Bluebell

Since the weather has been so nice, we decided to go on a walk/hike after dinner. We gave up on the first park/trail we went to because the park was over run with people. We ended up going on a bit of a scenic drive, and a short walk in Bull Run Regional Park. Little did we know, there's a Bluebell Festival going on in the area, and a bluebell walk through park. Beautiful. And much much much less crowded than the Cherry Blossom Festival. Unfortunately, I only had my cell phone camera (which is inferior to my regular camera, AND B's cell phone camera, so the pictures don't do the beauty justice. And the kids aren't this blurry in real life either).


Across the river, those are bluebells.








The kids thought this would make a good Pixie Hollow for Tinkerbell and her fairy friends.


This would have been a great picture, with a better camera, and a sun that wasn't setting.


Ditto.

Cherry Blossoms at Full Bloom

When we showed up at the Metro station last Saturday morning and had to wait in a line of maybe a half dozen people (per ticket machine), I thought that was crazy. Today, being a weekday, we had to miss the commuter busyness of the Metro, so we showed up around 11AM, shocked to see a line stretching back so far, we couldn't even SEE the ticket machines. (Note to self: buy SmarTrip cards for the whole family and load them). We get on at the last stop on one line. By the time everyone was on our train, most seats were filled. Thirteen stops later, it was PACKED. I was glad I didn't bring our stroller. Getting off at the Smithsonian stop (where everyone else going to see the blossoms was getting off), there were actually people taking pictures of how crowded the station was. We could barely get OFF the train, because there were lines for the escalators filling the entire platform.

As soon as we emerged from the underground and started walking, the kids all claimed starvation and the need to eat immediately or they would pass out. We stopped and ate sandwiches I'd packed. We always end up in DC at lunch time because we leave late enough to miss the morning commute, and want to head home before the afternoon commute... lunch time.

Once we were done eating, we joined the masses walking towards the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin. The blossoms WERE beautiful. The crowds actually felt about the same as Saturday (only Metro crowdedness proved to me that there were indeed MORE people).











We skipped the Jefferson Memorial having seen it on Saturday, but took the kids' picture with Waddles, (the beaver on the kids' National Park pins they are wearing in a lot of the pictures). Waddles reminds us to not pick the blossoms.




Baby X insisted on walking along holding this chain. Luckily, this part of the Tidal Basin wasn't AS crowded.













It was a beautiful day. Princess Sparkley kept complaining about how hot it was. It was probably in the low 80s. I reminded her that this was when we wanted to be walking around in DC rather than July or August.

We stopped to see the George Mason Memorial (since B's attending GMU).


I had to repeatedly yell at Baby X all day, "[Baby X], look, there's a duck on Mommy's head." I was trying to get him to look at the camera, but mostly he just said, "What, Mama? What, Mama? What, Mama?" So, then he was looking, but talking, not smiling.


George Mason


Colorful Washington Monument... taken from the George Mason Memorial.


Then we made our way further around the Tidal Basin toward the FDR Memorial.


It was too crowded on the bridge's sidewalk to step back and get the full effect of the Tidal Basin with both the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial... I tried.








Trying to get a lovely picture of all three kids (but somehow, the Washington Monument is ALWAYS crooked in my pictures and of course, the kids are not smiling, not looking, making weird faces, shadowed by baseball hats, etc.)








B saw the FDR Memorial several years ago when he toured DC on his own as a college student and rep for BYU's College Republicans. He is not a fan of FDR and told me that if we were going to see it (which, PS IS a fan of FDR, so we needed to at some point) we had to do it without him. So we circled the other side of the Tidal Basin this time and visited this enormous memorial. It's strange. Not so much a statue, but one side of the Tidal Basin dedicated to rocks and waterfalls and fountains and statues of FDR.





Then we SLOWLY made our way back to the Metro. The sidewalks were crowded. The kids walked slow. Baby X was not in a stroller (I knew it would be way too crowded to bring a stroller on the Metro) but walking (and being carried). By the time we reached the Smithsonian stop, it had taken forever (three hours since arriving for basically just walking around the Tidal Basin). And there were police announcing that the entrance we showed up at was CLOSED. Instead of battling the hundreds of other people trying to get on at that exact station, and that exact train, we pulled out our map, found the next Metro station, and walked to the L'Enfant Plaza stop. Not so crowded. A man was nice enough to give me his seat since I was holding Baby X which is difficult to do while standing on a train. Then the lady next to him gave Buddy her seat so I didn't lose him. Which was nice because the train got very crowded very fast. AND, when the train pulled up at the Smithsonian stop to load all those people, we were already on it. It was CROWDED all the way home. Pushing, yelling, swearing. I was glad we were all in seats (with Baby X on my lap, Buddy, Princess Sparkley and I can all sit on one row - 2 seats).

