The Montana Carsons and the Texas Lees Visit Virginia

We were super excited when we found out that Garrett and Krystal's family were coming to visit us for almost two weeks at the beginning of October. It only got better when we heard Adri and Russ were going to come so that they were here for five of the days when the Montana Carsons were here, so the cousins could play together.

It was grandparent (as well as cousin) heaven! Kent had a minor hernia operation while the family was visiting, so he was able to be home recuperating on sick leave for three days.

Here you can see the Montana Carson kids are keeping him company.

I took many opportunities to read bedtime stories.

We like taking guests to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. It's close by, it's free, and it's awesome!

 There are two places especially for children in the museum. In this section the kids can fish and try on colonial style uniforms.

In another section there are coloring stations, books and legos the kids can play with. Daniel found a uniform to try on, too.

Not every family can get their picture taken in a Marine landing craft!

Granddad got out his bag of tricks and let the kids shoot off alka-seltzer rockets.

 Makayla and Daniel needed a little snack after chasing down the bottle rockets.

October is a good month for visitors because the weather is usually great.

The day after Russ and Adri's family arrived we went to the top of the Washington Monument.

Kent dropped us off but didn't go up the monument because there wasn't anywhere to park. He took the car back to Arlington Cemetery.  Russ was pushing Grace in the stroller and got ahead of us, so we didn't get a picture of all the Lee family together by the Washington monument.

 Here's the entrance on the inside. We were the last group of the day to go to the top.

This is also inside the monument.

Here's the view from the top, looking down on the WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. 

 The Jefferson Monument.

The Lees and Montana Carsons walked to the Lincoln Memorial after we went to the top so they could get some photos.

These next photos are just two cute toddler grandchildren in their high chairs.

 Photo bomb by Sophia!

 This was just after Gracie woke up one morning.

 Adam fell asleep during lunch one day. I can honestly say none of my children ever fell asleep in their high chair!

Several years ago when the Stinson girls were here we bought a little bench to use when the grandchildren come to visit. We brought it up to the family room, and it got lots of use.

 Gracie especially loved the bench that was just her size.

 Some older cousin bonding time while the little siblings took their naps.

 The five cousins all together--a difficult shot to get!

Within seconds it degenerated down to this......

We brought out Adri's Barbie house that Kent and Tyler had made for her many years ago.

Adri and Russ went to New York City for three days and two nights, and Grace gave us a run for our money getting her to sleep through the night. One night we just brought her into bed with us. Adri was worried about how Grace would get along since she's such a Mamma's girl, but she did surprisingly well. I'm sure it helped that she had three cousins to distract her and play with her.

While Adri and Russ were in NYC we went to the Stafford Civil War Park. Not only was our county the boyhood home of George Washington, there was a Union encampment here during the Civil War after the Battle of Fredericksburg

There wasn't that much to see, but the grandchildren had fun walking in the woods and picking up leaves and sticks. This was inside a re-created shelter that was used during the winter of 1863.

I had to get this picture of Daniel with his Marine Corps Museum map. He carried it around with him all week and loved looking at it.

A few photos from Sunday after church.

This is one of my favorite pictures!

The older cousins helped me in the kitchen while Grace and Adam were taking their naps.

 We made some food, then had a Crystal Light tea party on the back deck.

Adri and Russ got home on Sunday night, and on Monday morning, (Columbus Day) we went to the National Zoo. Parking was crazy, but we finally found a spot. It was such a beautiful day I guess everyone had the same idea about going to the zoo.

We mostly went to see the pandas. Sophia loves pandas, and we were celebrating her birthday.

 I'm glad Grace and I could get to be buddies while her parents were out of town.

 Makayla was so happy to have girls to play with since at home she only has brothers.

I love this picture and think everyone looks really good in it. It does bother me that Garrett and Russ aren't near their own families and Kent isn't next to me. But when a stranger is taking the picture and someone else was waiting to pose in the same place, we couldn't take too long to get arranged!

After the zoo we went to the DC temple visitor's center.

Kent and I hadn't been inside the visitor's center for awhile and didn't know that they added a children's interactive area. 

After we got home that evening we had Sophia's birthday dinner and birthday cake out on the back deck. For some reason I don't have any pictures of Sophia with the completed pink strawberry cake I made for her birthday, but here's a picture of her helping me to frost it.

And here's the church bag I made for her to take to Primary with her. (and a photo bomb by Gracie!)

The time went by too quickly and we were sad when everyone had to return home on October 13th. We had a GREAT time with the Montana Carsons and the Lees. Come again soon! 

September Visit to Houston

I took a quick trip to Houston to see the Lees and the Stinsons. Lissa picked me up from the airport and then we met Adri and her girls to go out to lunch. We actually met at the Joanne's fabric store since Lissa wanted to look for some curtain fabric for Kiera's room. 

  Adri had told Sophia there was going to be a surprise for her (me) when they went to the fabric store. But when she saw me, Sophia just clung to her mommy and wouldn't come to me. It was very surprising, because Sophia is usually the grandchild who is most excited to see me. She warmed up quickly and soon we were best buddies. (Lots of head leaning going on in these photos!)

