Golden Corral twice in one day!

Tuesday :  Don't feel bad if you don't have any desire to read this or look at the pictures, I don't blame you.  I am just posting it so it can go in our family blog book.  When we got to Willamsburg we noticed that our resort offered a guided tour of Washington D.C.  We wanted to go, but were scared about doing it on our own.  We didn't know where to go or park etc...  So we we thought a bus tour would be great, and it was.  We saw so many things!  We traveled on a chartered bus, and had a very knowledgeable tour guide take us around.  I am so glad we did it.  We started out our day looking at several memorials, many of which I hadn't seen before.  They are amazing and make you so grateful for all of the people who serve this great country.  The White house was closed because of some kind of event, but we did see it from a distance.  We passed the capitol building too, but it was raining so we didn't get out.  Did I mention it was raining the entire time?  That is why I look so great in all of the pictures.  For a few hours in the afternoon we were on our own to look around.  Justin and I went to the first post office to eat lunch and accidently got seperated.  Thank goodness for cell phones.  There were a ton of people that day and it was kind of crazy.  After we found each other we checked out some of the Smithsonian museums.  The Natural history one was really cool, but there were about a million kids there too. We quickly got out of there and went over to the American history museum which was also crowded.  But, we decided to stick around and we saw a lot of neat stuff there.  We met back up with our bus group, who by the way were mostly older people, but super nice and friendly.  Then we headed up to Arlington Cemetery, which was so incredible.  We watched the changing of the gaurd of the tomb of the unkowns.  By then we (I) was so tired and  ready to go back to the resort.  But, half way back to Virgina we stopped again at Golden Corral for dinner.  When we signed up we were excited to see that the price of the tour included both breakfast and dinner, but we were even more excited when we found out were it would be!  To make dinner even more gross, a kid threw up on me while I was in line.  (Maybe the chocolate fountain and the all you can eat cotton candy isn't such a good idea.)  Other than the food, the trip was perfect! 

This is the Marine corp memorial, it was really impressive.  Justin would always forget to tell me when he was actually going to take the picture, so I was never ready for them.

Jefferson memorial

This is a view from the FDR memorial which was actually more like a park.  It was so great, with sculpures, quotes, waterfalls.  I guess it was so interesting that I forgot to take any pictures of it?

Martin Luther King Jr. Monument, I think this one is fairly new.

Korean War Monument, it was very cool. It was even more dramatic with the rain falling down.

This is such a great picture, (YUCK)  Anyway obviously the Lincoln memorial.  The refletion pool directly accross from it was under constuction, so we didn't get any pics of it.

Wow, I look so happy,  This is a memorial for all the women (nurses).

The view of the Capitol building from the bus, it was raining so much we decided to just do a drive by.

One of my favorite pictures, it about sums up how I feel.  Who is bigger?

A picture Justin took right before the tiger attack.

The original ruby slippers from the wizard of oz.  Ellie loved this one, she couldn't believe they were the real deal.

Arlington Cemetery.  Just as spectacular as I remembered it.  It really is so neat, so much to take in, so grateful for all the lives that have been dedicated to protecting this country. 

JFK's gravesite with the eternal flame, Robert E. Lee house in the background.  The house was closed for renovation, wich was sad because I remember it being really interesting.

Colonial Willamsburg

We got to Virgina late Saturday night.  We decided to get groceries so that we didn't have to shop on Sunday.  While we were at the Food Lion, we were stopped and asked if we were LDS and if we knew where and when church was the next day.  We thought this was funny because I guess we just look like Mormons. Sunday was a beautiful day, we went to church and met a lot of really great people in Willamsburg.  It is so great that you can travel accross the country and have the same Sunday school lesson in Virgina that you would at home.  We just hung out the rest of the day and enjoyed a peaceful Sunday.  Monday morning we headed over to colonial Willamsburg.  It was only about 10 minutes from where we were staying.  We had a full day, with lots of walking.  The buildings are so interesting, we also went on a tour of the museum and learned a ton about George Washington.  For lunch we ate a the cheese shop, so good!  You know how much I love cheese. At first we kept thinking about how weird it was not to have any of the kids with us, but we got over it pretty quickly.   I wore what I thought were comfortable shoes, but by the end of the day my feet wouldn't even fit into them.  I was so swollen, but walked through the pain.  That night we went on a ghost tour of some of the homes, which wasn't scary at all, but entertaining.  By that time I was ready to take my elephant hands and feet home and soak in the tub!

