Virginia and DC Trip

This past weekend, we went to Virginia to see my sister and her family.  My nephew, Dustin, is graduating high school, so they had a graduation party for him.  We had a blast, but it went by so fast!  Once we got close, we stopped at VA and VA Tech, to see their campus.  While we were there, we also went to DC for a day and had a great time.

This picture was taken at a restaurant on the river, just over the NC line, on our way to VA.  Parker really enjoyed getting to sit by the window and looking out at the water.

Parker loves giving kisses - it's so sweet!

Parker was fascinated with the river.

Brad and I with our little man.

We drove through North Carolina, on our way to Virginia and here were some of the views.  It was very mountainous, but very pretty.

Jake and Parker sleeping on the way.  Jake won the award for sleeping the majority of the trip!  Hah!

Graduation party time!  I can't believe my nephew is graduating from high school!  His plan after high school is to go to a school in VA to play baseball.  His school is near VA Beach, so I told him we would be seeing a lot more of him next year - hah!  We all wish him the best of luck in college and ball.

My sister had a video made of Dustin growing up through the years.  It was really cute and we all had some tears and some laughs over the photos!

From left to right: Dustin's 2 Nana B's (my mom and my sister's mother-in-law, Brenda) and Dustin's great aunt and uncle

Parker had a great time.  My sister's place has a huge backyard, so there were people all over.  There was a volleyball game going, a game of horseshoes being played, and lots of room for people just to hang out.

My brother-in-law, Kevin (yellow shirt), was kicking some tail in this horseshoe game!

Dustin and Parker wrestling in the floor.  It was hilarious - Parker would try to crawl away and Dustin would push Parker's leg over.  Parker would fall down or tip over and he would just giggle, but he kept coming back for more!

After the party, we sat around and let Parker play in the sandbox.  Parker liked banging the spoon on the volleyball.  He also sampled the sand a couple of times.  He made a funky face after tasting the sand, so I don't believe he thought too much of the taste of sand!

This is Molly, my sister's doggie.  She was on top of the couch, staring out the window the entire time we were outside.  She's such a cutie!

Parker getting the sand dusted off his bootie.  It was so funny - Grandma picked him up and Parker turned over like this.  It was like he knew he needed to be dusted off!  Hah!

Me with my nephew, Dustin and my neice, Shelby (she will be a junior in high school next year!)

While we were there, Brad and I went to DC.  My sister lives about an hour south of DC, so it was perfect.  We went on Sunday, the day before Memorial Day, so it wasn't too crowded.  It was warm out, but there was a nice breeze, so that was nice.  My neice, Shelby, went with us, so that was fun getting to hang out with her.  We left Parker with my mom and my sister and they enjoyed getting to spend some time with him.

This is the view of the capitol driving into DC.

You can see the sign, so Brad had to stop and pull out some money from his wallet!  Hah!

Part of the Treasury building.  The motorcycles were in full force - they rode all around the "DC mall" in honor and support of all the veterans.  It was a continuous caravan of motorcyles.  It was something to see!

Brad pointing to the grass - go figure!

Washington Monument.  We didn't get to go to the top, because they were out of tickets for the day.  We found out later, you are supposed to call your senator, tell them you are coming, and they can get you tickets.  We had no idea about that - oh well, we'll know for next time.

The Capitol.  One thing we noticed, while walking around, was how spread out everything was.  On tv, it seems like all the monuments are right there together.  Oh no, very spread out!  I don't even know how much we walked, but my legs and feet were very sore by the end of the day!

The view of the Lincoln Memorial from the Washington Monument. 

Shelby and I couldn't help thinking about the movie Forrest Gump and the reflecting pool scene where Forrest is giving his speech and Jenny sees him from way back in the back.  Then, she goes running through the pool yelling, "Forrest," and Forrest yells back, "Jenny."  Then, they hug each other in the pool and everyone cheers!  Hah!

My neice Shelby and I, in front of the WWII Memorial.  It was really pretty and a very nice memorial for the veterans!  I was glad I got to see this memorial to support all the veterans, but especially my grandpa who was a part of D-Day on Normandy Beach.  The opening scene in Saving Private Ryan, where the troops are on the boats, was what my grandpa was in.  I cannot even imagine. 

We also want to thank my dad, for fighting in Vietnam and Brad's grandpa and uncle for their service.  Thank you to all our veteran family members and all the troops for their service! 

Standing where Dr. King gave his famous speech, in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Looking out at the view Dr. King had when giving his speech.  Pretty awe-inspiring when you think about the history.

Brad and I in front of the Lincoln Memorial. 

He was always my favorite president.  I used to read books and write papers about Lincoln all the time!

Korean War Memorial.  The statues of the soldiers were awesome!

On the way to DC, we wondered if we were going to see any protests while we were there.  This was a small, peaceful protest outside the White House. 

The White House. 

Even though you see this a lot on tv, it's so surreal to see it in person! 

In this picture, Brad is really looking at the grass and not the White House - hah! 

 This is looking up at the Old Post Office.  It was huge and the architecture of the building was unbelievable! 

A closer view of the Capitol. 

This was at the end of the day, when my legs and feet had had enough walking for the day.  This was as close as we got, because they were setting up for a concert later that evening. 

When we got back from DC, I asked Dustin if he would "model" his graduation gown for me.  He is such a good sport and he looks so grown up and handsome!

Well, maybe not the "grown up" part!  Hah!

My brother-in-law, Kevin, helping Parker walk. 

Ok, this is hilarious.  We were all sitting in the living room and Kevin was playing with Parker.  All of a sudden, Kevin takes Parker into the kitchen and we hear, "Shhh."  So, we know something is up.  Amber asks Kevin what they are doing and he says, "Nothing, we're doing nothing."  Next thing we see, Kevin is getting Parker to peek around the corner and he has cake icing on his mouth!  Now, keep in mind, it was about 9:30pm and we were getting Parker settled down.  However, it was so funny - we were all cracking up, because it was like Parker knew what was going on, when he peeked around the corner! 

Little Miss Molly.  She was so excited Jake had come to see her!

On our way back home, we stopped at Duke and North Carolina.  It was hard to see everything at Duke, because of all the trees, but the buildings we saw were very pretty.

Duke's football field

The famous Duke basketball arena.  We didn't realize this was it at first - it was really cool!

The baseball field at North Carolina.  It was really cool.  There was student housing overlooking the field, and the stadium was just beautiful!

On our way home, we passed this cool peach landmark in Gaffney, SC.

We got close to home around 7, so we decided to stop and eat dinner at a local pizzeria.  It was so good and we had lots of leftovers!