Every Picture Tells A Story

We got some funny and some special pictures, start with an ever watchful Harry on the train

and on the tour bus

Jack had a pensive moment while touring
and did not really want me documenting it

Harry was not in the mood to pose anymore while visiting mummies

Did Jack's efforts really pay off?

It looks like Jack may be getting to that age

I realized after looking back at these pix that I have the exact same shot of me with them when they were about a month old - each of us holding the other in a circle :wub:

Jack taking a picture of Harry taking a picture of us at Jefferson Mem

This one looks nice,

but ended up like this - so tired of posing (hugging)!

Jack trying to be as tall as Dean outside FDR

Love this photo at MLK

Harry had been copying all the mask expressions at NA Museum, the spear was a fluke

They tried to think of a way they could do something as big as The Wright Brothers

Harry decided to take on the train at American History

Rod Stewart

And we caught every sight

The boys wanted to take a trip to the nation's capitol to see all the things they have been learning about in school this year - they chose it over a party, so off we went during Spring Break (note to self: not the best time to visit because EVERYONE is visiting then)

We caught the bus a lot of times, and Harry perfected his chill

while Jack mastered strap hanging Regardless, we made the best of it. Jack even survived a near miss with a reckless taxi driver which put us all into a more appreciative frame of mind.
They have done a unit on Native Americans, so we checked out the new museum
Harry still loves VW's, but none of us had ever seen one like this - it was completely covered in beads...pretty groovy

The displays we saw were a bit disappointing, but we checked out all the tribes they covered in class: Pueblo

Lakota

and Powhatan

Harry was on a mission to see all the fountains in town....think he found most of them!

The Washington Monument was still closed for repairs after last year's earthquake, but it was still beautiful - hopefully they will get to go up in it next trip

Harry was determined to see the Bee display we'd seen with friends a few years ago.

He thought their exit was cool, but even better once he took the picture and got all those cars in the shot ;-)

Our self-portrait in front of the fountains at the National Gallery of Art, where Dean and I posed in the last century

My three boys in front of Lincoln Memorial

Harry really liked this fountain at the FDR memorial

Jack insisted that "Washington DC is the BEST place in America!"

Well, we caught everything...except when Angry Birds intervened

One of the biggest hits was our hotel and the sweet lady who took care of our room - the boys wrote her notes every day.

The real thrill of the hotel, however, was the amazing koi pond and double waterfall

We even got to visit with a favorite friend who had moved away - Mrs. Sharon used to be the postmistress in our little town, and now she's organizing things in DC. She's still spoiling them rotten!

Thanx to Dean for suffering the crowds and getting us to all the places they wanted to see!

Bob Seger's Sightseeing

Just noticed this is my 1000th post!

Eight Years Ago (8 Days A Week)

From the very first minutes,

to the very last 7yo hugs....

....it's been an amazing, silly adventure

Some of my favorite, most precious memories....

Meeting Granny Lou - I always dreamt that she would know them,

she brought some of their first true laughs

Their personalities shone thru right from the beginning
there's been a lotta love...

and a lotta posing....

and a lotta 'tude

You make us happy, frustrated, proud, tired and hopeful. These last weeks have brought glimpses of lessons learned and fun to come - cannot wait for the next chapter....love you both so much!


The Beatles' 8 Days A Week

Christmas Decorating

The advents are up, with a few new things this year - this new tree has extra deep boxes, so the boys are enjoying some real treats!

And I just discovered that the wonderful people at Lego's have yearly advent calendars - made it super easy to fill our favorite light house with a surprise each day.

So far, so fun! Hope you and yours are having a merry beginning ~

Homestead's Christmas Decorating

With eyes that watch the world

During our January trip to NYC, we each picked a special thing to do - Harry's dream was to see Van Gogh's Starry Night, which he had been studying in his art class. We tried the MoMA Family Programs which focus on certain aspects of their collections (and it is FREE!) - we lucked into a lesson on "lines" and joined a nice group of 4 other families to take in some classics.

The boys couldn't resist the chance to be silly while waiting our turn
First up was Harry's favorite - what a wonderful opportunity for him to see the real deal that he had been learning about in school. Each person was encouraged to recreate the lines that resonated with them

Harry titled his drawing "Strait Liner by Harry" (and really did enjoy it, despite this expression)

He thoroughly enjoyed the lively discussion and introducing Dean to his favorite painting (so far)

Pablo Picasso's Girl before a Mirror was the second stop on our tour and had Jack making observations and asking questions

We saw so many different artists and started a few interesting discussions

This was the best 'find' of the trip - and it all started with Harry's experiences in art back in our little hometown!

Don McLean's Vincent