Gracie has mastered the art of drinking with a straw (she actually has two for maximum effectiveness) and is quite a pro at it.

On Saturday was Kiera's first soccer game. It was a hot and sunny day, and the sport fields were crowded! Jason ended up being one of the coaches of the team.

Savannah and I were there to cheer Kiera on.

 Later in the afternoon the Lees came over and we had another Crystal Light tea party.

 I made some mini-eclairs, chocolate covered strawberries, aqua colored jello, and crackers and cheese for our snack.

Of course we were all wearing our bead necklaces.

Fifteen-month-old Gracie wanted to be in on the fun,

 as did the Stinsons' new little kitties.

That night we had a little birthday celebration for me since my birthday had been a couple of weeks earlier. I didn't have a cake on my birthday, so I made one for myself with peanut butter frosting in the layers and crushed peanut butter cups on top. It was DELICIOUS. It may be one of the best cakes I've ever eaten. 

 The granddaughters helped me out with blowing out the candles.

This was taken at church on Sunday. At first Grace wasn't sure she wanted me to hold her, but she warmed up to me as the days went by.

After Sunday dinner at the Lees house we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Below is a good picture of everyone except Grace and me.

 Grace was behind Savannah in the stroller, and I was taking the picture.

On Monday I went to watch Sophia at her gymnastics class. I took this picture afterwards when the kids were playing. I thought the girls both had cute expressions on their faces.

 This is a fun picture of Adri with her two little sweeties making dinner in the kitchen that night. I made Kiera's bedroom curtains and gave Kiera piano lessons while I was in Texas.

 I had to leave early Tuesday morning, but Sophia wanted to get up to go with Adri to take me to the airport. She was sleepy and apparently cranky later in the day, but I thought it was sweet that she wanted to come.

Another fun, whirlwind trip to Houston!

Cool Places We Went to in Virginia in September

We just can't get enough of the cool places to see and the history to learn about in Virginia. In September we took a couple of overnight trips, first to southern Virginia in Norfolk, when Kent had a TDY there and I tagged along. On the way home from Norfolk we stopped at Fort Monroe, and found out some pretty interesting things.

 For example, Fort Monroe is along the Chesapeake Bay and was the largest stone fortification ever built in the United States. It was part of a series of forts James Monroe had built when he was president.

 It was held by the Union all during the Civil War, even though it was located in a Confederate state.

 It was the place where Jefferson Davis was held prisoner after the Civil War.

Here's the cell where he stayed.

 Robert E. Lee also was assigned to Fort Monroe long before the Civil War.

 Speaking of Pres. Monroe, I went to visit a museum dedicated to him in the nearby town of Fredericksburg. Even though I'd been there before it was good to review facts about his life. At one point he worked as a lawyer in the town of Fredericksburg, so they claim him as a native son.

I had to get a picture of me with the antique piano!

 Later in the month we took an overnight trip with our good friends, the Andrews. They drove over from Yorktown and we met them at Appomattox Court House. The first thing we did was to join a walking tour with a park ranger telling about the events leading up to the surrender of Robert E. Lee.

This is the room where the surrender was signed. The furnishings are reproductions.

This is the outside of the house. We'd been to Appomattox Courthouse several years ago, but wanted to go again because this year was the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.

Not too far away is Poplar Forest, a home designed and owned by Thomas Jefferson.

The inside isn't furnished because it's being painstakingly restored using methods and tools that would have been used in the 1700's when it was first built.

 Our next stop was the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia.

 The didn't spend much time there because we got there just a few minutes before closing time. We'd also been to see it on the same trip we went to see Appomattox Courthouse in November of 2009.

We spent the night in Roanoke, and headed out the next morning to see the "Natural Bridge", a place Kent and I hadn't been to yet.

 This natural wonder was once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

The photo below with the people walking under it gives a good perspective of how big it is.

On the same property near the natural bridge is a re-created native American living history village, built to authentically replicate the dwellings and tools used many years ago. 

 The woman in the picture below is a member of the Monacan tribe, and was very interesting telling about her culture.

Our next stop was Lexington, Virginia. It's home to the Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute. Below is Lee Chapel.

 It houses the tomb of Robert E. Lee, who became president of the University after the Civil War.

 I didn't know that George S. Patton and George C Marshall both attended VMI. There was a football game going on as we drove by, and that's what you can see in the background.

 The buildings of the school look like a castle. Kind of looks like the logo for the Army Corps of Engineers.

 Lexington, VA, was also home to Stonewall Jackson, and he's buried in the cemetery there.

 From the sublime to the ridiculous, our last stop was "Foamhenge". I saw it listed on Google maps and found out about it on the internet. It was created several years ago and isn't wearing well.

 As you can see, the paint is coming off the "rocks." As a matter of fact, we drove past the site because there wasn't a sign identifying where it was and it couldn't be seen from the road. We finally found it because another car was pulled off to the side of the road and assumed that was what they were going to see.

We're glad to live in a state that's so rich in history and natural wonders!