Vacation 2013: Day Two. Cousin Reunion and Touring D.C.!

Thursday morning, we had a great breakfast at Embassy Suites Hotel in Richmond. They had a large eating area (unlike many hotels we’ve stayed at) so we had plenty of room to move around and plenty of food.

The hotel overall was great. All 3 of our rooms were on the top floor – the 8th – and we had a lot of fun riding the glass elevators up and down. In this picture, the kids were all looking down over the atrium. The glass elevator is on the right.

Great pool – plenty of room for the girls’ elaborate swimming shows. :-)

We got to the Ramseys’ around 11:30 and it was great to be greeted by Minda and the kids.

She decided to pull them out of school early so they could spend time with their cousins. We had a leisurely couple of hours at their house, eating lunch and relaxing, then we made the trek into D.C. for some sight-seeing. We hit as many as we could: Smithsonian, Washington and Lincoln Memorials, the Reflecting Pools, Vietnam Wall, Korean Memorial. It was a cool, crisp, sunny day and getting there around 3:00 meant there were fewer crowds. We were able to clearly see the White House from the Washington Monument, which is being renovated due to some damage from an earthquake a couple of years ago. When we were at the World War II Memorial, the sun was at just the right spot for some really nice pictures, and it was so beautiful watching the sun setting as we walked toward the Lincoln Memorial.

Our last hike was to the Jefferson Memorial, which reminded me a lot of Monticello. We headed out at 9:00 with sore legs but a lot of excitement about what we’d seen.

When I think back over the day, it really is remarkable how smoothly things went. First of all, the parking. We were divided into 3 different vans (two of them very large!) and we ended up finding 3 parking spaces right next to each other! How does that happen?  Even at the Smithsonian, which got a little harried at times as we tried to keep track of everybody, things went well. In spite of trying to move all of us around and stay together, and all the walking we did to the monuments, everybody did so well. The big kids helped the little kids, oftentimes carrying them on their backs, and the little kids weren’t complaining (hardly at all, anyway), even though we had a very long stretch of time with nothing to eat.

We invaded practically every square inch of the Ramsey’s house, sleeping on air mattresses, couches, and the floor, And now, we’re en route to our 10:30 tour of the U.S. Capitol! Can’t wait! I’m a little worried about how long it might take to get there. I’ve learned that all the rumors I heard about traffic on I-95 is true!!

Vacation 2013: Day One

Day One began at the tender hour of 3:00 am. All 12 of us (Alix and Kate, too) piled into the van to head south. After talking about “the cation” and  “Ginia Beach” for weeks, Trent was a bit reticent (i.e., fussy) about being put into his carseat at 4:00 am. I tried to ease him into the idea, reminding him where we were going, asking him if he wanted to come, too. “No” was his repeated answer. Finally, I asked him if he wanted me or Daddy to put him in the car. He decided he’d rather I do it. ;-)  Once we got going, things  smoothed out and he started to warm up to the idea.

We met up with the Bruces, Mom and Dad and Uncle Kent and headed out, Rachel at the wheel and the rest of us wedged in tightly, hemmed in by suitcases, pillows, books and food.

Several of us napped (and Trent is still asleep at 8:08, thankfully), but I think a few of the girls stayed awake the whole time, chatting quietly in the back.

Breakfast was a mixture of granola bars, hard-boiled eggs, strawberries, Fig Newtons, brown sugar Pop Tarts and orange juice. Believe it or not, in spite of all that food and all these kids, it went pretty smoothly! I guess they really are getting older. And now we’re in Kentucky, watching the hills and pastures of grazing horses and cows roll by. We’re keeping in contact with the others via a walkie talkie, which we bought way back in 2000, when we started taking family vacations.

Lots of excitement and we’re just so glad vacation is finally HERE!!

Best in Show

Back in April, 2012, I wrote a blog post entitled The Boys of Summer, describing how Courtney managed to get this great picture of Trent:

Out of all the nice shots she got that day, this was my hands-down favorite. I just think it’s a great picture! In 2012, the girls did not participate in 4H, so we weren’t able to use this picture in the fair. This past year, Courtney signed up for 4H photography, but you can only submit pictures that have been taken in the past year, and we just missed the mark. A few weeks after the fair, we received an email from the 4H organizers letting all the 4H-ers know they were invited to submit photos to a local festival our town has every fall. This festival has a live band, antique car show, and an art and photography contest. We checked out the entry form, and their rules did not include any timeframes for when the pictures had to have been taken. So we decided to enter this picture.

