Beach Trips, Visitors, & Fireworks

I know, it's been way too long since my last post. Everything's been a whirlwind since school let out. Busy, busy, busy, I've been! It would take hours to go over everything we've been doing in detail, so I'll do my best to catch you up as quickly as I'm able. I have slacked a bit though. In the free time I have had to blog, I've found myself Facebooking instead. Oops. Shame on me.

WARNING: Tons of photos coming!

Right after school let out, we took the kids on a dolphin watching tour in Virginia Beach. It lasted about an hour and half, and we saw tons of dolphins. I didn't get any good pics because the buggers are fast but I did get a few fin pics. The boat ride was so much fun..that is until they turned the boat around to head back. The swells in the ocean were huge and Joshua and I started to get sea sick. I nearly abandoned ship. Next time, I'm taking some Dremamine before we set sail.

A couple of days after, Mike went on a business trip to California, so the kids, dogs, and I drove to WV to visit my parents for the week. We we did lots of fun things and got to spend a lot of time with my family. We went on a tour of a coal mine, went on a tram ride from the top of a mountain down to the bottom by the river, played in a beautiful waterfall, and visited my dad's family cemetery.

After we came back from visiting my parent's, we had a few days to get ready for my brother to come visit for the 4th of July. He took a couple of extra days off so he could enjoy the East Coast. We went back to VA Beach on Friday, came home and went to a party, and then went to D.C. to see the fireworks on Saturday.

Yesterday, Cassie and I dropped the 3 guys off at Nationals Stadium to watch a ball game, and then the two of us headed over the way to have a girlie day in D.C. We hadn't been to Ford's Theater yet where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, so we parked ourselves in the Ronald Reagan Building, ate lunch in the food court, then walked ourselves over to the theater to see if we could score ourselves some tour tickets, and that we did! We were both SO excited! Before the presentation began, we were allowed to take pics. It was very dim inside, so the pics didn't come out well, despite all the setting changes we tried. Here's a pic of the box he and his wife were sitting in...it's not the best pic, but you get the idea.

We also got to go across the street to The Peterson House, where Lincoln died.

We had a really great time on the tour! Afterwards, we walked over to a bakery in the National Press Building and had a snack. We had a really fun girl day together!



The amount of time it has taken me to find and upload all of these photos is a good incentive for me to not let this much time pass without posting again!