Griswolds Family Vacation...Day 5

We decided to go downtown DC. In the past we have done "The Mall" which is where all the museums and monuments are at. This time we decided not to do all the mall but just the American History Museum. It is my favorite museum and it has been closed for two years for renovations. We drove downtown DC with Bob and meet his wife Suzanne at her place of work which is only a few blocks from the mall. We grabbed some lunch at my favorite burger place, Five Guys ( picture above ) and decided to go see a movie which was only a couple blocks away.

It is funny watching the girls walk around a big city. We live in a small town with one traffic light that was just recently put in. The twins loved the entrance to DC's China Town. They said Grantsville should build one of those as you come in to town. I guess instead of intricate Chinese symbols we would have cowboy paraphernalia with accents of camouflage

If you have seen the movie, Julia and Julia, this is Julia Childs kitchen that they showed at the end of the movie. The counters are really tall; she was a tall woman. This is one of the new exhibits that they have put in since the remodeling.

The original star spangled banner used to hang from the ceiling and was the first thing you saw as you came in the building but years ago they figured out it was disintegrating so they took steps to preserve and restore it as best they could. They finished restoring it and now it is in a dimly lit room with a new exhibit surrounding it. This is the entrance to the room it is kept in. If you have never seen it you think of just a regular size flag but this flag is huge, little less then a football field in size. It is amazing to see!

We are off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz.......

It is not easy being green. How can seeing Kermit not make you smile......

Piece of the Berlin wall......

Another new exhibit. Music and clothes that came out of the Apollo theater. They have scaled back a lot of the exhibits in the renovation but overall the renovations seemed to not make it seem so crowded. My favorite exhibit is the first ladies inauguration dresses. Abraham Lincolns wife had the tiniest waist you have scene, Michelle Obama's dress was the most popular, Calvin Coolidge's wife and Tafts wife had beautiful intricate dresses. It was a fun day and it was mostly inside which meant air conditioning!....Day 6...Baltimore.

Griswolds Family Vacation...Day 4

We headed to the National Zoo on Wednesday. We were going to head to Gettysburg on this day but after driving close to 6 hours total on Tuesday the thought of having to drive another 5 hours total in a car was not appealing to me. Me and Adrian have been to the DC zoo a lot because it is a great zoo and it is free admission. In hindsight with the heat we should have headed somewhere inside and air-conditioned but this is where the kids wanted to go

The best part of this zoo is the panda exhibit. They do look like stuffed teddy bears in real life. You want to go over and hug one but then reality sets in and you realize that this cuddly bear would rip your face off if needed. I must admit at this point that I handed my camera to the twins for the zoo trip. I was hot and tired and they wanted to take pictures. We ended up with a few good ones, a lot of animal pictures, and A WHOLE bunch of blurry pictures. They did not take pictures of the panda either.....I do have blurry pictures of the bamboo that they eat.

I love otters. If there is a show on Animal Planet that has otters I will watch it. Their personalities make me smile. On a documentary on Animal Planet they had a story about a female otter that only gave birth to still born babies and out of desperation of wanting a baby of her own she would try to steal the babies of the other otters; I cried, yup I cried while watching this silly documentary. I wanted to personally find an abandoned otter baby and bring it to this otter so she could have a baby. No more Animal Planet for me, I get to personally involved.

These are the pictures I ended up with. I am not sure what exhibit this is and I am also not sure who the kid in the picture is. Lets face it probably at this point I was trying to find some shade and something cold to drink....I will admit it I can be just as whiny as the children but I just store my whining internally and it manifests itself in to uninterested, detached,haughty seclusion....

Last time we came to the zoo, which was two years ago they were just starting the new elephant exhibit. This is part of it. It looks like a golf course. It is beautiful and huge and perfect for these gigantic animals. We did not spend a long time at the zoo. It is a great zoo but when the temperatures are 100 plus 90 percent humidity it is hard to stop and take everything in. Me and Adrian used to go in the fall and spring when we lived there. It sits right downtown and is surrounded by some great restaurants. It is well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in DC.....
Day 5, Downtown....to be continued......

Griswolds family vacation....Day three..Part 2

We made it to the beach. This was a last minute decision because of Williamsburg not taking as long as we expected and being a bit deflated from the tourist trap, we felt like we needed to salvage something special out of the day so when we saw that virginia beach was less then an hour away we knew we had to go. This is the main touristy beach but that meant shops that the kids could get a shirt and lots of restaurants available.

This is me in heaven. My feet in the sand and the sound of waves all around me. There had been a storm that blew through and it brought the temp down to the low 80's it felt so good.

Look at that smile on that beautiful girl.

There is all my treasures right there in that picture.

