East Coast Extravaganza - Part 2 - Wash DC, July 2-6, 2022

 *****2022 East Coast Trip *****

       *****Part 2 *****

Washington DC.  What a great place.  I’ve been here many times, lived here two summers, but it still astonishes me all there is to do and see.

The best part was spending 6 days with my brother Pentti and his wife Amy.   

*We had to take this picture because Anikka wanted to see Pentti in his police “outfit”.

- Sunday, July 3rd - 

Anikka’s favorite animal is a Panda so it was necessary that we go to the National Zoo.

We were lucky enough to see them playing in their outside enclosure 

then when we went into the panda house they had just gotten the food ready and we were able to see them eating.

Of course, the girls NEEDED a panda stuffie. 

We walked around the rest of the zoo...

...then went to one of our favorite restaurants, Cactus Cantina for late lunch.  BEST homemade tortillas ever.

The National Cathedral is just down the street so we stopped by on our way back to Pentti’s.

The girls also learned how to use the DC Metro.

- Monday, July 4th -

We spent the day relaxing at Pentti & Amy’s.  Amy’s Mom (Mrs. G) came for lunch.  Amy makes THE best meatballs and “gravy” so we enjoyed the leftovers. Mrs. G also brought a craft to teach the girls which entertained them for awhile.

In the evening we picked up Roy Rogers fried chicken dinner and went to watch the fireworks from a marina on the Potomac River (Virginia side). We had a perfect view of the the Washington Monument and the fireworks. Thanks to Pentti for arranging the parking for us (unfortunately he was working and not able to join us).

- Tuesday, July 5th -

We spent the whole day on the Mall.  We did ALL the things...16,500 steps...so tired.

We started at the Museum of Natural History 

Then went to the Museum of American History where we saw the Star Spangled banner and the flag that inspired the song.

From there we walked to the Washington Monument...

then around by the Vietnam Memorial 

where we had ice cream on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

After dinner Pentti drove us back downtown to see the memorials all lit up.

And we went to a few stopped by a few that we hadn’t seen during the day.

What an exhausting day. 

- Wednesday, July 6 -

For our last day in DC we decided to go to Mount Vernon.  We were surprised by how much we all liked it.

then we met Madison in Old Town Alexandria for dinner and gelato.

5 days in DC is not nearly enough time to see everything but it was a great first trip there for our girls.

Next up, 5 days in NYC...

East Coast Extravaganza- Part 1 - Ocean City Maryland, June 28- July 2, 2022

*****2022 East Coast trip*****

**********Part one********

For our “big” summer trip this year we decided to go to the East Coast and introduce our girls to WASH DC and NYC.

Our first stop was to Ocean Pines MD to see James’ sister Laurie and her family at their beach townhouse.  

Because this is the first summer since the pandemic to be somewhat “normal” there are a lot of issues with airline cancellations and delayed flights due to lack of workers/pilots.  We woke up the morning of our flight to a cancellation/rebooked text message.  

Luckily, our new flight left just a little after our original flight and got in to DCA at our originally scheduled time. And best of all, our flights were on time and had no delays.  

Because we were concerned about making connections and flights being cancelled, we all packed into one carry-on bag and one backpack each (with a couple of dolls -necessary for the NYC part of the trip). And WE DID it!  We considered it “training” for a Europe trip which we hope to do next summer.

We landed at DCA, took an Uber to Pentti’s, and loaded up in their car (they were kind enough to lend us their extra car) and drove 2.5 hours to Ocean Pines arriving at midnight local time.  Super tiring travel day, but we were so grateful it all went smoothly. 

While we were in Maryland we did lots of new things. 

*Ocean Pines is a short drive to Ocean City so we spent a couple of afternoons at the beach 

*The girls learned to paddle board in the canal

*We went to the boardwalk one evening and had treats, played skeeball, and got salt water taffy

*The girls learned how to catch Maryland Blue crab 

Then boil it, pick the meat and make it into crab dip (thanks Kiely!).  

Neither of them really cared for it, but the process was fun. 

*They went on a date with Uncle Brian to McDonalds for breakfast 

*We spent some time at the pool

* On our last night we went to Asseteague National Park after dinner for a beach bonfire and s’mores.

We had a very fun couple of days with our Maryland family.  

Then, on our way back to DC (for part two of our trip) we stopped at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Museum.

….. tbc….

Weren’t we just here? June 5-9, 2022- Ignacio CO

A few days after Memorial Day weekend I made an unexpected, quick trip BACK home to Ignacio.  We were only home in Colo Springs for 4 days when my Dad had to go to the hospital for pneumonia. I came back to help when he got home, just in case. 

So the girls and I loaded back into the car and drove back to Ignacio.  Good thing it’s a short trip.  We only stayed 4 days but I wanted to document a few fun things we did. 

-Water balloons and mud

-The girls spent hours working on creating episodes for their Kindi kids, so they threw a viewing party. 

- Southern Ute Indian Museum 

-bowling 

-popsicles 

-Anikka lost a tooth, luckily the tooth fairy found her

Then when Pappy was feeling better we kidnapped Grandma and brought her home to our house for a week.  

My Dad is seriously the bionic man and was back to normal within a few days.  I was happy I live close enough to be able to be home whenever I am needed.