Cincinnati! (aka Porkopolis)

Adam finally got to return to his hometown. We had a great time in Cincinnati. We loved all the great, unique food the city has to offer, and spent time at some of the parks he played in as a child, and visited some old family friends.

Adam's childhood home. It was really neat to see all the places he would talk about. Most of the trees he climbed in were gone though. Very sad.

Cincinnati Chili-Cheese hot dog. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. It was so good. We got a couple of cases to bring home. We also had some Graters Ice Cream too, it was very tasty. We also went to Buskin bakery and had some yummy baked treats.

Adam took us to Union Station, we went to the Children's Museum. It was so, so, so much fun.

Lucas, as usual loved playing in the water table. Every time we go to a children's museum, this is one of his favorite activities. Here he is pulling a lever to make it rain. At the beginning he wouldn't wear the raincoat, but he asked for one by the end.
It is kind of dark, but this is a picture of the play zone with all sorts of climbing stuff.

This is a secluded tree house, Mom and Dad barely fit in it.

Crossing a rope tunnel-bridge with Dad

Learning to climb, as Lucas now loves to say, "I'm trying hard, I'm trying very hard." Pretty soon he will need a harness and some real rocks. I love all the new things he is constantly learning to do.

Happy to slide with Daddy

During feeding time of the turtles that live in this tank, Lucas found a secret tunnel into the water. The place was so cool, with so many nooks and crannies to find.

Behold, the power of a sandbox. He dug in the sand for about 45 minutes, until we convinced him to come look at some of the other things in the museum. The boy loves dirt.

The Lego house we all built, I was the chief architect.

Lucas' fascination with fountains didn't end in D.C. He thought this one was really cool.

We had dinner at Montgomery Inn, it was soooooooooooooooooo good, the best ribs I have ever had. Their barbecue sauce was a-mazing.

Lucas got his first gumball, but didn't like how hard and big it was. He did like the blue it left all over him though.

The Lymans at a Reds game. The were playing the Pirates and ended their winning streak with a 2-7 loss. It was really fun to watch a game in the new Great American Ball Park, it was the first time Adam got to see it.

When we move to Kansas, everybody would mention the Tornadoes. It turns out we do get a warning every now and again. We had our first warning two weeks ago. We spent some quality time listening to a book on tape and eating Mandarin oranges on our camp chairs in out unfinished basement. It was enjoyable, but I am looking forward to finishing the theater room as it will have no windows, and we can hunker down in there instead. Last week after we went to Denver for the weekend there was another more urgent warning. One of my good friends got stuck in Walmart for an hour and a half, slightly scared. It turns out that I wouldn't have been much safer if I had stayed put. Greeley, Colorado (my home town) got hit by a tornado last month. So you never know what your chances are. At least we have a basement to hide in, and I am pretty quick to pray.

Washington D.C. Part IV

We spent the morning of the second day seeing the buildings we missed the first day. Lucas was getting pretty tired by this day so we catered to the things he would enjoy. We went to the National Gallery of Art, and had to sit for a while and rest because explaining things to a two year old takes a lot out of him. I didn't take any pictures of the gallery because I had like 40 minutes to find some of the pieces I really wanted to see in the main gallery. We did get to spend a little bit more time in one of the extra buildings, the one that looks like a triangle, I can't remember its name. It was so neat to see so many of the paintings I have studied in school.

a panoramic view of part of the capitol. It was so much bigger than I thought it was.

A detail of one of the friezes.

Lucas playing in another fountain. This time in front of the Capitol Building. There were guards with assault rifles and shot guns standing on the steps, it made me a little nervous.

Lucas got so good about riding the elevators. He remembered to step over the grate, and did so good.

Chasing birds on foot

Chasing bird in the stroller

The fountain in the atrium of the National Gallery of Art, it was designed after one in Rome.

The fountain in the Sculpture garden.

The hope diamond. I really enjoyed the Harry Winston Collection in the Museum of Natural History. Lucas enjoyed all the stuffed animals at the museum.

Dinner Time! We really enjoyed our dinner here. Adam had Soft shell crab, and I got Salmon seared on cedar with a berry sauce, it was fantastic. Lucas slept through most of dinner, so we gave him part of our dishes. He really liked my new potatoes, and enjoyed the salmon too. SOOOOOOOOOO good, the best seafood I have ever had.