Look at that pose. She loved the beach!!! She was wet and was sand covered in the first 5 minutes of us getting on the beach

The last picture of the day. My makeup was gone, my hair had lost the battle to the 90 + plus percent humidity earlier in the day and at this moment I was in pure joy and Adrian kept saying it was time to go and I kept saying 5 more minutes please. Adrian finally had to be stern with me and say it was time to go home because we had a long drive ahead. I reluctantly gathered my family and headed home....day 4 National Zoo...to be continued...

Griswolds Family Vacation ...Day Three part 1

Here we are day three of our vacation. It was about a two and half hour drive to Colonial Williamsburg. You arrive at a visitor center and then they load you on a bus that takes you over to Williamsburg experience. We had never been to Williamsburg and we thought we would go this trip, It was very expensive and the typical tourist trap. We got to see some neat things but overall I was disappointed in what it had to offer. This is the governors palace that they recently reproduced. We went through this later in the afternoon and it was the highlight of the visit (pictures posted further down).

I need one of these as a threat for unruly children.

Okay...this picture was taken after a lot of walking in ungodly heat and humidity and I had just got done threatening my children that if they did not stop whining I was going to leave them at colonial williamsburg and they could perform tricks for tourists to earn money to get out of this tourist hell hole. After I finished whining to Adrian I was hot and ready to go I had to stop and make the best of the situation so it was time to gather my sanity that was slowing melting away in the 100+ plus degree heat and be happy. So I gathered my troops made everyone smile and to take a picture. We then went and bought 5 drinks and 5 cookies that cost us 20 dollars, yup colonial williamsburg screws you!

This was post cookies and drinks and we were all smiles again. I have no idea what these people get paid to work in the kind of heat that we experienced that day but I know it can not be enough.

Back to the governor's palace. Okay...it was our favorite place because it was air conditioned but honestly it was very cool place. They give tours as though they live in that time and they are preparing for a ball...so you are actually part of an interactive play also. This palace is a reproduction but they did it exactly to what it did look like. It was a British statehouse but also the governors home All the walls in the this area and the hallways and stairs had guns and swords on the walls as far up as the ceiling. As we waited outside to come into this tour the women giving the orientation had a moustache thicker then Adrian's so I figured these actors really get into character..because you know those women did not wax their upper lips back then.
Of course Makenzie announced loudly that she had a hairy lip like dad, I just smiled graciously and shoved Makenzie behind me...gotta love kids and the pointing out of peoples grooming flaws

I just realized this picture needs to be rotated but now it won't rotate..oh well. This is the governess's dressing room. This wallpaper is made of leather and 18 karat gold.

The tour took about 45 minutes. They put on a fun show and they interact a lot with the audience. This is the back of the palace and the gardens. If the heat would have not been so brutal I may have been able to take more of it in and walk more of the area but overall I would not put it on my suggestion list to anyone. I suppose I expected more buildings to be open to tour through but that was not the case. We decided as the temps reached 101 degrees it was time to head south to beach so we loaded on tour bus and headed back to our car......to be continued....

This is a very short clip of one of the shows they had going on that day. They shot of some cannons and did a march through town. It was representing the beginning of Virginians seeking independence from England

Griswolds Family Vacation...Day 2

Last time I went to Mount Vernon I went with my mother and I was 6 months pregnant. So the twins are now almost eleven so needless to say it has been a long time since I have been there. Mount Vernon, our first presidents home and where he is buried. It is a piece of American history that is incredible to see. It sits on the most beautiful piece of property and is amazingly preserved. This above picture was taken at the new welcoming center that gives a brief history of George and Martha. This statue is life size of George, Martha and their two grandchildren. You realize what commanding presence George had, he was tall for his day and big in stature. I love that Makenzie reached up and grabbed the hand of George Washington. I think George would have liked that :).

This is the view that George Washington had from the front of his home. Rolling hills of green that go as far as the eye can see.

This is Mount Vernon, the home of General George Washington. You can not take pictures when in the home. It is a piece of colonial history that is incredibly preserved. The home is not large inside or over indulgent like that of a British palace we went through the next day.

This is the view that the home has from the back of the house.

Here is the back of the home. I think after seeing the view that the back of the home offers I know why George loved this home.

This is where George and his wife are buried. It is funny, when you approach this place people become quiet in their talk and they seem to take on a new level of respect for this man. If George Washington only knew the importance that he had on our countries history and the admiration that people have for him hundreds of years later.

It was an ungodly kind of humidity and heat that day that the new interactive museum was a welcome relief from the heat. Lots of things for the kids to see and do. We even got to see George Washington's "wooden" teeth...which are actually made out of ivory and others people teeth...icky! Could you imagine dentures made out of other peoples teeth...icky! It was a hot day and some whiny kids but overall a success. Day 3 Colonial Williamsburg and Virginia Beach....to be continued......

