Our Trip to Washington D.C.

Last week, we took a trip to Washington D.C. Actually, Kyle had some business meetings there and he left on Wednesday. Ellie and I flew out to meet him there on Friday. I was so nervous to fly with Ellie all by myself, but she did great! The hardest part was getting through security and around the airport with a baby, a stroller, my biggest purse, a diaper bag, and a carry-on bag packed with snacks, books, babies, and a DVD player. Other than that (and having to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the airport on time), everything else was great!

We arrived Friday afternoon and met Kyle at our hotel. We stayed in Arlington, Virginia. After getting settled, we walked around until we found a place to eat and a grocery store to pick up some snacks and drinks. We just relaxed at the hotel and took Ellie to the indoor pool that evening. We were exhausted! Ellie and I fell asleep watching TV at 9:00 p.m. our time! About 30 minutes later I woke to Kyle yelling at me. Ellie had thrown up ALL OVER THE BED, HERSELF, AND ME! We had to strip the sheets and call for new bedding and towels and both of us had to get in the bath ASAP. I was so worried that she was going to be sick the entire time and we were going to be stuck in our hotel room. But she woke up Saturday morning feeling fine, thank goodness!

On Saturday we had breakfast near the Capitol and started our tour there. We walked from the Capitol building through the National Mall. We went to 3 of the Smithsonian museums: The Museum of the American Indian (of course!), The Air and Space Museum, and the Museum of Natural History (my favorite!). After that, we found a place to eat lunch and watch the OSU vs. Texas game. It ended up being a Texas watch party and we found out later that the OSU watch party was just down the street! After watching the Cowboys win, we headed back to our hotel room to watch the Rangers win their game that is sending them to the World Series! Great day!

After a good night's rest (Ellie slept for 12 hours!), we got up and headed to the Lincoln Memorial. We'd planned on checking out the new Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, but the dedication happened to be that day. I've never seen so many people in my life! It was crazy! Luckily, we were heading in the opposite direction. We walked from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument and then to the White House. We did the White House garden tour and suprisingly got close enough to touch the White House (although we didn't)! It was really cool! We were in the backyard and got to see the vegetable garden, basketball court/tennis courts, etc. After that we went to the Museum of American History.

We were about worn out by this time and had to be at the airport in a few hours, so we headed back to the hotel to get our bags and head to the airport. The first 3 hour flight to DFW went great . . . Ellie slept the entire time. We were sitting in the floor fixing to board the flight home when she threw up all over me again! We had to rush to get ourselves all cleaned up before boarding the flight (where she threw up again), but we made it! She must have had a little bug. She is totally fine now, although I haven't given her any milk because both time she got sick it was right after she had milk.

I'm still recovering from all the walking and traveling in such a short period of time, but we had a great time. D.C. was so cool! Lots of great sight-seeing and interesting things to check out. I took about 250 pics, but here are some of my favorites!

Snacking on the plane to D.C. Playing in the DFW airport play area

Swimming at the hotel pool

The start of our self guided tour

Library of Congress

U.S. Capitol

The reflecting pool in front of the Capitol building

The ceiling in American Indian History Museum

The discovery room

The Air and Space Museum- they had the actual planes flown by the Wright brothers, Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh. This museum was very cool!

Archives Building- it's amazing how much detail there is in all of the buildings

Museum of Natural History

Ellie loved all the animals in this museum

The Lincoln Memorial- one of the most impressive things I saw

The crowd for the MLK JR. dedication. . . crazy!

Veterans of the Korean War Memorial

Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall

Washington Monument

The White House

Ellie did a lot of walking over the weekend!Department of Treasury

The White House

The White House vegetable garden

Ready to go home!

Cuteness

Here are a few pics of my little cutie from the past week.

Last week before the OSU game. She knows who Pistol Pete is and anytime she sees him (which is a lot in our house) she says, "Pete?" I put the ? because she says it as if she's asking a question. Wearing Daddy's hat

Breakfast with my silly princess

Presenting . . . Mr. and Mrs. White!

