DC with Brett

I just realized I don't have any pictures of people today, just random things. Whoops. Anyways, Brett picked me up bright and early at the airport. Too bad he didn't know the plane was going to be two hours late when he went to bed. I sent him a text telling him to check the flight before he picked me up. I just forgot to put the airline and flight number on it. He figured it out though. Brett took me home and I was able to see Marie and Mina before they went to school. Rachel then took Grace and Eve to Grace's preschool party. Brett and I headed to DC. It took awhile to find a parking space. I took a picture on my phone in case we needed to remember the number. Too bad I didn't use the picture! When we got back at the end of the day Brett had two tickets! What? He went and found a parking attendant to find out why. Turns out when Brett paid for parking he used the number 22446. How frustrating!

Brett and I wanted to go to the World War II museum. Neither of us had been there. We wanted to see if there was anything about Grandpa or the Rainbow division. The line was long when we were driving by, so we were worried all the tickets for the day had been given out. Turns out that because Brett is active military we were able to just go right in. Nice! We spent about three hours there, and we were even hurrying! The last thing we did was go up to the fifth floor to their research library. We asked the people if they could help us find anything. They showed us this video of Grandpa. It was taken in 1995 I think. I don't remember it. It was so fun to see him!

We found a few books. We think that Grandpa had this one because it looks kind of familiar. Still fun to find his name.

My grandpa's name is John "Jack" Parry

Brett and I had pizza at a place called & Pizza. Brett calls it 'and pizza', but the signs all say & Pizza.

& Pizza

Brett tried their cereal milk. He just had a little bit and said it was disgusting. I was not even tempted to try this at all. I hate the leftover milk in the cereal. That is what they actually advertised! Brooke might love it though. She likes drinking the leftover milk.

We still had money this time on the parking meter after we finished lunch. We decided to walk to Chinatown. It's not as big as Chinatown in San Francisco, but it was fun. Too bad Jorja or Preston couldn't translate for me!

I did love this crosswalk!

Chinatown here was mostly things you would regularly see, but with Chinese characters below it. For example:

 The Verizon Center ~ where the Wizards play

We did a quick run through of the National Art Museum. We found Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Brett and I don't understand art. It was hard to figure out why some of the things in there were in there. How did they choose? Do things rotate? This license plate wall was my favorite. All of the states in alphabetical order making the preamble to the constitution. Clever.

We got home ten minutes before 5. Brett hurried and got me his laptop. I signed into skyward because arena scheduling was opening. Stockton decided he would love to take foods with Jorja. Jorja was so excited about that. There is only one spot left in foods and I wanted to get it! The problem was, in my mind I thought Stockton had math 1010 6th period. Nope. It was Team Sports, which he needs for graduation. How did I miss that? The only way to get it to work was for me to move AP Research to 1st semester and Team Sports to 2nd semester. I didn't want to do it without Stockton giving me the okay. I texted him, but he didn't see my message for a few minutes. He said it was fine, but by then the foods class was full. I'm so disappointed. Stockton and Jorja would have loved to have a class together! I kept checking the rest of the day. For the next two hours I was checking constantly. Dang it! If I would have realized his math class was 5th instead of 6th I would have already had a plan in action and I'm sure I could have gotten foods. I'm frustrated with myself!

The rest of the day we spent hanging out. Putting the girls to bed. Talking. Rachel is trying to figure out the best plan for their move to Florida. Lots of things to figure out. Glad that is not me!

Arlington and DC Temple

Everyone was able to take showers again this morning.  It's nice we can take a shower in the motorhome, but it is also really nice to take one inside.  My dad made scones and we went with Brett to 11:00 church. This was Brett & Rachel's first week in this ward.  At least they didn't have to worry about callings when we were here.  We went home after sacrament meeting.  I got a load of laundry going, my dad made dinner and we played a Dominion game.

Preston, Stockton, Marie, Brett (Dad making dinner)

We gave Marie her present today.  Her birthday is tomorrow, but I wasn't sure how crazy the morning would be.  I wrapped it nicely by sticking it under a box I found in Rachel's basement.  I'm fancy.

Marie with her beautifully wrapped present

 We gave her The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak

 Grandpa's reading the book to Marie

 She giggled her way through the entire book

 Marie reading a card from Grandpa

These next two pictures didn't turn out well, but Marie looks so darn cute!  When Marie opened her card dollar bills fell out in all directions. There were ten one dollar bills in there!  Marie loved that!  The next picture is her giving a hug to Grandpa, thanking him for her present.

