One Last Hoorahh.

So for our last day off of our employment on the East Coast..

& Our last  sunmmer adventure with our sweet friends..

We decided to take a trip out to Washington District of Columbia, Maryland..

[aka.. Washington D.C.. isn't it funny the real name sounds so funny.. I couldn't stop laughing about how that was what it was in our GPS..]

And our first stop was the beautiful over 600 acres of Arlington Cemetary..
[Where the soldiers who were casualties in war or Presidents are buried]

Places like this really tear at my heart..

I think that it's so important to realize and be shown how much has been sacrificed for each of us..

& How absolutely real and selfless these soldiers are.

It was overwhelming for me to think of each of these grave stones (& trust me they never ended..) as a person with friends, and family, and people they had touched.

We are so blessed..

& it is so easy to take it for granted.

We saw the tomb of the Unkown Soldier..

[Which we learned there isn't actually a body in there it is just a symbol of those who have died for us and hadn't been identified]

And the Changing of the Guards.

Then after one last heart tearing walk through..

I promised myself I would remember these soldiers and families and try my hardest to not take this beautiful free country for granted.

Then we headed out to the heart of D.C

[Where I must tell you.. that I found the LASSTT license plate for my license plate finding game I have been playing for the last year! All 51.. yes 51.. plates PLUS a considerable amount of Mexico plates, Canada Plates, AND an ITALY. & it feels.. so good.]

Oh yeah.. and how cute are these little twins.

They were prettty.. proud of themselves for looking so good together.

:)

We got to see the [construction on the]

White House..

& Take a really flattering picture with it thank goodness..

I'm not sure that one will be going on our wall..
But it was really cool to actually see the building that you hear so much about.

Then we headed out to the Washington Monument..

Where since I have been growing obviously..

Blake thought I would be tall enough to stradle it..

He was correct of course..

And then to top my incredible tallness..

[which if you don't know me.. you would probably find this much more funny if you did and saw how not incredibly tall I "really" am..]

Blake thought he would show off his muscles..

Okay but seriously now guys..

It was really neat.

The Washington Monument, besides for just being incredibly famous, is the tallest stone structure in the world.

And as you can kind of see by the changing colors on the bottom, it was started and unable to be finished for a while because of insufficient funds.

[I know.. incredible.. we would ever over spend in this country?!]

And then when they started it again the stones they started with were no longer made so they had so use a more redish color.



Also, something I really loved about this area in Washington D.C is that everywhere you turn you can see a monument..

& Here is the Lincoln Memorial!
ah.

& If you look past the Washington Monument.. there is the capital building!

uh way cool.

& Those are just our cute friends on our journey over there..

We are sure going to miss them in a week.

So here's the truth.. I'm not even sure what this monument was..

[I think the WWII memorial?]

But I will tell you why it's awesome..

It has all of the states circling around a beautiful fountain..

AND.. it put New Mexico, Utah, and Idaho right in a row.. probably the most meaningful states to me right together.

Where I grew up and my family and friends are, where we were married and my mom and that side of my family are from and of course our new friends live there, and where Blake grew up and now my sweet in laws and our dear Idaho friends are from.

So yes..sometimes our camera doesn't like to focus on us..

& Obviously today it thought that the Lincoln Memorial was cooler than us..

Which it was.. so I'll be understanding this time..

But this was my favorite thing I think that we saw [so maybe next time we can get a good picture] I loved it!



Way better than seeing it on a penny huh?!

Then we got to see the Korean War Memorial..

I hope it's as amazing to you as it is to me that these men fought and died for people in a country that was NOT their own.. for people they had never known or even met.
Now.. those.. are true selfless heroes.

Oh yeah.. quick sneak peak back at the Lincoln Memorial.. because it was just that cool.



Then this is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall..

There are 58,195 names on this wall from people who died in this war..It definitely was extrememly humbling to see. What amazing men.

We got to see a little bit of the Holocaust Museum..

[Let me just tell you so you don't have to find this out yourself.. ONE day is NOT enough to see everything in Washington D.C.. And the main part of this museum that you will want to see closes at 4:30]

And then.. dun dun duh..
After much searching and wondering around..
A security guard leading us astray..
& Some men trying to tell us this was in Phillidelphia..
[Don't let them tell you these things.. it IS in D.C and it's on Constitution St. in the National Archives.. in the Rotunda]

We got to see the actual Constitution, Bill of Rights,

& the Declaration of Independence!
And oh man.. I thought Blake was going to pass out from excitement.
They are written on Sheeps Skin.. and actually preserved really well.
Awwee.. some.

And then..
[Another drum roll please..]



We finished our long day with the Natural History Smithsonian Museum..

& Yes.. if you were wondering why we had the drum roll..

[Because I wasn't even quite sure about this until actually after we had left!]

It is the one that is in the Night in the Museum.

How funny is that..

It was really cool though..

Those museums have EVERYTHING and they are extremely well done.

I would definitely suggest giving yourself a few days to go through them all..

I think it would be worth it..

& It's definitely something Blake and I are planning to come back someday and do if you want a couple of travel friends.

:)

Blake thought that the Gems and Minerals section was awesome..

