New York!

Blogging, live from New York City!

We took the train from DC, to Penn Station. It was a nice ride. We've never traveled by train before, and we all enjoyed it. We made stops in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

We checked into the hotel, and then headed out. First stop, the Empire State Building!

The view is amazing!

The boys really liked it too.

Next up, Toys R Us in Times Square. Quinn is being chased by a dinosaur!!

Wow! There's a whole ferris wheel inside of the store! Quinn was impressed. Riley remembered it from his last trip, when he was 4.

We wandered all around Times Square. Super cool, but super crowded!

Lights and people and cars and noise! Really cool!

To see the rest of my pictures, CLICK HERE.

Everything George

Today we took a boat cruise down the Washington Channel, to the Potomac River, and on to Mount Vernon. It was all about George today! General George Washington.

This great big tree was pretty impressive. Can you spot Quinn?

Posing like a president?

This is the mansion of George Washington! We took a tour of the inside. It has 10 bedrooms, which is not huge by today's standards, but in the late 1700s, it was pretty spectacular. I found it fascinating. Some of his belongings are still in the house. Super cool.

We also visited the tomb of Martha and George Washington, as they are buried at Mount Vernon.

This was really impressive to me. I mean, he's there, buried, the REAL guy! That's just amazing to me.

Martha is on the left, and George is on the right.

Today concludes the DC portion of our trip. We've had a great time, and I believe we will need to come back again. There's just so much to DO!!! Tomorrow we take the train to New York. Oh there's lots of excitement about that one too! If you want to see the rest of my pictures from Mount Vernon, CLICK HERE.

DC Highlights

I apologize in advance for the vast number of pictures in this post. Since I haven't blogged any of our sightseeing days, I am getting caught up. We are still in DC, having a great time. The weather has been perfect, well except for today. It was hot-a high in the 90s and it was sticky. We are just not used to sweating so much in our little part of CA. Here are some highlights of our trip.

We went to the National Zoo. There are 11 of us total. Here are some of the 11.

We saw pandas at the zoo!

We took a bus tour and saw the Capitol. We also went back for an inside tour of the Capitol, on another day.

On the same bus tour, we saw the Lincoln Memorial. Impressive.

At the Smithsonian American History Museum, we saw Abe Lincoln's hat. He was wearing this hat on the night he was assassinated.

Riley purchased the Hope Diamond at the American History Museum. Ok, it's not the REAL Hope Diamond, just a replica.

Quinn got on the ground, on a real slab of Route 66, also at the American History Museum. I think that museum was my favorite.

We visited the White House. This is the Pennsylvania Ave. side.

We also visited the other side of the White House!

After we checked out the train station, we walked to the Capitol for our tour.

We saw the Washington Monument. Kevin ran up to it and touched it.

We went to Arlington National Cemetery. We visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watched the changing of the guard.

Arlington National Cemetery.

This is the gravesite of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. There are two of their children buried here as well, a boy who lived only two days, and a daughter. The flame above them burns eternally.

We went to the National Art Gallery as well.

We have been very, very busy. Tomorrow is our last full day in DC, and then it's NYC time!

To see more pictures, Click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE...or not. lol

Our Nation's Capitol

We are in Washington DC! We arrived this evening. The weather here was perfect when we landed-not a trace of humidity! We are hoping that will last...HA! We flew Virgin America, and I will definitely fly with them again! What a nice airline! We had a good flight, and I am feeling better. Maybe I didn't mention that I have been sick with food poisoning from bad blueberries? It was horrible! I don't think I have ever felt worse in my life. I was really worried about the flight, being stuck on an airplane for 5 hours. It was fine though. I haven't been eating, just liquids, but when we got to the hotel, and went out for dinner, I had part of a turkey burger, and so far, so good. TMI?

ANYway, Quinn packed his coonskin hat for the trip.

Cute little critter huh?

Look at the flag painted at the end of the plane's wing.

Two boys, happy to be on their way to DC!

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States of America!

We are staying at a Hampton Inn near Chinatown. We walked down there for dinner (Fuddruckers). I love the mix of old buildings and new buildings.

Oh yeah, and this is the view from our hotel room! Can you see the point of the Washington Monument?

The heart of Chinatown. Impressive huh?

I think that I am going to get to bed. We are on West Coast time on the East Coast, and we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow!

Oh yeah, and did I mention that there are 11 of us on this trip? It's Kevin's parents anniversary, and they were kind enough to bring us, and his sister and her family, and themselves, along to help them celebrate!

This Week

It's been a busy yet low-key kind of week.

It was about a jillion degrees on Monday (ok, 96), so when a friend invited us to swim at her swim club, the boys and I were game! They had lots of fun playing in the pool.

I think Quinn's feet are adorable.

I finished my quilt! Finally! It only took a couple of years. I just had to finish binding, so I sat down and did it.

The back of the quilt has a black & white pattern.

I pulled the suitcases out, to get ready for our upcoming trip (DC and NYC), and look at what I found! The boys socks and underwear from who knows when? It's newish socks and underwear too! It might be from spring break last, LAST school year. I just know that the underwear and socks no longer fits Riley, so I put it all in Quinn's drawer-he doesn't grow so his stuff still fits.

We dogsat this week, for a friend. This is Gracie. Adorable huh?

This is Miley. Adorable again huh? Both boys loved having them, and tonight they each were missing their bed buddy.

I made a bunch of bracelets. These go together very easily.

My pile of stuff for our DC and NYC trip. OF COURSE my Obama is going with me!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! We headed off this morning for History Park in San Jose. We took my parents along with us. My mom, Riley and I were there in May for the Walk Now for Autism. We thought it would be fun to visit again. It's such a cute place, a museum of sorts. There are all of these old buildings from all over the place. They were all moved to this park and it creates a little city. Cute.

This is a pretty cool tower. It's right outside the Pacific Hotel.

Looking up, into the tower.

My dad and mom!

Riley and Quinn, getting ready to head West-oh wait, we are West. Nevermind.

This is a Viet Museum. Just pay no mind to the AC unit in the upstairs window.

Enthusiastic (?) students in the one room school house.

Look out! Train!!

Old fashioned gas station-isn't it cute?

The boys got to pan for gold. GOLD I say! It was a nice, warm day-finally! If you want to see the rest of my pictures, CLICK HERE. We went to Mimi's for lunch afterward. I LOVE their corn chowder soup!

We went to Buca di Beppo for dinner tonight, for my in-law's 45th wedding anniversary, and Father's Day. I don't have to eat for the rest of the week.

It was a nice, busy day, spent with family.