Thursday, January 27, 2011

Maryland Vacation



Adam had six weeks off for school so we decided to go to Maryland to visit my parents in January. Bradley and Kiersten were so tired because they woke up at 3 am and didn't go back to sleep for more than 15 min at a time until we had arrived in Maryland. That night they slept in until 10 AM!! Getting them on East Coast time was a breeze! Getting them to stop waking up at 5 am when we got home- still working on that a week later....
The first weekend we were there My Dad and the four of us went to Williamsburg Va for a few days. It was very cold and snowed a little but while we were walking around the town.
I really wanted a picture of Bradley and Kiersten in the stalks in Williamsburg but my Dad didn't take that great of a picture...maybe next time? The lens got a snowflake on it and and made the pictures blurry.
Walking around was VERY COLD and Bradley refused to wear his gloves so he has bright red freezing cold hands. But despite the cold they are very happy to be out and about. We tried to pet the horses that draw the carriages around but one decided that Kiersten's fingers would be a very nice treat and pulled her glove off with his teeth. He scared her death and she of course started screaming so we said goodbye to the horses so we wouldn't startle them. Her fingers weren't hurt but were cold so after I warmed them up she was happy again.
The next day we visited Norfolk Naval Base in Va. and took a bus tour of the base. When someone is stationed at the base they are required to take turn at the tour station. Our guy wasn't very thrilled but he did make a lot jokes which makes it more interesting. I even saw a Tim Horton's on base- Canadian Starbucks...
Afterwards we went back to Williamsburg and went to Outlet malls! Wahoo! My dad's Christmas gift to the twins was a small shopping spree at Carters. We got some new cute Sunday clothes : )
But probably my favorite part of Williamsburg was the Target that had at LEAST 30% (if not more!!) of its stock on clearance. I have a very big weakness to clearance items...thank goodness we couldnt fit everything I wanted into our suitcases! I would have been in trouble!! But I did get some cute new Elmo slippers for each of them and some other small things...

The next weekend we went to Washington DC and toured the capital building.
Kiersten threw a fit because it was cold....

Did you know that there are armed security officers with Machine guns at the capital??? Took me back a little. The capital was great. We go to church with our Congressman so we were able to get tickets for the gallery of house and senate. Unfortunatly their office was on a staff retreat so we didn't get a one on one tour while we were there but did go to a group instead.Bradley being patriotic in the gift shop.

After the Capital we went to the Bureau of Engravings and learned how they print money. That day they were working on $20's and $1's. In the gift shop there is a sign on the wall showing what you would be worth standing next to a pallet of $100 bills. We couldn't resist the kids pictures being taken....


















The last weekend of the trip my stepmom Kelly and I had a girl's day out. It was a lot of fun! We got our toes done, went out to eat, and went shopping at several stores.I have never painted my toes anything other than pink or red so this was a fun big change.

After that I waited in town (45 min away from my parents house in the middle of NOWHERE) and met up with Adam and we had a date night! It was GREAT! We saw the latest Narnia movie in theaters and then we went to Applebees for dinner. About after 5 minutes of eating, a couple started to set up a kareoke system on the other side of the petition from us about 2 feet away. We had the same thought- Uhoh! Eat fast so we don't have to be stuck listening to drunks!! The best thing about the kareoke being set up was that when they lifted the speaker it directly blocked Adam's view to the TV where the game was playing : ) Made concentration a little easier.
We flew home on Thursday after that and kids had a rougher time flying home than getting there. We did a lot of walking up and down in the aisle this trip...probably annoyed a lot of people since the aisles are soo small. We had a layover in SLC going and coming and the first layover was great- had time to use the restroom, change, get food, and run around the terminal and play. Coming home was different! We were delayed being taxied in and so we had 10 minutes to get from one side of the airport to the other. I had to run to keep up with Adam who was pushing the stroller. We got to our new terminal about 5 minutes after the boarding was suppose to start but wouldn't you know it- they were behind schedule too... We made it home safe and that's all that matters.

Sorry it was quite a long post but that was our Awesome vacation to Maryland! Thanks for sticking the stories out!

Our Christmas

So I don't think we have a picture of our decorated tree like promised in the last post- sorry! We had a train that went around the base of our tree and the twins LOVED it! Bradley was a little afraid of it at first because it was very noisy but then he warmed up to it. We had a small Christmas for the four of us a few days before Christmas and then we headed down to Modesto for the week.

Bradley, Eli, Jackson, and Kiersten on Christmas Eve
We kept saying "Say Cheese!" and Bradley kept saying back-"tree? tree?"


We saw my three sisters and their two cousins and the kids met my Mom for the first time . Kiersten and Jackson reading a book with my Mom.

We spent Christmas Eve day and Christmas morning with Adam's parents in Oakdale. We spent Christmas Eve Night in the Emergency Room for a very very sick little boy. You know, it never matters why we go to the dr, they always spring back from their death bed the second they get in the car. When we got to the waiting room he started climbing chairs and running around with more energy then he had the last two days combined. " So what's wrong with him? Well he WAS lethargic..."
On Christmas night my in-laws lost power AGAIN! Both years we have been at their place for Christmas they have had terrible rain and no power! So we stayed at our friends Tommy and Laurie Scott's and had a fun night of watching netflix and played couples skip-bo while the kids slept like logs.
We went home the next morning because Kiersten was starting to get sick now and if Bradley was a cranky sick boy Heaven help us! Kiersten gets very cranky when she is sick.