The Rest of April

PeePaw sent Caleb a 4-pack of CALEB'S KOLA, which tastes a lot like Coke. 

Boys and a bungee cord...thankfully a helmet was also involved. 

Marshma and Papa were back less than a week and the boys had already made themselves at home in her spare room watching TV. Based on this picture, I don't know why they like going there so much. ;)

Super Luke

Easter Sunday

with Baylee and Caroline

I thought I could get this great action shot of them running down the steps for their egg hunt. However, there were eggs hidden on the porch so they stopped in their tracks!

When we left the Airbnb in D.C., we mistakenly left "Tigey." Apparently he was wrapped up in our bedding, and thankfully when the cleaning lady did the laundry, she found him and mailed him home. Whew- no more tears!

Creed & I love Eric Church, so when he announced a Cincinnati stop on his tour, we couldn't wait to score tickets. Our hotel was downtown, which was convenient for walking to dinner as well as walking back after the concert. 

Eric Church rocked out! 

Incredibly, he played for 3 1/2 hours- best concert ever! And while our seats were upper level, we had a great view of the stage!

Spring Break Wrap-Up

We spent two more nights at PeePaw and Grandma Beth's house before heading back home. The boys were THRILLED that Marshma and Papa also stopped in on their way home from spending the winter in Florida. 

Another fire pit- this time we were prepared to have smores!

Little brother and I shared a bed all week, and while I love his cuddles, I was happy to not have to deal with his thrashing about anymore. ;)

Thankfully we had an easy drive home! As soon as we pulled in our driveway I stopped to take a picture of my (very dusty) dashboard to document our 1,652 mile trip!

Spring Break came to a close on Sunday, April 9th, as we had our first lake day of the season!

pure happiness

Crazy Caleb jumped in the cold lake water probably five times! 

Spring Break in D.C., Day 4

On our last day, we headed to Dulles Airport to visit the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum at the Udvar-Hazy Center. It is a huge airport hanger with everything related to air and space. It was amazing! 

Luke's favorite was Blackbird!

The fastest jet...it flew from L.A. to D.C. in just over an hour and then was turned over to the Smithsonian.

There were planes from all of the armed forces, and they spanned all of aviation history. Each plane had a sign that explained when and where it was used. There were even enemy aircraft. 

History Lesson...this is the Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.

The Space Shuttle Discovery

PeePaw, the history buff, loved telling the boys about each and everything they saw!

Apollo 11

Whew. 

We covered a lot of ground during our short stay in D.C. It was such a memorable and fun trip, and we can't wait to go back to see the sights we missed!

After leaving the Air & Space center, we headed back to North Carolina.

Spring Break in D.C., Day 3

We hit the ground running on Day 3 with tickets to visit the International Spy Museum. I knew ahead of time that this museum would be a little over the boys' heads, but they insisted that we go. I actually really, really liked it and would have spent more time reading about the items had the boys not been hurrying me along!

We all had to choose our secret identity and Luke decided to be "Colin" since that is his buddy's name. (Caleb chose "Gary Wozneack from Russia" and insisted that I call him Gary for most of the day.)

After walking, or I should say hiking, up Capitol Hill (It really IS a hill!) we stopped in front of the Supreme Court for a photo op. 

This picture just doesn't do it justice, no pun intended. ;)  The Supreme Court building is so incredibly beautiful. The details and all the marble is just incredible.

We also walked across the street to take a peek inside the Library of Congress. 

After lunch, we went inside one of the Congressional office buildings to begin our tour of the US Capitol. I actually made our reservations through our local congressman and the tour was amazing. We lucked out that a staff member did our tour (instead of an intern) because he took us a few places that are not normally on the tour. We felt special! ;) It took about two and a half hours, so we were pretty worn out when it was over!

Since Congress was in session, we ran into Representative Yarmuth and he even invited us back into his office for a picture. Luke made quite the impression when he told Yarmuth that he wanted to burn his UofL jersey by "throwing it in a volcano so the lava could burn it up." Yep, that happened. Thankfully, Yarmuth thought it was funny.

While we went through security to get into the office building, we had to go through another round of security to enter the tunnel that leads into the capitol, which took a little while.

While we were waiting, Representative Yarmuth walked by and when he spied Luke, he came over and asked Luke if he had gotten his UofL jersey yet! Ha!

This is where the Supreme Court held sessions before they had their own building.

Well, look who it is- Paul Ryan was making his way to the Chambers! We knew something was going on when Secret Service started buzzing around us.

This is thought to be the best representation of George Washington. Apparently it was made from a cast, and also sits at his height.

After another long day, we were ready to head back to the house!

By this point, the boys were pros at riding the Metro and loved listening for our stop.