Shockingly, this is just some of the pictures (I took nearly 90 today).

Sunflowers

For a music class lesson on Earth Day, I read stories about planting flowers to help the earth be pretty and then we recycled egg cartons making them into little pots for a sunflower seed. I ended up bringing home a lot of extra seeds and planting them in an 18 egg carton. When they were all 2-3 inches tall I transported 3 little plants to a larger pot. Right before we left for Utah, B planted them in the ground hoping they'd survive not getting watered daily by being able to pull water from the soil. And they survived!! Here are pictures of the first one that bloomed about a week ago. They are taller than my kids (one is almost as tall as I am).

Princess Sparkley's take on vacation

PS inherited my old digital camera when I got a new one... and it takes WAY better pictures than the $15 kid camera we bought her last year. Here are some of my favorite pictures I discovered when I uploaded her pictures.



Top to bottom. Left to Right.
1. In the car
2. We spotted moutains
3. Buddy and B at Black Canyon of the Gunnison Nat'l Park
4. Grandpa's new dog, Fenway, taken from a safe distance
5. Grandpa and Fenway on the new cabin porch
6. Cousin N (almost 2 1/2).*
7. Cousin A (9 1/2)
8. Buddy's bum. There were two pictures like this. I have no idea why.
9. me
10. Flowers
11. Cedar Breaks National Monument
12. Grumpy Baby X in the car
13. Somewhere in Colorado on our drive home.
repeats... sorry, I just realized it repeated the first three pics again.



*This was the first time everyone but me and Baby X met N.

Little House Vacation: Day 3

DeSmet, South Dakota

the Ingalls Homestead

This was by far the highlight of our trip. Walnut Grove was seriously lacking other than getting to play in Plum Creek just like Mary and Laura. Our trip would have been a bit disappointing had it not been for DeSmet, mainly the Ingalls Homestead.

First, aren't these scenes beautiful? These are pictures I took of the 160 acres that Pa homesteaded outside of DeSmet, SD.

If you've ever been to Nauvoo, this was a bit like this but instead of focusing on the pioneers of the Mormon church, it focused on Laura from Little House on the Prairie and her family, a different type of pioneer.

Here we are when we first arrived and climbed a giant "tree house" to see the prairie. And here's Princess Sparkley doing the wash with help from Buddy. And Baby X discovering grass for the first time ever in his little life.

Princess Sparkley sewing on Ma's sewing machine. Buddy playing "Mary's organ." Pumping water from a well. Visiting a 3 week old baby pony. Riding a pony. Roping a "calf." Etc. Our kids were so brave about riding the ponies, petting horses and kittens. Princess Sparkley even held the reigns and drove the wagon to the school house.

DeSmet was all like a dream come true for Princess Sparkley. She was giddy with happiness and running around with so much energy. It was like Christmas morning waiting to open presents. She was also very brave wanting to do everything, even if it involved talking to or getting helped by the workers. Buddy also enjoyed it all, but not on the same scale as Princess Sparkley. Baby X was a trooper. He was really really great on this whole trip.

Here are pictures of Princess Sparkley and Buddy making rope. They also made a corn cob doll/corn cob superhero and twisted hay into a hay log as kindling for a fire. The pictures of them pulling on the rope is ringing the bell at school. Buddy in the straw hat, and Princess Sparkley at the desk in the pink pioneer girl outfit are at school. The bottom right corner picture is Princess Sparkley driving the wagon to school.

The sign for the city of DeSmet says "Little Town on the Prairie."
Princess Sparkley with the graves of Ma, Pa, Mary, and Carrie.
Princess Sparkley disembarking from driving the horses before the pageant.
Before the pageant started.



Our family riding the wagon to school.

Take me home, Country roads... Western Virginia

We drove through some absolutely beautiful hills and valleys of western Virginia (note: not West Virginia). Here are some pictures that don't involve any appliances, cars, couches or other types of huge household items thrown out the front door and down the small hill that makes their front yard. It was beautiful, but a huge majority of these people used their own front yards like the rural canyons where you see a "no dumping" sign.