Life's a Beach

Last weekend we went to Hampton Beach with a bunch of friends. It was great to do something fun before Tyson started school! And as always, the kids had a blast!

Stats

The kids had doctors appointments today. Here are their stats:

Lexi: 32 3/4 lbs and 38" tall - just over 50% for both

 

Jace: 20 lbs - 3% and 33" tall - 90%

 

Back in NH

Well, we made it back to NH. It's good to back to our own stuff and to see our friends! It's hard to believe that this will be Tyson's last semester of law school! Hooray! Here's some things that we will miss from DC:

#1: THE MADSEN'S!!! We miss you guys!


#2: I don't know what it was, but my kids slept really really well...especially Jace. I don't know if you can tell what time it is in this picture, but I think it was like 11:17 am. Jace wouldn't sleep in this late everyday, but he'd sleep til at least 10 or 10:30! If we were at home, he'd then have at least a 3 hour nap, and then go to bed at 9. It was awesome. There were very few days when we were awake before 9...Lazy, I know, but it was really nice. Now that we're back in NH, Lexi is back to waking up at 7:30...Jace is still sleeping til 9!



#3: Smoothie Wednesdays and So You Think You Can Dance!

#4: Pizza Thursdays!

#5: Always having something to do - there's no way to see all of DC in a summer..with 2 kids!

#6: Rock Band with Madsen's and Allen's til wee hours of the morning - check the Allen's blog for pics!

We had an awesome summer...here are the things we won't miss:

#1: Traffic - It drove me crazy that it would take 15 minutes just to go like 3 miles. Tyson's work was only 6 miles away and driving it took 20 min...on the metro it took an hour.

#2: We don't miss all being in the same room together. But are so grateful to Mike and Jamie for letting us stay at their place!

#3: The heat and humidity!

We will keep you posted on where we are headed. We are planning to go to Utah for an externship in the winter and then we will see after that. Right now Tyson's got 2 job offers in DC, but he will apply to some firms on the west coast...stay tuned!

5 years!

Tyson and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this week!!! Our anniversary was on Tuesday, but Friday night Tyson surprised me by taking us on a dinner cruise on the Potomac!!! It was awesome! The funniest part was boarding the boat, the lady seating us asked if we were there for a special occasion and we said our anniversary. She said, "oh wonderful, how many years?" We told her 5. Her reaction: "Oh my gosh, really? you look like you're 12." We told her it was an arranged marriage. We had a wonderful time with all the fancy food, live band, and the view of DC at night! It was the BEST surprise ever! Best 5 years...to the best team ever! Thanks so much Brandt and Gina for watching the kids...you guys are the BEST!

 

 

 

 

A Part of History

Ok, I only have to put this post in here because this was such a big deal. It may be really boring to some of you...I would be bored if I wasn't actually apart of it. So, when the fam was here we got a special tour of the Capitol. Brandt and Gina came, along with Gina's parents. We get to the Capitol and our tour guide starts talking about protests going on and how the Republicans won't leave the building. I will just say that I am not a political person at all and had no idea what they were talking about. Turns out that the House of Representatives adjourn for the month of August (5 weeks) and the Republicans have been fighting to get a vote on an energy bill to help the United States become independent on resources. So Speaker Pelosi and the democrats have gone on vacation, while the Republicans have been going to the Capitol every day in protest to get Speaker Pelosi to readjourn and get a vote on this energy bill. Note that they have been protesting with no lights, microphones, or TV cameras. Are you guys bored yet??? So while we were there, we got to sit on the floor of the House of Representatives and listen to the Republicans explain and fight for this bill to be passed. Our tour guide said this NEVER happens and it was cool to see, and to stand and clap for the issues and a lot of time it was chanting "vote, vote vote!" It was very cool to be there during this "historic event." Obviously there was a lot more to it than that, but I will stop there. I feel very cool now...thank you for letting me share!

More pics

We are Family

Tyson's brother (aka: Brandon, Burn, or Kelin), and sister (aka: Marissa, Merce, Tia, or Teeta), and mom (aka: Kristy or Grandma) got to come visit us this past week. They had all been here before so it was pretty kick back and didn't have to rush to get everything in. We had so much fun and was so glad they all got to come! The apartment looks huge now...come back!

World War II Memorial

Kristy was awesome to watch the kids so I could go out with Burn and Merce. We went and did the paddle boats by the Jefferson Memorial. We took the umbrella with us that day because I thought it was supposed to rain...it was quite the opposite, so we were glad to have it as a shade!

They opened up the white house grounds for the public, which doesn't happen that often. Too bad Burn's head is blocking the white house in this pic. haha
This is at the Library of Congress

At the top of the Washington Monument...*Note to Kaydee...the top only sways 1/4 in...I don't think you were getting sick from it...maybe it was something else :-)

3rd Time's a Charm!

After trying twice to go see the exhibits at the Holocaust, we finally got to go this weekend. I will just say it was an unforgettable experience. It was very sad and very overwhelming. Whenever we take the kids to the museums we can't really take that much time to read everything. This was a good thing in this museum. By the end I didn't want to see anymore and I can't even imagine what that must have been like.

We then took Tyson to the air and space museum, since he hasn't been yet.

We got to meet Gina's parents and Lexi just loved Grandma Taylor!

Lexi and daddy playing catch!