Marie

 Marie & Grandpa

This afternoon we went back to D.C.  One of the things I really wanted to do was to go to Arlington. I thought it would be great if we could catch the changing of the guard.  Perfect thing to do on a Sunday.  I didn't realize how long the walk would be to get there.  The girls and I were all wearing our church shoes, which aren't the best for walking. Whoops.  We did make it to the Unknown Soldier a few minutes before the changing of the guard.  That was great!

When Grace didn't want to ride in her stroller, I convinced Jorja to take a ride.  Her shoes aren't too easy for her to walk in, especially downhill.

Stephanie & Jorja

 And Marie!

We stopped for a moment at the bottom of the hill and were talking with my dad and brother.  Marie was playing around near us with Preston.  All of a sudden we look at her and she has blood gushing down her leg.  She had fallen and gotten a pretty deep cut right below her knee.  I had her get back in the stroller and I ran her to the visitor center.  I took my shoes off because it is a lot harder to run in heels. Also, by this point I had rubbed the skin off on my little toe and my foot was hurting when I had my shoes on.  Anyway, I figured they would have bandaids at the visitor center.  Rachel has some in her car, but this would be much closer.  I was wrong.  They didn't have any, but they said they could call 911 if we needed them too.  It wasn't that big of a cut.  They did give me some paper towels and I headed to the bathroom to start cleaning her up.  I was so impressed that she didn't cry at all.  The blood made it look pretty bad.  Preston would have been a mess!  A lot of nice people helped me while I was in the bathroom scrubbing the blood off of her leg.  The janitor lady gave me an antiseptic wipe.  Another lady gave me three bandaids.  It was awhile before I was at the point where I could put the bandaids on.  I started to put the first one on when another lady asked me if I wanted a bigger bandaid.  Such nice people!

Our next stop was the Washington D.C. Temple.  Brett & Rachel were going to try to drive us the way that has the awesome temple view from the freeway.  Mike had my phone and camera in the other car.  I wanted to ask him to take a picture if we happened to go by.  I didn't want to use Rachel's phone because she was using the gps on it. Anyway, I tried to mime 'take a picture of the temple' out the window. I guess Mike thought I was asking him to take a picture of me!

Stephanie

 Oh boy.  That's attractive.

It didn't matter anyway because we didn't get the right road.  That's okay, because we got some pretty pictures of the temple close up.

Washington D.C. Temple

 Brett, Preston, Stockton, Grace, Stephanie

Mina, Marie, Maysen, Jorja

 Preston, Stockton, Maysen, Mike, Jorja

Stockton and Stephanie

 Stockton loves it when we take pictures together

 Stephanie & Preston ~ why is Preston looking down?

 He is annoyed with Jorja and doesn't want her in his picture

Marie was so cute and took us to her favorite part of the visitor center. She likes this interactive video.  Rachel took our family back before Brett brought my dad and his kids.  I was able to work on the laundry and Mike was able to watch the Battlebot championship with the kids. Mike did not want to miss that.  They had been planning on watching it all week.  I finished laundry and some of my blog (Washington D.C. post) around 1:30 in the morning.  Marie and Mina are sleeping outside with Jorja.  Maysen and my dad are sleeping inside.  I'm going to be super tired tomorrow, but I knew I would be feeling anxious all day if I didn't get the Washington D.C. post done.

  

I got Jorja this hat yesterday.  It came with the shirt.  I asked her if she would wear this hat instead of the General RV hat that she always wears.  I looked a long time yesterday for cool Smithsonian shirts for the kids.  The one I liked best was a sweatshirt.  I didn't feel like buying the kids sweatshirts in this heat!

Jorja

I wish we could visit Brett longer.  I wish we could spend Marie's birthday with her.  I wish we had a new baby to hold!  I tried to talk Rachel into coming to New York with us.  I explained how they could fit in the motorhome and where everyone would fit.  Apparently Rachel thinks she needs to pick her mom up at the airport.  I'm sure her mom would understand if she wasn't there.  Just kidding!  Rachel said that she needs the baby not to come until Thursday.  Marie is having her birthday party on Wednesday and her mom is going to help her with that.  Then she wants the baby to come before her mom leaves.  At least her mom will be with her for two weeks!

Washington D.C.

