Mother's Day/Cousin Visit

Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends....cousins from the beginning, friends till the end.  

The month of May has flown by!  Just this week we bought our tickets to fly HOME July 31st.  In so many ways it seems like our adventure is still just beginning, but knowing that the end is near we are trying to take full advantage and love every moment of our time here in DC.  The kids have 4 weeks left of school and now we are starting to plan our last few months here making sure to mark everything off our list of things we planned on doing. We have a trip planned to Boston and Cape Cod in July which will be our final vacation and then we start to pack it all up!  

Below are some pictures of our Mother's Day outing to Bull Run Wingery and our my sister's visit here with her husband Dave and their kids Reid and Charlie.  

View of Bull Run. 

Bull Run Winery sits atop a small hill that looks down over some fields where both the 1st and 2nd Battles of Bull Run happened.  We sat and had a picnic in the spot where DC congressmen, their families and other residents sat to picnic and watch the Battles.  Pretty historical spot for a picnic.

Lucky mom on Mother's Day

Classy DC wine glass holders

Bull RunWinery - from the spot where DC residents picniced and watched the historic Battles of Bull Run.

Pinky and I enjoying our day!

We were invited to the winery by our friends and had a wonderful time eating and letting our kids go crazy. It was a beautiful warm day to remember.

Kids collected cicada bugs for us to enjoy with our wine. Classy. 

....and then the Kerr boys arrived!!  This is Char-Nat.  

The Kerr family flew from Portland and nothing could have gotten my kids more anxious than seeing their cousins.  It has been since January since they spent a week together in Florida so they were very excited for the reunion. Natalie and Charlie changed their names to a single Char-Nat and we were instructed to call them that for most of the week.

Sawyer's Kindergarten Spanish Concert.  

First stop in DC is the White House. 

We took them to see the sights...and first stop was the White House.

Riding the Metro is so fun with family. 

One of the cousins' favorite activities was riding the Metro together...

Amazing Afghan cuisine in Dupont Circle kept us all happy! 

...and laughing..

Of course with Jenny and Dave visiting we needed to go try amazing food...we found an Afghan restaurant in Dupont Circle that was one of the finer meals I have eaten this year in DC.

Dupont Circle cousin shot. 

Typical evening with the cousins. 

Aw!! My favorite picture of Char-Nat. 

Kerr Family exploring the monuments.

Right where MLK stood! 

MLK Memorial. 

Capitol Building. 

At the Postal Museum learning about how packages are delivered. 

One of the most memorable moments of the week was Char-Nat's concert to raise money to "Save the Whales". They practiced for hours and they spent 45 minutes singing Eagles songs with a Ukelele in the Capitol Mall...Tourists took pictures of them and they raised almost $20...maybe I need to learn an Eagles song and make some money on the side...so easy! They were very cute and grateful! What a memory....

Whale Benefit Concert in the capitol mall.  2 little 8 year old singing Eagles songs sure raised a lot of money for whales...and made a good memory. 

Reid exhausted in the Botanical Gardens...DC sure has lots to see. 

The Jones grandkids most important Smithsonian artifact: The Spirit of St. Louis....here ya go, Grandpa! 

Sawyer made sure Uncle Dave come comfy in DC. 

We survived 8 people in the little apartment...and it was a visit to remember. Thanks for coming, Kerr Family!!!

Another trip to remember!!!  

Grandparent Visit

Grandparents are parents with lots of frosting.  - Author Unknown


It was certainly a sweet treat to have Grandpa Craig and Grandma JoJo come visit us this past week. It was JoJo's first trip back to visit us so we did our best to show her our lives and this amazing city.  We made this best of the week visiting lots of special places. Natalie had her Spanish recital which we got to go watch and we spent a morning visiting the memorials and Capital Mall area.  Steve and his dad spent one day exploring George Washington's Masonic Memorial Temple as well.  We also spent one day in Annapolis and found a beautiful beach at Sandy Point Park where we got the chance to splash around a bit in the Chesapeake Bay on the 90 degree day.

Best of all, we got to spend a week with our family we miss from home.

Here are some pics from our adventures with Grandpa Craig and Grandma JoJo!

Hibachi and Sushi Night. 

Natalie's Spanish Concert. 

Annapolis Capitol Building

Happy kid with a cannon. 

Sunny hot Chesapeake!

Tough guys. 

Craig at the Washington Masonic Memorial. 

Exploring DC...the 3 Ruthford boys. 

Natalie using JoJo's long hair for extensions. 

JoJo at JoJo's Cupcakes in Annapolis. 

The non-blog post

Here are some pictures that I couldn't really fit into any ordinary blog post...but I wanted to keep them in our blog so we could remember them.  Enjoy...

Playing music on the National Mall...My little hippy... 

Chasing Dad near the Lincoln Memorial. 

Veggie Kabobs ready for the first BBQ of the spring. 

My first home dye job...so scary...but worked out.

After school FroYo with Marisol and Emily.

Natalie and her 2nd grade buddies at Ashlawn's Library Night. 

FRIENDS!

View of the neighborhood. 

Giant pancakes.

Library kid.

Sawyer's class field trip to the National Zoo. 

The zoo crew. 

Natalie racing at Ashlawn's Fun Run. 

Natalie and her best buddy Alexander!  

BBQing and Crazy 8s  at our apartment building. 

National Science Foundation's Take your Kid to Work Day!  

Teacher Steve at Take your Kid to Work Day. 

How Sawyer cruises through the neighborhood. Logs and empty boxes in hand.