Courtney got a call yesterday morning from one of the judges saying her picture had won “Best of Show” in her category! I was at the grocery when she got the call, so she called me to let me know. She told me later that when she was dialing the phone to tell me, she was so excited she dropped the phone!  :-D

We’re proud of Courtney and thankful she was recognized for such beautiful artwork!

Good morning, sunshine!

This was a phrase Mom used to wake us up with on many a morning and I find myself using it often. Claire is looking especially sunshiny this morning. I was able to capture her first smile of the day, just moments after she woke up.

Young at heart

My mother-in-law turned 84 a couple of weeks ago. She is something else. She has diabetes, which really affects her vision and her hearing has been bad for as long as I’ve known her (when we met she was close to 60). But other than, she is a very, very youthful 84. She has a very sharp mind and gets around very well.

She has always been very good about sending each one of us a birthday card without fail. Her habit is to include a handwritten note with the card, sometimes writing on the inside of the card, sometimes including a separate letter in the envelope. A couple of weeks ago, she sent me a nice card and letter for my birthday. After filling me in on the family news, she updated me on her health. This is part of what she wrote:

I just re-read the letter and I went off the edge but still can see better – I think I can read the bulletin at church first time in 2 years and also do not need a magnifying glass to read books. I guess I just wanted to feel like “60” forever!! Ha!

I don’t know how many people think of 60 as being a time of youthful energy and health, but it just goes to show that age really is a relative thing.

I think she looks pretty amazing for 84.  :-)

Little boys

Several years ago, after Grant was born, Mom and Dad got Mick a book called “What Little Boys Are Made Of” for a Christmas gift. It’s filled with little poems, scripture and words of wisdom about little boys.  The cover looks like this:

The book is filled with pictures that are similar in style to this cover. For years now, I’ve wanted to try to take some pictures of Grant that were modeled after the book, but just haven’t taken the time to do it. With the start of a new school year, I’ve been more aware of how much the kids are growing, especially Grant, since he is now 5 and will start kindergarten. So, I took advantage of a free evening with nice lighting and shot some pictures.

Typically, I prefer close-up shots because I love to see facial expressions, but I liked this one a little further back so the old barn door would be included.

He was a very cooperative model, especially considering the fact I had changed him out of his swim trunks into this outfit right before he was heading out to swim with the girls.

This next one has a fun Picasa filter applied to it called “Cinemascope;” I think he looks like a silent film star here.  At this point, he was looking for bugs, lost in his own little world.

Now, look closely at his expression in this next picture and imagine a light bulb over his head. This is the moment an idea came into his 5-year-old, little-boy mind.

I think it was just before this moment that he became aware of the sound of the shutter clicking and remembered I was there taking his picture. He looked up at me and smiled this smile and I snapped it real quick, thinking what a nice smile it was. Immediately after I took the picture, he broke into this completely silly expression and froze.

Right away, I realized he was posing for me. So, I took another one as fast as I could … and he did it again … and again, giving me every silly face he could conjure up.

 

I wish we had video of this because I think even the pictures don’t completely capture the hilarity of these moments. In spite of each huge grin or outlandish expression on his face, he was completely silent and frozen between each picture, waiting until he heard me take the picture, and then he’d make the next face and freeze again.

 

Inwardly, I was absolutely dying with laughter, but I held it together long enough to keep taking the pictures until he was all faced out.  :-D

 

I loved these so much, I had to crop each picture to be able to see his expression more close-up. Just imagine a completely silent, frozen boy making these faces and you pretty much have it.

    

   

   

I’ve looked at these pictures many times and they still make me smile each time. :-)  After all these crazy- face pictures, it might seem like an abrupt change to end with such a serious expression, but I love this last one. It’s my favorite of the group. Or maybe the Cinemascope one. Or the smiley one. Maybe I should just look through them all again. ;-)

The John Deere people might be interested in this

Our pastor likes to play a little color game with Trent. He’ll say, “What color is a John Deere tractor?” and “What color is a Kubota tractor?”, etc. etc. This morning, Trent was trying to tell me what cereal he wanted for breakfast. The boxes were too high for him to reach, so I said “What color is the box?” He thought about it for a moment, then slowly said “John Deere green.” He’s learning, Pastor Mark!  :-D  This gets me thinking though, there a lot of things you can get these days with the John Deere logo. Don’t think I’ve seen cereal … yet.