June's second half and July's start!

Summer vacation is in full swing here. I would like to think that we're enjoying the "lazy days" of summer but as the parent, well lets just say that I don't feel very lazy. We seem to be on the go pretty much every day of the week and the days we don't go out of the house are filled with catching up on the household chores (because we all know that the mythical house fairies won't come and do the laundry, dishes, and so forth for us... they're on summer vacation too, right?) So June ended quicker than we liked. It was a great month.

The last post left off at Jordan's birthday party, which was a highlight of the summer for him.

My parents arrived that evening. It was the first time for Dad to hold Jasper. It was a precious memory for me. Jasper took to Dad (a.k.a. "Gramps") really quickly and during their visit I think he ended up wrapping him around his little finger. My mother was so happy to see Jasper too. She couldn't believe how much he'd changed since she left in February. While they were here we did a lot of site seeing and 'adventuring' (as the children call it.)

Sunday (Father's Day) we had Jasper blessed at church. Jeramis asked Dad to do the honor and we other men in the ward stand in as well. It was really neat. Dad also blessed Jordan so it's been a special thing Jeramis has asked him to do. This was also something Jordan and Jade will remember. They thought it was pretty special. Since we waited a few months to bless him he didn't fit the little christening outfits. I found a little white suit that was a tiny bit big but "Grannie" (a.k.a. my mother) helped me alter it down so he could wear it during the blessing. He's pretty big for a 5 month old (He's wearing between 9 to 18 month clothes right now.) So I'm glad I found something that worked. He looked really cute.

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Jeramis and our Dads. We had a nice dinner and spent time together.

Since the weather here doesn't seem to have rhyme or reason we figured the first nice day we had we best go into DC and see the sites in case a storm or the heat decided to settle in and counter our attempts to see the Mall and such. So Monday's forecast looked great and we decided to go in and knock out one of the most important items on our To Do's. A little back story is necessary here so I'm going to share it. My father served 3 tours in Vietnam. So growing up the topic of the war and the lasting effects it has had on his life have always been something we kids have been familiar with. I was always a bit fascinated (perhaps that isn't quite the right word) with the trials and experiences my Dad had during his time in Vietnam. I learned over the years about many of the people who served along side him and who gave the ultimate sacrifice during their time there. Some of these men I have honored because I knew their sacrifice ultimately protected my father. Seeing the trials he's suffered as a veteran of the war has always kept my eyes wide open to the realities of war and the lasting effects it has on anyone involved in the conflict. (Civilian and soldier alike.) When I was in Middle school I wrote an article about a few of his experiences. During the time that I was interviewing him we had several conversations about his desire some day to make it to the memorial to pay tribute and show his respect and honor for his friends and comrades that died in the war. Okay, that's the cliffnotes.

Enter Monday. Monday we headed into DC. Now I'm not one to hide my imperfections so I'll share that I was the driver for all our adventures this trip... and while I know my way around the area PRETTY WELL I still have trouble driving in DC and often end up going in circles or even the wrong direction because I miss a turn or ended up in the wrong lane. So Monday as we were heading into the city I exited the freeway and proceeded to go "into" town... only to realize too late that I was now entering another freeway that would take us over the Potomac and into Virginia. With no extra exits after my merge onto the freeway we ended up over the Potomac heading into Alexandria. I did manage to get off the freeway and we ended up at the Pentagon. This wasn't on our list 'to see' Monday but we drove through, did our "wave to the Pentagon" wave and got back on the freeway. I then used the Memorial Bridge to get us over to the monuments. We found great parking - thank you! - and had a very short walk to the Mall.

Once there we started with the Korean Memorial. My dad wanted to take some photos for my Uncle who served in that conflict. The weather was perfect. It was breezy and probably in the mid-70s to low 80's the entire day. We enjoyed the walk and headed after the Korean Memorial over to see Lincoln.

The kids went up with Mom while Dad and I stood about and chatted.

After Lincoln we headed over to the Vietnam Memorial. This was a something my father has wanted to do for as long as I can remember. There was no rushing this moment. It was an honor to be by his side as he walked the wall. Out of respect for my father and the friends he honored I'm not going to get into a lot of detail but what I will say is that there are moments in ones life where time seems to stop. This was one of them.

