Capitol Building - DC

The second thing that we saw on Saturday was the U.S. Capitol Building. It was amazing! It's just beautiful. We started our day near the Washington Monument (pictures to come soon!) and then we walked down to the Capitol. We didn't realize how far apart the two icons were. I've tried figuring it out on the internet and my best guess is it's between 1 - 1.5 miles. Our boys walked all that way and did a great job.

This was my first view of the Capitol. I was standing next to the Washington Monument when I took this picture.

All down the middle of the National Mall people were busy playing football, frisbee football, rugby, etc. . . . How awesome it would be to play outdoor games with the Capitol Building right in your sights!

Here we are: so close, and yet so far away!
The Capitol Reflecting Pool

It was a beautiful day. The sky behind the Capitol just sets it off beautifully.

The pretty stonework at the gateway to the Capitol Building.

We're getting closer!

We made it!

Brooke didn't last through the long walk! But she can honestly say she's been to the Nation's capital!

As I was sitting on the steps I could see how far we'd come. (And dread how far we had to walk to get back!)

Trevor was the photographer for this photo. Logan kept trying to steal kisses, each time David wanted one. It was so much fun being fought over by two of my guys! :)

David wanted to run up and down the steps. There were security guards behind those railings, to keep visitors at bay. Then we saw something. A man WAS jogging up and down the steps! So David walked up to the security guard and asked if he could have a turn. The man said, "No." David said, "But THAT guy is!" And the security guard replied, "That man works here!" Ha! I guess that jogger doesn't need a gym membership!

On A Roll

I am on a roll, Ladies and Gentlemen! I've been following My Blessed Life for a while. Recently Myra had a giveaway, and would you believe it? I was the winner!!!!! I won a $35 gift certificate to the Marie Madeline Studio. I chose for the Long ladies to make me this Bianca handbag. I had so much fun choosing my own colors. I got the handbag in the mail today and just love it! It's so cute!
The inside even has a couple of pockets. It's very well-crafted, and I am pleased as punch to have won another blog giveaway.

The Two-Step

Guess what?

Brooke took two steps tonight!

All by herself!

We were all so excited!

You should have seen the boys clapping and cheering for her as she "walked" to Daddy. I didn't leave to get the camera, because I didn't want to miss any of the action, but you can be assured we'll be posting a video soon of Brooke taking some steps.

Grant - DC

Near the Capitol building there are some statues as a memorial to Ulysses S. Grant.

On the steps of the Archives

Stay Tuned. . . .

Stay tuned! I have many more pictures to post from our trip to Washington DC, including the Washington Monument, Capitol Building and more! We are definitely planning to go back sometime.

Various Photos - DC

Archives of the United States of America

I actually saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constituion, Bill of Rights and various other documents from American history. To my dismay you can not take pictures of those documents. In an effort to preserve the inks from fading, the light is very dim and no flash photography is allowed. It is FREE to go to the National Archives.

Outside the National Archives building. . .

There were so many pretty details on the buildings.

I just knew you would want to know where this one was located! ;)

IRS

Pretty flowers

I hope our government remembers this! It's posted on the side of building just a couple of blocks from the Capitol.

We did a LOT of walking! We had no idea the National Mall was that long. Throw in some small children and a baby stroller and it made the walk that much longer!

Eisenhower Building

These photos were taken near the Vietnam Memorial.

I was glad to see that because our nearby city of Altoona has a miniature replica of this wall.
We took the boys to the Wall in Altoona on Memorial Day, and I was pleased that they had remembered that experience.

The Potomac River

I just loved the names of the streets in DC. ( It's the simple things in life!)

Lincoln Memorial - DC

We took a quick family trip to Washington DC on Saturday. It was a glorious day for a road trip. We couldn't have asked for finer weather. It was my first time to visit our nation's capitol and I loved every moment of it. We spent the entire afternoon on the National Mall, and didn't even scratch the surface of all the things to see there.

The Lincoln Memorial was actually the last thing that we saw that day.
Once we got to the Lincoln Memorial I climbed a few of the steps and turned around. That's when I saw the Reflecting Pool, Washington Monument and the Capitol building together. It was just a poignant moment. We had been all the way down at the Capitol a few hours earlier, and now we were at the other end of the Mall.

Cole rarely keeps his feet on the ground!

On one wall inside the monument is the Gettysburg Address. On the opposite side is Lincoln's presidential speech.

This picture just makes me smile. I love seeing those boys standing in order like that. Just like stair steps!

As you can see from the picture below, there were people from many nationalities there. Hundreds of people were just sitting on the steps that day.

Here we are standing on the steps of the memorial. Behind us you could see the Washington Monument and the US Capitol building. The gal that graciously took our photo, needed to scoot over just a bit more to capture the sights. But the people in the picture are still cute! :)

Family Night

We spent some time in the evening last week outdoors. The days were incredibly hot - in the 90's. We were pleasantly surprised when the evenings cooled down so nicely for us though. Thursday night the boys decided to do some tree climbing and football playing.



Trevor's beginning his ascent into the tree.

Logan didn't actually climb into any of the trees. But he was right there enjoying the action.

Cole was giving me his football game face. It's a blurry photo, but his expression is priceless!

Trevor made it up into the tree by our barn.

Of course no evening outdoors would be complete without trying to tie Dad up first!

So here are the teams: Daddy and Logan were the red team.

Next came the green team: Trevor and Cole.


They wanted me to be the official QB. I don't even know what an unofficial QB does! So Brooke and I decided to cheer on the sidelines instead. Here is the cheerleading team:


A couple of weeks ago we were at a park for a church picnic. We were in the pavilion and Brooke didn't want to be held, so I turned her loose on the concrete. It took her a couple of crawls on her knees before she figured out that wouldn't do. So she pushed her tush into the air and "crawled" on her hands and feet. Ever since that time, she's been doing this funny crawl. We call it her Spidey-crawl, because she seems to resemble Spiderman, crawling up the walls.