Trip to see Daddy

Daddy is living in Falls Church, VA which is just minutes from DC. So we wanted to take the opportunity while he is there for the kids to get to see all the sites and museums. The museums & almost all sites are free, so we couldn't miss out on this chance! The kids (and Tommy and I, too) got to do so many "firsts" on this trip. The first of which for the kids was riding a bus! Ha! We took an airport shuttle from the parking lot to the terminal in Tulsa and Tag was so excited to ride a bus for the first time! :) We rode the metro in DC, which was a first for all of us, and just lots of other things. There are just so many big and little things to experience in the world and I love getting to show a little of it to the kids! The kids went to school that Thursday and I picked them up and we headed straight to the airport for our flight. I must say, it was the sweetest thing to see how excited they were to be so close to seeing Daddy!


This was around midnight when we finally arrived at Daddy's house.

Tommy is one of the most thoughtful people I know and he loves more than anything to make the kids happy. He had them both little surprises to occupy them while he was at work the next day. One of Bella's surprises were these press on Princess fingernails. She thought she was something else! So cute!

While Daddy was at the hospital, the kids and I went walking around behind the house. It was just beautiful and peaceful there. There are running/bike trails and a few small playgrounds. This was a pretty stream behind the house.

DC is known for their cherry blossoms and I was hoping we'd get to see the trees blooming. We missed most of them but this one was in the park. Beautiful!

A cherry blossom.

Cuties sitting in the blossoms. When the wind blows they fall from the tree like snow.

Pretty girl!

Having fun!

That night we went to the mall. It was 3 stories and the biggest mall I've ever been to. Tag is really into Legos right now and they had the coolest Lego store!

We had just gotten off the metro and were heading to the The Mall (Smithsonian) when we spotted the streetside hot dog stand. :)

The Museum of Natural History

Huge T Rex head! It was amazing to see all the dinosary bones!

The Hope Diamond

The Rotunda in the Museum of Natural History

The White House!

Mommy's turn...wish we had gotten a family pic here. AND wish people wouldn't just sit there in front of it so they aren't in the background.

View of White House from the south side

Bella Rose has become a huge fan of Wizard of Oz and could not wait to see Dorothy's slippers at the Museum of American History!

Inside Union Station

Union Station - just beautiful!

1st trip on the open top tour bus! And it was quite cold.

National Cathedral - so beautiful!

Arlington Cemetary, very emotional and humbling experience to see

JFK's gravesite with the eternal flame

The Beautiful Amphitheater at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetary

Soldier guarding the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier. This is the most amazing thing to see how much detail goes into showing respect and honor. You can hear a pin drop because of the silence and it just will give you tears and chills. Awesome! I am uploading videos that I will post later.

Changing of the Guard

Our tiny kids sitting in the huge Amphitheater! ;)

The flowers were beautiful at Arlington Cemetary

Riding the open top tour bus!

He makes me the happiest girl!

Our last stop was the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

So much bigger than I would have ever imagined! Awesome to see!!

As you can see we saw packed lots of things into this short visit and had a great time! Tommy will finish up in Virginia on May 7th and starts his OB rotation in Orlando on the May 10th. I'm not sure when we will see him again because we are waiting to see what his schedule is in Orlando before we make plans for the kids and I to join him. Of course we want to be with him as soon as the kids finish the school year (last day is May 24th), but I also don't want to be stuck in a hotel room with the kids while he's working long hours if he has a bad schedule that rotation. So for now we have a countdown of 20 days left of school!! And then we will go to WM and from there we will eventually travel to Orlando. Tommy will finish in Orlando on June 18 and we will come back to WM, then Tommy and I will come back to Tulsa to move out of our apt before the end of June! And then another chapter of our journey will be closed!

I'm baaaack!

Hello all! That is...if I still have anyone following my blog since it's been so long! When I was home over Easter I had several friends ask if I had dropped out from the blogging world, so I thought I'd give it a go again. I got overwhelmed with being so behind that I just stopped. But now I'm just going to pick up with the present and forget all I've missed.

Just to update...

Tommy is in his 4th week of his 6 week Psych rotation in Falls Church, VA. This rotation has been quite interesting (a little scary for me to think about the patients he's dealing with!) and has really flown by. Well, at times it has, but then at times it's been forever since he left Tulsa. Tag has had a really really hard time adjusting so please keep him in your prayers, and Tommy also, of course. I can't imagine being away from the kids for 3 mos and admire him so much for being so strong and doing what he has to do to make a good life for his family. I know this is so hard for him even though he'd never show it. And I keep telling Tag that these things only make our family stronger and that 3 months really isn't that long when you think about it! But I'm thankful that I get to talk to Tommy often and I know my mom always checks in on him too, so he's being well looked after even though he's so far away!! I would hate for him to feel like he's forgotten while he's off over there! :)

Tag is doing wonderfully in school and reading so well! He's so proud and so are we! It's an amazing thing as a parent to watch your kid learn to read. You can just see that door opening for all the things to come! Tommy and I have always read to them and have a HUGE library of kids' books and are always buying up more and more and I think this has always kept them interested in books. He is playing ball also and not really a huge fan of it right now. He doesn't mind playing, but just doesn't get into it that much and it doesn't hold his attention well! ha! But as long as he wants to play he will play, we will never push sports on him. He is doing Jefferson Milers (the running club at school) right now also and enjoys trying to get as many "feet" charms as possible. He has tons of friends living around us in the apt so he plays outside every minute of the day that he can. On weekends nowadays our tv is rarely turned on b/c they are outside playing all day! I love it! It will be hard to move again and not have all these friends around for the kids to play with, though! Tag has also grown a ton! I measured him the other day and he's grown 2 inches in less than a year! Wow!! My parents could not get over his growth at Easter and they had just seen him a little before that! I keep telling him to slow it down, but he doesn't listen. :) He is looking forward to his first school field trip at the beginning of May and kindergarten field day! These last weeks of school should help the time pass until we can be with either Daddy or our family in WM.

Bella Rose is doing great also. Getting a little too sassy for her own good, but I guess I've always known she was a little rotten! ;) She's the little princess of the family, for sure! She's very ready to be done with school and be back in WM. In fact, I think she'd have no problem leaving us here and living there right now! Little toot! Of course she thinks that when we are in WM we'll always live with Nana and Poppy since that's where we've stayed while in WM for as long as she can remember. So I guess she'll be shocked when we have our own house there! ha! She's still into babies and Barbies and is constantly rearranging her big dollhouse. She's done so well in prek and is ready to be a big kindergartener next year (although her mommy's not ready for this at all!). She asks for a "real puppy" and a "real baby" just about every day and I can't wait to be able to give her both! :)

We went to visit Tommy last weekend and had a wonderful time in DC. We cried when we first saw him and we cried when we left him, but the in between was really a great time! His place he's living is perfect for him and a great location. I'll post some pics from the visit later in another post.