When we visited the monument before Jordan and Jade never really seemed to understand what the wall represented but as my father knelt to pay his respects my children suddenly understood that each name in front of them was somebodies family member or friend who did not come home.

When we finished at the wall we walked down to the World War II memorial. I had to stop here to feed Jaz so Grannie & Gramps walked around and the kids hung out with me. Since Monday was Jordan's official birthday I snapped a picture of him - long hair and all - while we were downtown.

We called it good after that and decided to go back to the car. (The kids were worn out and hungry by this point.) So we left downtown to get some lunch.... I made a wrong turn and guess where we ended up again??? That's right, the PENTAGON! We did manage to make it to our lunch stop and then we headed home for the evening.

Tuesday the weather looked good again, a little warmer though, so we decided to go see Arlington National Cemetery. Since I've never been to the cemetery before I was looking forward to seeing the eternal flame and the changing of the guard. So we left mid-morning and headed out... sadly enough I took another wrong turn and we ended up at the Pentagon - AGAIN! haha. I found my way from there to the cemetery. The cemetery was huge. Note to anyone who has not gone before - GET the TRAM/TOUR ticket. Holy cow. Pushing the stroller around there (up and down the hills) was a nice little workout and of course, like Monday, Jaz only lasted a little bit in the stroller before I had to switch him to the sling. It was really neat to explore the cemetery though. It was another eye-opener for the kids too.

We saw the eternal flame and headed over and saw the changing of the guard too.

We hung out there a little while, in the shade of the trees. Once we all felt rested we headed back to the car. We were beat after that so we got some lunch and headed home.

Wednesday was a nice day. In the morning as we were getting ready for the day I put Jaz down on the ground. As I stood up to leave him he decided that it was time for him to start rolling over. He rolled right onto his stomach and then looked at me with a grin. I rolled him back onto his back and he complained at me and rolled back to his stomach again... so I freaked out a little since we've not quite started baby proofing and having really figured out what we're going to do to cover our banister area (he can fit through the rungs).

So after that exciting event we finished getting ready and headed to the beach. Since my mother was here in the winter so we didn't get to show her how to hunt for Sharks teeth and Pirate beads... so we headed to one of the beaches near us and we all relaxed. It was really nice. It wasn't too hot yet but it was warm enough the kids got in the water.

After that we went to the Washington DC Temple Visitor Center. They had a beautiful exhibit of photographs taken with the Hubble Telescope of galaxies and nebula.

I couldn't believe how beautiful the images were. After our stop there we headed down into DC again to look at the area where my sister will be doing her Master's program. We did some 'reconnaissance" for her and then started to head home. By this point it was late afternoon and rush hour was revving up... needless to say, I missed a turn and we ended up... yup, heading for the Pentagon! Thankfully I managed to find one last exit before we would have gone over the Potomac and I was able to get us back into downtown... it took a while but after I figure out where we were and what roads I needed we did, indeed, end up leaving and heading home!

Thursday Jaz decided rolling from his back to his stomach wasn't enough and he proceeded to roll from one side to the other. I went into the kitchen and he rolled half way across the living room and daringly close to the stairs. Note to self - GET BABY GATE SOON. We took my parents on a drive through some of the Amish country here and then we went shopping and to base.

Friday was our lazy day. We hung around down here and went to a local museum and that kind of stuff. Friday night we all hung out and visited. It was really nice. During their visit Grannie introduced the kids to a game called Bananagrams.

They really liked that game and wanted to play it with her every morning.

Jaz wanted Gramps all the time.

I think Dad really had fun playing with him.

My mother, as always, found a bunch of ways to help me around the house. (Thank You!) Jade started called Dad "Gramps" a few days into the trip and the name has stuck. She also started using Grannie instead of Grandma. She's a riot. Saturday morning we had to say goodbye to "Grannie and Gramps." They had to head back home. :( Saturday afternoon the kids and I played games and we recouped from having visitors and Jeramis studied for some tests he had. Sunday was a nice day too, typical routine for us there.

Jasper official turned 5 months on the 28th. I decided to give him his first taste of baby food. So he tried the baby rice cereal.

He really liked it and he did pretty good.

The kids got to try feeding him a little.

