Military Transportation Museum

The last day that Richard's parents were with us in Virginia we visited the Military Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis. Before I get to all the pictures I have to tell this little story.

When we arrived at the military base we followed the signs for the visitors. We ended up pulling into a huge white tent with five lanes for cars. We were leading the way so we pulled in first and Richard's parents were behind us. The tent was full of big army men dressed in their camo uniforms. We were told (in gruff and intimidating voices) to get out of the car. (We were allowed to leave Marshall and Bridget in the car because they were sleeping, how kind.) We had to open all the doors, the trunk, and move away from the car while they searched the entire inside and under the car! We also had to show them our driver licenses, car registration and proof of insurance. I was completely caught off guard by all of this so on two occasions I accidentally shut the car doors when I was not supposed to, and let me tell you, I heard about that! I completely understand why they had to do this, it is a huge military base, but still, it was crazy. Once we finally reached the museum and we met up with Richard's parents, I think Bob could tell I was a little in shock at it all. Bob, who was in the military on special forces, told me that he has never seen security like that at any base he has ever been to. That made me feel a little better, but boy oh boy, I was close to tears!

Anyway, after that slightly horrifying ordeal we ended up having a great time at the museum. Marshall was in heaven with all of the helicopters, trucks, planes, etc.

Look at that face! Pure giddiness!

Can you believe they actually used these things?! I read that they ended up having too many accidents with these. Really?! So, they stopped using them pretty quickly. Good idea.

Comforting motto on this truck, "Eve of Destruction".

Kind of a blurry picture, but this is the helicopter that Richard's older brother flies, the Huey.

This next picture is a crazy one. This is an actual door from a vehicle that was hit by a roadside bomb. Fortunately, everyone in the vehicle survived.

Ah! The truck transporter, Marshall's favorite thing!


As I mentioned earlier, my father-in-law was in Special Forces so he did all sorts of crazy things, including jumping out of planes. Here is a plane that he jumped out of, pretty cool. I would never do that!


And just so we don't forget about Bridget. While we were all outside in very cold wind, Bridget and Grandma Becky were hanging out in the warm car eating snacks. She loved it.

So glad you guys could make it Bob and Becky! We had a great week with you! Love you both!

Fife and Drum Parade

We went back into Colonial Williamsburg one evening for the Fife and Drum Parade. I remember watching this parade when I was 17 and thinking that it was pretty awesome. Well, it was just as great, if not better, as I remembered and I would say this was the highlight of the trip for me. One thing that made it so cool was that they did it at night when it was already dark so there were people marching in front of the band carrying torches, pretty sweet! We were also able to march behind the band; Marshall was fascinated. At the end of the route they stopped and performed for quite a while. We all loved it!

A couple of videos. The second one doesn't sound as good as it sounded in person; Richard says its because we were so close to the drums. Oh well, it gives you a taste.

Jamestown

While in Virginia, we spent a morning in Jamestown and Marshall LOVED it! They have an excellent Indian Village, replicas of the ships that came over with John Smith, and the Jamestown Settlement. Here are the pictures from our morning out.

Marshall was fascinated with these faces that were carved into wooden poles.

Grinding the corn.

And now for the ships. Marshall was in heaven on these. We probably spent at least 30 minutes on the first ship.

Marshall loved these little rope things with faces on them. He asked to have his picture taken by almost every one. I will only include a couple of these pictures. :)

As you can tell, it was pretty windy that day. This picture was taken on the biggest ship so we couldn't feel the waves while on the boat; hence, Richard is in the following pictures. I was surprised when Richard joined us on the next ship, which was significantly smaller so there was a fair amount of rocking due to the waves. Richard only lasted about two minutes on that thing before he knew it was time to get off or he would be sorry.

The shooting cannons (as Marshall calls them)!

This tour guide was awesome, and so great with Marshall. He let Marshall hold a cannon ball as well as other things that they would shoot, but I don't remember the names of any of those other things...oops!

Steering the ship.

Another shooting cannon! (I just loves these little cheesy smiles!)

Next stop was the Jamestown Settlement replica. Marshall was able to try on some old fashioned protective gear.

We did a pretty quick walk through of this place. By this time, Marshall was tuckered out and ready for a snack, so was Grandpa Bob. :)

Jamestown really was a very cool place. They also had an excellent museum that we quickly walked through on our way out. It was very well done and I told Richard that I would love to go back there someday without children. :)

Williamsburg

While in Virginia we spent our first two days in Williamsburg. I had been there once before when I was 17, but Richard had never been so it was fun to experience it with him.

We toured the jail, capitol, Wythe home, and the governor's palace. We also visited the shoemaker, blacksmith, silversmith, cabinet maker, wheelwright, cooper, and others that I seem to be forgetting at the moment. Marshall was a trooper through it all, not a vacation that you would typically think of taking a three year old on. But, at the end of the first day as we were getting in the car Marshall exclaimed, "That was so much fun!" Richard and I were both shocked. So, at the end of the second day we asked Marshall if he had fun. His response, "Yes, I had fun with the rocks and the dirt." Perfect.

