Did you miss me?

Whew, seems like I have been out of the loop for awhile. I have no idea what is going on in anyones life right now. I guess that is what vacations are for right? We had a GREAT time. It was hot, sticky, a lot of walking, some whining and more. We spent Friday in DC and these are some of the things I heard....

" Hi Ethan. My name is Ms. D and I am a preschool teacher. Your Mom told me that you are scared of escalators. Can I hold your hand on the way down?"...What would we do with out the kindness of strangers?

"Mom, I don't want to see the President today. Maybe tomorrow."-Ethan

" I wish Daddy were here to see this!" Me ( more on this in a moment!)

"Mommy, why is your Uncles name on this wall?" Harmony at the Vietnam Memorial

"I like all this stuff." Connor

"Can we get an ice cream and sit on these big stairs?"-Ethan at the Lincoln Memorial

"Can we go up the stairs again? All 58?"-Harmony

"This is the coolest restaruant I have ever eaten in." Harmony at the Hard Rock Cafe.

And there were many more. These were just some of my favorites. Ben woke up in the middle of the night Thursday throwing up. By Friday he was still sick and could barely raise his head. The only things we could do were to cancel the trip or go without him. He figured it would be a 24 hr bug so he said if he felt better he would drive up on Sat. We called him through out the day to see if he was feeling better and each call he sounded better and better. I told him he better not be hanging out with his other family today or going golfing or anything! Friday was a long day and by 8pm everyone was asleep. We were exaughsted. Sat. Ben made it to our hotel at around 8:30. We hurried downtown while the parking lots weren't as full. We walked around some more but the heat really wore us out. Poor Ethan got really sick. We had a parking spot for 3 hours and by the time it was done, Ben was having to carry a hot, sick, sweaty Ethan. I think he got some heat stroke or something like that. Next we headed to the temple and went to the visitors center. There were 3 couples getting married and it was fun to show the kids. Ethan proclaimed, " Mommy I am not going to get married in the temple."
M- Why not?
E- Because I don't want to get married.
M-Why not Ethan? I like being married.
E-Because I don't want to have to kiss. Yuck."

After the temple we went to lunch and the church book store. Bens parents took the kids home and Ben and I headed to Ikea and than to Williamsburg. We had a great time by ourselves. We are celebrating our anniversary today. 8 years. Hard to believe. We are going to go see Pirates of the Carribean for our date! Fun. Anyway, this is a long post. But I am home now. Ben's parents leave tomorrow and than Vale arrives on Friday. For those who don't know, Vale is my nephew who is going to stay with us for the rest of the summer. Good times.