Captain Chisum’s Chariot

Chisum has earned the nickname, “Captain” from his Nana and Papa Joe. Thus, the grandparents thought the little Captain needed a chariot!

I had talked about how a bike trailer would be a lot of fun, and when mom found one at a consignment store, I told her to grab it. On Memorial Day, Ronny got the chariot all hooked up to my bike and we took it for a spin around the cemetery to see all of the flags.

Hank was just as (or more!) excited than Captain!

It was fun and Hank was tired! We will be trying the trail, next!

Washington, DC for Memorial Day

Ronny and I took the opportunity while I was in our nation’s capital for work, to spend the Memorial Day weekend for some site-seeing and vacation time.

I was in DC Wednesday through Friday with meetings and had the afternoon of Friday to myself before Ronny arrived that evening. I took in the Newseum as I wasn’t sure Ronny would be too interested in it – and it was great! It takes you through how the media was able to communicate historic events and their impact on our society. Being an updated exhibit, it had some neat technology and interactive exhibits which I was all about! They have newspaper fronts from each state the the top story gives you a great view of the Capitol.

Ronny arrived that evening and it was cold – wah wah. I’m not complaining, but we were looking forward to seeing the monuments at night, but it was just too chilly to try that. Ronny however, got his first souvenir because of the cool weather!

On Saturday, we were able to meet up with Jess, a Seward-gal who works now with Senator Johanns’ office in DC. She gave us the “all-access” tour of the Capitol, and she knows her facts. Then she took us to an amazing burger place – Good Stuff. It was a great morning and we’re very appreciative of Jess and her time!

That afternoon, we started out with the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I was most excited to see the FOOD! exhibit about the history of food and agriculture. It was a little lacking in the agriculture, but still an impressive exhibit.

Later, we walked the monuments & memorials – talk about a lot of steps! (Just over 23,000 steps according to my pedometer). It was unfortunately really crowded – but I think Ronny really enjoyed them.

I’ve been to DC a few times before, but this was his first time, so it was a lot to take in. I did become good at finding park benches to sit on to “check out the sites” – but mostly to rest my pregnant-lady-swollen-ankles. It wasn’t too bad though, it was just hard for my body to keep up with my energy level to go, go, go!

Ronny was really looking forward to seeing the White House and when we jaunted over there – they had the perimeter fenced off. “Just the nature of the complex” so they said. Ronny was a little bummed, but we got a distanced view for pictures.

We walked to the downtown area to find a restaurant, then on our way back to the metro (Ronny’s first experience on a Subway btw and he is now better at maneuvering it than me!), we came upon the back side of the White House and they had taken away the fenced perimeter! So we were able to get a few more up-close pictures.

Sunday we set out early for Arlington National Cemetery. There were a lot of tour buses there, but we made our own route around the cemetery where there happened to be no people. It was so sobering and reflective to walk through the quiet monument and think about the impact that those who have lost their lives for our freedom, have had on our lives. The changing of the guard is always a neat thing to see. Ronny said we officially made our vacation a “Pope vacation” by visiting a cemetery – I loved it!

Just next to Arlington is the Pentagon and the new(ish) memorial for those who died in the 9/11 crash.

By this time, we were really tired of all the walking, and decided to head over to the Washington Nationals baseball stadium to see if we could get tickets to the game that afternoon. We did and it was so fun to watch a baseball game in different stadium on a nice, sunny day. My feet and Baby Pope thanked me as well for the rest.

That evening we decided to walk through the Air & Space Smithsonian (I was trying to get Ronny in there most of the weekend and he wasn’t too excited about the “museum” but I think he thought it was way cooler than what he expected. :) ) We then walked to a different area of downtown and found a fun pizza place for dinner. On the walk back, we enjoyed the nicer weather of the evening and the monuments by night. We could hear the Memorial Day concert on the Capitol steps – and watched it on TV when we got back to the hotel.

We flew home Monday morning and it was nice to have some restful time at home – and to hang out with Hank! – before starting up another busy week. It was a great vacation, “Baby Moon”, and time spent together on a reflective weekend.

View all of our trip pictures.

I certainly was remembering Memorial Day's past of running in the BolderBOULDER and remembering my Gramps!

Easter weekend–He is Risen!

We had a fun-filled, family weekend to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus!

My Kansas grandparents hosted Easter with my mom’s side of the family, so all of the siblings and cousins were together to spend time – and to enjoy Grandma’s amazing food. (Why is it that I can make her recipes to the exact recipe and it still doesn’t taste the same? I think she throws some Grandma-magic spice in, although she won’t admit it. ;)

One of the events we participated in was the annual Easter egg hunt. All of the “kids” ages 21 to 30 enjoyed a Easter egg hunt thanks to Aunt Tam (for filling over 400 eggs with candy) and Grandpa. (You really like finding Grandpa’s eggs because it means money – and this year, Subway gift cards!)

We got all lined up for the hunt – then had to be  just a little bit silly. :)

Then, because they love pity me, the pregnant one, they let me take three steps of a head start. And guess what…this lady got 82 eggs! I almost beat Josh (the non-relative) so really I won. :)

It was a great weekend and so great to all be together. One of the best parts this year was having Miss Maelle with us! I don’t think she was put down for one minute – she got lots of love this weekend.

Hope you had a Happy Easter to celebrate Christ being Risen!

Stock Show trip to Denver

Over the long holiday weekend, Ronny and I had the opportunity to go with our friends, Matt & Lindsay Hastings, to Denver for the National Western Stock Show.

The weather was beautiful…we didn’t need our coats for most of the time. We even found some Nebraska signs to take our picture with.

While we were there, we enjoyed the cattle shows, horse jumping show and even the dog pull (did you know a 30 pound dog can pull 900 pounds!).

The highlights included walking around and reminiscing in the yards, seeing old friends, spending time with the Hastings, the cowboy church and the rodeo.

We were super impressed with the “One-Armed Bandit” at the rodeo.

Such a fun weekend! We also got to stop by my parents house on Friday evening and show the Hastings my family ranch. Always a great time to see my family and be home.