1st Grade!

Bright and early just the day after our return, Cole had to get up to start his first day of school!  I felt so bad for him since our flight landed at 7:30 p.m the night before.  But we saved $300 to fly in on Monday instead of Sunday.

Nothing like starting 1st grade with a little jet lag.

He was so excited!  He woke up without a fight and eagerly got ready.

He has loved school!  His teacher is SO nice!  It was such an emotional rollercoaster to have to say my goodbyes again in D.C and to return to send Cole off all day long!  

He was such a champ on his first day!  Love you Cole!

Washington D.C 2009

Starting here, the next 6 posts will be as one entry.

Be prepared for photo overload!  I want our trip documented.

  

We did it!

Me and my 3 little buddies, journeyed to D.C. and experienced a wonderful time making memories!

This picture was taken in front of the American Art Museum on our way to the National History Museum.  I have no pictures in the NHM due to my camera falling out of the stroller!:(

We rented a car for 10 of the 18 days we were there.  The kids and I would wake up early, pack a lunch, head to the Smithsonian Mall by 10 and find great free parking.  We'd see a museum, eat lunch and then head home(a fast 15 min. drive) to Jill's beautiful pool to cool off.  

It was a great life!

We loved the Air and Space Museum!  We spent 3 hours there!  They had a great interactive area for kids.  It was a lot of fun!!  Cole loved going inside a huge rocket.

Jill was able to join us for a tour at the US Treasury Bureau!  Where we watched how money was made.  It was real cool to see.  The kids loved their giant Quarter and Penny souvenirs.  

The DEA Headquarters (NOT where Kevin is training) was just 2 miles from Jill's home, so we wanted to check it out.  Unfortunately Kevin couldn't join us due to the hours of operation.  

It was quite an interesting experience taking the kids to this museum.  I really haven't talked to them much about drugs...yet.  But when we walked in and I saw a fake dead body on a hospital bed I thought, "well, now might be a good time to explain."  "Cole, this is what happens to you when you use drugs."  How's that for painting the picture?  

When he saw the picture on the wall of all the prescription drugs, his instant reaction was, "Yum! I want some of those!!"  Lets just say this was a very educating moment.

To explain the pics, the top left: the kids are standing next to a Diversion Investigator mannequin.  That is what Kevin is, a D.I.  He'll be working white collar crime investigating illegal distribution of prescription drugs.  The mannequin was wearing Kevin's exact uniform.  

And Sadie laying on the bench she had found at the DEA Museum, caught me off guard, as I turned around to her doing this as she said, "look mom, I'm sleeping beauty".  Don't think she had a clue of what the DEA Museums was about!  She's always in her own world!  I love her!

Jill was so fun!  She gave Cole and Sadie a penny and showed them the Lincoln on the back.  She drove them in her convertible "top down" listening to fun music as we followed them  to the Lincoln.  The kids were in heaven!

It was beautiful to see this memorial at night!

Another weekend, she took us to Gravelly Point to watch the planes fly in over our heads to the Reagan National Airport!  It was CRAZY!  MaryJane didn't like it one bit!  We got so much entertainment out of watching her run to us for safety as a plane would fly over us.  Poor baby.

Kevin had the weekends off to stay with us!  It was sooooooo great to all be together!  We enjoyed just hanging out at Jill's cute 2 bedroom condo.  It felt like a resort.  Thanks so much Jill!  We couldn't have done this trip without you!!

For years, all I've ever heard from Jill was of the yummiest french toast at Eastern Market. 

 My 1st attempt to try this yummy goodness on a trip out there failed because it was closed on that particular day,

My 2nd attempt to try this failed again when it had burned down just the week before I had arrived.  What is my luck?

And my 3rd attempt to experience this yumminess was a winner!  Finally!

I did get a little worried though when we had arrived to find their temporary (to rebuild) location empty.  Luckily it was only because they had returned to the newly original location. 

Love all the things to buy at Eastern Market!

