Here it is. Another "year according to facebook" post. Kinda cliche but I love it! Some of my statuses make me chuckle, all make me realize how much has happened over the past year...I'm definitely adding this to my Journal Your Christmas book (which is coming along albeit slowly).

Last day of winter break. I'm so not ready. I'd love another week at home with my guys...yet, here we go!

Sunday Citar

“The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one's appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.” —Amelia Earhart

“There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.” -Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

“When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home” - Thornton Wilder

"There is no place like home..."

Home after a short (yet long enough) trip to Las Vegas. Had a blast with my sister and brother and parents but oh-so ready to be home. It's amazing how much I can appreciate the quiet and slowness of our little town after only a few days. Happy Day my friends!

Oh ya. Headed here today with my family (and when I say my family I mean this is like a true family vacation - my mom, dad, brother, sister).

"Las Vegas looks the way you'd imagine heaven must look at night. " - Chuck Palahniuk

“Vegas is everything that’s right with America. You can do whatever you want, 24 hours a day. They’ve effectively legalized everything there.” - Drew Carey

...and I'm off!

Berne

We spent a day (and a half) in Berne, IN. George grew up in Berne which is a Swiss community settled by Swiss Mennonnites over 150 years ago. It is common to see Amish buggies traveling down the roads as well seeing their homes scattered through out the country side. We were able to go to Swiss Days and walk around town, listen to music and of course, eat some Berne food. Archer and I really enjoyed the apple dumplings (I think Archer is even going to try to make some...yum).

At one of George's cousin's houses Archer found a friend and playmate with Lilly, who is a year and a half Golden Doodle. With some of George's family. (His cousin is Cindy - the lady in front looking sideways).
We loved this cat who makes his home at one of the local stores.


We went to the Swiss Heritage Village which has buildings as they were in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Luginbill guys at the Luginbill house.

Inside the Luginbill House.
George's cousin, Mike, was working at the Swiss Heritage Village in the doctors office, but took a few minutes to talk 'car' with Troy.
This was fascinating. A VERY large, hand carved wooden screw that is part of the largest cider press in the world which is now located at the Village. WOW!

Archer LOVED the Weiner Dog Races that took place at the Village. Fun times!

Conner Prairie

On our way to Berne we stopped at Conner Prairie which is a living history museum. These are a few pictures of our time there.

Not complete without...

A trip to Indiana would not be complete without at least one trip to White Castle. Troy LOVES White Castle...His life would be perfect if only there was one near by...they do sell White Castle in the frozen food section of the grocery (which is okay, but not the real thing) and that is what he has to have when a craving hits.
Before.
During.
The aftermath.
Yum.

Wonderlab

One of Archer's favorite things on our trip was spending time at the Wonderlab. For the past ten years (since her retirement from teaching) Troy's Aunt Karen has been working at the Wonderlab. The reason for our visit to Indiana was Karen's retirement from Wonderlab and Karen and Bill's 50th Wedding Anniversary. Here are a few pictures of our trips to the Wonderlab. It was nice to see and experience what Karen and Bill have been talking about, working on/at, and bringing Archer presents from for the past 10 years! Fun times!

Karen, Archer, and Bill
Large bubble blower.
Archer working on his Magnetic Sculpture.

A really, really big shadow, imprint....thing! (can't think of the word)
Climbing on the leaves. The leaves start at the ground level and go up to the second story ceiling!



Grandma got into the climbing mode as well!
Then dad joined in.

Home Sweet Home

We are home. I have a TON of laundry to do. We are glad to see our house is standing and all cats are accounted for (thank you Cheryl!).

I will be back to post some pics later tonight or tomorrow.

Until then...

Getting ready

Today we are getting ready for our trip to Indiana. This will be our first trip back since Archer was a year old. Archer is very excited - he has been wanting to go to Indiana for years. So, today and tomorrow we are packing, cleaning, and getting ready in general. Looking forward to seeing Troy's Aunt Karen and Uncle Bill - they are awesome. Archer is happy because there will be pets on this vacation (nothing to pet or play with in D.C.) and he just love to play with Karen and Bill's dog, Ty! We are meeting Troy's parents in Seattle tomorrow night around 10 and then off we go for a week in Indiana.

In Reflection.

We have been home for five days and have barely had time to think about our trip. We all enjoyed ourselves and we were all ready to get back home.

It is an amazing experience to travel to our nation's capitol. Where all the *stuff* happens. It was interesting watching the news with Archer the other night and he said "Hey, we were there" (in reference to the Capitol building). I think now, even more than when we were there, is when the real learning happens. This is when it all starts to connect, to come together. Reflection, remembering, connecting - that is learning, that is how this experience (the trip) will affect him for his whole life. Fabulous isn't it?

Air & Space MuseumSteering a plane. Harder than it looks evidently.
Loving this picture...My guys.
The fountain at the National Gallery. I loved this when I was back there (14 years old).
GamesWorkshop. 'Nuf said.
at the George Mason Memorial.
Monkeying around at the National Zoo. Go to the website. It has quite a bit of information for parents, kids, and teachers.

Home Sweet Home

We have arrived in Lynden. After a day of travel we arrived home at 2:00 this afternoon. The cats were happy to see us - in that 'we're really mad at you, but will let you pet us' kind of way.

It was nice to pull into our driveway and just be home.

More to come later.

Almost home...

We are at the hotel, packing up for an early morning departure. No photos tonight. I will post some that as of yet have not been seen sometime when we get home. We are looking forward to getting in to Bellingham around 1:30 p.m. (pacific time) and heading home to our kitties, our beds, our lives. We are ready. We came, we saw, we walked and walked; now we are ready to be home...back to reality. As Dorothy said, "There is no place like home." (We did get to see Dorothy's red shoes and the Scarecrow today - while the American History Museum is closed til next year they had a small exhibit at the Flight Museum).

More on our adventures later. See you at home! :)

Boy day!

And boy what a boy day it was. We rented a car and drove up to Maryland, past Baltimore to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds to the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum. It was like a little piece of heaven for Troy. Tanks tanks everywhere and guns as far as the eye could see (well...almost). I reallly haven't seen so many tanks in my entire life. Maybe I never will again. :)




We ended the day by visiting the Games Workshop headquarters. They changed their hours (but not on their website) and were not actually open today. However we met a nice man who got them to open up for us and Troy and Archer were able to do a bit of shopping and looking around at all the cool stuff! Fun times!


Tomorrow we hope to see the Declaration of Independence and eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. We are looking forward to going home. Getting back to our real lives. This has been fun, but fun can only last so long. Archer even wants to go back to school. I think mostly to see his friends - he has been stuck with his parents all week :).