Solomon's Island

Something we learned about Maryland is that there's tons of beaches. Beaches are everywhere. But some of these beaches are private so this means finding free beaches can be harder than one thinks. But thankfully our brother-in-law is smart and knew of this place. 

Naval Recreation Center Solomon's Island. A private beach for military. Love it!!! 

This beach is on the Chesapeake Bay so the water temp was different from the Atlantic Ocean. That doesn't stop us!

Mike and Teagan using teamwork to bury Hailey.

This isn't the best photo but I wanted to capture this moment. Our girls were loving the opportunity to spend with their aunt that they were with her, by her side, most of our beaching time. I love that they can have this sort of relationships with their aunts and uncles.

I love my guy! He's so amazing!

Our family has a little weird fetish. We made up an imaginary land called Fartoptia! (Fart-topia) So every time someone farts, which happens a lot in our house, they are helping to build Fartopia. So while at the beach Mike and I made Fartopia. 

Jerome added to Fartopia, not by farting, but with this dead ray he found. It's like a guard standing at the entrance and only those who pay the toll, of farting, can enter in. Sophia said she'd never do that. So we kicked her out of Fartopia.

  

Haha! Getting 9 kids and 4 adults to smile at the same time is a challenge. So I'm just going with this photo. :)

Mike is making one of his sand pools he usually makes everywhere we go. Aurora, Teagan, Landon, and Sophia wanted to experience their uncle's pool so they kept it to themselves. It's funny since the Bay is 2 feet away from them and they just want to stay in this little poo. That's fine. At least they got to experience it.

After sand and sun we headed back "home" to show and begin our packing. In the process of packing this gave us more time to spend with family and soak up every second we could.

We hugged everyone goodbye. Then rehugged everyone again. As we drove off Aurora, Sophia, Teagan, and Landon chased after our van, waving good-bye. Aww! That just left me in tears. We weren't even to the airport and I was already texting Angela.

It was such an amazing vacation. We seen and witnessed things that many people never have. We walked in places that held more history than any other place in this country. But what was more memorable was the memories we made with our family.

Of Aurora singing so loud to each song on the radio. We still can't listen to some song without reminiscing about her. The way Teagan and Mason acted towards eachother. Mason held him while we walked around DC and Teagan started to fall asleep on him. The way Sophia would tell me, Boo-she, and squeeze my cheeks. The way Jaycob would roll his R's at us or scream to be held. The way Landon's eyes light up when he seen the magician find a card. The way Mike and Jerome acted like kids all over again, '' Are you afraid of a forth grader?" (inside joke) The way Angela and I just chatted everything. It was just so much fun to be around them. This vacation left an everlasting imprint on us.

D.C. Day 2

Today we went our separate ways. Angela and Jerome had things to do for the ward party. So we went back to D. C. to finish off our bucket list.

We started with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We walked through the lunar module. Seen the space suit of Buzz Aldrin. Seen the exhibit of the Wright Brothers. Our kids might have understood everything they seen but this opens up a world of homeschool lessons to later on.

Our kids were thankful they did not have to fly on this type of plane.

We also seen the Amelia Earheart plane. Because Mike is related to her as well. He has greatness in his veins.

We left and moved onto the one place we just had to go. The National Archives Museum. This is the place where the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are held. This museum is open only for certain hours so we couldn't miss it. Due to no photography being allowed inside this special memory has to be preserved in our hearts, mind and this blog. 

Doing our research we found out that Mike is related to several of the signers of these documents. So while we waited in the lobby and waited for our turn our excitement and appreciation grew increasingly. When it was our turn to actually see those signatures from our ancestors.... it was amazing. Almost as if they were looking down and seeing their posterity right next to their signatures.

 After this we ventured into another Smithsonian. The National Museum of Natural History. Walking around we seen so many cool things. Fossils of prehistoric dinosaurs and sea creatures. Mummies. Skeletons. And then we found this place. The Butterfly exhibit.

After paying for our tickets we waited anxiously to go inside this little room. The butterflies were flying everywhere. We were instructed to look down before we took a step since the butterflies like to sit on the floor.

The worker let our girls hold butterflies on paint brushes. These made their day.

 Hailey was excited to hold the paint brush as well. Then butterflies started to land on her. On her shirt, shoes, hair, legs, etc. We're not sure why but they were attracted to her. It was like a scene from Enchanted with all those flies around Giselle. 

Mike even got a butterfly kiss.

After this we headed left D.C. to meet Jerome and Angela at their ward party. We met some of their friends, their ward missionaries, and one old lady who told Mike the next day while at church that first she didn't recognize him even though he spoke with her for a good 10 minutes. Then tells him that having tattoos must be hard for him. Ummm.... No it's not hard. Whatever!

The kids played games, enjoyed the slip-n-slide Jerome made, ate yummy foods, and Lily set her personal best record of 3 minutes hula hooping.

Afterwards we headed back "home" to relax and enjoy some family time. Hailey absolutely loves Jake. She was constantly holding him.

