First Day of School and DC Trip

Last week was the first day of school for the of my boys.  Matt's in 7th grade(middle school), Kaleb's in 5th grade and Ian is in 1st.
Tyson headed out of town for a work conference on Sunday so I was left to get everyone off to their first day alone.  It was alright because I was super organized and had the boys pack everything, backpacks and lunches, the night before.  They had all their clothes out and ready too.
Since Matt now goes to middle school this year that meant an earlier start.  He was excited and I was nervous.  I dropped him off and watched him walk in alone.  That was hard to do.  I was just hoping all would go smoothly, that he would make it from class to class on time and that he'd remember his locker combination....he did. :)  He came back to the car after school with a smile on his face.  It was instant relief.  So far he is really liking school.  He spends part of his lunch getting homework done so he doesn't have any to bring home.  I love that and he does too!  Much less stress for the after school/dinner hours.  He is playing percussion in band again this year and is excited about that.  I'm anxious and excited to see what the year holds for him!

Ian and Kaleb's first day went well too.  After I dropped Matt off at school I headed back home to wake them up.  It's amazing how everyone just springs out of bed on the first day of school but you get a few weeks in and your dragging them out sometimes!

They were both excited to see old friends and get back into the routine.  Kaleb has the same teacher he had last year.  It's a 5/6th grade combo class and all the students basically moved up with the teacher.  They love him.
I walked Ian into his classroom to see his desk, etc and then he headed out to play and didn't look back.  I walked Kaleb to the door but didn't go in because he's to old for that now I guess. ;)  He was welcomed with pats on the back and side hugs from his old classmates.  That made me happy.  It was a good first day.

 

I know Kellen doesn't look to enthused to be left behind with mom but it's been nice for both of us to have it be just the two of us.  He gets one more year with me and I'm happy about that.  I'm a little sad he has to grow up.

Two days into the new school year I flew to Washington DC to join Tyson.  That's where his business conference was.  It is so nice to be able to have some time to ourselves.  These business conferences are the perfect way to see new places and spend some one on one time together.  

It was a fun trip.  I have to admit, probably to no ones surprise, that I was a bit nervous about this trip.  I had no idea what to expect in DC.  It ended up being a very safe, tourist friendly place.  We got around on the metro.  Tyson thought the metro was the greatest thing ever.  It was funny how excited he was about it.  It's underground like the subways in New York.   It's a convenient and fast way to get around.  

We enjoyed going out to dinner, seeing all the historical sights on the mall, including some awesome, FREE Smithsonian museums.  And I loved watching the HGTV channel to unwind after a day for lots of walking.  My feet were really, really tired and sore.  It was worth it though.  Here are a bunch of pictures from the trip.

Arlington National Cemetery.  We got there after it had closed.  We missed it by 10minutes.  So, this is the best view I could get.  I wish we could have gone inside.  I hear it's a pretty special place.

View of the Lincoln Memorial looking down from the Washington Monument.

The Lincoln memorial seemed to be one of the busier monuments.

Tyson checking out the WWII Monument.

We found Idaho on the Pacific side of the WWII Monument.

Resting our feet on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after the walk from the Washington Monument.  I forgot good shoes so my feet were pretty sore by the end of the trip.  The picture above this one is our view from the steps.

There was definitely a special feeling in the Lincoln Monument, almost sacred I thought.

 

The Holocaust Memorial Museum.  We went here first thing and I was glad.  I needed the day to shake off the feelings you feel in there.  Such a sad and tragic event. I'm glad they have this museum in memory of those who died and so we will never forget.

Jefferson Memorial.  It was the least busy but really cool.  It's amazing how huge it is.  If you compare the size of me and the statue in the picture below you can see what I'm talking about.  There were some great quotes by Jefferson in there to.  I love how much God is mentioned by our founding fathers. 

Jefferson Memorial from across the Potomac River.

Air and Space Museum.  My kids would have loved it!

The Art museum.  Not one of Tyson's favorites but you can see I'm really into it.  Just contemplating the beauty and depth of the art. ;)

Very enthused.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

The White House.  We saw a helicopter flying to and from the White House multiple times while we were in DC.  Maybe the president was in it sometimes.  Heading out for a round of golf maybe? ;)

The last day we decided to rent these bikes for an hour to get to some of the further monuments we wanted to see.  Best.Decision.Ever!  My feet needed the break.

Downtown the bike lanes were in-between the other lanes of cars.  I was a little nervous to venture there.  I wanted to stay on the sidewalk but Tyson persuaded me to join him.  More like he just went for it and I had no choice but to follow him.  It wasn't that bad but felt a little strange with cars zooming by me on both sides.

Paying homage to my roots on the Pacific side of the WWII Memorial.

At the American History Museum they had a tiny little display devoted to the Mormons.  It is a part of American History after all.

At the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  It was really cool, another place the boys would love.

Washington Monument.  One of Tyson's favorite places.  It is massive.  We were able to go inside and take an elevator to the the top where they have some lookout windows.

An artsy picture of the monument. ;)

Tyson taking a picture from one of the lookout windows in the Washington monument.  It's over 500 feet high.

More pictures.  Trying to get a selfie but it's a little to dark.  The view up there were amazing.

Still in the monument.  I was just hoping the elevators would work, which they thankfully did.  The day before this they had some issues so everyone stuck up there had to walk down the stairs.  500 feet is a long way to walk down.

Taking the escalator down to the metro.  We were obvious tourists, taking pictures everywhere, including the metro station.

Waiting for the train in the metro station.

Excited to head out for a day of touring the nations capital.

It was a fantastic trip.  I'm grateful that we were able to see so many amazing things in such a short amount of time and also to spend some time with my best friend.  Love that guy!

Love Always,
Rachelle