Spring Break to D.C.

We just went to Washington D.C. this past week for Spring Break.  We had been tentatively planning it for a while, but it still felt spontaneous when it finally happened.  We were worried about the weather driving out because it was snowing on the way there -- we could barely see as we drove through the Appalachians in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, but then everything warmed up and I thought that winter just might be finally over -- wrong!  When we left Rebecca's house early yesterday morning it was raining super hard and by the time we made it to the same mountains again it was snowing pretty hard and the roads were terrible!  I stopped breathing a couple of times and was clutching the sides of the car -- because holding onto the door would totally keep the semi from ramming into us, right?  I was so happy to see the sun again and relieved to get out of those hills -- I am now a flatlander through and through.

We did some fun things in D.C.  We drove out on Tuesday and got there late so Wednesday morning we had a little bit of a late start.  We went to the Library of Congress and the Botanic Garden.

 This is a pic of the boys running wild through the hallways from which we were subsequently shushed out.

Charles was being crazy at the Garden and saying that he had to archive each plant so he kept pulling off leaves and flowers!  When we got back to the car he had quite a collection, brat!  We tried to explain to him how bad it would be if everyone who visited acted the same way, but he thinks he is above the law.  It was pretty funny!  He had an orchid blossom, a leaf from a "cabbage on a stick", and he had consumed a kumquat.  Before driving back we drove past the White House.

Thursday, Rebecca let her kids skip school so went into town and toured the U.S. Mint and the Holocaust Museum.  The boys enjoyed seeing where money came from and the museum was really well done!  I didn't really want to go because I knew that it would, of course, be completely depressing, but it is such a great museum!  They did a wonderful job presenting how horrific it all was.  On the way home we stopped at the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon.  It is really amazing!

Friday was Phin's birthday!!! We went to the Hirshhorn gallery, had lunch at the Native American museum and then headed over to the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial.  It was really awesome!  I heard someone say that it is one of only four memorials in D.C. that isn't dedicated to a president or a war.  As usual, the kids got right down to business of running all over the place.  They conquered it.

I actually left everyone at the gallery and had lunch with two friends from high school so that was fun.  I met them at the Natl. Gallery so I quickly ran around to see some of my faves... Vermeer, Van Gogh, Whistler, etc.  I have so many memories of that museum.  I wonder how many times we went?  50?  It is all very very familiar, thanks to my mom!

Isn't that a great selfie with Twila, Amy, and Maggie?  Love it!

We then went to Arlington Cemetery, which they know longer let you drive around, so we walked a lot!  Later, Charles made all the kids some dinner while the adults tried an amazing Korean place.  We finished the day with some candles on brownies for Phin.  Saturday we went to the temple and shopping for Ella's birthday.  Sunday we drove home!  Through the snow!  Ack!

march madness

So the first weekend in March, Ella was in the school play of Beauty and the Beast.  She was a townsperson and a book -- we failed to take any pictures of the book.
Isn't she cute?

She also is on the soccer team this year.  I keep thinking that if she did both of those things last year, she might have gotten into BYU, but c'est la vie.  Matthew keeps reminding me that maybe she's not supposed to go there.

Archie turned 7 months old!

I spent most of the month getting ready to have a yard sale which I held the day that we left for spring break -- busy!  We drove to Florida and the baby behaved about as well as we expected...  On the way we stopped in Nashville and Lucy did baptisms for the first time at the temple there.

We had SUCH a great time at my sister's house in Vero Beach and Archie met some relatives for the first time!!!  He has been so neglected, I tell you!

Hanging out with Grandma Gayle!

 Playing some rock band

 Swimming in their pool

 Boating

We made it out to the Atlantic, which made me nervous because I thought it was too wavy and shark-y

 And Phin turned four!

He didn't really want his picture taken, can you tell?  We still like him.

Uncle John made him the cake -- he definitely fed us well!!!

My sister and her family were so hospitable and it was wonderful to see my parents.  We all had a fantastic time!  And then we had to drive home again...

spring break

I took the kids to St. Louis for a little spring getaway.  I had wanted to go visit my sister in Florida again because for once they were having spring break the same week as us, but the thought of driving there without another adult was simply too much for my pregnant self to consider.  Instead we visited "The City Museum" which was even more impressive than anyone could have ever described to me, spent the night at a fun hotel and went swimming for a few hours, went up inside the arch, and saw the Science Museum.  My lovely friend then offered to take the two younger girls to a butterfly garden while I took the other three shopping and then headed home.


Some pics:

gallivanting

I inevitably forget my camera when we go out, but thanks to our cool new phones, (we got the most amazing deal on a new phone plan which was very exciting because some kids wanted phones, some kids wanted texting -- can you believe we made it so long without it?  And it is already causing trouble...) I was able to take some pictures while we were out last weekend.  They're not the best, but they will do.

We went down to Springfield to see Charles run in his third cross country meet.  He is doing really well and got 13th out of over 90 kids.  He was very excited because they gave the first 20 a medal.  I have no pictures of him, not that he would've let me, so I suppose since I didn't even think of it he obviously has conditioned me.  He rode home on the bus so we took the three youngest over to New Salem.  It is so beautiful there and they happened to be having a bluegrass festival.  Matthew sat and listened to some great music while the kids and I visited some of the little dwellings.  And by little I mean minuscule-y tiny.  Some of those families had 9 or 10 kids with only one room!  We think we have it so bad sometimes and we in all actuality absolutely do not.  We came home and thought our house was so spacious and had a lot more rooms than we actually need.  A separate kitchen and indoor toilet are merely luxuries.  We also decided that what we do need is a family bluegrass band, doesn't everyone?  There were people playing the banjo, the ukulele, the dulcimer, the bucket (?), apparently anything goes -- now I know what we're getting for Christmas...

After New Salem we missed an important turn, but decided that we were perfectly capable of finding the freeway by taking country roads in the correct general direction.  Normally our rule is to never turn around or backtrack, but  we ran into this:

And a whole lot of this:

And had basically decided that the new rule was that yellow lines on the road were mandatory when we ran into this:

Can you see that rusty car in the silo?  It was amazing and must have happened during a tornado years ago!  And to think that we might have gone through our whole life without seeing it just because it is on an extremely remote Illinois back road -- that was a close call!

Chicago!

Last week we took Charles to the airport to fly to Utah - alone!  It was our first time to send one of our babies off by themselves, but I suppose that he is old enough and he is certainly big enough.  Since his flight was in the morning we went up the day before and spent the night with Hiroko.


First stop:  The Field Museum

We had bought a pass last year on my birthday because it was cheaper than paying for everyone individually so of course we had to try to use it again because we're frugal like that.

Thank you Vanna!

Oooh, a wooly mammoth backpack -- a must have for any two year old boy.

When Charles sees the camera come out, he immediately turns around

Then off to the Art Institute:

We ran into our old friend Michael on the street!  How amazing is that!  He is so cute.  Matthew also spotted and chatted with a former student.  I am quite sure we couldn't find someone we were expressly trying to find on purpose in downtown Chicago.

Our first stop was the Modern wing with cool sculptures and rooms filled with plain white canvases.  After reading the paragraph of how the white changes with the light, Charles observed, "It is kind of like 'The Emperor's New Clothes' with everyone trying to see nothing." 

Curses!  Foiled again!  Another back shot as they watch an installation.

Our favorite part is downstairs where the kids can touch things...

and we can gawk at the miniature rooms.

Such a good museum goer!

After closing we stopped to enjoy some jazz on Michigan Avenue

and romped through Millenium park

We followed the sounds to find more music in the park

And finished our visit the next morning by visiting a very cool mall -- Ella was in heaven!