One of my very best friends, Sherri, got married on Saturday! We have had so much fun preparing for the big day . . . a super fun couples shower in August, a great night on a party bus for her bachelorette party in September, and a relaxing day of pedicures and getting our hair done before the ceremony on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous, the bride was beautiful, and I didn't fall down the stairs before I walked down the aisle! Everything was perfect!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot of good pics. My mom and nini had to take Ellie and leave shortly after the reception started, so I have no pictures with them. I didn't even get one of the bride and groom together. But, I did get a few good shots of the bride!

Mrs. Steve White and Me Sherri and her bridesmaids, Karla, Hayley, Cassie, Me

(Love how you can see her red shoes here!)

Des, Rita, me

Me and Cassie

Me and Hayley

Kyle and me

Sweet Family . . . Jordan, Hayley, and Gage

Tiffany, Kara, Kelly, and me

Me, Kyle, and Rita

Steve and Sherri are in Jamaica this very minute. Wish them all the best!

Love this weather!

Lately, we have been enjoying the beautiful weather! We've been playing outside even though there are piles of laundry, dishes to be done, and dog hair to be vacuumed. We can do that when it turns cold! We usually only get a few good weeks in the spring and fall before it becomes too hot, too cold, and/or too windy!

These are inside pics, but they crack me up! Only Wylie would let Ellie ride him like this!

We have been taking walks and when we get back, Ellie puts her baby in her new baby stroller and takes her on a walk around the driveway. This little stroller belonged to Jasmine and got handed down to Ellie. She loves it! She puts her baby in, pushes for a minute, gets the baby out, repositions her (usually in the same place), pushes some more, and repeats! It's so cute!

Ellie also enjoys playing with our neighbor's cat. She's not really quite sure how to though. She's used to dogs, and I think it kind of freaks her out when the cat rubs up against her over and over. But she likes her and takes off running when she sees her outside.

Another fun things we've done to enjoy the nice weather is visit the Oklahoma State Fair. We took Ellie Tuesday evening. There still isn't a whole lot for her to do, but she shared a corndog and a funnel cake with me. She LOVED the petting zoo and touched and fed all the animals in there. (Don't worry . . . I gave her a Purell bath quickly after.)

This is a baby chick that started hatching right there in front of us!

This is her annoyed face. Like she has time to stop and pose for a picture!

She loved climbing up on this rock all by herself.

The Petting Zoo

Goodbye Summer! Welcome Fall!

At the lake in Logan

This past weekend we went to Ute Lake in Logan, New Mexico. Kyle's grandparents have a lake house there and I hadn't been in 12 years! Me, Kyle, Ellie, and Kyle's parents drove the 6 hour drive there on Friday morning and came back Sunday evening. We hung out, ate Ma's delicious cooking and baking (she made my very favorite chocolate cake!), went for a few boat rides, fed the ducks, watched and fed some deer and foxes, and just visited! Ellie did great and we had a wonderful time!

Trying out her new booster seat

Heading out for a boat ride

Feeding the ducks with Grandpa

Sweet kissy face

Honking the horn

Drivin' the boat!

Our "deer" friend

This deer came by several times. On Saturday night, we sat on the porch and watched her eat the watermelon and corn we'd set out for her. She could see and hear us, but stayed and ate for a good 20 minutes or so! She was only about 20 yards away. It was so neat!

Momma and Ellie in front of the lake house

Ridin' on the boat

Pa Bill, Daddy, and Ellie

Ma, Grandma, and Ellie

Can't wait to go back and visit again!

Cutest Cowboy Fan

Today's the first Cowboy game of the season! Kyle and I are headed to the game and Ellie is going to stay home and cheer on the Pokes with her Nana. Of course, she looks like a doll in her new Cowboys outfit (thank you Tiffany, Ryan, and Ryder for the precious birthday gift!). Here's my Cowboy Cutie all ready for the game!

Go Pokes!