Justin and I at the start of the day.

Justin decided to take a spiritual moment in a very old church .

This is inside the Palace.

The gardens at the Palace were my favorite part.  Love all the Magnolia trees, everything is so green.

More of the gardens.

Our one regret on this vacation, spending $100+ on an authentic colonial dinner at King's tavern.  It wasn't very good.  Here is Justin eating pickled watermelon rine.  We also had some yummy bread that reminded me of the cushion of a school bus seat.  The main course wasn't too bad, but not worth the money.  Dessert was the best part, homeade peppermint ice cream and hot fudge. 

Yummy!

Our trip!

Justin on Sunday in front of one of the resort villas.  The grounds were so beautiful.

So, I just want to warn you that you will probably be really bored with the next few posts.  But, Justin and I only go on vacation alone every five years or so, so I wanted to document everything! Feel free to ignore all the pictures I am about to post.  I just want to remember how much fun we had!  First of all, the place we stayed in Willamsburg was a vacation in itself.  Virgina is so green and beautiful!  Our Villa was so nice, we really could have stayed in the resort the whole time.

The main living area, complete with fireplace and one of three flat screen TVs.

Kitchen, which was great, we saved on food and Justin even cooked a little.

Master bedroom, I really got used to a king size bed and endless pillows, it was a big fat pregnant woman's dream.

Master bathroom, my favorite was the jetted-tub. 

The other king sized bedroom, Justin used this one to keep his clothes in.

Another bathroom.

View from the kitchen, it was nice to having a dinning area to sit down and eat.  Behind the curtains was  a little enclosed porch area that looked over the golf course.  It was so nice and peaceful to have breakfast out there.  The blackout curtains were a plus, sometimes we slept in until 10:00, well at least Justin did. Why not, we were on vacation, right?

Swimming lessons

This year we decided to take everyone's advice and take swimming lessons from children's visions instead of the city.  I have to say, I was impressed and I think it was worth the difference in price.  The kids loved it and I am amazed on how much they learned.  Plus, it was so nice to be able to watch them closely and see what they were working on.  And you can't beat the set up, shade enough for everyone! Noah struggled the first day and I had to sit with him the whole time, but after that he did fine and jumped right in the water.  The other kids love to swim and had no problems.  Taylor even mastered jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side of pool all by herself.  If I wasn't having another baby this summer, I would sign them up again.  The only problem is that they are all in different classes now, making for a long day at the pool.

My cuties in the water!

They loved the slide.

Learning the diving position.

Andrew and I watching from the side of the pool.  He was so good to hang out with me.

Noah and Joslyn's class.

Noah even went off the "skate board."  Well he was mostly dropped off, but at least he didn't cry, what a big boy!

Andrew is two!

I can't believe that my little guy turned two!  We had so much fun celebrating with him this year.  His birthday was Memorial Day, so everyone was able to come to our house to party!

I love this picture.  Aunt Bekah helped him open his presents since I can't sit on the ground for very long.  Almost all of Andrew's toys were Toy Story themed, and he loved it.  

Every time he wears these pajamas he yells "Yee Haw!"

Buzz and Woody cake, of course!

Matt and Janelle helped decorate and all the kids loved it.

Taylor being the great big sister that she always is.  She is trying to get him to blow out his candle.  Seriously, my kids are so fun and cute, I feel so blessed to be their mommy and to share special days like this with them. 

Done with 2nd grade!

Our camera wasn't working much in May, so Taylor is the only one who gets pictures of her end of the year program.  Someday I will learn how to post video on here so you can see the other girl's programs.  This is Taylor's 2nd grade class.  She had a great teacher, Miss Nelson.  I was so happy with her and with all the fun things they did in their classroom.  I loved going in and helping, I didn't want to leave! 

The kids sang a few songs and showed off their animal reports and other end of the year projects.  Miss Nelson also made a sweet video of all the parties and activities they had through the year.   I also got to be a room mom and help with those, loved it!

Such cute kids, I am so happy with the kids school experience so far, Taylor and Ellie have had great teachers!

Taylor and Miss Nelson.  By the way, isn't Taylor the cutest, she is growing up too fast and I am so proud of everything she has become.