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.

Ocean City, Maryland

When we arrived in Maryland 3 hours later we picked up our car and drove to Mike's sister, Angela's, house. They live on Camp Andrews Base so we needed them to be awake so they could get us inside the base. So when we arrived we weren't on the list, we couldn't get on base, we didn't have anywhere to park. But thankfully Angela and her husband, Jerome, stood up waiting for us. Jerome picked us up and we finally were inside a home.Yeah!!!

After 2.5 hours of sleep we woke up to 4 giggling kids surrounding our faces. I'll never forget that memory. :)

But what was most important was that it was our niece's birthday. Aurora turned 8 years old. Angela and Jerome have the birthday kiddo select their favorite breakfast so we ate pop-tarts for breakfast. We were fine with that! :)

After getting dress and opening presents we headed out on our first adventure......

 Ocean City, Maryland!!

I looked up and did some research thanks to Pinterest on fun things to do while in Maryland and this was one of those places that looked amazing. But of course when we got there the weather was rainy and foggy. But that never stops us.

While driving to Ocean City (which was 3.5 hours away from the base) I kept telling Mike about the bridges I would drive over when I lived in Virginia. How there's bridges that allow you to drive right over the water. So while we drove he finally seen what I was talking about and thought they were just as cool as I described.

Then when we arrived at Ocean City there was a chill in the air but again.... that never stops us. This is the Atlantic Ocean we're talking about. Rain, fog, and chill will never stop us.

When we got to the beach Aurora asked in great joy and excitement if we could play in the sand. We're all like "YES!" So Mike, all the kids, and I were running and playing in the sand. Once the kids seen the ocean we lost all control. Mike and the kids ran to the ocean and started playing. 

The water was so warm. Something we noticed in comparison to the Pacific Ocean.

We tried our best to just keep our feet wet but then one thing lead to another and soon kids were soaking wet. But we're only going to be here today so we needed to enjoy every moment we could.

I love this photo. Little Jaycob fingers photobombing my picture. I love being an aunt.

My Lily is such a beach babe. 

Jacyob noticed her beachness and wanted to take a photo with her. Next he wanted a piece of if for himself.

After splashing and enjoying the ocean waters for some time we wanted to continue our adventuring so we explored the boardwalk. Besides the shops there were everywhere there was also a magic show.

This magician was No-Vegas show but the kids were so entertained. Their faces were so thrilled by those cheesy magic tricks. Us adults giggled while we heard Teagan and Aurora saying out load. "WHAT!!" It was so adorable that I don't want to ever forget.

All the kids were getting cold so instead of leaving we purchased some woven blankets and continued on with adventuring. Angela found this little amusement park inside Ocean City. The regular outside larger rides were closed since it was raining but there was a little game/ride center inside. So for $20 we got some tickets and rode some rides :)

Lily and Aurora instantly bonded. They were constantly holding hands with eachother. It was adorable!!!

The rides were the older type of rides that squeaked when they went around. The sort an old carnival might have. Comes to think of it this was an old carnival. LOL! Either way all the kids had fun and this gave us adults a chance to chat.

After all the tickets were gone we went outside, found a picnic table, and enjoyed some snacks. But these snacks didn't hold us over for long. So we found a seafood restaurant on the boardwalk, Atlantic Stand, and it was such a disappointment. Yucky!!! For being on the boardwalk they serves frozen fish. This place needs the help of Gordon Ramsey. But now we took the long drive back to Angela and Jerome's home, showered, ate birthday cake, and finally slept. What an amazing day!!