Easter

We had a fun Easter weekend full of strawberries, Easter Egg hunts, and chocolate, but the best part about it was being able to spend time together as a family.









It was a beautiful weekend.

Strawberries

It's our favorite time of year, well besides Christmas. We love fresh strawberries and the jam and syrup they produce. This year they were big and juicy. We picked 9 buckets, and I really want more...don't tell Casey, he thinks we have too much.





Enough is never enough...we love it on pancakes, ice-cream, sandwiches, and anything else we can think of. We might have to put limits on it this year, so it will last through next year's picking time - Cody will have to slack off on his drinking it by the cup-fulls.



Andy, Janelle, and Seth were there to help, so it only took about 30 minutes to pick. It took a lot longer to make the jam and syrup, but it was worth every minute!



We had a contest for the "biggest berry." I'm not sure who really won, but there were a lot of shapes and sizes this year.







And, as always, Seth was the very best flagger



I made a strawberry shortcake for Easter dinner the next day. It was delicious and made me want more. I might have to go and pick another bucket full this weekend, just to munch on while Casey is out of town - he'll never know...my mouth is already starting to water.

Spring Break....finally

I've been trying for 3 weeks to sit down and post pictures of our week in D.C., but lack of time and technical difficulties have prevented me from completing the task. Hopefully this time I won't have any distractions, and I can finally complete this post.



Casey had meetings in Washington D.C. the same week the kids had off for spring break, so we were excited to actually be going somewhere this year. It had been almost 15 years since we had been to D.C.. When we lived in West Virginia, it was the one place we always took family when they came out to visit. A lot of things have changed since then.



There was one item in particular that had faded from our memory(well, mine anyway)...and that is how much walking is involved with seeing all of the monuments and museums.

This is Ry running up the steps when we finally made it to the Museum of Natural History, which was the museum he was the most excited about visiting.



And this is Ry shortly after, when we were on our way back from seeing the rest of the sites on DAY 1...



Poor Ry - he tired quickly and thought all the walking was, "very unnecessary!"

We met up with some good friends while we were there and enjoyed riding the metro -quite the experience - by the 3rd day we were pros and no longer held up the ticket line.





There was plenty to see, and we did our best to see all that we could while we were there.

Lincoln Memorial



Washington Monument - they were working on the reflecting pool





The Cherry Blossoms were beautiful





Vietnam Memorial



There were two places that brought me to tears - the Holocaust Museum and the Vietnam memorial. There was a sense of reverence at certain parts of these memorials. It was amazing to feel the hush of the crowds as you walked through and felt the loss of these individuals and families that suffered so greatly, all for the cause of freedom.





It made me want to become more patriotic and be sure to cast my vote in the next election...here are a few candidates -







There was also a lot more security this time -vs- pre-9/11. It was like airport security in each museum and it took us 40 minutes of waiting in line to just get in the doors of the National Archives and another 20 minutes in line to be able to see them. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building.



There was a need for many stops and snacks along the way -



We enjoyed our time in D.C., even the walking, but hopefully next time will be more prepared of our time and places we want to see.



A big thank you to the Ouzts family, our friends in North Carolina for letting us come and invade their home for a few days. Their kids were still in school, but we were able to stop and visit on the way up and back from D.C.. It was the 1/2 way point and made the trip much more enjoyable. As always we had a good time visiting, shopping, and enjoying time with them. We miss you much!