Griswolds Family Vacation...Day 1

There it is ...the beginning of our summer vacation. This is the descent in to Baltimore airport. We are spending a full week in Washington DC and have numerous things planned but with a three year old, hormonal pre-teens, and humidity that I would compare to what the rainforests in the amazon feel like we will see what we actually get done on our, "Things we would like to do" list.

See this three year old, she is the one who can make life tough somedays. She was ok to fair on the plane flight. She was so excited for this trip that her excitment over took her body and she could not sit still any longer than a nano second for the whole flight. My patience were beginning to fray and I began using lies and threats to get her to sit still. Her father told her in that the airline stewardess would toss her off the plane if she could not behave. That worked for a few minutes.........and then the threat was forgotten and she was back to putting the tray in front of her up and down once more.

Annapolis, Maryland was our first destination. We got up Sunday morning and headed out. All the years we lived in Maryland and Virginia I never went to Annnapolis and I wanted to see it. We also wanted to go to the Naval Academy to see Adrian's grandfather, Floyd, burial place.

His ashes are placed right next to the bay and it has a beauiful view of the Chesapeake Bay. Not a better place for a Navy man to be buried.

Lots of graduates of the academy are buried here. It is a beautiful peaceful spot.

After we were done with the Naval Academy we walked over City Dock in Annapolis. Its is the historic part of town with streets full of restaurants and stores. This is a view of the girls with the statehouse towering above them in the top of the picture. It is a place where great men such as George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson have stood.

End of the day down by the docks. It was a great city and I wish I would have gone when we lived here. I will make it a point to go back again and spend more then a day there. ....Griswolds family vacation day 1....to be continued.......

Rest In Peace

My dear, dear daughter, the one whose name is a city in Wyoming, has dug a shallow grave for herself today. I will not be the one burying her today it will be her father. Before I tell you why she has found her early death today let me share a few past experiences with our second born child.
She at an early age has been the child to separate herself as an individual by being what her father says, "boneheaded". Now let me explain why she earned this name.

She was the one that cut her own hair in to a mullet, her sister did not cut her hair but she did and she was proud of her haircut. Within two weeks she proceeded to cut her hair again but she was unsuccessful that time because I caught her in the process of doing it. She shoved a costume jewelry pearl up her nose that was discovered because she had a whistle in her in nose that I investigated and found the pearl shoved up her nostril. She found a batch of dried red chili peppers that I was using for decorations and decided to try to eat them, after several glasses of milk and burned lips she decided that was not a bright idea. She used to draw on things but she has a signature face she likes to draw and she would always draw that face on whatever she drew on and then she would deny she drew on something even though she basically left her signature on it.She is incapable of lying, she has no poker face, she CAN NOT lie to your face! If I have anything that can be poured, squirted, or sprayed she will dump,squirt, or spray the whole item until it is all gone; I don't know how many bottles of hairspray or soaps that have gone to waste because of her. Just recently she dumped a whole bottle of balsamic vinegar into the sink; and I still have no idea why.

Really I could make a list that would go on far to long but I will stop now. I need to fill in with some other details of her positive attributes. She is amazingly sweet and has heart that is to big for her little soul. She looks at the world with most positive outlook and never sees the bad in anything. An example is, she left her razor scooter at school outside without locking it up; "boneheaded" move, and it was stolen. Her sister came home and informed me what happened and said Cheyenne was still at school and some boys were helping her find her scooter, basically she had her posse out to find the scooter. I went to the school and picked her up and was angry with her because of her negligence. She told me, "Someone borrowed it and she will get it back." I yelled, "NO, you will not, it was gone, someone stole it, they did not borrow it!". There was a knock at the door, one of her posse members found the scooter at the park, she got her scooter back. She looked at me and said, " See I said I would get it back, they should have asked if they wanted to borrow it.". I was in shock I did not know what to say. That is her sweet, pure, innocent heart that lets her believe someone borrowed it.

So fast forward to today. We had to get them a cell phone to share a few months ago. We do not have a land line and there is times that we are not home but they are so they need a phone. It makes my life easier if they have a phone on them if I need them to come home when they are with friends. They only get to call us on the phone and it is only given to them on these two occasions. They have had the phone for a little while now, the phone bill came this month and there was an extra 60+ dollars of charges on the phone. It was her, the "boneheaded" child that occurred these charges by downloading games and doing some texting. We were charged last month also for the same charges, so 120.oo dollars in extra fees. So after calling phone company and getting it paid her father figured out she broke his headphones and ruined the USB port in the computer it was connected to. So her running total for the day is around 200.00 dollars in expenses.

