “This is nothing like driving a car.”

I laughed. Who knew? Go, Daniel!

Meanwhile, Alan and the boys were shopping at the “Big Store”.

We were happy to join them. Shopping in the Lego Store was exciting the FIRST day, not so much the second day. I’ll tell ya more about that tomorrow. Let’s just say that I now know what men in shopping malls must feel like.

Come back tomorrow, and I’ll tell you about Day 3: Lego Land Water Park! No one complained on Day 3. The water park was a huge hit, and John David didn’t even get wet. Ha! He is one funny little man. He was most excited about the just-his-size lawn chairs! 🙂

“Everything is cool when you’re part of a team. Everything is awesome!!!”

The post LEGOLAND, California!!! Day One: Whooyeah!!! A Big Hit for Kids Ages 10 and Under appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

We did manage to squeeze in one day of adventure during Spring Break.  My parents were visiting, and there were still a lot of DC spots that they had never seen, so we headed into town.  Believe it or not, my parents, the 4 boys, and I all fit into one minivan.  : )

One of Joshua’s friends came over to play while we were gone, and Alan answered the door.  Alan was under the weather, so he couldn’t go with us.  When Alan told the little buddy that Joshua wasn’t home, he said, “What?  How did they all fit into one car?”

The day went really well.  I was reminded of one great money-saving tourist tip that I’d forgotten:

-Museum cafeterias are outrageously expensive, and who has the space to pack a picnic lunch and lug it around?  Avoid the cafeterias.  Instead, eat outside.  In front of every museum is an outdoor cafe that sells hot dogs and such that cost less than they do inside.

First stop: Carousel

This is a tradition for us.  You just can’t take kids to the National Mall and skip the carousel!

Okay.  I’ll try not to get too nostalgic.  Let’s just say this will be an emotional move for us.  (We’re moving this summer:  far, far away!)

Carousel ride completed, and a good bit poorer, we headed across the Mall to the Smithsonian American History Museum.

the Smithsonian castle: beautiful, but I’ve never found too much to see in there

People were so kind to stop and offer to take family pictures for us.  As I’ve said before, don’t knock “people today.”  There are still plenty of nice ones out there.

I’m so excited that we now have DC photos for JD and Daniel too.  Joshua and Caleb have gotten to do all of this so many times over the years, but the little ones came along, and then Alan and I became a little less adventurous!

We could not have picked a more beautiful day to go touring.  It was PERFECT.  It was warm but breezy, and there were beautiful spring colors everywhere.

I was so excited to see Joshua, actually reading the information!!  He especially enjoyed the political cartoon exhibit, which I didn’t photograph, and everything in the presidential wing of the museum.

Joshua usually complains of boredom at all of these museums, but we couldn’t tear him away from the presidential area.  He was so interested in the presidents that he insisted on sitting and watching the entire History channel video of the history of presidents in the public eye, that they play continuously on the 3rd floor of the museum.  I was rather delighted to see him taking such an interest!

JD mostly just enjoyed this water bottle. : )

I can’t explain why this is so much fun to us….moving on…

Dan got a little bored, so he just laid down in the floor….kind of like Caleb did, in the floor of the Capitol back in ’09, which is one reason we’ve never gone back to the Capitol:

After the museum, we hiked waaaaay over to the World War II Memorial.  I had never been to this memorial before.  I’d seen it from the street, but that does not do it justice.  This is a memorial well worth visiting.  I literally had tears in my eyes, just thinking of all the sacrifices made in World War II.  I highly recommend visiting this one!

As we were walking up to the memorial, Caleb asked, “Wait.  This is a park???!!!??”

“Yeah, it’s a park!” I replied, hoping that would make it more interesting.

“Yes!  So we can play here??”

“Um, uh…yeah.  You can play.”

“Yes!  We’re here!  This is a park.  So I can go now?”

By this point, we were just coming up to the outside of the humongous WWII Memorial area, and I kind of just wanted to see where in the world Caleb was going with these thoughts, so I said, “Yeah, go ahead…..”

“YES!” Caleb said, as he ran over to the wall….

Mom asked, “Do you want me to go keep up with Caleb?”

I was so relieved!  “Yes, definitely!”

It was a good thing too, because when I glanced back over there, I saw Nana ordering Caleb off the wall, where he had almost managed to jump over.  I could just see Caleb and his one leg, headed back down.

Ah, Caleb.  You’re just a fun little boy, and I love you so much.  And thank you to Nana!!!

I can’t tell you how inspiring this memorial is in person.  You really have to see it.

There was a line of these scenes in the wall, progressing from beginning to end of the war.

Even the boys really seemed to enjoy this fountain.  Of course, they were just dying to put their arms into the water, but I’m happy to report that we all left DRY:  an accomplishment in itself.

The memorial goes all the way to the reflecting pool that stretches to the Lincoln Memorial, another favorite of ours.

Then we made the long hike back to our van.  It was so sweet to watch Joshua and Caleb, just talking amongst themselves. Our exhausted preschooler climbed onto Granddaddy’s lap and caught a ride on the scooter.  Dan was passed out hard by the time we loaded him into his car seat.

I enjoyed watching the boys, walking and talking to each other.  I hope they will be best friends for life.

 How we will miss you, DC!!!

Oh, I just have to share this one last story!  My parents left on Easter, but they were still here when Daniel received his Easter basket, so Daniel is convinced that everything he got from the Easter Bunny actually came from Nana.  hehehe  “Look what Nana got me.”  “Nana got me this.”  “Where Nana and Granddaddy go?”

I could’ve corrected him, but eh…why bother.  ; )

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