Natural History Museum and History

 Next we went on a tour of the Capital building. It is in the middle of a renovation so there was a lot of scaffolding in the way. We still got to see a big part of the rotunda and I think the kids mostly enjoyed the tour.

 We went to the National Archives and saw a Gutenberg Bible- that was on my bucket list.

 We went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, THe Magna Carta, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights- it was an epic moment.

 Next we saw the girls' very favorite part of the trip. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. They were in heaven.

 She finally got to see a real life mummy. She has always always wanted to see one outside of a sarcophagus.

 THe girls loved the rock, minerals and gems exhibit but they were not impressed by the Hope Diamond.

 We got tickets to go inside of the butterfly pavillion and Asia never wanted to leave. She loves insects of all kinds but especially butterflies. They were flying around and landing all over her and she was absolutely in heaven.

 Story time.

Washington D.C.

 We flew overnight on a red eye to Washington DC so we were exhausted. Scott's Mom Janet went with us. We met Scott's sister Lisa and her family in DC. It was a fabulous reunion because our girls love their cousins and Lisa's family moved to Pennsylvania last year. We have really missed them.

 We spent our first afternoon in DC at the National Air & Space Museum. It was amazing although I think the Boeing one in Seattle that we visited a few years ago might be a little bit better.

 This is on of Amelia Earhart's planes. The girls have been really into reading National Geographic Kids books and they were full of historical tidbits on the things we would be seeing in D.C. This plane was on their list. As you can see they were also very excited to see their cousin Sariah.

 The girls at the Madsen memorial

 We saw the Washington Monument from a distance.

 We visited the Jefferson Memorial. It was so cool to see these things in person and to share them with Asia. She is a little sponge for knowledge and she learned so much on this trip.

 We got this amazing hotel suite that was big enough for all 10 of us to stay in just outside of Washington DC. We did a lot of driving.

The morning of the 2nd day was by far the worst day of the trip. I believe the temperature was close to 100 degrees, and the humidity was so high.  The kids all hated the cemetery.  It was so far to walk to see the things we wanted to see.  They'd all gotten to bed late, and everyone was grumpy. They were mildly interested in seeing JFK's grave.

Tomb of the unknown soldier

We headed indoors for the afternoon at the Museum of American History. Highlights for Asia included the collection of First Lady's dresses, Abraham Lincoln's top hat (Asia says he is coming back for that when he gets resurrected), the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, the Nauvoo sunstone from the original Nauvoo temple and the Star Spangled Banner.

We visited the Washington Monument and then walked to the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. The girls were most excited about Washington and Lincoln because they had read books about them and knew more about who they were.

 We also stopped to see the Korean War Memorial

The Graduate

My little baby doll has been doing the Upstart Program five days a week for the last year. She is an amazing reader and her math skills have really taken off. I'm so proud of all of her hard work.

More Summer Fun

 Our friends JJ & Co. invited us over to ride horses. Red Fish LOVES horses. 

 New Fish was so excited to be up on the horse. I think this is the first time she has ridden a horse without having it tied to something.

More Artgroup & Projects

Waterparks

We've been to water parks a few times this summer with friends but this is our only picture- too busy having fun. Red Fish is an absolute dare devil. She will go down anything and it freaks me out. She is so much braver than I was at her age- nothing scares her. New Fish is more timid but still impressive with her daring feats. I have so much fun being their mom.

Donut Falls

F

riends from birth

 We have been trying to do a lot of hiking this summer- almost every week. We went to Donut Falls with our friends and had a picnic.

4th of July

 
We went to my parent's lake house for the 4th of July so that we could participate in all of the small town things. The girls were in the little parade. Then they tried their hand at the chicken catch and the greased pig competition. Red Fish really wanted to win and it pretty much ruined her day that she wasn't going home with a farm animal. She is usually a very mellow happy kid but this 4th of July did not go her way and she let everyone know. As you can see from the pictures, she was having a rough day. New Fish was all about the balloon artist and running around with her cousins.

The girls tie dyed shirts for the family the week before.

Inside Out

Red Fish loved this movie but it was almost more than her sensitive soul could take. She sobbed and sobbed when the imaginary friend died. New Fish loved the movie and thought Joy was fantastic.