Friday

Anel and Cindy's daughter

Anell, Cindy's daughter, son, and husband

Cindy, her oldest daughter, Kathy, Liz, and Butch

David and Cindy

Carol, Lawrence, and Emily

Jennifer, Avery and, Carol

Emily, Mike, and David

If it is Thursday, this must be Washington (DC that is)

We got up bright and early and headed out to the metro. With David and Emily's fine directions we were able to arrive without too many problems. We got to "play" with the ticket dispenser and even made it to the tracks with a few minutes to spare. Our only problem was that we had to walk down the escalator. No big deal. The ride in was rather nice since we are the first stop on the line and the train was empty. We didn't even have to change trains. We arrived and got off the train. Surprise, surprise the escalator wasn't working! After passing through the ticket reader we headed up to the street. The second escalator was working. As usual, it is a bit confusing when you first get to DC as the streets are long and you really can't see the street signs unless you walk to the end. We only had to walk about 1 and 1/2 blocks to get to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. When we arrived there we found a VERY long line of people waiting for tickets to the permanent display. Mike and I waited in line about 10 min. At that point it was 10:00 and they started handing out the tickets. By the time we got ours it was about 10:15. Since they were stamped 11:00 we went downstairs and viewed a display on propaganda. We headed upstairs shortly after 11:00. It was a little crowded but I think everyone got a chance to view a lot of the exhibits. The girls said the display of shoes, hair, and wall of pictures were the most interesting to them. Since we only have a limited time we didn't want to spend all of it there. We then moved on to the National Museum of American History. We ate lunch and then spent an hour seeing some of the highlights including the ruby slippers, kermit, and some of the gowns worn by the first ladies. From there we went next door to the Museum of Natural Science to view the gems and such. Finally around 4:00 we headed out to the metro to head back. We made it to the station and only had to wait 4 minutes for a train. This ride was not very pleasant. We did get to sit, thank goodness, but it was too warm and very stuffy. With sweat running down our backs we arrived back at our starting point. We then proceeded to try to figure out how to get out of the parking garage and get back on the interstate. That is a whole other story..... Needless to say, we made it back in one piece. Emily joined us at the hotel and we ended up going to Wegmans, which is a local grocery store, for dinner. David joined us there after a very long day.


Here we are outside the Smithsonian with some other Federal building in the background





Dinner at Wegmans





Don't forget the desserts!

Pennsylvania

We drove all the way to Pennsylvania on Tuesday. We got a chance to see Jacob and Wendy. The boys were still at home. They leave for their dad's house on Thursday. We went out to eat at a local cafe near their house.




Jacob lives a short distance from Valley Forge, so on Wednesday morning we took the boys with us to see the area. This picture is just looking out over the rolling landscape.

This shows and example of the "huts" they built to provide shelter through the winter.

This is a single lane covered bridge. While the troops were at Valley Forge they constructed other things that were needed for the army to be able to get supplies.

This shows a "train station" and to the left is where Washington's winter quarters were located.

June: Parents 65th Anniversary and Father's Day

I left for Texas on June 12 and stayed till the 19th. David and Carol came for the weekend of the 18th since it is our parents 65th Anniversary. During my stay I took a day and went to visit Paul and Elizabeth in Austin. While I was there I copied some pictures that they had taken over the last 2 weeks. Elizabeth's parents had been visiting so Paul made sure to get some pictures.


Paul and Elizabeth went to get a mattress before her parents arrived. A grasshopper ended up on Abby's arm.





Here are the girls with Elizabeth's mom, Laurel.





Paul and Elizabeth dressed for church.





The girls got to eat some ice cream, a treat for them.





Here is a picture I took of Grace and Natalie playing in the front hallway.







On one of my shopping trips for my mother, while in San Antonio, I found these at the grocery store. Aren't they interesting? The sticker says Heirloom Tomatoes from Canada.



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On June 18 David, Carol, and I took pictures of our parents since it was their anniversary. We took the time to get a family picture, too.







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On Father's Day, June 20th, Chris, Amber, Evelynne, Philip, and Misti came over to our house in Denham Springs. We had fun watching Evelynne flail her arms around trying to hit some spoons together.

Hair Cut

I finally cut my hair. I am planning on sending it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths for cancer patients. It was so nice to wash my hair and have it only take a few moments rather that a few minutes. Below is what I had cut off prior to getting a haircut.