And loved that he got to touch kiss a real meteorite that had been in space!

Who needs to go to the moon after that.

:)

& Then my husband had to almost drag me back to the car with our friends I was pretty dang worn out.

What an.. exhausting.. eventful day D.C will give you..

Let me repeat.. if you have more than one day off a week.. unlike us this summer.. take more time to see all of the history here. It really is a cool place.

I hope that everyone is having a great week and if you're going back to school good luck!

My sweet sister started HIGH SCHOOL this week..

:(

[Good luck Mar .. I looooove you & get so sad you're growing up so darn fast..]

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

We Had Serious Plans..

& None of those serious plans worked out..

We were late.. [for once.. oh.. ever.. of course ;) ]

The train was late.. [how dare it be late on the day we wanted to be late..]

Then [surprise surprise] we didn't know where we were going..

And needless to say.. we just did not make it

Then to make the most of our day since we had traveled out to the city..

We made new plans..

& Brace yourself because boy do these new plans hold some devastating news for those of us who like Madagascar..

[But more on that later]

We got to go to the Central Park Zoo!

[Because my husband is a sweetheart.. and I had been really hoping we would get to go before the summer was over..]

Oh yeah please ignore how we are dripping with sweat.. and gross..

New York City was only 1000 degrees Fahrenheit.. with only 150% humidity at least. 

[Boy do I miss my dry dessert home some days]

& You may never believe this.. but before we got here my hair was down and cute.. humidity is wonderful.

So yes this may be the most expensive zoo you will ever go too..

AND..

I'm here to save you some grief by finding this out yourself..

There is NO Alex the Lion, There is NO Marty the Zebra, There is NO Melman the giraffe, There is NO Gloria the hippo..

And in FACT there are no lions, zebras, giraffes, and hippos AT ALL!

Everything I've seen in movies is a LIE.

My mom tried to comfort me and tell me it was because they all ran away..

& I am choosing to believe Madagascar did not completely lead me astray and shatter my world and that is the case..

Luckily there were some Penguins..

[AND more lucky than getting to see the penguins.. their habitat was Air Conditioned.. That made them the favorite animal of the day hands down..]

I tried to teach Blake how to be a [obviously very attractive open mouth screaming..] penguin..

But he wouldn't even try to waddle..

He proved himself to be a very nice [cute looking] seal though..

So I of course I forgave him..

& accepted that everyone must just be good to be different things..

Yes these sweet seals WERE located exactly where Alex the Lion should have been..

[& NO.. I am not bitter..]

Luckily.. since it wasn't humid enough today.. they had the Tropical Zone Rainforest Exhibit..

Don't you ever think that it can't be more humid

:)

They definitely had some very beautiful birds however, probably thanks to the humidity..

 As well as some louder angry ones..

& These pretty things we didn't give the attention they deserved.. until we read that they were in a FRAGILE existence..

[We weren't sure if that meant close to extinct? But we decided to be sympathetic just the same.]

I decided that if I were in a fragile existence.. I would definitely want someone to sympathize with me..

So that is just what we decided to do.

This is a red panda obviously..

[& yes.. I said panda not raccoon..]

& This was the cute baboon with a behind that was the color of his pink mouth that you can see.. I thought it was SO cute.. haha

Blake accidentally took a picture of the wrong side.

:)

 Then this sweet Polar Bear bless his heart..

Was I think hotter than we were.

:(

We had to pass by his exhibit a couple of times before he would come out from inside the air conditioned part of this exhibit.. poor thing.

And yes.. after this beautiful fellow that I pray someday I will get to see in the wild.

I have basically shown you the whole exhibit believe it or not.

 

It wasn't quite the San Diego Zoo..

:)

But it was definitely way fun.

& I got so lucky and married this man who seems to make me laugh and happy even when I am melting through our plan B of the day.

Also how crazy is it that there is a ZOO.. right in the middle of the city.

That is definitely a sight you don't see everyday..

Then Blake and I had been wanting to fly kites in Central Park.. so that was our next destination.

[How cute and happy does this guy look.. :) This smile melts my heart.]

  

And then when the wind died down.. We decided we were ready for a nap in Central Park..

[Which being from the South West.. that sounds weird.. but check out that guy in the left corner.. Napping is the thing to do here.. who would have known.]

Then once we were feeling a little more awake we headed downtown to Stone Street

 [by Wall Street.. if you're ever wanting to find it yourself]
Where a kind New Yorker showed us to this AMAZING New York Style Pizza restaurant..
Adriennes..

If you're ever in New York City I dare you to try it..

[We could afford it.. which is saying something.. and.. it's dang good.]

Then when we were done with dinner we were going to see the Empire State Building,

& when we got about TWO buildings down from it..

Out of nowhere it started POURING..

[& if you're wondering no the Empire State Building is not covered.. plan accordingly.. :) ]

So once again..

So much for plans.

But you know what.. sometimes days when your plans don't work out they turn out to be even more fun.

& I can't tell you how grateful I was for just a day with my husband.. with work lately it's very rare to have a day to ourselves..

What a blessing in disguise.

:)

Happy Thursday Everyone.

I sure love you all.