Sunday, October 17, 2010

Road Trip - Part II

After hanging with Disney, we spent about five days with Cynthia's uncle near Miami. During this time, we helped Cynthia's mom get settled with bank accounts, auto registration, insurance, etc. The beach was fun, but I think the best part of this all the Latin food. I think we had Peruvian food three times (my favorite!)

We left Florida on Tuesday and headed for Maryland to visit Tyler and Shelly for a few days. Again the drive was uneventful (thankfully.) After so many days of eating out on the road, we discovered the healthy goodness of Panera Bread in South Carolina before stopping for the night. The next day, we finished our drive to Columbia, MD. Mom and Dad were in town on a business trip to DC and were having dinner with Ty and Shel when we arrived. We only got to see them for about 2o minutes before Tyler had to leave to take them to the metro station. We didn't see them again until Sunday.

On Thursday, Cynthia and I took the boys down to DC. Having been born in Virginia and living there until 3 years old, I'm sure I'd been there before... I just don't remember anything. As such, this was all our first time! We hit the Mall and headed to the Washington monument first. Following that we meandered to the WWII memorial followed by the Lincoln memorial and the Vietnam memorial. I was humbled as Joshua asked so many questions about President Lincoln, the history of slavery and emancipation, as well as the way he reacted to seeing the names of so many casualties (58,000+) on the wall. Because it was such a warm day, we opted to take a bike taxi over to see the White House... best $10 we spent that day! Finally, we finished up the day at the National Aquarium. It wasn't that big, but we all enjoyed it quite a bit.

Friday was beautiful weather as well. Since we did monuments and memorials on Thursday, we planned to do museums today with Tyler, Shelly, and Logan. First, we hit up the Smithsonian Museum of Natural history where we spent most of the day. The kids loved the insects and the dinosaurs. I don't think you're supposed to eat in there, but we found a nice corner near the live butterfly exhibit to take a break and nibble on some snacks. Either no one noticed or no one cared. Following that, we walked down the mall to visit the Air and Space museum just before it closed. I don't know why, but I'm fascinated with the World War II era aircraft. The kids really enjoyed going into the rocket and playing in the science section.

On Sunday, Mom and Dad came back up from DC and we all had lunch before they flew back to Utah. It was good to see them too, but we wish we could have spent more time with them. Despite all the fun and historic places to go and see, the best part of this trip was just being able to hang out with family. Josh and Jordan sure kept Logan and the dogs busy and entertained! We enjoyed playing games (Killer Bunnies, Scene It, Carcassonne, Halo: Reach, MW2, etc.) watching football, eating out, eating in, and just spending time together. We even got to help Shelly with an early surprise birthday for Tyler with their friends. (Thanks again you guys for everything... Now you guys need to come see us in England!)













Messing with the geese near the reflecting pool.













Outside the Lincoln memorial.













I watched Joshua for several minutes as he sat quietly reflecting before taking this picture.













Josh, Logan, and Jordan on our way to DC.













Chillin' in the Natural Histroy museum with Tyler and the boys.

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