The District of Columbia

We left the Outer Banks on Sunday, July 5th and decided to break up our trip home into 2 days as well (mostly for the kids sake). We were able to stay with our dear friends, Nikki & Peter, who were living in DC for the summer while Peter interned for a law firm before his last year of law school. We left the outer banks at about 9 AM and didn't pull into DC until almost 7 PM! 10 hours of traffic- and it was stop&go the whole way. It was really unbelievable.

Anyway, we were happy to finally get to DC & took the girls on a walk to the local playground to get their wiggles out. We ate & caught up with P&N. Here are Nikki&I with our children on the steps of their cute townhome (they were renting the "garden" apartment).

And then spent the next day taking a fast tour of many of the local sites:

The Capitol

The White House

(a beehive on the front lawn of the White House):

The World War II Memorial- my grandfather fought at Iwo Jima and Matt's father fought in Europe.

The Washington Monument- we wanted to try and get tickets to go up inside, but the line was crazy long & we didn't have all day, so we skipped it & just took a photo instead.

Walking the Mall:

Lincoln Memorial:

Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial:

The Vietnam Memorial- my mother's family was very close with the Dunkenbergers. In fact, Mr&Mrs Dunkenberger were my mother's godparents. Their son, David, was sent to Vietnam during the war and did not return. His death had a profound effect on my mother and because of that I have always been somewhat aware of him and his ultimate sacrifice for our country. I remember seeing this memorial many many years ago & watching as my mother rubbed his name into her scriptures. We found his name on the memorial this time as well- only after I snapped the photo did I realize that you can see Alexis' reflection in his name (& a little of Ella as well). Another woman was very emotional not too far from us, which really affected me as well & I found myself full of emotion for a man I have never met, but who has affected me in many ways. Thank you, David Dunkenberger. You are still loved & missed.

After our whirlwind tour of the Mall, we decided to check out one of the Smithsonian's museums- the Museum of American History. We got there just in time to participate in an unfurling of a Star-Spangled Banner- the same size as the flag that flew over Ft. McKinley the night that Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem. It was HUGE. And heavy!

We were instructed not to let it touch the ground....

Once inside we saw the actual, original Star-Spangled Banner in a wonderful exhibit. And then took some time to see a few other very exciting things:

(Julia Child in her kitchen in France- this is how I feel most of the time!!)

Summer Catch Up: Part 1

This summer was filled with travel for us. Forgive me for backtracking a bit, but there's lots to report on! I'll go back to day 1 of our trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

We left Manhattan at a decent hour Saturday, June 28th. We drove for a few hours, headed toward DC, and stopped on the way to see the Concord Point lighthouse on the northern shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Delaware & the quaint little town of Havre de Grace that surrounds it (including the pawn shop for Matt to hunt out guitar equipment). Unfortunately it wasn't open when we were there (we arrived about 11 AM and it didn't open until 1 PM) so we didn't get to go inside, but it was still a great spot to get out and stretch our legs and let little ones run around.

Concord Point Light is a 36-foot tower that was built in 1827. It is the second oldest tower lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay and the oldest continuous lighthouse in Maryland. The tower is built at the point where the Susquehanna River meets the tidal flow of the Chesapeake Bay and navigation is very hazardous around this area.

Looking out at the Bay


The Chesapeake Bay




The Lightkeeper's house (it was closed when we were there)

After our stop in Havre de Grace (did I mention the homemade candy? De-lish!) we continued on down the interstate en route to my mission friend Jenni's home where we planned on spending the night. As we were following our mapquest directions, we turned a bend and this popped up in front of us:

The Washington DC Temple! So we decided to stop and visit the grounds. The girls really loved it there. We were lucky to see a bride also, which is very exciting for 2 little girls to see! We spent some time in the visitor's center and walking the grounds.

And then we made it to Jenni's house! Our kids ran with their kids. We ate grilled hamburgers & delicious homemade blueberry crisp (warm from the oven with ice cream on top!). We talked and talked and reminisced about the mission & just had a great time! They have a beautiful new home (where we were the first guests in the guest room!). Her son, Connor, had had a pirate party that morning, so the girls were loving all the pirate paraphernalia. I'm pretty sure we snuck off with a couple of pennants from the front lawn.

All our kiddies together

Lexi loved Connor- I think he was still debating his thoughts on this extremely energetic & sassy New York girl

Thank you, Jenni, for being such a wonderful hostess. Next time, we're staying a week!