Cherry Blossoms

Washington DC day 2!! (Thursday April 7th)

This was a day full of sunshine and cherry blossoms- a nice change from a few days earlier. To see spring in full bloom, while it was still wintery in Michigan, was such a treat. Add the tour of wonderful monuments of our Nation's Capitol- and it made for a wonderful day! Sigh- I wish our "camera" was better - - we only have Jon's iphone because our other camera was lost last fall. The pictures just don't do the sights justice.

We started the day with a free walking tour, and ended up breaking off later so we could eat lunch and see what we wanted to a little easier. We were having a hard time hearing the guide while chasing our little ones . . .

Anyway, we started with a view of the White House (we didn't walk down to see it closer).




I think my favorite picture is this one of Tyler looking at the White House!

Next was the Washington Monument. I had forgotten just how tall and big it is! Marcus was especially excited as he went up to it and reverently touched the base while looking up.






We then moved on to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms and the memorials that direction and have lunch- this was my absolute favorite part of the day. The Blossoms were gorgeous, the weather mild, and the sights amazing! We watched the building of the new Martin Luther King Memorial, and walked all the way down to the Jefferson Memorial.


Jefferson Memorial in the background . . .









The FDR memorial:



At the Jefferson Memorial- it's a lot larger than it looks from the main part of the National Mall!




I think one of my favorite images was Marcus and Cynthia standing below one of Thomas Jefferson's sayings (which are carved in huge murals on the inside walls of the monument), looking up and reading some of his amazing words. I hope they will always remember what they saw and learned this trip!

The Lincoln Memorial:




Marcus even earned his Jr. Park Ranger Badge for the National Mall! Another one for the collection!



We spent the rest of the afternoon at the National Zoo. It is free, but the parking isn't! It was still fun and worth it, although we were REALLY tuckered out by all the walking we did all day. Thank goodness for that wagon- I don't think our kids would have lasted without it!







The Pandas WERE pretty cool!
We felt like this sleeping panda after this exhausting, yet amazing day!


We ended the day by driving up to see the Washington DC Temple. The traffic was HORRIBLE (shudder- I am sooo glad I don't have to drive through traffic like that on a daily basis!), but completely worth it.

Spring Break trip: Visit with the Wakeman's

Back to our Spring break trip! Between our two WA DC days, we had a rest day to hang out at the resort (visit the arcade), and we took some time to visit the Wakeman's who live just north of where we were staying in the Shenandoah Valley- in Woodstock. LeAnne Wakeman, is Jon's mom's cousin- - making Jon a step cousin once removed? Anyway- that whole side of the family is very close and it was so fun to get a piece of the "clan" as we live in the East. We had so much fun visiting them. I think the last time I saw them was in 2002 at Jon's grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary, so it was awesome getting to spend time with them. Anyway, they were wonderful and showed us around that wonderfully beautiful part of the country.

They took us on a wonderful little tour of the area and then back to their house for dinner. We started by driving up on top of the nearest ridge to the Woodstock Tower- to see the most amazing view of the area! It used to be the road they took to get over that particular ridge- and you could even still see the wagon ruts from the times of George Washington.







We then took a lovely walk along the river to the foot bridge used when the road is washed out. Oh, it was a beautiful afternoon! The sun was shining, the grass was sooo green- and the flowers were popping out everywhere. The kids had a ton of fun finding little shells by the water's edge and of course going on the foot bridge!














We ended the day at their house with dinner- thank you so much for a wonderful afternoon and evening! It was so fun to get to know you better!