Anniversary trip

For our anniversary this year, we took another little weekend trip to D.C. I really love it there :) And it was springtime, so the flowers and trees were in full bloom :)

We had such a great time last time that we decided to go up a day earlier this trip, and spend three days there. There is so much to do, and most of it is free, so we wanted to go to places and do things that we didn't do last time.

We tried different restaurants (and cupcakeries), different museums, and we even saw a play at the Shakespeare Theatre close to Chinatown (there are many Shakespeare Theatres). We saw An Ideal Husband, which isn't Shakespeare, but Oscar Wilde, and we loved it!

Our favorite museum was the Newseum - we spent 6 hours there! We watched documentaries on Hurricane Katrina, highlights in sports over the last 100 years, investigative journalism (this was in 3D, and was pretty cool)... We saw exhibits on the Berlin Wall, 9/11, Katrina, the First Amendment, FBI and the media (lots of really cool cases from gangsters of the 20s to the Unabomber, and the D.C. sniper.

There is a huge room full of newspapers, current and over 100 years old. There is a section dedicated to people who have lost their lives while on assignment for a media outlet, and a studio where you can try your hand at reading the news in front of a live camera.

The Newseum is one of the few places you have to pay for, but it was definitely worth it!

Donnie has a friend who works for Senator Lee (R - Utah), and he hooked us up at the Capitol Building. Normally, you have to set a reservation up for a tour way in advance, and wait months to get tickets to view Congress in action in their respective chambers, but Donnie's friend set us up when we randomly called a day before we arrived.

We met with his friend, and Senator Lee's intern (interns are who give the tours). They took us on a private tour. We even went to places the normal tour does not go :). We were able to step out on the back deck of the building - the place where the president gives his inaugural address. We were not surprised to see guards with M-16 assault rifles :)

We also went down a little stairwell with markings from soldiers who tried to storm the Capitol, but were fought back and killed, and saw a really cool bust of Washington. We also saw all of the normal things too, like the old Senate chamber, the Rotunda, the place where people lie in state, all of the statues, paintings, and even a few Congressmen (like John Boehner, who walked right past us with his security detail. He is even more orange in person...)

Donnie's friend also gave us tickets to the viewing area to sit in the galley in the House chamber (they were still in session). Unfortunately, we were near the front of the line when they had to evacuate the House because of crazy protesters (it was tax day after all). It was still a great tour!

Before the evacuation...

After the evacuation...

the rotunda

a bust of George Washington

This is the view from where inaugural addresses are given; they take out part of the front railing, and add a stage.

The guy in the far left is the weapon-toting guard.

The pretty springtime flowers in front of our hotel, and pretty much everywhere in D.C.!

In line to see a famous celebrity...

Just kidding! This was actually the line to buy yummy cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake.

An old newspaper at the Newseum

Hide and Seek

"1,2,3,4,5! Ready or not, here I come!" That is Jaxon's favorite thing to yell. At all times, and in all places. We get really strange looks at Target. At home, he usually hides behind the bathroom door, and laughs so hard that you can't help but find him. Last week however, he was gone. I could not find him! I looked everywhere, without any luck. Then, I went into my bedroom, and noticed the pillows were a little crooked...

This is now his favorite spot - game or no game.

He often carries around Toy Story Pull-Ups as well...

Sydney's 5!

Sydney's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we had a family party at out house. We had dinner, cupcakes and icecream, and a lot of fun! It was nice to celebrate with those we love.




Although we didn't have a formal party, we did have a modified "play date" a few days before her birthday at Monkey Joe's. Sydney invited her two little friends from church, and a little girl from her class at school. They had a great time playing, and we had pizza too.




I can't believe she is already 5! It seem like just last week I was begging the baby in my belly to "please come out tonight," and now she is already in school. She is very creative. She loves to draw and make crafts. She loves to sing, dance, and make up stories.




When she brings home pictures from school, the descriptions aren't just "a girl and rain," but "This is a little girl who loves to play outside. Today it is raining, so she is really sad." The picture will be a picture of a girl with a frown, surrounded by large blue dots of rain.




She is very kind, and always willing to help. She has a beautiful smile, and a cute little laugh. She is the best big sister, and a great first daughter.

Snow!

