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You can't see them in this picture, they're just too tiny...
But if you stand still and hold out a finger they'll land on your finger tip and blink...
In that magical spot on the banks of the Potomac my kids saw fireflies for the first time.
Silly I know, but we don't have fireflies in Utah. Josh wanted to take one home as a pet, but thought better of it in the end.
We stayed another hour just playing with the lightning bugs...
On our first day in Washington DC we walked and walked and walked from one monument to the next. We saw FDR Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Korean War Veterans Memorial
And the Washington Monument
All of which were incredible.
I learned so much in just the few short hours we were there that night. I felt proud to live in such a cool country and grateful to the founding fathers for sticking to the nearly impossible task of insisting on a sovereign country. And certainly grateful to the men and women that served in the military and fought in wars to protect the country that our founding fathers worked so hard to secure.
It was just so cool to be there.
After our trekking, admiring, and just being together we headed back to the car
where something magical happened...
in this little grove of trees on the banks of the Potomac River...
I'm going to keep you guessing... till tomorrow
And just look at those little teefers...
Right now...
They like to watch Pink Panther cartoons together
They eat peanut butter & jelly sandwiches together,
and laugh when Christopher throws his all over the floor.
Josh loves to make Christopher giggle,
Christopher likes to pull Josh's hair and sock him the nose...which makes Christopher laugh, so Josh lets him rough him up a little every now and then...
Writing the post about Chains And Fever 1793 reminded me about one of the books Jim and I listened to on our way out east.
The title sounds a little weird I know, but really a super book. Again it puts details and timelines into historical events... the first three presidential assassinations. The author has a great love for the story she's telling and has travel the globe to stand on the same ground where historical events took place. It made me want to do the same. After hearing that Abraham Lincoln's hat was in the Smithsonian, which we were on our way to anyway, I had a mission... see that hat.
And this friends, is a picture I took of the very hat that Abraham Lincoln was wearing the night that he was assassinated. Though after disscussing it since, we've found that because he was in a theater, he of course would have had it with him, but not on his head when John Wilkes Booth shot him.
This is John Wilkes-Booth. We think he was a little off his rocker, he how ever did not, and couldn't figure out why people weren't cheering in the streets and having parades in his honor.
Again, I highly recommend the book. I especially loved the audio version, the author reads it and her knowledge and passion certainly come shining through.
I bought these books for Amelia, and I haven't gotten her to interested in reading them yet, I managed to finished them pretty quickly though.
I actually read Chains second, but it was my favorite of the two. All through the book I couldn't imagine how things could end well... and while I won't tell you how it ends, I will say I am eagerly awaiting the next book due out in October.
What I loved about both of these books it that they put together a timeline of historical events, and better yet New York City and Philadelphia, both places I've been recently. I've never been the kind of student that can read a text book and "get" history (or any subject for that matter) but once it's turned onto a story I can not get enough!
I'd love to get Amelia to read both of these, the characters in each are about her age, but I don't think I'll push it till she's studying Revolutionary History in school.
Here's the second layout... Same, only Different.
I stuck with the Offbeat by BasicGrey since I had it out, and they are the same event. I loved using the sticker sheet that came with the papers. Those aren't something I used to buy or use a lot of but they come in the collections and I tell you what, If I were in need of buying anything, I'd be buying more embellishment sticker sheets... they sure make a pages easy and fun!
Ta-Da!
This here layout has been waiting to be finished for months, literally months. It has been collecting dust (no kidding) and now that I have to pack up my scrap room to move, I finally finished it. I even managed to finish another layout that I'll post soon!
I used Offbeat by BasicGrey, and 9 photos, yes NINE photos, go me! (though I have to admit I haven't put a date on it because it's not on the pictures since I printed them myself (years ago) and was too lazy to go up to my computer and figure it out)
These guys were being a particularly bad influence for all the kids watching. They were laying on the ground tying all the fuses together....
It was really dark Sunday Night too, so pictures of kids and fireworks were not a great success. But I grabbed my tripod and waited for fireworks to start a couple of streets over. The shutter on my camera was open for about 30 seconds on this one, I love that the stars show up!
We are super busy around here... we'll be moving in the next couple of weeks, which of course means moving the business too, heaven help us.
I've also been photographing and posting LOTS of new products in the Scenic Route Store, like....
and...
and...
Now all I need is more time to scrapbook...
I did actually get to spend a little time scrapbooking this weekend. I finished the layout that has been sitting on my table, literally collecting dust for a couple months now. I managed to photograph them today so i'll get them up through out this week.
I gotta get some sleep, I've got a long day of packing ahead of me!
~night
