Thursday, July 30, 2015

Last Week...

All of the following are totally true stories from the past week:

1.  I employed one of my children to help me eat healthier this week by offering them a small monetary bonus  if he would discourage me from eating junk and offer me healthy snacks in its place.   His first day on the job involved scolding me for eating crackers, handing me a bowl of raspberries after witnessing me wandering aimlessly through the kitchen,  and begging me to take him out for gelato while we were out running errands.   Meanwhile, another kid is vying for his job and is constantly offering to make me smoothies.

2.   Glen always picks the craziest weeks to go out of town.   Or maybe they're crazy because he's out of town...I guess I'm not really sure.  So last week we had the genealogy camp at the National Archives which brought me downtown every single day, the Young Women held a charity bake sale, our ward hosted the stake dance, one of my YW counselors had a death in the family,  my sister-in-law arrived into town, we had activities Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, Emma was giving a talk in sacrament meeting, I had early meetings on Sunday morning, and I was teaching in YW.   By Sunday night, I was wiped out to the extreme and slept very, very, very soundly...through Glen arriving back home and through a thunderstorm!



3.   The other day one of my kids excitedly called out to me that the orangutan she was reading about was born the same year as me.  She thought it was a cool coincidence that I had an orangutan twin somewhere in the world.  Another kid, though, overhearing the conversation, said in a shocked tone of voice, "Whoa!  Is that the oldest orangutan ever to live?!"  

4.   Glen's been working night and day on a deal at work and now it is finally done.

5.  My kids learned a lot about genealogy research at the National Archives camp, so we decided to round off all that knowledge with a meeting with a family history guru from our ward.   After a couple of hours, Cami, Emma, and Adam all found names to take to the temple.


6.  WE've been through 20 lbs. of butter,  10 lbs. of cream cheese, over 16-oz. of vanilla, and untold amounts of sugar and flour over the last three weeks.    I guess a  20-dozen cupcake order, a wedding cake topper, a bake sale, and a week-long cupcake camp at our house will do that.









Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Blast Off!

One of the best parts about driving downtown every single day in a week for the kids' genealogy camp,  is that I'm suddenly becoming a lot more familiar with the lay of the land in DC.  While we've come downtown countless times over the course of the 18-years we've lived in the East, but  normally we are there to do one thing and one thing only.    I go straight from parking to a museum, then home again.   Last week, though, I got to experience the city more as a feast than a nibble.   I parked by the National Archives every day, then had to figure out our way to all over the Mall and back again.

On Thursday while the kids were at the camp, Ellie and I trekked over to the Tidal Basin and tried out the pedal boats!  

Our legs were burning with the effort, but it was cool to see the city from a new vantage point on the water!


After camp we all went over to the Air and Space Museum where Ellie got to be the honorary astronaut for the day during a presentation on the International Space Station.  


She made a cute little astronaut, but I must say that I'm glad she didn't blast off into space...

because I've been rather enjoying all the time we've been spending together and waiting for her to return from a trip to outer space would have been a pain!  

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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Genealogy and Foxes

While Adam, Emma, and friends continue with their week at genealogy camp at the National Archives...

Ellie and I are enjoying our daily mornings on the town.  

We're doing a ton of walking around, which is something Ellie doesn't normally love, but she's being a good sport about it and hasn't complained a bit!   On Wednesday we hit up the Library of Congress (a good 1-1/4 mile walk from the National Archives), then did some watercolor painting in the Botanic Gardens, but weirdly, I have no photos of either.  

After the camp was done for the day, we all went on a little stroll through the sculpture gardens.


Then explored the Natural History Museum for a while.


The kids enjoyed some silly photo-ops...


which got sillier...


and sillier....


and sillier...


and sillier!  



After we finished exploring, we went to the airport to pick up my sister-in-law and nephews.     They've been living in England for the last few months and we were SOOOOOOO excited to see them again!    

After the airport, we got home just in time for me to order pizza for dinner and head off to mutual.   I then had a horrible night's rest when we discovered first-hand exactly what the fox says and it wasn't anywhere near as melodic as that dang song that gets stuck in my head far too easily!   


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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

How to Charm a Butterfly in a Few Easy Steps

In case you ever wondered how you can get to know a butterfly a little better, Ellie is here to tell you how in just a few easy steps.   

 1. Go to the Natural History Museum in DC on a Tuesday and get free admission into the Butterfly Pavilion.  

2.   Wear bright colorful clothing.

3.  Get warmed up for your butterfly meeting session by getting acquainted with other large insects.


4.  Sit quietly and patiently observe butterflies in action.  

5.   Approach butterflies gently with a small flower petal in hand.

6.  When all else fails, start walking around and looking at other things and wait for the butterfly to land on your shoulder.   

Voila!   Guaranteed success!    

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See below for more butterfly acquaintances made today.    











Monday, July 20, 2015

Ocean of Balls


While Emma and Adam attend a  camp in DC this week, Ellie and I are exploring the town every day while they're there!  Our first stop today was to the National Building Museum, where they have a special exhibit called, "The Beach."   Except it has nothing to do with water.   

It's a ginormous ball pit designed to resemble a beach.   It starts shallow and gets gradually deeper and they even have floaties, lifeguards, and beach chairs.  

We  "swam"....

and jumped around in the balls.   

Luckily we had arrived to the exhibit right as it opened, so we had some to enjoy the balls before it got busy.   After a while though, it got really crowded to the point of it starting to feel somewhat overwhelming.  And I freaked out anytime Ellie dipped her head under the balls in fear that either someone would jump on her  or that she'd have a seizure and sink even deeper (especially since she was having a ton of them that day).   I think she was starting to get annoyed that I'd grab her arms every time her head dipped below the surface.  

Crowded as it was, I have to admit that  I was  quite surprised (and somewhat delighted) when I looked over and saw a dog enjoying a little dip in the ocean of balls as well...

He was a service dog belonging to a blind man, and it was actually really cool to observe their interactions together.... 

but it was shortly thereafter that we decided it was time to go.   
It's hard work playing in a ball pit and we came out with sore muscles and scrapes and bruises on our legs.   But it was a fun memory and I loved the mommy-daughter time that we got to enjoy!    

Stay tuned for more DC adventures to come....



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ADDENDUM:   
Cami didn't come along for our ball pit adventure, but went the very next day with her friends (Katy and Matt).  

Here are her pictures:  




After they were finished at the ball pit, they headed to a portrait gallery where they found pictures of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.   

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