Conversations

Me: How many dresses are you wearing?
M: (holds up two fingers) So I can look BANTASTIC! (singing the last word triumphantly!)

after telling M where her heart is
Me: Did you know Papa is a heart doctor? He keeps your heart healthy.
M: You mean Papa Bill?
Me: No, Papa Gareth.
M: You mean the one married to Grandma Betty?
Me: No, Papa Gareth who's married to Grandma Mardie.
M: Oh! You mean your Dad?

after dropping my youngest brother off after the church swim party
M: I just love Sam. He is just so nice!

a few of lulu's faves right now:
LG: hold you! hold you! (translated: pick me up and carry me)
nummy=pacifier=firepass
when I put her to bed, she holds out her fingers trying to make the "I love you" sign and says "see ya, wuh-voo"
she can sing the chorus to Feist's "1234" and Black Eyed Peas "I gotta feelin"

Our Daddy

He made his debut on his birthday. Somehow over the last four years, he's come to accept that.

but he's never looked back.
He was delighted to have another girl two and a half years later.
but this one has him wrapped around her finger.
or by the look of her, maybe she's wrapped around his!

he's more patient than I am.

he IS story time.

he loves all three of his girls more than we can say!

and we miss him like crazy but are so proud of him!!!!

Where in the world...

is Daddy?

I wish I had left the camera with him! Last night he went to a Washington Nationals game which was a blast. From inside the stadium you can see some of the DC landmarks!

Today, in one day, he and some friends:

-went up to the top of the Washington Monument
-visited the Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, Korean War, and Viet Nam War Memorials
-had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (but didn't have nearly as much fun as last Saturday with me, right????)
-bought a second snow globe to bring home to his girls so that they will stop fighting over the first that was such a hit souvenir!
-went to Ford's Theatre
-visited the Capital visitor's center
-saw the Library of Congress but didn't go in
-and got kicked off the sidewalk outside the White House

I'm tired READing his list!
Back to hitting the books tomorrow!

Mount Vernon

i guess it's time to prove i actually went on this trip. here we are!
Mount Vernon was hot but lovely!



Washington's home is situated right on the river and is breathtaking!
This really isn't a great picture, except this was the lovely Scottish family who stood in line with us for an hour and made me miss my kids and had a lovely chat with!
The tour guides were awesome! This gentleman is Dr. Craik who was Washington's physician who attended to him as he died. They were fun, knowledgeable, funny, and made the long wait easier! The guides inside the house were awesome as well!
Fulfilling another one of W's goals of coming to Washington? Awesome!

Calgon, take me away!

I'm supposed to be at a party right now. Saying farewell to one of the sweetest missionaries to ever serve in Little Rock, I think.

I was supposed to have a busy week. So far I have missed two events I have wanted to go to.

The girls have needed the time home, but the events are frankly falling victim to my stress.

Unfortunately, I can't quite get it together.

Tonight, I made a choice between diapers and socialization.

There are no diapers in the house.

The thought of putting on makeup and doing my hair to look presentable only make me sweatier.

The girls need baths desperately.

We are out of laundry detergent.

The thought of going out in the 95 degree heat makes me nauseated.

I miss my husband. I'm worried about my husband.

I would like to leave the kids home and run to Target all by myself. So much quicker, so much less sweaty.

The short trip to the grocery store spent us. So the avocado bean dip will not get made tonight. It will not make it to the party.

The girls recovered with Elmo and temping princesses.

I am still working on recovery.

The Eiffel Tower Effect

When we were on our honeymoon in Europe, SIX years ago, we stumbled on an interesting phenomenon.

We got off the train, turned around and there it was!

The Eiffel Tower!

We were so excited that we snapped a picture.

And then we would go somewhere else and see it again and BIGGER and snap, another picture!

We came home with a bunch of not very exciting and excessive amounts of pictures of the Eiffel Tower, that we didn't even go up, and while it was very impressive, not many of our pictures were.

But we were in awe of it!

In DC, the Washington Monument is the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the pyramid, you name it!

Turn around and look! There it is! You get so excited, that you take a bunch of pictures!

This one is from the WWII memorial and is my favorite. It had started to rain and it was getting dark and a rainbow arced right next to the monument.

W took this one and I love it because it shows how they used two different stone quarries to build it before and after the Civil War. And how big the thing is!




But then we just took picture after picture after picture because it was so big and glorious!

Starting with this one, surprising me as I stepped off the Metro in front of the Smithsonian Castle.

What an amazing city DC is!

DC Sights!

I have always wanted to go to DC!

We have planned so many trips there as a little family and they've all gotten shelved due to babies, grad school, moving, you name it.

So I was thrilled to take this chance, cash in some airline miles and see the sights with my sweetheart!

He had to work Thursday and Friday so I had two days to myself to explore.

This is the closest I got to the White House. I hope W does better before he leaves!

And this is the closest I got the capital. Same comment as above.

And it would also be my only complaint about this city. The metro is wonderful but how they expect tourists who are NOT marathon-trained to make it around to all the monuments without their legs turning to jello is beyond me. There is a bus that you can hop-on, hop-off but we didn't find out about it until the last evening when our legs were already dying! I'm still bummed I didn't make it to Lincoln's Memorial. Next time!

The "Old Post Office"

The Smithsonian Museum of American History

The really cool tunnel attaching the two wings of the National Gallery of Art

The waterfall that I ate lunch by at the National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art that I got to early, not knowing it didn't open until ten, so I thoroughly enjoyed it in peace and quiet, before it was swarming with teenagers!

more proof, yes I was there!

The Smithsonian Castle-really yummy eclairs!!!!

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I still haven't found the right words to describe this place-tragic, beautiful, moving, amazing. So glad I made the time!

We are so blessed!