Boston DC Trip

In April, Steve and I got to go EAST to visit Jenni! We flew in to DC and showed Dad around a bit. We ate at a 24hour Kabob Palace - it was after 11 pm and the place was booming. Enjoyed our meat & Mediterranean side dishes! On Saturday I took Steve into DC to visit the Air & Space Smithsonian - he is an airplane nut! He loved it and we made plans to return for the flight simulators. We had to get on the road to start our trek north - Ultimate destination: Boston Marathon!

We drove into NY to let Dad & Jenni's friend, Connie, see some sights. Neither had been, so we quickly scurried about to see the Financial Dist, the NY Stock Exchange, Times Square, rode the Staten Island ferry, saw the Statue of Liberty, rode the subway and much more. We settled late that night in Connecticut.

Sunday morning we went to Church and Steve spotted Glenn Beck a few rows back. That was his highlight for the day - he went and shook his hand and introduced himself. Off we go to get into Boston and get Jenni checked in for the big race! Beautiful country to drive through, nice scenery, etc. but it is dotted with toll booths - a new thing for us! Have your bills ready!


This is Jenni before the race with cousin Stacey Lake, they hungout till the start. Hopkinton to Boston 26.2 miles! Jenni headed out at a great pace, we made it to Framingham to see her at about mile 6. She was running on the right side, we had to scoot across to see her. No problem till we were ready to leave and had to change sides again - Steve & Connie had no problem running thru the middle of the race - I had a mild panic attack! We missed the train but drove to Wellesley to catch a quick glimpse of her again! Still going strong. (We were exhausted!) Next into downtown Boston - Connie and I hustled up and squished through the crowd just in time to see her in front of the Prudential building, just before the finish!

She did great! Ran it in 3 hrs 32 mins, 8.4 minute miles - 26.2 times - no stops, no crying!!
We were in total AWE! and she was still smiling!!

After a shower and a catnap for Dad, we went to feed the starving runner!
I chose the LOBSTER - when in Rome....



We looked around Boston a bit before heading back to Virginia. On Tues when we made it back to Jenni's apartment her roommates and friends were all there congratulating her on her awesome run! She's a stud muffin!


On our final day of visiting we rode the flight simulator(he tried to kill me) and went to the Supreme Court for a special tour. We got to see the conf. rooms, their law library and Dad got to shoot hoops on the HIGHEST court in the land.
The basketball court directly above the Supreme Court!

baby faces

I found the baby pictures of Andrew to compare with Kaili's picture! Does anyone see a similarity?
Sorry I don't know how to manipulate the pictures better-Jenni: help!!--- Mom- you've got it... we'll chat about aligning the pictures (I'm still working on getting that figured out as well).

(Andrew- above)

(Kaili-above)

March

Long time no blog! Jenni has encouraged me to post but I always get frustrated and give up. So, here I am trying again! We went to Utah for Kaili's blessing March 1st and Kevin, Kristen and Madi came too. It was a lot of fun to see my grandbabies - just always too short on time!

Swimmin' Skeens

We figured we better start the girls swimming early! They loved it!

Valentines in the HEART of NYC

Haha... Jenni, me, somehow earned the title as the official "tour guide" for our trip to Manhattan. Valentines day, we spent the morning with the Skeens in NJ and then all rode together with Rich, Mirit and Asher into the city. There we found a great place to enjoy some famous NY pizza... it was one of Rich's fav. places near 12th street (they use to live there). The fresh basil leaves atop the thin-crust and fresh mozzerella pizza was fantastic (even for one who is selective about her pizza- hmhm).
Rich sent us in the right direction to catch subway and we made our way toward the Staten Island Ferry. Along the way saw...

• Ground Zero
• Wall Street and the NY Stock Exchange
• Statue of GW where he was sworn is a Pres. of the United States

Then made our way to...

• the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Is. Ferry
  

Then uptown to...

• Central Park (southwest and east end) with the ice rink--- it was dark
• 5th Avenue- windows and St. Patricks
• Rockafeller Center
• Maxi's for dinner on 42nd (?)... great Valentines Dinner to end the day!
  
• Revisited part of Time Square
• Port Authority to catch the bus to NJ

**Sorry No Pictures... Maea was all over it on Saturday***

A True Presidents Day

We spent Pres. Day at George Washington's Estate, Mount Vernon, in Virginia overlooking the Potomac River!!! Washington's Bday lands on the 22, so we were a few days off being there on his official birthday, but it was a very appropriate location to celebrate the holiday!
One of Mom's highlights was the marching band. A short video clip shows part of the parade that took place in front of Washington's home. Mom will share more about it... In short, it was a very nice afternoon...

After Mount Vernon, we ran into heavy traffic going through Old Town Alexandria. Recognizing that the reason was the local parade, we stopped to find Mom another marching band... We did not see the line early enough to catch the real band, but we did get to see come colonial era costumes worn by men who apparently reenact various parts of the revolutionary war period. The video below is take just after they broke out into a mini dramatic play... didn't catch it, but you can see their costumes, which fit really well into the town with its restored homes.