So, Sydney said it just isn't Christmas without snow, and it starting snowing late Christmas night. We woke up the next morning to play in the "snow." It didn't stick around too long, and by the time a snowman was erected, our yard was more "leaf-covered" and less "snow-kissed."

Sydney wanted the snow to come back, and a few weeks later it really came - with a whole lotta ice too. The snow started falling on Sunday night, and by Monday morning you couldn't leave your house. Not that the snow (5-7 inches) was so crippling, but the ice was unbelievable! People here just aren't prepared for this type of weather since it is so rare.

We went out and played for a little while before Donnie had to get back to real life. He had an important trip, but we couldn't get out of our driveway, so he packed up his hiking backpack, and set out on foot to catch the Marta train to the airport. He sat at the airport all day, and was finally rerouted through Salt Lake, where he spent the night, before heading on to Orange County. He was there all week, so he missed the craziness around here.

Sydney and Jaxy had a great time. School was closed the entire week, so we took it pretty easy around here. In fact, we had no choice but to take it easy, as we could not get our driveway clear until Friday. There was plenty of fun around here with the snow and ice - our neighbors used the car-less roads covered in ice as sledding hills.

We had power, blankets, and plenty of food, but when Papa Johns starting delivering again Friday, we jumped on the chance to have something I didn't have to cook :)

We went a little stir-crazy in the house all week, and it was really hard for me without Donnie and adult conversation. I was happy when Saturday rolled around and we made it out of the house (to Target), and Donnie came home.

In summation, I hope Sydney never asks for snow again :)

We decided to take the kids to Disney World over Christmas break – it was awesome! We stayed on site at the All Star Movie Resort (and we had a dining plan, which was free with the hotel, but saved SO MUCH money), for 5 days, and bought the park hopper tickets.

We were really excited. This was the first time for the kids, so we weren’t sure what they would think of the whole trip. Jaxon was thrilled from the very first step onto the bus (our hotel had shuttles to each park); Sydney, on the other hand, took a little work. The first few hours were spent like this:

ME: Sydney this is the happiest place on earth, so you better start acting like it!
SYDNEY: Blah! I don’t want to do this. Everything is scary…

Donnie helped her work through the attitude (hers, not mine), and by dinner time on day one, she agreed that this was, indeed, the happiest place on earth.

My grandmother joined us on Sunday and stayed until we came home on Thursday. It was so great to have her there. She was Sydney’s ride partner, and helped her to get excited about the different rides – especially “It’s a Small World.”

We would all spend the day at the parks, and then after dinner, we put the kids to bed (with Grandma in charge), and Donnie and I went back out to ride the “big” rides. It worked out perfectly! We saw shows and rode most of the rides/attractions with the whole fam, and then hit the major roller coasters at night when the lines were better, and we didn’t have to entertain the kids while they were tired.

The time went by way too fast; I guess that means we had a fun time :) Sydney is already begging us to go back, “how about we go to Disney World for my next school break?”

We have A LOT of pictures, so we are going to break this up into a few posts :)

Disney World part 2

Blogger is not cooperating with me and the spacing with pictures/info is all messed up. So, rather than spend another hour trying to fix it, just read the "captions" at the top and then scroll through for the pictures.

Jaxy was adamant about riding with Daddy on every ride, which worked out well (smallest person with person with longest legs :))


Aladdin's magic carpets was one of Sudney's favorites - and Pirates of the Caribbean is the other...


When we rode the tea cups, Donnie was nice enough to spin us super fast!


Sydney loved the Cinderella statue by the castle (Cinderella is her favorite princess).


The water at Epcot was a source of fascination - so was Captain EO, which was weird, even for Michael Jackson.


The Norweigian troll scared Jaxy, but Grandma toughed it out.


At Hollywood Studios they had an amazing light display - complete with fake snow!

At Animal Kingdom, Jaxy played a few carnival games and won a medium prize all on his own! Sydney opted for having a Cinderella crown painted on her cute little face.

Each park had Christmas trees. This is at Animal Kingdom.

Our hotel had two buildings dedicated to Toy Story - complete with giant statues. Jaxy was in heaven!

While Jaxy braved the roller coaster in Toon Town ("The Barnstormer"), Sydney went to meet the princesses. Pochahontas was actually at Animal Kingdom...

Sydney hung around with Grandma a lot. Here they are in front of Cinderella's castle and at Minnie's house for tea.