Spring Break, Family Style

Spring Break was just so much fun this year mostly because..... my family came to visit! I hadn't seen my dad and two sisters since last summer and they (along with my Mom, of course) came to visit for a whole week. They came Thursday the 14th. The next day, the kids all had their last day of school before the break, so we took advantage and headed to DC for the day (my wonderful hubby stayed home with Baron and so he could be home when the kids got home from school) and I just had to bring baby M along. I didn't even pull my camera out that day because my mom was taking all the pictures and I just figured I would get them off her camera before they left. I remembered to do that about an hour after they left to go home. Darn it. I'll get them from her and add them someday! Anyway, my sisters had never been to DC, so that day we went around to all of the monuments. It never ceases to amaze me and we had such a great time. I had been looking forward to taking them to my favorite burger joint around.... Good Stuff Eatery. I got my toasted marshmallow shake, of course. Delish! Good thing we walked around so much that day. Hopefully we burned off at least half of the calories we consumed!

I actually did find these two pictures on my phone from Friday. I hadn't been to the Vietnam Memorial yet and it was so touching. The amazing feeling of sacrifice and reverence there was thick in the air. I loved it and it makes me so incredibly grateful for our awesome country!

The weekend was pretty relaxing and we shopped a bit, watched a lot of movies, and just spent time together.

On Monday, we headed up to DC again, this time to go to the museums. We had a picnic lunch and then went to the Museum of American History. I had browsed through it quickly when Rachel was here in February, but we got to see everything this time and it was just so much fun.

The kids had a blast



This is Andy's fist next to a mold of Lincoln's

I had to get this of Andy in front of the Embassy of Spain (Andy went to Spain on his mission) See that yellow and red flag? That is the flag of Spain!

After we were finished at the museum, we decided to walk to Sprinkles Cupcakes where they supposedly have the best cupcakes around. I have always wanted to go to Georgetown Cupcakes because I have heard they are amazing as well. They are located on the same street as Sprinkles, but they are further away. We're pretty lazy, so we went to Sprinkles. Oh well, we'll try Georgetown next time :)

On our walk on the way there, I saw this sign for an LDS church, right in the middle of the city. Crazy. I never thought I wanted to live in a big city, I always thought I was a suburbs kind of girl, but after spending several days in the city, I think I would love it. Not with 5 kids of course, but I think it would be so much fun to be either single in a city or newly married. I kind of wish I would have been more adventurous when Andy and I were first married. After mentioning this to Andy, he reminded me that we could always do it when we were empty-nesters. Something to look forward to, eh? :)

We finally made it to the cupcake shop and tried a bunch of different flavors. They were incredible. I wanted to eat 5. I didn't though :)It was a long day. Here we are riding the metro home. Cute little buggers...

The next day (Tuesday) was Andy's birthday and the day we went to Mt. Vernon, home of Washington. We had never been and it was incredible. A must see for anyone who comes to visit (plus, I would love to go back!)

When we first got there, we walked down to the docks and took a river cruise up the Potomac. It was a little chilly and foggy, but still beautiful. I got my dad to go and tell the captain that it was Andy's birthday and the whole ship sang to him. It was a lot of fun.

My Daddy, Kaylie, Mom, and Suzanne

My kids love their Aunties

Fort Washinton

Washinton's home

Here is Martha and George's tomb. It is a big family cemetary and there are a lot of graves here.

The farm is beautiful and they still have animals there that work the farm

I can't believe the incredible grounds and how well and beautifully everything is kept up. It's just so peaceful there and there is so much history. I couldn't get enough.

This is a slave house. Washinton had hundreds of slaves.





Because it is spring, there were so many baby animals. This baby lamb was to-die-for adorable and I wanted to pick it up and snuggle it!

Like I said, the grounds were just gorgeous and I could have wandered around there all day.

We took the mansion tour and the house was really cool.



This was taken on the back porch of the house. It had incredible views. Beautiful, just beautiful.

On Wednesday we did some more hanging around town and shopping and my dad took all the kids to get ice cream and play at the park. The kids must have thought they were in heaven. My parents are just so good to us and we had so much fun while they were here. They left Thursday morning and their trip just seemed to fly by. I loved having my sisters here and my parents are the greatest. My kids miss them so much (so do I!) and it was just fun to have a week off and enjoy ourselves. One of my favorite things we did was stay up late laughing hysterically at ridiculous YouTube videos. I also really enjoyed getting to do my family's hair again! I have just missed them so much. Thanks for coming family! We love and miss you already and can't wait to see you in a couple months!