Grandma Suzie B. Cook Days 1-3

My mom came to visit and the kids and I had such a great time I am sure I will have about 10 blogs to be able to write about and share pictures from her time here. She spoiled us all rotten and we loved every minute of it! Abigail loved reading with Grandma...

The others enjoyed "reading to" grandma.

And showing her some of the quirky moves they have learned from their father.

Abigail demonstrating the "rise up" sign

A little more pool time. Every time Nate is home on Saturdays he wants to swim (since he doesn't get too the rest of the week). The kids and I swim a lot but it is so much more fun with daddy :)

I love this shot, I just wish I could get it closer so you could see Kaylie. She seriously looks like she is running in the air.

Grandma had to "warm up" before going in the water. She still gets cold really quickly, in fact I think it is worse than ever (since she is totally used to AZ weather). She had a hard time in our "cold" house that we keep between 70-75 degrees. She would often go out on the deck or wrap up in a blanket to keep from going numb. Nate likes the place to be cold, but I don't think it is too cold either. Maybe because I am pregnant?

Anyhow, the first day my mom was here I wasn't able to take any pictures but I sure wish I could have! My friend watched the kids for us so we could go to DC and tour the White House. Mom got us both tickets (since I live here it would take me over 6 months to get tickets- it took her 3 weeks). They don't allow any cameras or anything in the White House so we couldn't even bring one with us (we rode the bus from the Dulles Airport). It was neat to see the different rooms and how they all seemed to have a color and fabric theme. It was definitely older in style and hasn't really been changed since Jackie Kennedy was in there, which I think was kindof neat since it preserves the history of the house. Apparently they do tours there nearly every morning and then in the afternoon they actually use all the rooms that people tour through. They had tons of portraits of former presidents and first ladies and it was nice to see. I was under the impression that kids weren't allowed to be there, but there were many there. I was glad I didn't bring mine, only Kaylie would've potentially survived it.

After the tour we found some cheap t-shirts ($4/10) for the kids for Christmas and then we walked to see the Lincoln Memorial. It ended up being a much longer walk than I had bargained for and I was worried about catching the right bus to get home to the kids (since the friend watching them was watching them for the first time and I wasn't sure how it would go). But mostly I was just in a lot of pain from walking so long and not being to sit down. The Lincoln
Memorial was definitely worth seeing and worth all the pain I had to endure to see it. I couldn't believe how LONG the reflection pool was and that you could see the Washington Monument from it. I so wished that I had my camera and now will want to go back sometime (maybe with the kids) so I can get some pics. We even made it to the bus on time (even though it was at least a mile away from where we were) and got back to the kids before the babysitter went crazy. She is a great friend and didn't look any worse for the wear my kids must have given her. We really do live in a great part of the country and I'm so grateful to be able to see some of these things before we have to move. I am truly blessed in many ways!