Whirlwind Travellers

I'm back!  At least for today...our stuff gets delivered tomorrow to our new home, so we have been living in a hotel this weekend.  We've been bumming at friends and families homes and hotel hopping as we drift homelessly northward.  Now we are in NJ, but the adventure isn't over yet.  Hopefully once we get settled in things will begin to normalize, but right now it still feels like we are just vacationing and we will be on our way back home any day now.  I'm sure I will get over that soon, especially when I think of the drive!!  I don't want to do that again for a LONG time!  Although next time we won't be driving 2 cars with a dog and 2 cats to add to our brood of 5! 

On Friday our first stop was a short 4 hours away from Mobile as we stayed the night with some friends in Ft. Rucker.  We spent not nearly enough time together before having to head out the next morning.

Saturday our next stop was Grandma's house.  We spent the entire weekend with her and Grandpa Lionel.   We went to Theo's home Ward, we went to the movies and we hung out with some friends we haven't seen in almost 10 years!  It was such a lovely visit.  We left Tuesday and made our way up to VA where we went to a family get together for the 4th, why I don't have pictures from that I don't know.  It was really great seeing my family from my Mom's side of the family.

Thursday we were off to Washington DC.  We checked into our hotel and then booked it over to the monuments.  Here Tobie is holding up the Washington Monument! Ha!  It was a HOT week, but it didn't stop us from walking about 3 miles between the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the WWII Memorial.

Soaking our weary feet in the pond for the WWII Memorial.  What a beautiful memorial this is!

Lastly for the day was the Lincoln Memorial.  We were all soaked with sweat and worn out, but that didn't stop Theo, Tobie, and Emma from tackling the stairs!  I had to take the elevator because of my double stroller, poor me! ;)  What really made me feel good is when we left for the car Tobie says, "That was totally worth it!" referring to all the walking leading up to the Lincoln Monument.  That's what I hope all my kids will be like, that they will appreciate the good despite the hardship they had to endure to get there.

Friday we figured we would take it easy by going to the Smithsonian.  We needed a break from the heat, but I tell you what, I was more stressed out and frazzled because of the mass amount of people in that place I was eager to get back out in the heat just for some space!  We ate at the cafe they had there in the museum and even though the food was good, despite costing us an arm and a leg, it was so packed I was literally shaking from the stress of finding a table and feeding my whole family!  We just went to the Museum of Natural History so we could see the mummies and dinosaurs.  There are several museums of the Smithsonian, but there was no way we were going to be able to tackle all of them in one day.  I don't think my nerves could have taken it either!

Saturday as we headed up to NJ we had to stop by the Washington DC LDS Temple.  I've seen pictures and I know I have been here when I was younger, but too young to really remember the sheer size of this place!  Pictures seriously don't do it justice! 

The Christus statue at the DC Temple Visitor's Center.

And finally to end our journey, on Saturday we made it to Atlantic City!  We are loving our new surroundings and we have already started exploring.  Tomorrow we are moving into our house, and that's going to be an adventure in its self.  We got the keys to our new home and it is tiny!  I don't know how we are going to fit our family of 7 with all our stuff, but we'll figure it out somehow. 

I'll try to keep you posted on how that goes.