Teagan and Mason were BFF's most the time.

It was so fun to see our nieces and nephews become more comfortable with us. From the first met and standing in the doorway, just staring at us to climbing all over us. It was so fun to be able to play with them.

Landon was climbing on Mike just giving some cuddles. It was so cute to see Mike bonding with his nephew. I love it!

 But late nights lead to a bunch of tired kids. So all the kids went to bed early which left us grown-ups a chance to chat until the early morning.

Washington, D.C.

The following day we all packed our lunches then packed up in our mini vans to adventure and explore Washington, D.C.

So 4 adults, 1 teenager, and 8 kids- ranging from 10 years old - 6 months old. It was a handful but so much fun!
Here's Angela and Jerome and their clan of cute kids.

I love Teagan's facial expressions from his hair being pulled by Jaycob then biting his finger. So I decided to post both photos. It's my journey and I want to to remember both.

Seeing the Lincoln Memorial was amazing. From only seeing it in movies to actually seeing it up close. It made this trip even more amazing! 

Walking the sidewalks to D.C. we took up the whole area. It was a sight to see. Almost like we were taking these kids on a school field trip. 

Korean War Memorial. From looking at these statues they might not seem like much. But having a brother in law who is military he was telling me each statues rank, his job, his duty, what he was doing; all from just looking at them. It was amazing to listen to him!

Washington Monument. 

Our girls really like collecting Jr. Ranger badges. So I looked up online and found that the National Mall (where all the Memorials are located) has a Jr. Ranger badge. But the booklet is like 16 pages. So I printed the booklet off ahead of time and we did some of the easy pages on the plane. Like the word search and drawing pages. But most of these pages require you to actually see the Memorial and find the answer on either a plaque, sign, or something like that. So here we are at the
Vietnam Memorial finding a name to copy.

World War Two Memorial

Again our kids are finding the answers to the questions from their booklets. Even though it was hot, humid, and raining they were determined to earn their badge.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. One of my favorite things about D. C. was the quotes that were everywhere. Here's some of our favorites from MLK Jr Memorial.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial was one of my favorites. He has such a way of using his words that his wisdom was so blunt.

Mike and Mason having a little photo op fun.

After hours of hard work our girls were finally sworn in as Jr. Rangers.

Here they are showing off their badges. Ducati's facial expression cracks me up.

The "I HATE WAR" rocks. So powerful!!

I love this quote so much that I will be hanging it up in my home very, very soon.

 Hailey, Lily, and I walking along the Potomac on our way to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. We were surely dedicated to experience everything we could since we're still out walking when it's starting to rain on us. But then again water never hurt.

Like I said before we left we learned a lot about some of our country's history including those we are related too. So I had to take a photo of Mike in front of his ancestor. 

Hailey is rocking her poncho. Seriously we were prepared. We seen that there was a chance of rain while we were packing back at home so I picked up some ponchos and packed them along. So we carried these babies everywhere we went. Rain was not going to stop us.

Arlington National Cemetery. This was on Mike's bucket list. And with the weird freeway exits and our GPS not keeping up with our movements we were weary if we were going to find this place. But it's a once and a lifetime chance since we might not ever be back that way so we went for it and found it. We're so thankful we did.

Walking around and seeing all these headstones.... all the men, women, wives, children, who died protecting our country's freedoms... it was humbling.

We had the opportunity to witness the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 


To see this man walking back and forth, standing guard over this tomb, in the pouring rain.... I was crying. There's so much negativity about how this country is being ran that it can easily shift the focus off of all the good this country has done. How free us American's really are. How so many people have fought to protect this sacred ground that so many take for granted. Mike and I both agrees this moment, right here, filled our hearts with true Patriotism and love for our country.

After a long day walking around, soaking up our country's rich history our day was not done yet. We drove for 2 hours so I could meet my aunt and 2 cousins who I never met before. My mom and her side of the family aren't the type to reach out. They will talk among themselves but there's not really communication beyond their phone call. So for so long I felt isolated. But thanks to Facebook I was able to find and start a relationship with cousins I had never met. So this was a very important moment for me. Meeting my cousins and aunt for the first time. I loved every minute of it.

My Hailey played with my cousin's Hailey.

Here I am smiling like a goofball because I just talked my aunt's ear off asking her so many questions about things I never knew. I never knew how she and my uncle met. They were both in the Army and stationed in Germany. They were together for 22 + years. My uncle moved to Maryland from Chicago when my aunt was called to duty during Desert Storm. Her family helped my uncle since he was taking care of Chris (my cousin who was not able to come) and twin baby girls. I learned about my uncles death. I learned about my uncles twisted sense of humor. He performed autopsy's and would bring his girls to work with him and close the door to the freeze with them inside. I learned about my cousins and their families. How they met their spouses. The work they do. Some stories about their childhood. It was just amazing!

This was so special to me. I wish I could visit them more. I'm thankful I had this moment so I won't get greedy. After dinner with them we hugged and took the drive back to the base.