Summer adventures Part 1

We began our summer by celebrating Nathan's 10th Birthday. He got to celebrate with some of his cousins from Pennsylvania.

His Grandma and Grandpa Young sent him a birthday party in a box. What a cute idea this is. There were decorations, party hats, treats, and party favors.

We had fun dressing up in the pirate party hats they sent.

Nathan got to attend the week long cub scout day camp. He had a blast.

Watching the sun through a NASA telescope.

We spent the fourth of July at a place called Allens Pond Park. We had a lot of time before it got dark to watch the fireworks so we fed the ducks

we ate snacksthe kids played on the toys

they were silly

they watched a movie on the ipodand some even took a nap


The kids and I went down to Dc and saw the American History Museum, the Washington and Lincoln Memorials and the WWII and Korean War memorials
In front of the new WWII memorial. These stars represent all the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
This is at the Korean War Memorial. It says "Freedom Is Not Free. Going to see these memorials really helps us to remember that there are so many men and women who have and are fighting so that we can be a free nation.Enjoying the peaceful feeling at the Korean War Memorial
The lincoln Memorial is so huge. The walk to the memorial is even longer.We decided to rest at the top of the Lincoln Memorial entrance.
This was our view.

We took the kids to Fort Mchenry, where the Battle of Baltimore took place in 1814. This was the battle that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner.
We got to see how large the canons are. Spencer kept calling them "Canyons" He's a funny kid.The kids learned how to sword fight.We got to go into an underground bomb proof shelter.We watched the soldiers march around the fort
On the very top of the fort there is an amazing view of the ocean.

We celebrated Bailey's 6th BirthdayShe also got a birthday party box. Here she is enjoying one of the party games.
Grandma and Grandpa Young sent her a target and dairy queen gift card.

But her favorite gift was her very own pack of mints to go in her new purse. Who Knew!

Summertime, and the Living is Easy

So it's finally summer here. The kids last day of school was today. Hooray!! It has been weird because even though the kids are out of school the weather has been unseasonably cool. The past two days have been rainy and only about 70 degrees. We literally have a creek running through our backyard from all of the water. I'm sure it will warm up soon, and I will be begging for the cooler temps again.

We won't be doing much swimming this summer since you have to be a member of "the club" to swim at any of the nearby pools. It's like a $1000.00 to get a membership. Where is carson pool when you need it? We will miss swimming with all of our cousins this year. So I need summer fun ideas. I know I don't have a huge amount of readers on my blog but I thought I would ask everyone to tell me if they were near Washington DC, what would be the place they would most like to visit?

Many Updates

We have been so busy lately. The kids are still in school for one more week. It seems like it will never end. Our ward got combined with the only other ward in the area. I had no idea how small our ward/branch was until they told us there were only like 220 members. We now have 500 it makes a big difference. We were all released from our callings and then Ryan got put in the Young mens presidency right away. I have not got a calling yet which seems really weird. It's probably because soon after they got combined I fell off a folding chair. I know, I know it sounds kind of funny but the chair literally folded up with me inside but before I was stuck I hit my side on the top of the chair like a rag doll I hit so hard I had to go to urgent care they said I had bruised my spleen and the area around it. I've never heard of that happening before. It was a good thing I went to the doctor though because I found out that I also had a really bad bactieral infection. I am finally feeling some what normal again.

Here are some other more exciting things that have been going on.

We celebrated Spencer's 4th birthday in May. It was so strange only celebrating with just us. We usually have so many people over it didn't really seem like a party. He loves being the big 4 year old. His favorite present is the bat and ball Grandma got him before she went back home to AZ.

Nathan got to race his car in the Pinewood Derby. He got 4th place again. He had a lot of fun racing his car over and over again after the competition was over. There are advantages to being in a small ward the actual races were only like 20 min. long.

We went to the Washington National Zoo. Ryan works every Saturday so I decided to take the kids to the zoo by myself. Which I have done before in AZ, but little did I realize the challenge it would be to drive into downtown Washington DC. Talk about confusing. I think we will take the Metro next time.You can't see it very good but there is a komodo dragon behind the kids. If you don't know what that is it's basically a giant lizard the size of a crocodile.

There were so many animals that the kids have never seen before. This zoo was really amazing. Many of the animals were really close up. They had many exhibits inside, like the aquarium, a butterfly garden, many reptiles, hippos, and they had a rainforest room that had actual animals that weren't in cages like little monkeys. My two favorites were the pandas and the eagles. So cool.

I have never seen a lobster this big before. They were gigantic.

This little otter was so funny. It was definitely preforming. He would swim to the window and then he would kick off into a back flip right in front of us. He did this over and over again.

We have had a few end of the year events too. Sarah had a concert but we didn't get pictures. Bailey had a little concert and recognition night. This is her teacher Ms. Kress

She was so cute in her little concert. They gave everyone a certificate and when they called her name they said Bailey --- future veterinarian. She is growing up so fast.

What would we do without Ryan. He works nonstop and doesn't get home until 7 or 8 at night. Has to be at work the next morning by 4am but he still stays up late to help Nathan make his pinewood derby car. Ryan you are the best. I love you!!

A Surprise Visit

For two months DeeDee has been planning a trip for her and Bill to come and visit. I'm not sure how we did it but we were able to keep it a secret from the kids. We got to spend ten days with DeeDee and then Bill came for the last four. We loved having them here. The kids were completely shocked. We had told them that a friend that I had met in highschool was coming over for dinner. When Sarah saw someone walking inside she said, "Mom's friend sure does look like Grandma", And then she realized it really was her Grandma.

The Beach

With Ryan's parents here we wanted to take them somewhere fun. We decided on a last minute trip to Ocean City about 3 hours away. So we loaded everyone in the car and off we went. We figured the water would be to cold for swimming so we didn't bring our swimsuits. Our kids didn't care though. For me the water was freezing but they all got soaked most of them from head to toe.