Her father will be holding her funeral later today. It will be a graveside service with just immediate family present. Instead of flowers send cash to pay off the remaining balance of the cell phone bill. Rest In Peace our dear child you will be missed.

Zoom, Zoom off to Lagoon

Here we are and just finishing the roller coaster "Wicked". It is fast and smooth and an amazing roller coaster. My first roller coaster I ever went on was space mountain at Disneyland and I have loved roller coasters ever since. We went to the local amusement park on the 4th of July. The weather was perfect, the lines were short, and the kids were thrilled to be there so it made for a perfect day.

This was the first time Makenzie has been big enough to ride any of the rides. This was her first ride and like my experience with space mountain at Disneyland she was hooked! She laughed and giggled and wanted to go on everything after this ride.

There is my husband way up there connected to a few bungee cords suspending him high in the air. He is with Jodi, my dads wife and somehow my dad convinced her to get on it. I would have said, "Hell No!". I may love roller coasters but I am not a huge fan of heights and this surpassed my comfort zone.

They survived the fall but I do think Jodi may have pulled Adrian's shoulder out of socket....

There they all are, the little things that I love with every bone in my body. At this point we were in Pioneer Village and they were getting a little tired, hot and cranky so what fixes these conditions in children, ICE CREAM! We stopped and had some yummy ice cream cones and that seemed to cure grumpies and we were right back to riding rides!

I think if I were to pick some of my favorite pictures ever of Makenzie this would make the top five. Can you just feel the pure joy and exhilaration of the three year old in this picture. She was on the tidal wave and she raised her arms just like the big kids and she had everyone pointing and smiling and taking pictures of her because she was without any fear and her pure joy was contagious.

Adrian and my brother-in-law getting ready to be thrown high into the air again. Once again this surpassed my comfortable height requirement. It looks like a huge hamster ball being thrown to ones own death.

There they are high in the air but they did not plunge to their death :)....

We started our lagoon day at 11:00 am and ended our day at 10:30 pm. This was Makenzie's last ride at 10:00 pm and she was still going strong. It was a fun day with my sister and dad and all the family being together and we will be sure to do it again soon!

I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy...

There they are the Reeves and Brand "brats" minus the oldest Reeves, Gabby. My sister came to visit for the 4th of July holiday. We got together last year for the same holiday and had so much fun we decided to do it again. We don't get a lot of opportunity to spend time together so we cherish what limited time we do have. I love being able to see the cousins spend time together and making childhood memories together. I think most of us have great memories of time we got to spend with our cousins and I think our kids will remember these holidays.

Sisters, and yup those are rabbit ears behind us, Leana's boys are the guilty of that one. I love spending time with my sister. You could say we were not that close growing up. I was the annoying younger sister and she was the know-it-all older sister but as you grow up all those silly childhood things are put aside and you hold on tighter to the family you have and cherish every minute you have with them. I keep teasing her that we will out live our husbands and we will live together and be the crazy cat lady sisters.

My dad came down this year with Jodi and it was great having him here. It is the first time that we have all gotten together for years and we were able to spend and extended weekend together. I think he enjoyed himself and was able to watch all the kids be together and we were so glad he was able to come down.

We live in a small town and the parade is the epitome of a small town parade. It has beauty queens, horses, and floats. It has classic cars, army trucks, redneck vehicles, and local police. Everyone dresses in red, white, and blue and American flags are waving all around. Candy is thrown out for the kids and a few other special goodies. This parade makes me smile every time and it reminds me what great country we live in and what great small town this is.

On the 4th they have a festival set up at the park with booths and a car show. They have a lot of the inflatable slides and obstacle course set up for the kids. Makenzie loved this crocodile blow up. You climb up to its mouth and climb in and it has a slide inside it and an obstacle course and then to get out of the crocodile you have to climb out of its......

hemorrhoid ridden butt. You climb out of its butt!! I did not notice this until I put her in the first time and then went to go look for exit and quickly had to take a picture of what I found. Seriously who designs these things?

This was a large shark and you slide out of its mouth. Makenzie also loved this one. This was her last slide and she came down a little out of control and ended up doing a face plant at the end, and that is why this was her last slide :)......

The twins had fun and brought home some goldfish that they won and by the end of the day they were all floating upside down in the tank. We spent the rest of the day visiting and listening to the boys set off firecrackers and playing a game of croquet. That night we set off lots of fireworks with lots of family and friends and watched the cities fireworks display from our front yard. The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. It is always spent with family and there is always lots of laughs and great food. I love watching the fireworks from my front yard and watching everyone come together to celebrate our nations birthday. 4th of July of 2010 is over and I look forward to next years celebration