California Raines

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A Day At the Museums

We started the morning by taking the Metro to the White House and the White House Visitor Center. You'll notice no pictures of the visitor center because it was a disappointment. I really wanted tickets to the White House Tour but since we went at the beginning of tourist season no tickets were available. I thought the visitor center would be a great substitute; I was wrong.

Notice the Hippo eating Ryan (the two pieces of glass make it blurry).

Snack Break

Ryan loved walking and holding on to the railings.

Wright Brothers Plane

Ryan Airlines made Charles Lindbergh's, Spirit of St. Louis Plane

Ryan paying a lot of attention to his dad

Monday, June 11, 2012

Gettysburg

Gettysburg has a lot of moments marking the sacrifice from various states and leaders. We drove around the battlefields and town listening to a Gettysburg CD describing the various battles and details.

Pictures of the Cyclorama (a huge painting displayed in a circle), that was originally displayed in Boston depicting the Gettysburg Battles.

Allen and his sister Rebecca

Allen's sister, Rebecca, drove us around and dropped us off at the Metro Station to make our way to our hotel. Taking a red eye flight from LA sure helped us to adjust to the East Coast time zone. We wanted to go to bed early and start a bit later the next day.

A Little Trip

We had an airline voucher, airline miles and free hotel rooms......so we went to DC and spent less than $400 for everything (including admissions for us and his sister). Allen's sister, Rebecca, lives there but we went mostly to be tourist and enjoy History.

We booked a red eye flight knowing it would be either the best or the worst....it was the best. Ryan slept before we left, charmed everyone in the airport and slept almost the whole flight. He was awesome and we even got compliments.

I've only been to DC once, after I graduated from BYU 13 years ago. I did a three week East Coast trip with Lori and Andrea and we had a blast. Allen went to DC about 20 years ago with his family on vacation on their east coast trip. We were both excited, being nerds and wanting to see and experience it together.

We (mainly me) planned an incredible agenda of things that were must see and others that would be nice.....and we saw it all. We walked many miles and were exhausted flying home, but would do it again in a heartbeat. We both agreed that we would love to go again and take our teenagers.

Allen's sister, Rebecca, was on time picking us up at the wrong airport. Once she realized her error we met up and drove us to Gettysburg, while we slept......

Friday, April 27, 2012

Got Produce?

We planted a garden!! Can't wait for the fresh produce. We didn't anticipate our dog getting in the garden eating some of our plants and getting sick. Luckily he felt better after a couple of days.

Square foot gardening.

We sped up the process and bought plants instead of seeds. The plants were half off the weekend we decided to do it, can't pass up quicker gratification!!

Notice the protection from/for the dog!!

A little fruit of our labors.

PS Gardening is expensive to get started but the produce tastes so much better!!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Easter

Ryan didn't care too much about his second Easter but next year should be lots of fun!! We went to my friend Shawna's house with a couple of other families for a delicious dinner and an egg hunt. Allen enjoyed hiding eggs with the other dads more than Ryan did walking by them!!

Graham Cracker break at church

Didn't really are about eggs or finding them.

But he loved the swing!!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Ryan's First Birthday

We had Ryan's party at the park because our house is a little small with a boring backyard. We had a great time seeing family and friends. I choose a Hungry Caterpillar theme and Allen's mom made bibs for the "one year olds". We had perfect weather, even though it rained the weekend before and after!!