Christmas Morning

Sister Christmas

Celebrating Christmas with family.

My fabulous niece.


The trio of cousins



Carrie and David



Me and my awesome children!








A holiday isn't complete without a platter of Carrie's cookies!

Halloween

The Purge.  That's the characters they were dressing up to be for Halloween.  Never heard of the movie myself.

I think they pulled it off quite well.

Wedding

This beautiful bride was the flower girl in my wedding almost 25 years ago...last night she was the bride with her little sister as her maid of honor.

Three beautiful women - Audine is one of my oldest friends and looks like she could be a sister of her daughters!

Their handsome brother came home from Korea.  He has turned into a MAN while he was gone!

The bridesmaids.

Bride and her baby brother.

My beautiful friend and mother of the bride with her handsome hubby of 31 years!

Me and Audine with Austin

Nick and Krista - the happy couple!

Ni

 A selfie of me and my date before the wedding.

Another with Audine sneaking in for a smile!

And Austin just had to get one with the bride of course.  Though his secret crush has long been her younger sister...

DC Trip Day 2

Trying to see and do everything there is to see and do in DC is hard work!  We had 3.5 days and filled every minute!

Someone left this money laying around in one museum!

Going out to Arlington Cemetery was really worth the Uber trip and tour fee.  This is Kennedy's grave with the eternal flame.  He's only one of two president's buried there.

The view of downtown DC from there is amazing.

Thousands of men and women are buried here...men and women who fought and died for our country.

Walking into the amphitheater at the tomb of the unknown solider was breathtaking.

And watching of the changing of the guard brought teapots my eyes...and when the jets flew over in memorial of a general that was being buried that afternoon...wow.

Later it was off to the Air and Space museum!

Madison was naughty trying to touch Uranus!

And the last museum stop before we left was the National Portrait Museum!

Madison loved spending time surrounded by her favorite president - Robert Kennedy.

It was an awesome trip and loved spending it with my daughter!

Mommy- Daughter DC Trip

I have been to Washington DC quite a few times but never have taken time to do the "touristy" thing and actually see the city.  Since I've always been such a history buff, this trip was way over due.  I had a meeting scheduled for a Tuesday in DC so it sounded like a perfect way to turn a business trip into a long weekend!

One of our first stops was at the National Spy Museum.  Madison and I were pleasantly surprised to find this huge photograph of the REAL Mata Hari - our pretty pony's name sake!  Few people remember Mata Hari, a WWI spy...

While we had great weather, we were mildly disappointed to find the Mall and Capital under construction - getting ready for next year's innaugeration after the election.

The Supreme Court Building was one of my favorites with the Greek Columns and just looking so...judicial!

This pic was rather accidental but I love it.

The sun was shining bright but it was pretty chilly outside the first couple of days.  A LOT of fast walking kept us warm!

Our first night we took a "moonlight" tour on a shuttle bus and got to see the monuments under the stars.  One of the first stops - Jefferson Memorial.

Madison loved climbing into Roosevelt's lap.

 Later she tried hard to "hold" the Washington monument.

The WWII Iwo Jima Monument was so cool...there are 11 hands for the 5 men...one is the hand of God.

Abe.  Madison wanted to climb up in HIS lap, too.

Another attempt to hold the Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The next day we started out at the National Geographic Museum.  Parts of it were closed but the Indian Jones exhibit was super cool and left us wanting to go back to the room and watch all four movies in an IJ marathon!

Later we worked our way over to the White House where they had just planted thousands of mums.

I have no idea what this building is but I though it would make such a great haunted house!

 Really is just something special about this place...

Getting this up close and personal at the White House was such an experience but...

Getting to stand on the porch!! WOW - too bad we were just standing in front of giant photographs!

Catching this photo of the Washington Monument...kinda took my breath away.

To be continued....