Saying Good-Bye

When we moved here two years ago, I told the kids this was it.  This was the last time we would pull them away from their friends, their school, their ward...etc.  Well, we found out this summer, that even though we could control what happened to our family (well, to an extent at least), we couldn't stop their friends from moving away from us!!

We had to say good-bye to some of our absolute best friends a couple weeks ago.  They had five kids, three of which lined up with our three exactly...and they hit it off perfectly.  They truly were an answer to our prayers when we moved here and didn't know anyone.  We are really going to miss them, at church, at school, at soccer, at carpool...oh gosh, this is going to be rough.  At least they just moved to Portland...

"If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever."

 

Summer 2015 Vacation--Part 12 (The Last Day)

Our last day in DC we went to the Air and Space Museum.  I think the highlight for the kids was riding in the flight simulator.  When I watched them flip upside down multiple times, I was grateful to be sitting out with Summer!

 Even though we were tired and it was late, we headed out to swim in the Atlantic (something a few of us had yet to check off our bucket list)!!  And guess what?  The water was warm!!!  

The sun was setting over the water and it was so beautiful!  

A wonderful end to an amazing vacation!! 

 

Summer 2015 Vacation--Part 11 (DC..Day 3 & 4)

We decided to take a "break" day, which turned out to be a Zoo day.  We all ended up super tired and we didn't last long at the zoo.  We did see the "giant" Panda...although it looked more like "dead" Panda!!  It was SO HOT, so I don't blame him!

 

 

 

The next day was probably the hottest and the most walking...at least the fastest walking!  We had a scheduled tour of the Museum of Engraving and Printing, so we decided to walk around all the outdoor things that we wanted to see and then head back to the museum at 1:45.  Well, we barely made it in time and we were DRIPPING sweat from our SPEED walk!  This was still my favorite day though!  We saw all the things I was the most excited about!!

 First we saw the Washington Monument!!

Then the White House!!!

 

Then the Lincoln Memorial!!!

(By this point of our walk, I think I was the hottest and sweatiest I have ever been!)

  

  Tyson climbed up on this cement platform and said "take a picture" and it would have been so cute if his eyes were open and it wasn't blurry--fail by Mom!

 

We stopped for a quick picture at the Jefferson Memorial.  By this point, we were practically running to make it back for our tour time at the museum.

We finally made it to the museum.  This is the place where money is made...literally.  We had a 30 min tour (during which Summer was absolutely horrid) where we learned the process of printing money.  Pretty cool.  Tyson was in heaven.

 The kids had some fun at the gift shop!!

After swimming that evening, Tyson came in with a mosquito bite on his eyelid.  By the next morning it looked horrible!  Luckily we got him some medicine and a day later it had cleared up. 

Summer 2015 Vacation--Part 10 (DC...Day 1 & 2)

When we were on the way to DC, we realized that Mike had accidentally booked the wrong hotel.  But I really think it worked in our favor, because our hotel turned out to be just blocks away from a Metro station!  Which meant we didn't have to drive into the city every day, fighting traffic and paying for parking.  We liked the Metro SO MUCH better than the subway!!

And the pool at this hotel was our favorite!!

 
And there was plenty of room for snuggles.

Not to mention Krispy Kremes just down the street!!

Our first stop in DC was the Natural Archives Museum:

So many buildings in DC look like this...just enormous and beautiful!!  We all got to see the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights...I felt a bit weird that I was Canadian:)

 

Then we headed over to the Natural History Museum...I wish I had taken more pictures there!

Summer was obsessed with this statue...and yes, it is a naked little boy and his mother. 

She also liked the fish.

Tyson loved the rocks & gems section

There was a lot of walking, and reading, and tons of stuff about evolution, and some amazing animals and pictures...

Summer 2015 Vacation--Part 9 (PA)

To break up the 5 hr drive from NYC to DC, Mike planned a little stop in PA.  We had a short list of things to see there, but somehow we couldn't fit it all in (probably because we had to eat, and it was scorching hot, and we were tired of walking!).  We ended up skipping The Liberty Bell...still no regrets on that one:) 

This was the most important stop...The US Mint (where they make coins!!).  This was super exciting for our little money lover (aka Tyson).  We weren't allowed to take pictures, but Tyson bought some cool things from the gift shop...a giant coin, a bottle of pure gold and a picture of his face on a coin!

Then we saw "the oldest street in America"...still not sure what that means, but here's a picture. 

 Then we went to Betsy Ross's house, which was really cool.  But somehow I only got pictures of Summer loving on this cat statue...oh and the creepy pic of Kya with the other cat statue (don't worry, she was trying to be creepy:))  You can tell I am tired, when I stop taking pictures!!

Trying to find a place to eat in Phillidelphia was tricky.  We didn't want to walk far and we were tired of spending a ton of money on lunch in NY.  So...don't judge...we let the kids pick whatever they wanted at 7-11 and went to the park (which turned out to be a dog park-yuck) to eat.  Summer LOVED the birds, so we fed them to keep them around her.

Summer 2015 Vacation--Part 8 (NYC...Day 3)

By our last day in NYC, I was a bit tired of the bus and the subway and the craziness of the city.  BUT I was excited for the day we had planned.  TIME SQUARE!!  Holy CRAZY and holy BUSY!!  It was really cool to be in a place that you have only ever seen on TV.

 

We went to the GIANT Toys R Us and it was awesome.  The big kids went on the Ferris Wheel (The M&M car), while Summer loved on some stuffies.

We then went to the NYC Library (4th Largest in the world according to our library gurue), but it was closed, hence the sad faces.

Grand Central Station was something I wasn't too excited about, but once we got there it was amazingly huge!  And air conditioned!  Spectacular.

 Our last stop in NYC was Rockefeller Center.  We really wanted to do this one at night, but with a baby we had to settle for daytime...although taking the subway at night might have been a big mistake anyways, so maybe it was all for the best.

 The views from the "top of the rock" as they call it, were amazing.  It started to rain giant rain drops while we were up there and it was so refreshing.  I could have stayed up there for hours...but the kids couldn't...and Summer was starving.  We ended up buying Summer a candy bar from the gift shop because it was the only food they had!!  Then we bought her a banana on the way back to the subway and she ate it faster than I've seen her eat anything!!  Poor baby. 

We were sad to leave our New York hotel.  

Summer liked to glass elevator and the "baby-level" fire extinguishers! 

And the rest of us liked the fun pool, made-to-order breakfast, and the free snacks and Shirley Temples:)  But after three days of New York, we were exhausted and ready to go.