The Trumps run loose in DC!

My sister and her family came to visit and we had an absolute blast with them! We miss them so much and look forward to living back in the same city with them soon. Here are some highlights from their visit with us:

Riding the Metro with the kids was an adventure because it was their first time. As you can imagine, they were so excited! Jake LOVED it and could not take his eyes off of the windows while we sped through the stations and tunnels. He kept on saying, "Wow, we're going really fast!"

The kids love going to the zoo, so of course we packed our lunches and headed to the National Zoo and loved every minute of it!

We love this family so much!

The giant pandas were incredible. I usually don't think bears are cute, but this mommy, daddy, and baby panda were so adorable. I am so amazed at God's creation.
We also saw a Mommy Gorilla holding her newborn baby girl (born January 10th of this year). It was really cool to see. Sorry, no picture!

Tiger Crow orchids at the National Museum of Natural History - yet again - I am in awe of God's creativity!

Sweet Jake

Racing to the White House

Walt and Chris made homemade potato chips! Mmm..mmm..good!

Love you, Diemmie!

Of course, we ventured to Eden Center in Arlington, VA to enjoy Vietnamese food together. The center is filled with many Vietnamese restaurants, jewelry stores, hair and nail salons, bakeries, and music stores. My sister and I are blessed to have husbands that LOVE our culture's cuisine. The food was fabulous!

Thank you for coming to visit us! We love you guys and miss you so much already!

Snow, snow, snow!

On Saturday, Walt's parents came up for a visit and were delightfully greeted by 6-7 inches of snow over the course of their stay.

Celebrating Jeanie's birthday with a home-cooked meal and Judy's Chocolate Pie

The backyard of our home is surrounded by woods and a walking path, so we trekked out for a snow walk. Of course this included making snow angels and snowball fights.

Shoveling snow off the cars

Dined at Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town Alexandria
Walt's dad and entire family are HUGE Wake Forest fans. Every game viewed with them is always intense. For Christmas, we had the idea to get him tickets to the WF and MD game. So, we made the trek to College Park and the Deacons won! It was such a good game.

Coming up: My sister and brother-in-law along with my niece and nephews are coming to visit next weekend! I am SO excited about their visit! We have missed them so much!

Palisades Reunion

A couple of weeks ago, my roommates from college took a road trip and visited me. We all lived together in a condo at the Palisades for a few years. It was such a delight to be with them. And of course I was still in shock when they arrived because they made it a surprise! Have I mentioned before that I LOVE surprises?! Thanks girls for surprising me! Of course, we hopped onto the Metro and visited the great city of Washington, DC.

We took a tour of the Capitol. The tour was worth it and very informational. Not to mention the beauty of the architectural design of this building. It was gorgeous and in my opinion one of the prettiest buildings in this city. To all you PC families, this tour is worth the trek.

This is inside the rotunda.

Right across the street, we walked over to the Library of Congress.
It is also known for it's architectural beauty.
Lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill
L to R: Meg, Mackenzie, Esther, Sharon, and me
After going to see the White House, we stumbled upon "Obama." As you can imagine, I couldn't stop laughing at this one. We just couldn't pass up this opportunity to take a picture with the cardboard figure. Even funnier? We paid $3 to get our picture made with him. I think the guy probably found it in a dumpster somewhere and decided to make some money off of it- smart move on his part because we weren't the only ones! It was so worth the memory!
The next day we traveled to Old Town Alexandria, VA. This place is so beautiful with its cobblestone streets and old beautiful row houses.One of the highlights we saw was the spite house. At seven feet wide, it is the skinniest house in Alexandria. It was built in 1830 to spite the people who hung out in the alleyway. You can read more about it here. Very interesting.
What a memorable time it was with you gals! Thanks for coming to visit me. It was such a joy to see and visit with you all! I am so grateful to have you as friends!

Janu-hairy!

Last month, the PC guys grew out beards in order to shave them down to mustaches so that they could honor Gary Ricucci, Director of Student Care. Gary and his wife lead our small groups each month. He has had a mustache for decades. They even dressed liked him and painted their 'staches white to match his.

Before

After

Gary is standing to the right of the gentleman in the red Mickey Mouse shirt.

Gary and Walt
At Gym Day, the wives got a good laugh seeing all the guys and their mustaches. It was really hard to take some of them seriously. It was so gross and so weird! I think Walt looked like he aged about 20 years. What a fun memory this will be for all of us, although I'm glad it was only a one time thing!

Snowy Day!

Last Monday, we had a snowy day! It was sad though because Walt was not able to come home that day to play in the snow due to reading and studying for class.
But, I did get to play in it and went sledding with the Lee kids (the family I babysit for).

I can't claim this snowman. The credit goes to the Lee kids. They used black olives for the eyes and mouth and a parsnip for the nose.

This is Forrester (11 years), the oldest.

This is Grayson (9 years), the only girl.

Gideon (7 years)

The younger 2 boys were already taking their nap by the time I came over. I was sad I missed them, but here's a picture of them just for fun.

Ransom, 2 1/2 years

Everett, 17 months
Walt had the great idea to go on a walk after dinner since he wasn't able to come home earlier.
It was so nice to get some fresh air with him. It was crisp and cold!

We also tried to build a snowman, but the snow was too powdery. Here is our 'snowman'...more like some sort of scary creature.