Afterwards we found some Ben and Jerry's Lucas was too tired and fussy to go find a nice dessert at a restaurant, so we had ice cream on the train ride home. It made waiting in the subway go by faster too. Lucas started to understand the signs that a train was coming, like the wind and the flashing lights on the platform. Here he is saying that he thinks a train is coming, and is excited.

Lucas ended up being wound up for a few minutes when we got back to our room, but he quickly conked out. He slept in for a while the next morning.

Washington D.C. part III

Washington D.C. itself was really fun to see. There was so much to do, we knew we wouldn't see it all in the time we had, so we focused on the things we wanted to see most. We spent the first day outside mostly looking at all the buildings and monuments we cared to see most. It was memorial day, and sunny but not too hot. We even got to see the President's motorcade come home from his speech at Arlington.

On the road trip we listened to 1776. It added details about the foundation of our country that I didn't know before, and brought it out in a really neat way, I would recommend the book. It was easy to listen to. I think it would be easy to read too.

We are waiting for the train that will take us where we want to go. Lucas was really excited about being able to spend so much time riding trains.

Enjoying the ride. Don't let the look on his face fool you, he was having a great time.

Some very zealous patriots

In front to the White House, I really thought it would be bigger than it was.

Lucas found a tractor to admire on the Mall. He needed a rest, and chose this spot because of the scenery. Beautiful huh?

Mom and Lucas posing near the Washington Monument.

The tour of the fountains continued in Washington. This one I think is on 14th somewhere around Constitution if I remember right.

Daddy came up with a game of jumping from planter to planter. Lucas got a kick out of it, and enjoyed the hundreds of planters in the city a little bit more that everybody else.

This is the building next to the White House, where the cabinet members have their offices, they were doing renovations on the other side because of the electrical fire they had there earlier this year.

Adam's first choice of museums was the Space and Air Museum. Lucas enjoyed pretending in all the airplanes.

The fountain inside the Museum of African art and something or other, all Lucas cared about was more water to go look at and try to get wet in before Mom and Dad caught him.

There is an amazing rose garden outside the main Smithsonian building, thy have hundreds of varieties of roses.

To Washington D.C. and Beyond Part II

We stayed in Alexandria, Virginia. It was such a lovely town. Adam had gone on an interview there, and told me about it. I had wanted to see it from his descriptions. We got into town Sunday night and needed to stretch our legs, so we went for a walk. The town has a lot of its original buildings, and the ones added later are designed to have a historical feel. More than just the main street had old buildings too, every street you drove down had the same feel. The people were really friendly, and there were plenty of interesting places to eat. it created a really neat place to visit.

Our hotel from the Metro station. It was really nice to have transportation to D.C. so close, and not have to worry about finding a place to park the car. It was my first time using a subway system. It worked out well, and wasn't intimidating.

Here is our room before, It was really quite pretty.

But it didn't take the boys too long before Lucas started a Pillow fight. The Red neck pillows became a favorite plaything during the little time we were awake and at the hotel.

We are really happy to be where we were headed.

Alexandria's Town Hall.

Lucas loved the fountain, and we spent time running around it, and he debated wether or not to disobey Mom and Dad and jump in anyways.

A doc on the Patomic River. There was one really pretty yacht, but I didn't get a picture of it.

An old building I thought was really pretty. I wish I had gone back to get some during the day, the red brick with all the green vegitation was stunning, and you can't really see it here.

A neat looking building, If I painted city scapes, there would be dozens of view I would like to paint from this place.

Washington D.C. and beyond Part I

We took a road trip to Washington D.C. and Cincinnati for our family Holiday. We had so much fun! Here is a little bit of what we saw along the way. We counted and we went through ten different states along the way.

He thinks he has packed everything he needs. He followed me as I packed with an empty duffle bag and got in several times. This is one of his new games, can I fit in that?

He got to watch several movies on the trip. This is at the end of Night at the Museum, and he is dancing along with all the exibits.

Even Little guys don't like too much sun in their eyes. He got to borrow Daddy's shades to make him more comfortable.

At one of his pitstops he took Daddy on a little side adventure, just to see what there is to see. As it turns out, there isn't much.

A veiw of the Appellation Mountains, I think they were really lovely. So many trees!