Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great few days over Memorial Day Weekend.  Kimball's sister SaraLyn and the Veech clan came to visit for a few days to watch their son Trevor in the parade in D.C. and of course to visit us.  Since they had already seen a lot of the monuments and such on other trips we decided to go to the zoo and melt there for a few hours.  This was our second trip to the zoo:  The one that showed us all the kinks in our zoo planning.

It was very hot and crowded, but I think everyone still had a great time together.  Besides, it was memorial day weekend, it was going to be hot and crowded no matter where we decided to go.  One extra bonus that came with the veech family staying with us was a night of babysitting so the adults could go out together.  Thank you!  We had such a great time!

Saturday night my sister Monica and her friend Letti came into town as well.  Luckily we live in a bigger place and were able to squish everyone in.  I absolutely loved seeing everyone; hopefully they didn't mind the extra squish.

For Memorial Day everyone went their own way.  The Veeches went to get a good spot to watch Trevor in the parade, Mo and Letti toured monuments, and Kimball and I took the kids to Arlington National Cemetery.  What an amazing experience!  This isn't one of the places people are usually dying to see when they visit D.C., but it is definitely worth a visit.  Seeing so many headstones of people who fought for our country is very humbling and inspiring.  We visited the Kennedy grave site as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but by that time the kids were collapsing from the heat and the walk so we didn't actually see the changing of the guard or anything.  I know I say this every time, but we'll have to go back in the fall when the crowds and the heat die down a little bit.  I'm still so glad we chose to go there though.

Extra bonus!  We accidentally saw the President driving in to give a speech!  Technically Kimball was the only one who actually saw him.  I was too busy trying to find the record button on my new phone, but I still think it counts for the both of us.

After the Cemetery Kimball and the kids met up with the Veeches to watch the parade while I saw museums with Mo and Letti.  I don't know how Kimball felt about the arrangements, but I had a great day.  Letti wore a pedometer the whole time and said they walked nearly 12 miles that day.  Ugg.  So exhausting, but we had such a great time!  Glad I could tag along.

I've decided my favorite war memorial is for the Korean War.  Seeing it at night was a little spooky, but very beautiful.  There are 19 statues of Soldiers scattered in a triangle shape.  They are positioned so that while you are standing in the monument one of them always has your back.  One of the engravings says "Freedom is not Free".  A little dark and heavy, but I really liked it.

We finished the visits off by taking Mo and Letti to the beach.  I've decided I love taking the kids to Chesapeake Bay.  Turns out military gets in for free so we don't have to worry about the ridiculous admission fee!

Thanks to everyone for the visit!  We had such a great time!