A Behind the Scenes Exclusive!

This is pretty much how the picture-taking goes for each and every one of the photos on this blog. (In Laura's defense, she was using a new camera, and it is a little slow.)

The video is from our visit to the U.S. Capitol Building.

On Our Way Home

We are on our way home and will arrive back in Spartanburg tomorrow. We are taking the scenic way home through the Shenandoah Valley. We had a great lunch at Apple House and are spending the evening in Roanoke, VA. It has been a great trip!

Smithsonian Air & Space Museum

Yesterday we went to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and spent the day looking at A LOT of airplanes! The Udvar-Hazy Center is new and is located by the Dulles airport. It has an observation tower where you can watch the four active runways and listen to the air traffic control communications between the tower and the pilots. This museum was right up the boys', and Lee's, alley.

Everyone picked their favorite plane. I was interested in hearing the detailed story of the Enola Gay, which is the B-29 bomber that dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.
Graysen did not like Auntie riding in his stroller.
Lee's favorite plane was the SR-71 Blackbird. (Note: As I am typing this, and asked him what the name of the plane was, he insisted that he never said that this was his favorite plane. OK. But, I observed that he seemed to really enjoy seeing this plane.)
All of us really enjoyed seeing the Space Shuttle, or Space Ship as Erica says, Enterprise. Caleb was VERY excited!
I love my little boy. :)
The shuttle is REALLY big!

How We "Roll"

Caleb with his DC guide book that Auntie mailed to him prior to the trip.
Caleb in the "power lounger."
Kevin was never far from his camel pak and the 3L of water inside of it.

He spent the night prior making a "perfect batch of water." He filled the pack with ice and water and then put it overnight in the fridge to chill. He was not very happy when Capital security made him dump his entire container of "perfect water" onto the lawn because it was not allowed into the building.

This left the rest of us standing around an atrium at the Museum of the American Indian waiting for Kevin while he searched for the best water fountain option to refill his pak. He did not accept Erica's suggestion of using the fountain on the first floor and instead opted for a water fountain on another floor! He would probably not have made this choice if he consulted with Lee prior to his water search because Lee, who is a water expert, informed him that the best water fountains are the ones which are used frequently and have less bacteria. Thus, the best option would have been the original fountain that Erica suggested at the entrance, not the less-used one on a random floor.

Natural History Museum

After lunch, we headed over to the Natural History Museum so that the boys could let loose and have some fun with dinosaurs.
It is only with Caleb that the following moments occur:

I pointed out to Graysen, who LOVES sea turtles, the large sea turtle hanging from the ceiling. Caleb casually says, "It's a leatherback."
Sure enough, after Lee and I checked the sign, it was a leatherback seaturtle.
I think Auntie had the most fun with the dinosaurs. Here she was inspired to be a statue of a T Rex.
One of my favorite places from our last visit was the gem room and the Hope Diamond. I am very sad that they reset the Hope Diamond in a modern "Embracing Hope" setting. I much prefer the classic setting for the diamond.

The Capitol of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!

Yesterday was our big day taking Caleb to the Capitol.

If you ask Caleb what his favorite part of the trip was, he will say going to the Capitol. If you ask Graysen, he will say "Obama's House," which we haven't even seen. However, Graysen has been obsessed with Obama the past week. He likes to talk about Obama's House, Obama does this, and Obama Station?! Based on conversations with him, we are pretty sure that he doesn't understand that Obama is a person. It sounds like he is more like a Transformer. Yesterday we showed Graysen a picture of Obama and it didn't seem to register...

Now, back to our trip:

The boys loved the subway. They did great and were fascinated by trains under the street.

Both boys asked to have their pictures taken in front of the astronaut. It was their favorite part of the tour.

My Baby

We're Here!

Yeah! I made it to visit my sissy!!!
Auntie and I were all about pictures... Lee, not so much. He is all business.
We are staying at the Crowne Plaza Hamilton, which is a historic old hotel. I absolutely love old buildings!
After we checked into the hotel, we enjoyed some swim time at Auntie's townhome. It just happened that we picked a really HOT weekend to visit!
Handstand contest: Lee?
Or Laura?
About this point in time, my camera bit the dust. It served me well as a "mommy-proof" camera, but it seems that Auntie dealt the final blow. Not to blame her too much, it was in really bad repair. So, her and Lee went to Best Buy and I will have a brand-new camera to try out tomorrow. I am happy that Lee restrained himself and bought a cheap mommy camera for me. He was tempted by 3-D, but honestly, am I going to use it? No.

Time to enjoy some wine service, I mean room service!

Monticello

Today we visited Monticell, the home of Thomas Jefferson. I love visiting old houses and his was full of interesting inventions.
The boys are really sweet and I feel blessed that I have two boys that love each other and are great friends!

Road Trip to Virginia & D.C.

Yesterday we started our road trip to visit Sean in Richmond, VA and Kevin & Erica in Washington, D.C. Yesterday's leg of the trip was the longest driving day that we have planned. We drove all the way from Spartanburg to Richmond and it took about 8 hours.

We stopped for lunch at Quaker State Restaurant in Concord. We thought that it would be a fun treat for the boys and they LOVED it! It was just up their alley.

Lots of cars...

Even hanging from the ceiling!
The boys were very excited that their lunches came in cars!
Caleb is obsessed with "The United States of America!!!" He only uses the full name and says it with enthusiasm. He has been talking for weeks how he was going to go to a new state for the first time, Virginia. As you can imagine, there was a lot of excitement in car when we passed into Virginia for the first time and we had to stop at the welcome center!
After a long day of driving, we arrived in Richmond and got to see Sean!

More Pictures from Camping

Even more pictures can be found on my Facebook page. You don't need a Facebook login to see the pictures.

Caleb and Graysen at the pool

Todd at the pool

Emily at the pool

He would consider his putt for a minute or two like this, then stand up, hold putter backwards, and hit the ball sideways.

A rare moment of rest...

I sincerely hope that this is the most redneck either of my boys will ever look.

At the playground...

Graysen wouldn't let Caleb dance with Emily, so Caleb danced by himself. He didn't get his moves from me.

Night arrives.