After waiting in line for 1 hour, yes it is that popular, success!  It was delicious!! Covered in yummy syrup and pecans for only $4.25!  Jill was right, WORTH THE WAIT!

And while I'm on the subject of food, not on the same day of coarse,  Jill took us to experience Georgetown Cupcake!  The BEST cupcakes out there!!  Thankfully, the rain depleted the line out the door and down the street.  We were lucky, no wait there!

Oh how we loved using Jill's pool almost everyday!  We pretty much had it to ourselves because most people were working when we swam.

Aunt Jill taught Sadie how to "layout", except the granola bar, which should be a Diet Coke.

Jill had great windows!  This was my example to her of using window light.  MaryJane loved to sit there in Jill's room and look out to the pool.

Jill's good friend Kristin lives out in Leesburg 45 min out of D.C.  She was so nice to let us stay with her for a night.  She lives near the cutest town called Lucketts with lots of cute vintage antique shops.  They were ADORABLE!!

Sadie was thrilled to find all these cute tiaras.  And she chose the non-colored one.  I thought they all were so cute.  

And the Ribbon Outlet! Oh, the ribbon outlet!!!

I found out about this outlet on a cute blog.  She lives near this ribbon outlet and is always talking of it's great prices!  It is the Offray Ribbon outlet.  If you've ever bought a spool of ribbon from the craft store, then most likely, it is Offray.  Anyway, this is where they manufacture most of it.  And where they sell ribbon by the yards for dirt cheap!!  I can't even explain the spools I bought which were the size of a salad plate for only $1.25!!!!!!  And the bags (shown in the pic) were filled with color coordinated grosgrain polka dotted ribbon for $1.00!!!!  My head was just spinning and at the same I wanted to cry, for I knew that I would never see this glorious place again because I drove 1 hour from Leesburg to get there!  Worth the drive!!!!!!  I'm set for life in the ribbon department!

And the last Leesburg find was Fractured Prune donut shoppe.  Heaven.  They make the donuts fresh on the spot and roll them in the toppings of your choice.  Yum!  French Toast was delicious!  I have a thing for that flavor if you didn't know by now.  Thank goodness I do not live near one of these stores!!  That could be a very bad thing!

On a Sunday, Kevin took us out to Quantico (30 miles south of Jill in D.C) for a tour of the DEA and FBI Training facilities. 

It was surrounded by miles of thick green trees and security check points.

We first stopped at the FBI Academy which was 2 miles from the DEA Academy. 

Kevin's showed us where they did some of their Physical training which was at the FBI.  The kids LOVED running around in that giant room!

We got to eat in the FBI cafeteria, amongst other FBI agents. 

This picture on the left is of the fake city they have for training called Hogan's Alley, with shops, a hotel and even a warehouse.  I felt like I was at Universal Studios.  And this home was part of the fake neighborhood they trained in too.  The street even had cute little street lamps.  

Here is the beautiful DEA building.  It is a bit newer than the FBI.  It was nice to see where Kevin has been all this time.  It was so great to see and experience this.  It made me feel like I am a part of all this.  I LOVED the tour.  SO COOL!

I love this picture.  Taken in my room at Jill's.  I didn't know how much MaryJane would forget about Kevin since she is so young.  But she showed no signs.  She loved to find his DEA badge and wear it like him.   She also learned how to pose for the camera this trip.  Cute.

I feel so lucky to have experienced this with my family!  It was wonderful to see my husband during this long separation.  Thank you Kevin for letting us share a bit of this with you!  I feel so very blessed!  We miss you terribly!  

And thank you Jill for letting us stay with you!  You are the best Sister and Aunt anyone could ask for!  We miss you too!  

Just wanted to wish Kevin...

A HaPpY BiRtHdAy!

Today is Kevin's birthday but knowing that we would have just missed it, I decided to pretend his birthday was the Sunday before we left.  We decorated Jill's house with a few balloons and streamers for the day(our family tradition) and later had yummy homemade pizza made by my sister Jill and friend Amber.  It was YuMmY! 

