D.C.!

We spent the day in Washington D.C.!

The White House

Emily and Mom in front of the White House.

Leah and Joshua in looking at the White House.

The Vietnam War Memorial

(with the Washington Monument in the background)

Leah and I at the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial

Jenny, Leah and Abe

Abraham Lincoln

The outside of the Lincoln Memorial.

The WW2 Monument

Boo in front of the Queen Ysabel La Catolica statue.

Dad and Mom in front of the Daughters of the American Revolution Building

(We really just wanted pictures with the cherry blossoms and the building made a good backdrop!)

Family picture, minus Emily (photographer) and Brian (barista).

Jenny "holding" the Washington Monument!

We went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

The hat the Abraham Lincoln was wearing the night he was assassinated.

Leah reading about her favorite president.

(She was on a quest to see "all things Lincoln" that day!)

Most of us in an actual "L" car. Same type of car that Dad would ride to downtown Chicago as a kid!

Summer

Randomness

Jamestown with Nana

Climbing the fence

Boom!

VA Beach...COLD WATER

Colonial Ball

Here are the pictures from the Colonial Ball the some of us attended in March. The pictures are a little late, I know.

Jamestown!

We went to the new Joanne's Fabric store and
then to Jamestown with some new friends of ours!The kids had fun climbing in the bamboo forest.

Even Boo got in on the action!

Playing by the river was also exciting for them.

We went to the "Glass House" where they make glass products
using early 17th century techniques.

Mom bought this little creamer pitcher, she is thinking of putting fresh flowers in it.

Here are all the kids on the river front at Jamestown.

And here are the Moms, it was a little windy!

Visitors

Maddy came to spend the week with us!
They saw Colonial Williamsburg on Tuesday and are sewing colonial dresses right know for a ball on Friday! (Those pictures will follow!)

Here's Leah, Maddy and Boo!

Here's Maddy and I
Sweaters are in this year YAHOOOO!

And these are the three culprits that explain my sleep deprivation this week!
They're having fun, so I guess I will let it slide!

VA Air and Space Museum

Hello Down There!

Last Saturday we ended up going to the Air and Space Museum in Hampton!
It had a bunch of really cool exhibits and something for everyone to enjoy!

My favorite, the old planes. This bomber was used during WW2!
Above is where the pilot and copilot sit.

...and down here is where the gunner is stationed, right over the wheel and ammunition!

Dad and Jenny outside the full size model bomber where you sit and watch a quick film about WW2 bombing raids.

Jenny and Joshua using one of the flight simulators!

You can't really see it in this picture, but it really looks like you are flying on the screen!

Brian and I competed to see who had quicker reflexes. He beat me by .0025 seconds.
The good news is both of us could possibly be fighter pilots because of our lighting fast reflexes!

Here Leah is practicing landing planes on an aircraft carrier!

Joshua on the moon.

Brian and I played the biggest game of operation I have ever seen!
I won!

Dad read almost every sign in the place.

This is the Apollo 12 Command Module "Yankee Clipper".
It spent 10 days in space in 1969 (some would say that was the safest place to be in the 60's!)
This was the living space for the three man crew during their expedition.
Talk about close quarters!

Here's a helicopter similar to what flies over our house everyday!

Some of us climbed up to the observation deck to get an aerial view of all the planes!

The brave crew who made it up 4 flights of stairs!

Then we went to Mars and drove land rovers!

While at the museum Josh discover he wants to be a pilot...

and Dad discovered he really likes being an accountant
(they stay on the ground and don't have to worry about faulty landing gear!)

These flight attendant outfits were designed by Emilo Pucci in the 1960's. Groovy!

There was also an amazing exhibit on aircraft carriers, including models of the
USS Yorktown and the USS Ronald Reagan.
The Yorktown was put out of commission during WW2 and the Ronald Reagan was put into commission recently (2003?). The difference 60 years technology makes is astounding!
But the food still looked the same.