Washington, D.C.: Day 1

Ryan has been working for the last 2 years on getting his CPCU for Insurance (like a CPA for accountants). He read 8 text books (seriously--cover to cover!), took and passed 8 lengthy exams, and Liberty Mutual rewarded him (and me!) BIG TIME for all his hard work and dedication. They flew us all-expenses paid (I know, disgusting!) for 5 nights to Washington, D.C.! It was a conference for Insurance guys and gals across the country to come to and for the families to tag along. We opted for the kiddos NOT to come with us,  so we cannot say thank you enough to our parents for trading off the kiddos for 6 days so we could have one of the best vacations ever! And thanks to our neighbors Stan and Dianne for keeping our 4-legged child! :)

Before I continue, let me warn you. This is going to be overly detailed. I know nobody wants to know every detail of this trip, but I want to document while it's fresh on my mind so I can remember everything we did! So if you want to take this journey with me, read on... :)

We flew out of Chattanooga after dropping the kiddos off and were SO EXCITED for a few days just the 2 of us! It was a super short direct flight--1 1/2 hours! Now everytime we travel from Knoxville to Chattanooga we can say, "Hey, we could be in Washington, D.C. by now!" :)

Our hotel was near a quaint little eating spot that had outdoor seating called "Open City." Let me just stop here and say the weather was UNBELIEVABLE. So we ate outside Thursday night, and had such a great experience we went back Friday morning! Ryan wanted to document his Eggs Benedict with Salmon and Avacado. :)

Friday was my 30th Birthday! What a way to spend my b'day, huh!?

We started the day walking around the National Mall.

Washington Monument:

I haven't been to D.C. since my Junior Year of High School, and I totally remember taking this picture. I'll have to dig it back up to compare. :)

Let me please talk about the best App to get on any trip. It's called Autostitch, and thanks to Ryan's buddy Lon, we knew about it before we left. We used it the entire trip. You take separate pictures and it "stitches" the pictures together like a panoramic picture. Holy cow, how cool is this!?

My sad attempt:

World War II Memorial:

We found out that many designs for this memorial were rejected because it blocked the view from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. So that is why it is so open in the middle.

Autostitch:

Washington Monument from WWII:

Ryan's Grandfather Bruce served in WWII and went in right after D-Day, so this picture was important to him!

 Lincoln Memorial from WWII Memorial:

 

Lincoln Memorial:

 Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool from Lincoln Memorial:

Spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech. So amazing to stand here!!

(You can see "I have a dream" etched in the steps.)

Since it was just the 2 of us we did a lot of self portraits or just 1 of us in the pictures!

Natural History Museum:

This pic was for our elephant-lover Henley Jane!

I was so excited for this museum because of Night at the Museum starring this guy!

They had a photography exhibit--obviously my favorite! And Ryan's, too!

There was an insect and arachnid section--sponsored by Orkin! Haha!!

View from 2nd floor:

 

They had a gem exhibit with some unbelievable diamonds. I am not a diamond girl, but there were some girls "Ooh"ing and "Aahh"ing the whole time! :) Apparently the world's largest diamond is here.

They had a display from the recent trapped miners from October of 2010. I remember watching these men being rescued one by one when I was up throughout the night with 1-week-old Henley Jane. This is a checklist of all their names--it looks to me like someone checked each name off as they came to the surface! It was in a glass case but didn't have an explanation:

Whale exhibit:

I am standing in front of a GIANT SQUID!

 The glare was hard to get a good pic, but it is HUGE!

This is a ginormous snake (Titanoboa) they found fossils of. It's eating an alligator, people!!! It said one huge meal could last them A YEAR.

 

We ended the day eating at a fancy smancy restaurant called Bourbon Steak in the Four Seasons hotel!

The Manager had a birthday card for me when we got to the restaurant (wow!) and a fun dessert with a candle. What a 30th birthday!

After dinner, we stopped at a Starbucks with wifi to video chat with the kiddos. This was Henley's pitiful reaction when she saw us!

Lots more to come later this week!

Florida Trip #2: Beach Pictures

Before I get too far behind, I want to post our pictures from our Panama City, FL trip. I have lots to sort through, so while I'm doing that, I'll share sweet pictures of the kiddos from our last night. It rained all day so we just threw this change of clothes in the car in case we could get an evening picture opportunity. We did!

 

Still with the Kung Fu. :)
 

 

My sweet blonde girl. Her hair almost blends in to the sand!

 

Playing chase:
 

 

My new favorite of them!

                                   

Unplanned family pics:

More to come!

Preschool

We have been so busy this summer that it hasn't sunk in that my little boy who I have spent every day with for the last 3 1/2 years would be leaving me 2 days a week to start Preschool. Any cute saying he says, any song he sings, any letter he's learned, I'm the one that taught him. I haven't missed anything in his life (except for little getaway trips with Ryan). So Monday night when I realized I would be missing him and someone else was going to be teaching him... let's just say there were tears. :) My neighbor Dianne came over to give me a hug and I LOST it! I had been holding back tears all evening (I think it was a compilation of Ryan not being here to share this with me, my baby growing up, me realizing how much I was going to miss Gavin during the day, etc.). But thankfully I got all my crying out the night before so that I could be nothing but EXCITED on the morning of his first day!

We chose his new tractor shirt to wear, so he brought me his mini tractors from Cars to take a picture. I think this is my new favorite of him:

My sweet not-so-little boy:

He was super excited. We read The Berenstain Bears Go to School the night before and I think it got him really excited! 

(Side note: After school, he grabbed the book and compared his classroom to the one in the book. Precious!)

 

Aunt Amanda came over that morning to see us off since Ryan couldn't be there! Thanks for taking this pic, Amanda!

 He is going to a local church's preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-1:30. We are staying busy with our new schedule (lots of running around for me and Henley), but it's been a great week!

I brought him into his class, and he went right in and started playing. Like no looking back! I said, "I love you, buddy!" and he (without looking at me) said, "Love you, too! Bye!" I think he was ready for this big step!

                                                   

Ryan sadly had to miss this boy's first week of Preschool. He is out of town on business, so since I would want to hear straight from Gavin's mouth about his 1st day, I interviewed him for Ryan to see. Enjoy:

(p.s. This did not get on the video, but apparently the big news of the day was that a little boy got in trouble. But Gavin said he chose to do the right thing. Way to go, bud! We had a long discussion before he went that there may be some kids whose parents forgot to tell their kids to be kind and to do the right thing. So let's see if this boy can remember the right thing all year! :) )

Before I close, I have to share my dorkiness. I remember loving getting little treats from my students on the 1st day and so I wanted to do a little something for Gavin's teachers. So we made homemade Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins and wrapped them up with a tag that says, "There's 'muffin' like great teachers!" Oh my.

Can I just say I am having a blast packing Gavin's lunches! He is requesting sandwiches in different shapes of cars and trucks (today it was a monster truck) and he helps me pack it the night before with yummy treats.

First week down--Gavin loves it, I love his teachers, love that he is getting uninterrupted learning time every day, and I love spending one-on-one time with Henley Jane! More updates on our fun activities as mother/daughter to come!