Water World

My parents have a family pass at the community center, which means we can go with them for free (awesome!)  The swimming area is so cool.  Bradshaw's favorite part is definitely the lazy river (although he begs for the big slides constantly but he has to be 42".)  

  

Mmmmmm Sonic

(Did anyone else notice that blogspot's uploading of images has really changed?  Moving pictures is overly sensitive, but I'm sure it'll increase convenience and options once I'm more familiar with it.)

So we went to Sonic on Saturday.  Olivia is a big fan.
I got the chicken strips sandwich.  It's a dollar menu item so I expected the "snack size" (as other place's call it.)  Nope. It was a full-size sandwich, fresh and pipin' hot, and the chicken strips on it were impressive!  One-ups any other place's dollar menu imho.

Add a strawberry limeade and, as Bradshaw would say, "Yum yum yum yum yum--delicioso!"

Our 2-yr-old today:

"okay, time a nigh-night. [fake yawn & stretch] I' tired."

Barefoot Days of Summer

Date Night

My favorite outings
are:
monuments at night
&
summer concert series

my peeps

It's baby chick season around here.
Lots of chickens=new chicks everyday!!

Bradshaw loves "kick-ins".

This chick hatched minutes before.My dad has a barn about 500 ft from the house. The first time I took Bradshaw out to the barn, he saw the hay stacked high and, in stunned awe declared,
"cowuhboy."

And then just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Farewell Virginia; Hello Texas!

We bid adieu to Virginia on May 6th. We split the LONG car trip into 4 days. Day 1: Alexandria, VA to Outer Banks, NC


The Outer Banks is a thin peninsula of land surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. I imagined it to be quaint (ie all food and restaurants would be located on the mainland)—not the case. Anything you need can be found on this thin strip of land; .....plus homemade candy shoppes, drive-through-beverage-centers that look like a car wash, the worlds largest hammock, life-size dinosaur mini-golf, a store built like Noah’s Ark. and numberless thin, tall beach homes. Even our hotel room was along the beach. We arrived after dark and went to sleep.


Day 2: Outer Banks, NC to Asheville, NC

We spent the first half of the day enjoying Outer Banks:


At 5:30 we pulled ourselves, the kids, and some of the hotel bedding out onto the sand to watch the sunrise. It was cold and windy and we all cuddled while Bradshaw adamantly told the sun, “Wake Up!  Waaaaaaake Up!”


We went back to hotel, got dressed more warmly and drove 10 minutes down the road to Coquina Beach. It far exceeded our expectations. It’s in a nature preserve and we were the only people on the beach. Bradshaw loved running in the water and laughed when the waves knocked him over several times. He ran through flocks of seagulls and taunted some crabs. He was encrusted in sand from head to toe. Olivia was shoveling fistfuls of sand in her mouth as fast as she could and pouting when her parents gave her a cookie instead.

Then we went to 15 minutes down the road to Jockey Ridge State Park, where we climbed and rolled down sand dunes. Bradshaw was fearless and had the time of his life. (We also watched someone learning to hang glide. Talk about the perfect place to learn!)

da metro

a good time was not had by all...

Saudi Arabian Soil...

Passport DC is one of the coolest things we did while living in Washington D.C.

On May 1st, 35 embassies opened their doors to the public. Dustinn and I wanted to visit them all but knew we wouldn't have time. We agonized over picking favorites.

We went to Saudi Arabia first. We showed ID and entered the grounds. To the left of the embassy, under the shade of trees, men dressed in traditional clothing were serving plates of chicken and rice (with this delicious spice.) I asked a man if we could join his table and after shoveling a few bites in my mouth I realized I was sitting cozy at the men's table while all of their wives were staring at me from another table. Awkward.

Traditional sitting areas were set up in the embassy, there was a fashion show, Olivia and I got our hands painted with henna (funny story: Olivia was asleep in my arms while I was sitting having my hand painted. Meanwhile across the room men were dancing and singing along to a stringed instrument. This elderly woman next to me, drew a deep breath and let out this ear-piercing noise. She made an o- shape with her mouth and was flicking her tongue rapid-speed. Does anyone know what that's called? Anyway, Olivia, who was sleeping, immediately joined in screaming at the top of her lungs.) We had our names written in Arabic and tried to take a family picture in traditional clothing but Bradshaw didn't want to.

All the Saudi people helping put on this event were sooo kind and welcoming. The guides were all dressed in traditional clothing (see the man in white below) and were everywhere to answer questions and volunteer cool stories.

source

Next we visited Botswana (homeland of my
beloved mission trainer: Kenewang Mbisana).

Then we visited Columbia. The embassy was palatial;
plus they were handing out roses to all the women. :)

Last of all we visited Thailand. Yummmm.

P.S. For anyone who lives in the dc area Passport DC activities continue through May 22th. You'll love it!)