I made a chocolate cake on my new cute cake stand I had found in Lucketts.(A cute town with lots of Antique shops.)  

I LOVE Sadie's expression here.  She was so excited all day for Kevin's "birthday"! ;)

We MISS you Kev!!  Wishing we could be with you on your special day!

We Love You!

Reporting from Washington D.C!

We are half way through our vacation and having the time of our lives!

The day we flew in, we were able to reunite with Kevin!  It was SO GREAT to see him after 4 LONG weeks!

Ours days are filled with sightseeing, swimming and relaxing!  

But sadly, oh so very sadly, BOTH of my cameras, yes I said BOTH (SLR and point and shoot) have broken since I've been out here!!  I'm sick about it!  One fell out of my purse while I was picking up Sadie at the Lincoln Memorial and the other one, my nice one, fell out of my stroller as I pulled out my purse at the National History Museum for the security check.  Luckily it's just the lens.  But it's my favorite lens!! Ugh!  Why have nice things?  They just cost more to replace!  But thankfully, my sister is allowing me to use her camera for the rest of the trip!  How could I go a day without capturing every moment of these fun times?

I'm dreading the thought of even coming home!  But I'll report of our fun trip then!  

Happy last days of summer!!

A Lemonade Stand

Cole and Sadie have been into earning money this summer and have just BEGGED me to have a lemonade stand!  A simple task that I couldn't allow to be too simple.  My brain went a little crazy.  After all of our recent busy changes,  I was MAJORLY craft deprived!  And the two colors that popped into my mind were tangerine and yellow. My inspiration had begun.

We took our sweet time preparing our lemonade stand.  Coloring posters, sewing a banner, and paint/build the stand. 

 And FINALLY just two days before our big departure to D.C...

we made cookies...

invited some friends...

and had our LeMoNaDe StAnD!!!

My favorite customer of all...

cute and adorable Mia, who couldn't get enough of those cookies!

I can't decide who enjoyed the stand more...me or the kids...I think I'm going to have to say me!   

We had a great turn out and the kids made $10.00!!  Thanks everyone who stopped by!  We even had a local city worker stop her GIANT construction TRUCK to have some cookies and lemonade!  I love it!  We'll definitely have to do this again!

* to build the stand, I found wooden crates at the craft store and found the rest of the wood in my garage.  Can you believe with my man out of town that I build this?  Not that hard.  I just nailed the top board onto the creates.  Easy.  I had lots of Acrylic paint on hand already and painted stripes on the wooden dowels using tape.  I'll have to do a tutorial on painting stripes.  The table cloth is just fabric, which I don't know the name of right  now.   

Kevin's brother Chad has been in China for that last few years and recently returned home with his cute wife Ling.  It was so nice to finally meet her!  

My MIL went to meet them for a visit before they came back and brought us home these cute dresses for the girls and a golden dragon shirt for Cole.  

Which they all just love sooooo much!!!  Thanks for the gifts!

Summer Days In Provo

My sister Jill came in town for 10 days in July and we tagged along with her and stayed at Grandpa and Nana's too.   

We spent quality time with Grandpa:

Who took the kids to the "doughnut factory" aka Krispy Kreme followed by a milkshake from Arctic Circle....

Fulfilled Cole's dream of a tree house by taking him to Lowe's and building him one pretty much on demand.

Thanks Grandpa!!  The kids couldn't be happier!

Quality time with Aunt Jill:

Eating chocolate, getting fun surprises and Cole got to hike Timpanogos Cave with Jill, Stacey Austin and Luke...

And we played a mean game of family baseball.  The kids and Jill against the grown ups. 

And quality time with Nana:

Gardening

We swam a lot too at their oh so generous neighbors house.  It was so nice to keep busy staying at my parents house for those days.  Thanks guys for letting us hang around! What great times!