Here are a slew of pictures...
I just realized that I did not get a single picture of the interior of any building. I guess I was too busy trying to keep an eye on my kids. Oh well. :)

Backyard of the Wythe Home.

Back of the Governor's Palace.

Marshall asked to have his picture taken in front of these two wagons. I couldn't resist his smile.

We pretty much let Marshall dictate the length of time we spent in any one place. The blacksmith won the award for keeping his attention the longest. I think we lasted about ten minutes in that little shop.

The Wythe Home. Lovely. Interesting facts: George Wythe was the first Virginian to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was the first professor in law in America. He is credited with educating 28 men who helped to shape early America; namely, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Marshall.

The shoemaker shop.

Some fancy gingerbread decorations, pretty impressive!

The courthouse.

We all took our turn in the stocks. No fun! Marshall was thrilled.


Cannons! Just what boys like. :)

And lest we forget that Bridget was on this vacation, this sweet little girl spent a lot of time doing this...

and this...

And now for some random pictures...

Every morning USA Today was placed outside our door. Marshall was quite fascinated by the newspaper since we don't get one. He took to sleeping with it most nights and it always joined him for breakfast. :)

And this is how we found Marshall the next night, all the drawers open, crazy kid.

Bridget at Nine Months

Bridget is nine months old! Even though it feels like ages since I was pregnant with her, I look back at the time and wonder where it has gone! I feel like her precious little baby-hood has just flown by, much quicker than it did with Marshall. Ah, I'm getting sentimental. Anyway, here are some things about "B", as we frequently call her.

*17 lbs. 8 oz (50%) and 28 7/8 inches (90%). Richard is very happy about her height. Last night we were saying that it would be funny if she ended up being taller than Marshall. :)

*She can hold her own bottle.

*She loves the baby puffs, hates the yogurt melts, and is indifferent about cheese.

*She started pulling herself up to standing at 8 1/2 months.

*Just tonight she started pushing her little toy table around on our wooden floor and walked almost the entire length of the living room.

*She can be very, very emotional. This mostly just happens when she is tired though, but it drives Richard crazy and he blames it on being a woman. :)

*She babbles by saying dada and baba. And says
"I love daddy"

*She is super flexible. She has perfected downward dog. (I have tried SO many times to get a picture of this, but every time I pull out the camera she looks up at me and stops doing it.) She also frequently sleeps bent in half, meaning she has her legs crossed in front of her and she just bends down over her legs and goes to sleep.

*She loves, loves, loves her soft blankets. Almost every time we get her out of her crib she brings a blanket with her. When she is tired or sad the first thing to console her is a soft blanket.

*She has fun with Marshall, most of the time. :) This morning they spent one hour crawling around upstairs together.

*She can clap her hands and she will do it when she is asked.

*She loves toys that make music.

*She still loves her feet and usually goes most of the day without socks because she won't keep them on her feet.

*This girl goes crazy in the bathtub. As soon as you sit her in the water she arches her back to throw herself down into the water. She kicks her legs and flaps her arms. By the time the bath is over there is water all over us and the bathroom. All four grandparents have seen this fiasco now and think it is hilarious.

I absolutely adore this little girl and I'm so glad that she is here. There surely is something special about having a daughter. We love you Bridget!

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Here is my best picture of her downward dog. She typically has her legs and arms completely straight and her head is through her arms and touching the ground.

I adore this picture. When I saw Bridget's expression I just started laughing. Love it.

Look at that grin!

And now for a couple of videos, mainly for the grandparents.

My mom requested a video of Bridget crawling. So here's one. She sure loves that bottle.

And taken just tonight, she's a semi-walker!

Vacation, Day 1

Less than one week after we moved into our new house we packed up again and hopped on a plane bound for Virginia. We had this vacation planned way before we even discovered this house. Before our move I kept telling Richard that if I knew we were moving I never would have planned a vacation for this time. But, it proved to be just what we needed, great relaxation, as you can tell from the above picture. :) We still left plenty of boxes that needed to be unpacked and we had zero Christmas decorations up, but off we went and we had a grand time.

We flew into Washington D.C. late Friday night. We had a hotel close to the airport and we just spent the night there. Considering we were all sleeping in the same room and it was midnight when we got to bed, the night went great.

We had some time that morning to just lounge around before we had to pick up the rental car so lounge we did. I sure enjoyed just spending time with my kids without trying to unpack a box.

The weather was pretty nice that morning so Marshall and I enjoyed a little walk around the hotel. Sure love him.

We were on the road a little after noon that day and we made the drive down to Williamsburg. The kids did great for the two hour car ride. When we got there we did our grocery shopping for the week and then checked in to our beautiful Marriott resort, thank you parents.

Later that evening Richard's parents arrived as well as cousin Becca who spent the night with us. Becca is seven and she is adorable. She was an angel and played with Marshall all night long and he was loving it. I didn't think that a three year old boy and a seven year old girl could have so much together, but they did! In fact, just yesterday Marshall told me again that he misses Becca.

After much play time and the BYU football game we all hit the sack.

I know these pictures and the day were random, but I wanted to document it anyway. Stay tuned for more interesting happenings.

On our way home from vacation