day 5: arlington, va.: nature walk and space walk

One of the main reasons we did this trip when we did is because our good friends Tyler and Marjorie are living here, but hopefully not for too much longer. They used to sit by us at the Utah football games, and then they moved out here when Tyler got a job at a law firm in D.C. (We are still holding their seats for them) They were going to move back last year, but then Tyler got an internship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for a year, and who could pass that up?? So we will continue to keep their seats warm until they return, hopefully soon.

Timing didn't work out the greatest, though, because Marjorie and kids are in Utah right now (Tyler leaves Thurs.). I'm not sure if it's Tyler's sister or Marjorie's sister, but whoever she is, she is getting married this weekend. They get back in town Sunday, so we will get to spend a little time with them before we leave.

This is their house in Arlington, Va., which is very close to D.C. Apparently they only live a couple of blocks away from General Petraeus. That's what happens when you live close to Washington. This snow is what's left after that monster snow storm about 3 weeks ago, which dumped over 3 feet of snow here!

There are trees everywhere here, but since it's winter you can pretty much see right through them. Just down the street from their house is a forest of trees with a walking path, at least for part of the way. It was a bit wet and muddy, but I took the boys out to explore it a bit.

Jake was the first to find a walking stick, which became the thing to find.

Pretty soon they all had one and were off to use them.

Since we couldn't take the sticks back to the house, the boys decided to leave them in a super secret hiding spot right next to the trail. Ben got out his journal, which he brought along to do sketches, and sketched out the place where they left the sticks. :)

Tree growing out of the middle of the sidewalk.

After our exploration, we loaded up in the car and headed into D.C. to meet Daren, who had gone with Tyler to work this morning. Daren listened to arguments at the Supreme Court, which had to be pretty cool. Tyler later said they weren't the best attorneys, but still. Anywho, after taking, yet, another wrong turn, we finally made it in to pick up Daren at the National Museum of American History, which we will be going back to, and headed over to the museum of choice: Air and Space.

this is me, Ben! In that picture above, i'm sketching the get-in-and-fly-it-plane.

Right above is The Spirit of St.Louis. Will loved it!!!

Now back to me, the mom. To quote the description of this exhibit of the 1903 Wright Flyer:

Removed temporarily from its place of honor in Milestones of Flight, the 1903 Wright Flyer, the world's first successful airplane, serves as the centerpiece of this exhibition, which celebrates the centennial of the Wright brothers' historic flights. For the first time, the airplane is being displayed on the floor, so you can get a close-up, eye-level look at the historic craft that ushered in the age of flight.

This picture of Will was taken in the exhibit, "What makes it fly?" At least I think it was called something like that. It was very fun for the boys in there, and we stayed until they closed. Everything closes at 5 or 5:30 in Washington. Since we have been home tonight, Daren has been sick off and on. When will it ever stop?!?!?!?!