The First Week of School

We survived the first week of school! I think the kids are glad to be back in a routine and with their friends.

Natalie started 6th grade - WOW! I can't believe next year we start junior high and youth group at church. She still seems so young. She is having a good year so far - likes all of her teachers and is adjusting well. The teachers really expect a lot from the 6th graders. They really try and prepare them for the next step - teaching responsibility, accountability, etc. Natalie made a new friend the first day and also enjoys seeing her old friends.

Nathan started 4th grade - my baby is growing up! He is so excited to be able to change classes and can't wait for GT to begin. He goes to 4 classes - Reading/Spelling, Science, Math, Language and his homeroom teacher also does Social Studies. He had his first spelling test this week. This is his definite area of weakness, so we are really going to work hard on this.

I ended up subbing Monday - Wednesday and then worked at my other job on Thursday and Friday. I will post some pictures of the kids soon.

Menu

Okay, I am trying out planning my menus for dinner starting tonight through next Thursday.

Wednesday - Hot Dogs on the grill with chips and fruit
Thursday - Chicken & Rice Casserole (Paula Deen's recipe) with Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Friday - Grilled Hamburgers, Chips and Fruit
Saturday - Chicken in the crockpot with Rice and Green Beans
Sunday - eat out for lunch and TGI Fridays frozen appetizers for dinner
Monday - Grilled Chicken with Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli
Tuesday - Poppy Seed Chicken with Rice and Carrots
Wednesday - Crockpot Beef Tips with Rice and Green Beans
Thursday - Spaghetti with Garlic Bread and Ceasar Salad

I know you see a lot of chicken...Tim does prefer beef, but chicken was sale this week at Kroger.

More D.C. pictures...

Tim & Allison outside Air & Space

Washington Monument

Tomb of the Unknown Solider Guard

Nathan's famous house of cards (he was so proud)

At the Capitol

Here are few Washington DC pics

Natalie & Nathan (Air & Space)


Family at The White House

Washington Monument (turn your head)

Capitol Tour (Tim, Allison, Nathan, Natalie & Becca)

Back in Memphis...

Natalie and I started our trip home about 4:30 a.m. this morning. We both had our first ever taxi ride to the airport. Our flight left around 7 a.m. and we arrived safely in Memphis around 8:30. We were a little later due to some weather and having to be re-routed. It was so good to be in familiar territory. We came back to Tim's parents house and I started our laundry. The guys left this morning; however have had some delays leaving Dallas due to weather. I am praying they aren't delayed to long - I know they will be tired.

We had a great family vacation and look forward to looking at all of our pictures. I will upload some soon.

Final day in D.C.

Today, Wednesday, is our final day of our Washington, D.C. vacation. It has been a wonderful family time for us. I think the kids have enjoyed it - lots of walking and looking at monuments. But they have had fun at the museums and of course riding the Metro. They love how fast it goes.

This morning, we had our tour of the Capitol. We went through Mark Pryor's office and they did a wonderful job setting this up. We arrived a bit early, but they were ready for us. Becca, a young lady from Russellville was our tour guide. It was interesting to find out that she is from Russellville and grew up 2 doors down from my sister-in-law, Sarah. In fact, Sarah use to babysit her. She did a great job taking us around and explaining some neat things. However, we have agreed Nathan had the line of the day. While looking at some of the statues, there was one with 3 famous women (Susan B. Anthony was one and 2 others) - there was also a empty space. Becca said it has been said that this spot is reserved for the first female president. Without wasting any time, Nathan said "well that won't be happening for the next 4 years." Can you tell he has been around politics. Becca kindly said "you are correct". Afterwards at lunch, we all agreed how funny that one liner was. You never know what that kid is going to say.

After lunch, the kids stopped off at a bookstore to add a new member to the Webkinz collection. So, in the morning we start our trip back home and will spend the remainder of the weekend in Marion. The kids have a week off and start school on August 18th.

The Lord has been so good to provide us with this wonderful time to be with one another. His hand of protection has defintely been upon us. Also, our attitudes have been good with one another. We did it!

Washington DC continued...

We are still enjoying our time in D.C. Today we had planned to do a day trip to Mount Vernon, but heard it was very crowded and the lines were very long. So we opted to go back into Washington. We did get tickets this morning to do a tour of the Federal Bureau Engraving; however after a long day, we were tired (and it was looking like rain) and decided to return early to the hotel. We visited the Natural History Museum. Parts of it were very interesting - seeing the Hope Diamond (world's largest). The kids enjoyed the bug area and the gems. After this we enjoyed lunch at the Ronald Reagan building which has an awesome food court. This is by far the best place to have lunch - not very crowded at all and lots of choices. We then went back to the Air & Space Museum and the guys took in an IMAX showing of Fighter Pilots. Natalie enjoyed participating in a paper airplane contest (Nathan was a bit jealous he missed it). After this we walked around a bit waiting on the guys to finish. We caught the Metro and returned to call it a day. Tim enjoyed some quiet time at the pool. The kids and I rested in the room. Tomorrow we head to the Capitol for our scheduled tour. Should be interesting! More to come...

On Vacation in D.C.

We are on a long awaited family vacation to Washington, D.C. Natalie and I arrived late Saturday night - the boys got in earlier that day. We travelled separately due to frequent flyer miles on 2 different airlines. This is a summary of what we have done:

Sunday
After breakfast, we loaded the shuttle to head to the metro station. We survived with a little help from the station attendant. At first we were a little nervous, but all went well. We got to the Air & Space Museum as soon as it opened, walked around a bit. Tim then wanted to head outside and look around. We ended up about 2 miles away at The White House fence. It was really nice. We then went back to Air & Space for the remainder of the day. The guys loved it! There were certain things the girls liked - Natalie liked "How Things Fly" - an interactive area for kids. We came back to the hotel and went swimming, followed by Papa Johns Pizza in the room.

Monday
Today our day started with the shuttle around 8:30 to the metro. We went to Arlington Cemetary to catch the Tourmobile for a tour of the Washington sites and then back to the Cemetary. The best part was it saved our feet a lot of walking. Defintely worth every penny we paid! At the end of the day we ended up at the Cemetary. We got to see the Changing of the Guard at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That was very moving, like nothing I have ever seen. It was very good - the kids liked it as well. We then travelled on to see Arlington House - where Robert E. Lee & family lived for 30 years. We made it back to the hotel to relax and again had dinner in the room.

Tomorrow we are off to see the Museum of Natural History, National Aquarium and I am sure other things.