These last couple days have gone WAAYYY too fast!! On Friday Jenni and I took the kids to Alexandria to do some more senior pictures and shopping! We found some great deals! Then yesterday since Bill had off, Jenni and I went to the Holocaust museum in hopes if getting in. We lucked out with a street parking spot just around the corner from the museum and when we walked in we got tickets right away! It's tough to say the museum was good, but it was a good experience. And as a bonus, I got to have lunch from a truck! I didn't think food could be that good but it really was!

They also fed me Thai food last night....it was incredible!!!

After some teary goodbyes, I was on my way this morning. Loading the plane I was struggling to get my bag in the overhead bin....of the 15 guys and flight attendant around do you think any one of them offered to help me?! Of course not! They just watched my bag fall on me twice! People these days!

I owe the Nesbitts a HUGE thank you!!! I really appreciate everything! And I will miss you guys! I can't wait to come back!

The grand driving experience

Today was another day of site seeing! And to begin the adventure, we couldn't get the stupid meter to work!! So of course the whole time we were paranoid that the car was going to get towed and or have a lovely fine waiting for us....  But Luckily neither happened!

First I got to see the capitol!

And for lunch we walked through the sculpture garden 

Next up was the museum of American history

The first American flag

Dorothy's ruby red slippers

And just for you mom.... The first girl scouting attire complete with a box of cookies

Then we drove past the White House

And thinking the cathedral was close decided to drive past it as well but in fact, it was incredibly out of the way

It was amazing though! 

And on the way to getting lost finding bills work to pick him up, we got caught in the traffic that went on for what seemed like an eternity!....little did I know that actually trying to go home was worse! That was the moment I realized there is something good about Omaha :)

Lay low

Today was some much needed rest! Everyone was worn out and it was time for a movie day. We went to lunch at a cute little coffee shop in fairfax, went home for naps and movie time. Then, Jenni and I met a friend for dinner (the lady who moved into her house in Omaha) and walked around this cute little town!

This is the marina we stopped at

Hard to see but all the boats are sitting on the water and in the background, the lighted line is a bridge with lights! It was beautiful!!

And on our way home we detoured through Maryland

If only Omaha had bridges lit up like this!

Site Seeing!

First on our agenda for the day was visiting the Natural History Museum! 

The 100year old elephant...I'd say she aged pretty dang well!! :)

Who knew that's how giraffes drank water?!

The Hope Diamond (terrible picture) 

I was informed by Jenni that in order to get married, the man must first buy me this :)

This is Addi and I in front of the Castle! It sounded great till I realized its just the information center and you can't actually do/look at anything in it

Next was the WW2 memorial

And of course the reflecting pool and Lincoln memorial!

Relaxing day

Honestly what would I do without the nesbitts?! This morning....well basically all day, Jenni took my senior pictures! They turned out so awesome! I owe her BIG time!!! 

I had to sneak the kids in too :)

Then, as we were eating ice cream this crazy squirrel jumped on the trash can, went in, got food, and somehow managed to climb out... I was shocked!! 

And the snuggle bunnies and I watched our all time favorite movie Aquamarine!! :)

Washington D.C.

After 3 very jerky flights (the turbulence was terrible!), I arrived in Washington D.C.!! I am here to visit my very special family :) Addison is 5, and Landon is 2, and I couldn't ask for a better "little brother and sister"! They are so stinking cute and were so excited.... But I'm pretty sure i was more excited than they were! This week will be packed with seeing the sites and I can't wait! I made Jenni and Bill promise to go out on some dates so the kids and I can also have date night too! They are such gracious hosts....LOVE YOU NESBITTS!!!!

Mayan ruins

So the most exciting part if the trip was the Mayan ruins we got to visit! The was our "fun" day :) 

We learned that the royalty had to have crossed eyes and they would collect blood by slashing there nipples and poor it at the top as a sacrifice....gross!!!!!!

As part of this trip we also got to semi walk through the rain forest!!

The ocean

We weren't actually able to go to the ocean and swim but I got some pictures driving by!

This is the river leading out to the Caribbean 

And Hannah and I sitting above the ocean...even though you can't really see it :)

The church

The main church we worked with all week was lake independence baptist church. Everyday we had a prayer walk time where we went around the neighborhood from door to door and asked the people if we could pray for them and what specific thing they needed prayer for... The one that stuck out the most was a family of grandma, mom, and 3 girls along with cousins living on the house. The mom told us that one of the daughters, she is 7, has AIDS. So we prayed and went on our way but the next day the little girl we prayed for came to the sports ministry time and remembered our names. So me and Hannah (my bff I went with) were able to bring all our clothed to her house the last day and donate them to the family! I couldn't believe how excited and overwhelmed they were to have some dirty tshirts we'd already worn and dirtied that week... God was truly with us and that family!

Another story that sticks out, one boy came everyday without any shoes on and I asked him I'd he had any and he kinda ignored me and looked down embarrassed and I asked him later in the week, if you could have anything in the entire world what would you want? And he said all he wanted was a pair of shoes he could wear for a long time without them being too small, so on the last day I was able to give him my 3 pairs and you couldn't believe the joy.... He truly touched my heart!

On the prayer walk... Drenched as it was pouring!! 

Nursing home

These two are my new husbands!! So stinking cute...we played dominoes for 3 hours straight and I only won once :( 

I was told later that this man is diabetic... Made my whole day! 

And this guy kept posing for the camera... He also danced with me and asked for my hand on marriage :)

Living conditions

So while I was there I was just shocked at the level of poverty. These people, although they have nothing, are overjoyed everyday! The houses there are are very run down but also painted in such vibrant colors. I also saw how much of a problem flooding is, it rained everyday while there and they mostly embraced the rain as it wasn't the scalding sun but most of the houses couldn't hold up let alone keep the rain out :(

This just broke my heart....this family's house was burnt down and they'd built a mud hut but with the pouring rain there house was gone

This is how it should have been