A Weekend Getaway

Last weekend we headed north to spend time with Uncle Brian and Aunt Risa. The kids have been eagerly awaiting this trip for a month or longer so when plans started to fall apart--Barry's work schedule had to change and he had to stay in town for physical therapy on his back,-- the van had to go into the shop due to mechanical problems, well they were greatly disappointed. In the end I went and my mother in law joined us for the trip. It was a win-win situation for everyone but Barry, Beulah and I got to attend the temple and the kids had a great time with their uncle and aunt.

We arrived in Rockville, MD around 3pm and Brian directed us to a local park where the kids had fun playing on the climbing structures and playing in the nearby creek. I've been wanting to update the photo of the kids on this blog and the stream provided a great backdrop.

Risa found us at the park and we followed her home. Once there we made yummy pizza-- our favorite family Friday night tradition. Uncle Brian had a longer than usual workday, but he finally made it home for some wrestling fun. Pile on Uncle Brian....or "get him" was the war cry of the night. Ryan's been eagerly waiting to play Brian's new XBox 360. He had fun interacting with others with the online multi- player aspect of the game. Guess what he's saving his money for now? :)

Not sure who is winning, but fun is being had by all

The next day, Saturday dawned bright and beautiful. Beulah and I headed off for the Washington DC temple while the kids stayed back and prepared for the day with Brian and Risa. Seeing how I wasn't there, I'll turn the narration of the trip to Ryan......

We left around 9:00 am in the van to go to the Washington mall, which is a park with muesuems and the Smithsonian. We parked a little ways from the Jefferson monument, because there was no parking closer to the monument. When we got out of the car we had to walk all the way to the printing beaureu. On the way there I curiously asked Uncle Brian which building was the beaureu and he told me it was a big red building near the Holocaust meusuem. We found out when we got there it was closed. We decided to go to another muesuem. I didn't want to go instead I wanted to go back to the apartment. We hurried to the square and scurried into the National History muesuem. We looked at the mammals hall, special exhibit, soil exhibit, Hope Diamond, and ocean hall. After that we ate lunch outside and started on our way back to the van. Delaney complained she was tired of walking and wanted to ride in the stroller. She didn't ride in the stroller instead she had to walk like the rest of us. To take her mind of her feet we stopped frequently and took pictures. The picture taking seemed endless to me. When we got back to the van we got ice cream from McDonalds. Afterwards we finally got back to the apartment. It sure was one busy day for me.

What a bunch of cute kids....

Here are some more great photos from the "....picture taking that seemed endless." :)

I really like this one, Ryan and Cailin are often at each other....who can irritate the other the most, yet I know they love each other. I love the hug he's giving to Cailin, and she's not pushing him offf.

Ahhh, a big stretch, we're at the end of the picture taking day. Whew. My thanks to Risa and Brian, I could never get them to cooperate with me for these many photo takes.

A long ride home was next on the docket....Why is it that the ride back from a trip seems to be twice as long as the one to begin it? Suffice it to say a four hour trip home took over 6 hours to complete.