I had a hard time sleeping last night.  I woke up at 4 am.  My back had been hurting, so I decided to just get up and work on my blog.  My computer was giving me a hard time, so it took 2 1/2 hours to do two days worth.  Very frustrating.  Mike had his alarm set for 6:30.  As soon as it went off I asked him if he could help me charge the nice camera. That is when it dawned on Mike that we didn't bring the charger.  I couldn't find the camera case as we were leaving, I didn't remember that the charger was in it.  I felt sick to my stomach then.  Mostly because of all the church history sites I wouldn't be able to take pictures of.  If we had realized earlier we could have had one sent to Brett & Rachel's house.  I decided to check Walmart to see if they would have one, we were in their parking lot after all.  I found something that claimed to charge several different types of batteries.  It worked!  Yay! As a result I will now put one hundred pictures below!  Well, I'm not sure how many, but it is a lot.

We drove to Brett & Rachel's house and were able to get the motorhome parked.  Brett & Rachel then drove both cars to the metro. We took that into DC and walked to Ford Theater.  While we were waiting in line, I met Michelle Obama.

Stephanie and Michelle Obama

We were able to wander around the museum for a bit.  I only got a chance to see a fraction of it.  I think this is what Lincoln was wearing when he was shot.

 The gun that shot Lincoln ~ crazy how small it is.

 Marie to help give size perspective

 Presidential Box

 The George Washington picture was there that day

 A replica of the bed they took Lincoln to

 The room Lincoln died in

 Tower of books about Lincoln

 Preston getting his Lincoln penny

Brett & Rachel wanted to eat at a chicken and donut place that Charles (Brett's childhood friend) likes.  We made ourselves at home.

 Maysen & Grace

 Jorja, Maysen & Grace, Preston

 Maysen & Grace

 Mina

 Jorja & Grace

 This is my favorite!

 Preston ~ Department of Treasury

 White House

Mike, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Stephanie

 Mike, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Preston

 Washington Monument

 Dad, Stephanie, Jorja, Stockton, Preston, Maysen, Mike

 Mike & Maysen ~ we walked A LOT!

 World War II Memorial

 Stephanie taking a picture of Stockton & Maysen

 Stockton & Maysen

 Preston

 Jorja & Preston

 Still the World War II Memorial

Jorja, Stockton, Preston, Maysen

 Maysen, Mike, Preston, Stockton, Jorja

 Stephanie, Maysen, Mike, Preston, Stockton, Jorja

 Dad

 Lincoln Memorial

 View from Lincoln Memorial

 Pondering the awesomeness of their lives

Jorja, Maysen, Preston, Mike, Stockton

 My dad taking a picture of them

Mike trying to pull out Preston's snaggletooth

 Preston & Jorja ~ Vietnam Memorial

 Maysen

 Stockton & Preston

Brett & Rachel went home after the chicken and donuts.  They wanted to get the spare tire off their car and get it fixed legitimately.  When the car was fixed Brett texted us.  We decided to rest as he came and found us.  Some people took their resting more seriously than others.

Dad

Preston, Mike, Jorja, Stockton

 Mike & Preston

 Dad ~ Now that's how it's done!

I showed my dad these pictures later.  He has no memory of my boys jumping over him.  That is probably a good thing.

Dad & Stockton

 Preston barely missing my dad's face ~ look how happy he is!

 Stockton

 Preston

 Preston & my dad

 Preston

 How awesome is this belt?  That water was delicious!

We went to the Air and Space Museum.  Maysen wanted to go there. Good choice.

Jorja flying an airplane

 Preston's turn

 Not sure what this is, but it looks cool

This wheel demonstration was pretty cool.  The kids were on a twisty chair.  Their chair would turn depending on which way they were holding the spinning wheel.

Jorja

 Preston

 The Wright Brothers' plane

 Stockton & Preston

There is nothing too special about this next picture.  I wanted to put it in because Brett's shirt is so cool!  Rachel asked Christen's dad if he could make it for Brett's birthday.  Sneeches.  How awesome is that?

Jorja, Brett, Dad

 Preston & Maysen

On the way home the kids watched a show about two bats in a cave, or something like that.  Mike told Preston to watch that.  Later he went to close it and Preston said, "No!  I'm still watching it!"  Then they started narrating it and even went to bonus bloopers.

We ate at Noodles and Company and then played Smart Mouth before bed.  After Mike got Brett caught up on Battlebots of course.