First Day Of School

Just and FYI....Emily was mad she had to wear her cheerleading outfit on the first day of school. She really wanted to wear some of her new clothes. When Emily got to school the principal told her that her skirt was too short and she needed to wear leggings under it or put sweats on over it, but she could take the leggings off during the assembly and games. Don't you think they should get longer skirts if they are supposed to wear them to school but they are not allowed to wear them to school, or maybe they should not be told they have to wear them to school?? Or maybe they could make an exception for the cheerleaders who are told to wear their uniforms to school on assembly and game days. It's seems a little confusing to me.

Anyways, Emily is starting 8th grade, Tyler is in 11th and Jacob is in 5th.

Vacation-Our Last Week-Days 30-35

Day 30-We went to dinner at Fogo De Chao (a Brazilian restaurant) with our friends the Isom's and then we went to see Captain America. All the kids stayed back at the apartment and went swimming and watched movies.

Day 31- We drove up to New York. We checked into our hotel on Staten Island around 4:00pm and hurried to make it into New York City for the evening. On the ferry ride over we saw the Statue of Liberty, it was actually much smaller than I expected it to be. Even though we only had a few hours we managed to see Wall Street, Trinity Church, Ground Zero and just got to experience New York. It was very dirty and there were piles of garbage all over the streets. It looks so pretty on TV.

Day 32- Last night we stayed up until about 1:00 in the morning and then the kids insisted we get up at 6:00am to drive over to Carlos Bakery. I'm pretty sure this was the entire reason the kids wanted to come to New York. We made it to Carlos Bakery by about 7:30 and only had to wait in line for about a half hour. It was the highlight of the day and we got to try lobster tails, cannolis, eclairs and of course a red velvet cupcake for me. The lobster tails were awesome and the rest of the stuff, well not so much. I didn't even finish my cupcake:(

After we were done at Carlos' Bakery we went over to New York and we went to Battery Park, Time Square, Central Park, all the fun stores like, Hershey's and the M&M store. The girls managed to get tickets to Mama Mia so the boys went to Ripley and spent a lot of time playing around in Toys R Us.

Day 33-Our last day in New York-We went to See Wicked, my favorite Broadway play and the highlight of my trip. The boys and Jordan went to FAO Schwarz and saw Transformers. We ended the evening in the very busy Time Square and on the way back we stopped and saw the Empire State Building and Madison Square Garden. Overall it was a really fun trip and I'm glad I got to experience New York.

Day 34 was a packing and cleaning day.

Day 35 We flew Home and missed the Earthquake in Virginia by less than an hour. We are all very happy to be home and to not have to deal with the Hurricane that Chris gets to experience this weekend. After so much to do everyday, we are currently suffering from extreme boredom and hope it passes soon.

Vacation-Days 24-29

Day 24-As many of you know, Emily has Solar Urticaria which is an allergy to the sun. We have always felt very blessed to have chosen to live in a place where we never see the sun:) We were very worried about taking her to a hot and sunny place. Emily has done very well with the sun as long as she wears sunscreen but she decided to lay out at the pool without putting any on...and here is what happens.

Day 24- We met Chris for lunch near his work at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, which is very good, and then we walked over to the naval museum and some boat(I forgot the name). I wasn't too excited about this since I've been to the naval museum in Bremerton (boring) and been on many ships but the naval museum was really big and didn't even compare to the one at home. The ship, well, it was just like the rest, but the boys has a lot of fun. Jordan and Emily opted to stay home that day.

Day 25-Chris and I wanted to go to Gettysburg but the kids out voted us and wanted to go to Virginia beach. They have never been to an east coast beach so we felt bad and took them. Our beach here is too cold to actually get in the water. They had a really good time even though we drove in bumper to bumper traffic for five hours to get there. We were only able to stay for a few hours but we managed to play in the sand, swim in the water, we walked the boardwalk, ate at a buffet and then we had to start the long drive home. On the positive side, it only took us 2 1/2 hours to get home.

Day 26- We all slept in and then went to Church. After Church we decided to go the Arlington Cemetery. As soon as we got there Jacob threw up so we left the older boys there and took Jacob home. I was sad I didn't get to see the cemetery but I guess I have pictures.

Day 27-Jordan and I went to the Air and Flight Museum (I have no pictures), the American Indian Museum, the Sculpture Gardens and Museum, and the Smithsonian Castle.

Day 28-We had to wake up early to stand in line to get tickets to the Bereau of Engraving and Printing. Apparently this is the most popular attraction in D.C., I'm not really sure why, It was neat and everything but 7:30 was a little early. After the BEP, the kids took paddel boats over to see the Jefferson Memorial and Jacob and I walked over to see it. When we were done we walked over to the Holocasut Museum. This was a nicely done Museum, they didn't allow pictures, but I don't think I would have wanted to take any anyways.

Day 29 was resting and packing for New York.