So much has happened

Wow, it has been a long time since we have posted. We left for Maryland on the 16th of December and just got home on Friday. I speak for our whole family when I say we had soooooo much fun. I don't even know where to begin. As I try to think back on all we saw and did, I tried to pick my favorites. I couldn't pick favorites. I loved every part. We stayed with my parents at their home in Columbia, Maryland. It was so fun to spend time with my parents. It's hard to have them live so far away. Brian and I both loved it in Maryland. It is about 30 minutes away from D.C.. It is right in the middle of everything. It seemed like no matter where we went it was a short drive. We would both love to live back East, if only it weren't so dang expensive.

Here's a breakdown of the trip. We spent 4 days in D.C. taking in a lot of historical sites and museums. D.C. is awesome. For anyone who hasn't been, you really should go. It brings such an amazing sense of pride in your country and it's history. We went to Havre de Grace which is where the Susquehanna river feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. Havre de Grace has tons of amazing antique shops that I could spend days in. They were huge, full of amazing things and not as ridiculously priced as some of the antique shops in Utah. We went up to Mount Vernon to see George Washington's home, which was definitely up there on my list of favorite places. I have a new fascination with George Washington and his family. We spent a day at Arlington, which is very humbling. Brian and I spent 3 full days in the amazing city of New York. I loved New York. I totally get why people love it there. I get heartsick just thinking of being there. This was the first time that we have left our kids since Meg was born. Neither of us are very good at it. Brian was nearly in tears as we left them. Nonetheless, New York was absolutely amazing. There is so much to see and do. Brian would move there today if we had enough money. I would love to visit it over and over, but I am not sure that I would want to raise kids there. There is definitely an addicting energy about it.

Now, I am not sure how to post pictures. I will have to do it in a few posts. We took over 800 pictures during the two and a half weeks. I figure that I will post a select few of our pictures from the places we visited near Columbia in this blog. Then I will have separate New York and Christmas posts.

JEFFERSON MEMORIAL

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

Brian and Adin with a couple Monet's.

Adin checking out a Van Gogh.

Brian with the only known Da Vinci painting done in America.

THE CAPITOL

The rotunda was absolutely amazing. We were able to have a tour of the capital. It was beautiful.

Me and Adin in the Rotunda.

HAVRE DE GRACE

The evening that we went to Havre de Grace it was foggy and pouring. It made it so much more memorable that way. Plus, it made for some really great pictures. This is a lighthouse that you can usually go up in, but it is closed in December.
Brian and Meg at a lookout point where the Susquehanna river feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. We were all completely soaked.

Brian posed this picture. He thought it was hilarious. He cracks me up. What a funny man I married. :0)

LINCOLN MEMORIAL

Adin at the Lincoln memorial. I love this picture. He looks so small yet so important. Tons of tourists were standing in front of the statue for pictures so Adin wanted to too.

WASHINGTON MONUMENT

Brian holding the Washington Monument.We got tickets to go up to the top of the monument and see the views. It was cool. This is Meg with the views.

Brian and Adin at the bottom.

THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

This was a really awesome museum for the kids (and us). There was every kind of animal you can think of from dinosaurs to ocean life to wild life.
I don't know how many pictures of Meg I have posing with animals trying to make the same face/pose as them.

WASHINGTON D.C. TEMPLE
I thought this temple was breathtaking. It was so bitter cold this day so this was one of the only shots we have, but I think it is one of my favorites from the whole trip.

VIETNAM MEMORIAL

Meg was really not happy to participate in this photo. This was one of her more put out days. All things considering, our kids were amazing for the trip. We saw a lot of things that didn't mean anything to them. Brian and I both want to take our kids there when they are teenagers and can really learn from the experience.

ARLINGTON

This was one of the more emotional places that we visited. It just really hits you the price that has been paid for our freedom. There was actually someone being buried there while we were there. They had a carriage with horses that carried in the casket and a horse without a rider. It added to the impact of the experience to walk past a family that was burying a loved one. It gets me emotional just writing about it.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the changing of the guard. These guards take one hour shifts in the winter. Pacing 21 steps then pausing 21 seconds then pacing again. They looked so cold.

MOUNT VERNON

In front of Mount Vernon

Adin posing as George Washington in the kid area at Mount Vernon. I couldn't Meg to dress up as anything let alone Martha.

This is the view behind the mansion. The mansion was so amazing. I loved the house. I loved the grounds. I loved the view. This was the one place that I visited that I actually bought something from the gift shop. I was so interested by George Washington that I got a book about him and his estate.

In front of George Washington's family tomb. He insisted on being buried at his estate and listed in his will that he wanted a new tomb constructed for him and his family because the old tomb on the estate was falling under repair.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES

When we first got to the National Archives all I could thing about was the movie National Treasure. It was very cool to see all of the documents.

Meg and Adin didn't think the documents were as cool as I did, but Meg did pose for me in front of the Bill of Rights.

Well, there you have it. We have so many hundreds of pictures that it was hard to sift through them and find which ones to post. Hopefully it's not too boring.