Feb 09
Everyone,
Is it bad that I JUST TODAY uploaded my pictures from December from my camera? Please lie and say it’s fine! Happens all the time!
{liar}
So…ahem…here’s what we did in December!
Every year we make a gingerbread house. This year was no exception.
We did add one two things. First was our friend Lavender joined us for the candy placing. And this year we had extra frosting on hand. And we did the best thing we could with it.
Then there was the trip to the Washington DC Temple to see the lights. Twice. Because I forgot my camera the first time.
And the great hunt for the missing glove.
Christmas Eve brought us Chinese food. So naturally, Santa got a fortune cookie for his cookie plate.
(Which said, “You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily.” I thought that was very fitting.)
Christmas was a blast!
And on Sunday! So the kids looked so so cute in the afternoon!
But before that, there were presents to open.
And bikes to ride in the house.
And we always go to Mt. Vernon the week between Christmas and New Year’s. We saw the sights:
The house.
The Gingerbread House.
The River.
The Gardens.
The Pardoned Turkey from Thanksgiving. (Professor just laughed and laughed when the turkey gobbled.)
Aladdin the Camel. (Which Professor kept a HUGE berth around. I guess camels are “scary”.)
A Distant Relative (aka my Great Aunt!).
So in answer to my above question, it IS okay that I just uploaded my pictures. And it IS okay that it took me 2 days to do this post. You enjoyed it right? That makes it okay!
Safire
SafireChristmas 2011, Christmas Eve, christmas tree, Ida, Lavender, Mt. Vernon, Uncategorized
Feb 21
Everyone,
When crankiness seemed to encompass the household and was seeping into my dreams, we had an adventure. A Presidential Adventure. Just in time!
My best-est buddy Lolli took our kids (8 between us!) to Mt. Vernon, the first President’s plantation. On the day of the celebration of George Washington’s birthday, the plantation is free to all! And it seemed like ‘all’ came. We parked a mile away and walked in. But even with all the walking, we still had a lot of smiles to go around!
For the most part any way. There were some tantrums, there were some tears, there was pushing 3 kids in our pack mule of a stroller and carrying one on my back for the mile hike back to the car. There were the Buddist Monk who bowed to me and called me “holy mother” with a huge smile on his face.
There was also a nice gentleman who gave us tickets to tour the house in half an hour instead of 3 and a half hours. There was a long stretch (at least 3 minutes) of deep breathing in one of my favorite places on the face of the Earth, thanks to Lolli’s big kids.
We toured the house (my first in at least 3 years) and there was a shock on how beautiful the place is. There was the moment when Butterfly was just soaking in tour and getting excited about seeing the “first president’s bed! The one he died in! I have to tell my class!” 5 years of dragging her all over creation is finally paying off. She’s starting to see the joy of being a tourist. (And I think this is the second president’s death bead that we’ve seen, since we’ve toured The House Where Lincoln Died several times as well. Oh, I think we’ve seen where Jefferson died as well. Hmm…) We came out of the mansion just in time to catch the beginnings of the President’s surprise birthday celebration. I’m not sure how he could be surprised with the amount of people gathered on his bowling green, but it was nice to know that he is still loved, 312 years after his death.
There was that moment when Lolli and I were laughing over the phones while driving because we were hopelessly lost, even with a GPS. (Whose recalculation was going to take us straight through downtown DC during rush hour!) There was also that entire hour in the car where all three kids were knocked out and I got to listen to my music with no complaints.
This adventure came at just the right time to break me of the crabbies.
And like Lolli said, we made some memories that I will never forget. And I’ve got the pictures (and the blog!) to prove it!
Safire
SafireDC outings, Lolli's family, Mt. Vernon Virginia sights
Jan 05
Everyone,
Every year during Christmas break, we’ve gone to Mt. Vernon and enjoyed running on the grounds. Last year we went and it was about 15 degrees. Cold! But that didn’t stop the kids from running behind the house on the hill over looking the Potomac River.
I was so afraid those boys would fall over trying to run in those snow suits and roll down the hill to the river. (Not a rational fear, but one I remember having at the time.)
Sadly, this year we weren’t able to go to Mt. Vernon due to all of us being sick. But I’m hopeful I can talk Juice into a trip there soon!
Safire
SafireMt. Vernon Virginia sights
Jan 01
Everyone,
Here’s a picture from our trip to Mt. Vernon. They had the whole mansion done up in gingerbread.
My favorite part is the bald eagle in the tree.
So cute!
Safire
PS- This is my 777th post!
SafireMt. Vernon, picture taking
Dec 29
Everyone,
Juice and I decided to be (somewhat) spontaneous today. Last night we decided that we should go to Mt. Vernon. We have season passes there and figured that we need to use them to get our money’s worth out of them. So we bundled the kids up, herded them into the van and away we went.
After spending over an hour sitting in traffic (at 11am! On a Tuesday! Why people? Why?!) we finally made it. I had to drop Juice and Butterfly off at the entrance because nature called for a 4 year old bladder. So I was left to get the boys and Soot (yes, they allow dogs there…awesome!) out of the car and into the estate.
Not a problem. I do this with all 3 kids often. Some how, this took longer than usual though. I also walked a long way to the estate entrance and was tired by the time I met up with Juice and Butterfly. Did I mention that it felt about 18 degrees today? Cold!
The first thing that cau
ght our eye once on the estate was the camel. Yes, a real live camel. His name is Aladdin and he’s 2 years old. And very friendly! But why a camel in Virginia in December? Apparently, George Washington had a camel brought in for his guests’ amusement in 1787. (Look who is reading signs and remember things!) So part of the Christmas celebration at Mt. Vernon, a camel was in order. Butterfly did not like the camel because it slimed her. Poor thing.
I really wanted to go tour the house because I haven’t been inside for over 2 years. They also only open the 3rd floor during the Christmas season. I’ve seen it once (before we had kids) and I’d like to see it again. Sadly, the line for the tour was a half hour wait and I knew that Juice couldn’t survive with the kids outside for that long.
We took a look a the upper gardens and walked around the hot house gift shop (yes Mom they have a gift shop there!) for a bit and then headed to the lawn behind the mansion. 
I have to say this is my favorite part of the whole place. I love the huge sweeping view of the Potomac River and the house is so pretty. We let the kids out of the stroller and all they wanted to do was go down the hill to the wall.
We spent a lot of time hanging out at this wall. Professor was completely taken with the view and kept pointing and jabbering. He also walked along it through the bushes, making me go after him. I hope there was no poison ivy in what I dug through to get him.
After some time gathering sticks and leaves and pretending several things, we decided we were really hungry and should go eat. Butterfly was heart broken that we weren’t going to eat at the restaurant they have there. We often go to eat there but this time we just couldn’t.
So once we got everyone loaded up in the car (about 20 minutes for that!) we went off to find food. Then we decided that we should skip the main freeways and go the back way home. It was a lot of fun. I loved looking at all the cute old houses in DC as we drove through and pointed out all the monuments to Butterfly. She thinks we should go see them again because she doesn’t remember them. Anyone want to come and visit so we can tour the monuments again?
It was a great day out as a family. Missed naps and all. Although the bonus of having missed naps (all 3 kids missed their naps or had short ones in the car) is that everyone went to bed early. So now I’m going to try and do the same!
Safire
SafireMt. Vernon, sights around DC
