Major Hiatus

HEY HEY HEY!! Well, I have been away for several months and have provided no updates to my adventurous life since my trip to Washington D.C. back in September.  I have so much to report on but this is just going to be a teaser as I do not have time to provide real and adequate information and pictures!! These are the events you have to look forward to reading about:

D.C. Ragnar - Camping with the kids - Summiting Mt. Mitchell - NC State Fair - AT endeavor - Biking the Creeper Trail in the snow - Halloween - Thanksgiving - Elizabeth's Madrigal Dinner - Matthias' National Race - NC Zoo - Christmas in TN - D.C. Trip (again) - Biking the American Tobacco Trail in Durham - Christopher's Mission Preparations

Wow, that took all my energy just to write that list! It has been a busy few months and the next few are going to be the same, but it is great.  I always seems to get more done when I am busy and have lots going on! For those who read, I hope you are all doing wonderful and I look forward to adding pictures of all of my adventures.  Even with all these fun things I have been able to do, taking care of David, Mary, and Sarah continues to be the most adventurous.  Bye for now!!

Washington D.C.

Steve took the kids to Utah for about a week and half during their last track out so that meant I was a free woman with no responsiblities.  During this time, I decided to go spend this time in Washington D.C.  I have been there a few times with my parents but have never really spent any time in the city.  A good friend from college let me stay at her place while I was visiting.  My plan was to hit up as many sites in the D.C. area that I have always wanted to go and visit.  The longer I was in the city the more I realized you could never see everything.  A few of my highlights were: tour of the White House, tour of the Capitol, Ford's Theater, seeing all the monuments on the mall, riding the metro, hanging out with friends from NC, seeing friends from my college years (doesn't that make me sound old), saw the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the US, saw the flag that inspiried Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner during the War of 1812, Portrait Gallery Museum, Holocaust Museum, etc.  It was a wonderful trip.  Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment!

 View of the Washington Monument from top of the Old Post Office Tower

 This is the booth that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in.

 One of the rooms in the Library of Congress! It is a beautiful building! (There are actually about 8 libraries of Congress)

 Pie from Kramer Books at DuPont Circle

 The new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

 Arlington Cemetary was probably one of my favorite places I visited. This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 Here are my NC friends that I got see while in D.C. - Jaclyn and Dan

 No pictures allowed inside the White House so I just got the classic one from outside.  I felt like I was in a museum when I was going through it.

 I took this picture just to prove that I was actually in D.C. This fountain is in the Sculpture Garden.

 Arlington Cemetary

 I also had a chance to to go visit a college roommate up in Baltimore and she and her cute son spent a day with me at Gettysburg. This is a picture from the top of Culp's Hill looking over the cemetary.

 Within the battlefield, there are over 1,300 monuments built and dedicated to the men that served and died during that three day battle. Here is the one for the men from North Carolina.

 This is Fort McHenry with Tara and her son.

It was a wonderful trip!!

S&T Soda Shoppe

For Steve's birthday this year, we went out for ice cream at the S & T Soda Shoppe in Pittsboro.  They serve a banana split that is large enough to feed a small army and ours is always up for the challenge.  The kids always love going and I think Steve and I gets just as excited.  Here is the proof of our enjoyment of the banana split!!!

2001-2011

It is hard to believe that I graduated from high school 10 years ago!  It has been a great 10 years - some things have gone as planned and others not so much.  All of it has been an adventure with lots learned.  I had the opportunity to see a handful of my classmates this summer at our high school reunion.  It has fun to catch up with everyone that attended!

ZOO!

In July, Aunt Elizabeth came to stay with me in North Carolina. She actually came and watched the kids for me for a couple days so that I could go to New York City with a few friends.  I am ever so grateful for her help.  Once I got back, she stayed a few more days and during her visit we went to the Asheboro Zoo for the day.  It was so much fun.  It is a very nice zoo with lots of fun animals to see. 

One of our favorites from the day: polar bear

 Climbing the spider web!

 A special exhibit: albino alligator

 Aunt Elizabeth with the kids

 The kids pretending to be asleep at the end of a long, enjoyable day!

New York City

Over Fourth of July weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend 4 days in New York City with a few of my friends from here in North Carolina. We had a blast and packed in a bunch of site over the four days. A friend is doing a rotation in Connecticut so we stayed with her each night and traveled into the city via the train. I meant to take a picture of my luggage - a backpack. I think that may the be lightest I have ever packed for a trip. We got to attend a Mets Baseball game, walk around Central Park, see Ground Zero, ride the Staten Island Ferry, walk around Little Italy and China Town, see NYU and Columbia, Times Square, watch a fireworks show over the Hudson River on the 4th of July, see some art at the Metropolitan Museum, and visit several different national monuments/parks in the city.

I recently purchased a book that tells you about all the national parks/monuments across the United States. There happens to be 11 in Manhattan and we got to visit 6 of them - African Burial Ground National Monument (an estimated 15,000 African Americans are buried in a 6 acre area in Manhattan), Castle Clinton National Monument (originally a fort to protect the southern tip of the island), Federal Hall National Memorial (the location of George Washington's inaugural speech) , General Grant National Memorial (largest mausoleum in the United States), Hamilton Grange National Memorial, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site. The sites were all very interesting. It was tons of fun and I look forward to my next NYC trip!! =)

Theodore Roosevelt's Birthplace

Lacee and I standing with an estimated 3 million people waiting for the fireworks show to begin!

Enjoying our deli sandwich at Carnegie Deli

Cannoli in Little Italy - so so so good!

I decided to be a little daring and wade out into a public fountain - I know, I am so rebellious!

James, Lacee and me riding the metro - my hair is out of control.

Our view of the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry - I liked the red tug boat.

Ground Zero under construction.

View of the Mets/Yankee's game. The Yankees won.

Central Park - I really enjoyed walking around the grounds. It is huge!

James, Tom, and me in Times Square. So Fun!Hopefully you can get a small idea of the fireworks show from the video. It lasted about 30 minutes and was a great way to celebrate the day. We then made our trek back to Grand Central Station with millions of other people. This was probably the largest crowd I have ever been in!

The BEACH!

This summer my mom and Elizabeth came down to go to the beach with me and the kids. We had alot of fun. The weather was perfect that day and the beach was not too crowded. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, building a sand castle with my mom, looking for sea shells, and spending hours jumping over the waves. We look forward to our next beach trip.