Sunday night I took Jordan into the bathroom and buzzed his hair off. I couldn't believe how thick his hair was!

Monday started his Cub Scout Day Camp week. He was excited. (Nervous but excited) He had a great week at camp and got an award for catching the biggest fish at the pond this year. He also did good with BB and Archery. The theme was Space this year and he went as a Webelos. It turned out well I think. Jade and I got to spend some "girl" time (plus Jaz) together. We went shopping with a friend one day, sewing another and we did some other fun "just us" stuff. Jordan's scout camp ended July 3rd.

Jasper has also started sitting really well on his own. He can't get himself up in the sitting position but if you sit him down he'll hold himself up and play with his toys. When he does fall over he'll roll onto his stomach and try to scoot a little to reach things... We're in for it with him!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we had the coolest nature experience too. At the beginning of June I was out cleaning/weeding in the front and I saw a rabbit hopping from the grass up to our porch and onto a flowerpot we have on the porch. At first I thought it was just eating the roots of the plants I had in the pot. For a few weeks I saw it doing this and never thought to look in the pot. I was planning on pulling everything out of the pot once my parents had left so I could plant some herbs. So the last week of June I was out on the porch cleaning my grill when a little ball of fluff comes squeaking out of the pot and lands with a hop on the deck and out into the grass. I was startled and jumped up and into the house. I looked out on the porch and realized that a little baby bunny had hopped out of the pot. So I went out to investigate and discovered we had a small burrow in the flowerpot!

We kept an eye on the pot for the rest of the day and discovered there were 5 baby bunnies. The mother would come and go and they'd hang out in there. It has been a really fun experience the past two weeks for the kids (hey even I like it!) to watch the bunnies as they have been growing.

Last week they started hopping out of the pot a lot and they'd hang out on the porch deck, under the grill or near the pot. A few days ago we noticed they weren't coming around as much and by Friday I think they finally 'moved' out of the pot/porch. We did get some photos before they left though. So, we walked to the library Friday night and the kids saw some bunnies and they said, "I wonder if those are OUR bunnies." (Like the bunnies belonged to us or something haha!) This has been another highlight of living here.

We had a big fireworks show here over the water that night and we went down to that. We had a friend of Jeramis' over with his family and kids.

July 4th last year we spent at the Statue of Liberty... July 4th this year we went to Ft. McHenry and enjoyed their celebrations.

Ft. McHenry is the birthplace of our National Anthem. They had people there dressed in 1812 attire, drummers and fifers, soldiers and commanders, etc.

They had an opening ceremony by the original area where a flag has flown for decades.

Then they had two replicas of the flag that they had everyone help them unroll because the original flag is too heavy to be placed on the new flagpole until it has been anchored properly.

The kids liked helping with that. When the replicas were out they had everyone join in singing the Star Spangled Banner. That was pretty cool.

After that they had an 18 pound cannon that they fired a few times. (that was pretty loud but cool!)

They also did muskets and a number of other little things like the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

We all enjoyed it.

Mid afternoon we piled back in the car and headed home, stopping long enough to pick up some fireworks.

When the darkness came we walked down to our beach and lit off our fireworks.

It was nice to do it on the beach and some of the houses by the beach were cheering us on. Silly but fun.

The kids and I spent two days last week at Six Flags. We'd get there around 10:30 and stay until 3 or 4. We did the water park both days because it was so hot. Jasper likes the water and he is so easy to keep happy. That makes it fun for all of us. Last Friday we went to another water park nearby for the day as well. Yesterday (Saturday) we hung out as a family. We did some shopping and went out for lunch. (The kids had free lunch passes from doing good at school so we went and used those.)

The kids love to read. They read at least 1 hour everyday. I caught Jade reading to Jaz one morning in her bed.

The kids have been doing the summer reading program at the library and they've been earning prizes for the amount they are reading. So far they've earned some free ice creams, lunch meals, baseball tickets and rub-on tattoos. That brings us up to today. So, hopefully I can get back again sooner and update everyone. We don't have a lot planned over the next few weeks but Jaz keeps us busy and we're doing our best to enjoy summer while it is still here. I told the kids yesterday that their summer break is almost half way over... I'm evil, I know.

Ta Ta!