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!!)

Last Night

Our last night in the Outer Banks was also Independence Day! We spent it mostly like we spent all our other days- at the beach and hanging out with family. In the evening we headed over to the Corolla lighthouse for a fireworks display...

and then back home to light up some sparklers.


We were so sad to leave- it was magical to spend a full week with every one from my extended family in one of the most beautiful places on the East Coast.

Family Photo Session

Other Highlights

Other Outer Banks vacation highlights (because there are too many to do a post on each one):

The Food! Each family unit was in charge of making dinner for one of the nights we were there- we had such a delicious menu every single day! Hawaiian Haystacks, tacos, fajitas, sausage&pepper sandwiches, shrimp on the barby, chicken roulade w/ an amazing cranberry, walnut & goat cheese filling, london broil & potato salad- desserts! breakfast rolls! salads! drinks! Oh the glorious food!

Laura's Optical Showcase: My sister is a distributor for an eyeglass company and so we were able to choose some frames from her for a very low cost. We had a fun time trying out all the options!

BINGO! We have a family tradition of playing Bingo whenever we can- we play for fun little cheap prizes (usually from the dollar store) and we all just love it. There's nothing like hearing everyone complain that they're not getting any numbers on their card, then all of the sudden someone yells the first BINGO and the crowd erupts in cheers. I'll never get sick of Bingo!
Peter's been the caller for years, and he's gracious enough to let Lexi help him.

When we're all together, there are never enough bingo chips to go around- some of us got very creative:

Bike Riding! I don't think I've ridden a bike in over 15 years! Matt rides every day to work- but this vacation made me feel the desire again! I'd love to have a bike! Laura's man, Joe, let me borrow his one evening and Matt&I along with my mother and sisters, took a little spin around Corolla, down a secret boardwalk, and over to the lighthouse. It was all great until Joe's chain broke on me- I'm just glad it was a pre-existing condition and that I wasn't the one to blame! :)

The House! Named "The Gang's All Here" which couldn't have been a more fitting name for our week-long vacation home with our entire gang:

LIghthouse Date

Later on in the week, the family offered to watch the girls so Matt & I could spend a day by ourselves. We decided to drive down to Cape Hatteras and see the lighthouse there (2 hours from where we were staying).

Cape Hatteras lighthouse was built in 1870 and is the world's tallest brick lighthouse standing at 198.5 feet. Treacherous waters off the coast bear the name Graveyard of the Atlantic- over 600 ships wrecked here as victims of shallow shoals, storms & war. Few ships wreck today, but storms still uncover the ruins of the old wrecks. The beacon from the lighthouse can be seen 20 miles out to sea.

It was a gorgeous day! And we climbed to the top....

That's the point of Cape Hatteras directly behind us (sort of between our heads)

Over time, the Atlantic Ocean slowly crept its way closer and closer to the original location of the lighthouse, eating away at the beach... in the summer of 1999 the lighthouse was actually moved to its present location. This photo shows the track on which the lighthouse was transported- all 6250 tons & 1,250,000 bricks of it! The original site was that bare area of sand kind of in the middle of the photo, past the far side of the parking lot, all the way down next to the water. My cousins were there that year and watched as it inched its way down the track- Liz remembers putting a quarter down on the track and having it smashed by the lighthouse as it passed over- she still has that quarter!

On our way back up the coastline, we stopped to see the Bodie Island Lighthouse. It is the last of 3 lighthouses to bear that name. It was completed in 1872 and stands 156 feet tall. The beacon can be seen 20 miles away. All the beacons have a different pattern of flashes (and different patterns of paint on them) so that sailors can identify which lighthouse it is (& therefore where they are located).

This one was not open for climbing- it was slated to begin restoration in the following month or so.

Our first Hospital Experience

We are really lucky that we haven't had to take our kids to the ER yet. Well, until we were out of state. One afternoon as we were getting ready to head back out to the beach, Ella got a little huffy and resistant and plopped her body down on the ground while Matt was holding her hand. He instinctively pulled her up (by her arm) and she instantly starting crying. We wondered if she was injured, but at the same time it had been a long few days, she was overtired anyway, and it seemed maybe that was just the last straw for her. Matt stayed in and took a nap with Ella. When she woke up, she was still clingy and cranky. We also noticed she was not using her arm, and wouldn't let us touch it. We are out in the middle of nowhere as far as medical help goes, but there was a number at our house for a woman who makes house calls. When I called, though, I only got her voicemail that said she wouldn't return a call until the next morning. So, we packed Ella up in the car & headed to the closest clinic (45 minutes down the road) only to get there 10 minutes past closing. Another 15 minutes down the road and we ended up at the hospital where we entered the ER and had to wait another 2 hours to actually see someone.

Ella was very patient in the waiting room. Thankfully they had some toys, books & a video playing. She liked her fancy bracelets:


When we were finally admitted into a room, a Physician's Assistant came and took a look- within 30 seconds he diagnosed her with Nursemaid's Elbow. He then demonstrated to me what he was going to do to put it back in place. In Daddy's arms, she was very brave as the PA popped her arm back in- she winced, and cried out, and then was calm. So after 3+ hours of driving/waiting, we spent about 2 minutes with medical help who solved the problem.

The PA brought her some ice cream for being so brave:


Then we headed home- another 1+ hour drive. It certainly could have been much much worse.

P.S. When we got back to NY and I told the pediatrician about the ordeal, she said I should have called her- she would have talked me through the steps of putting it back in place.