Washington DC Thanksgiving week vacation

We thought it would be fun to take the kids up to Washington DC. Brent and I had been there but the boys had not.  This is Parker's senior year so we thought it would be a good idea to take him before he goes on in mission and college. 

When we got to South Carolina they had this nice sign.

I loved the trees on the highway.

In South Carolina they had this red tree everywhere, so pretty.

We stopped somewhere in South Carolina and we saw this sign and we thought it was funny that it was called Parker seed co.  Parker thought it was funny!

We made it to Virginia.

We were so excited to see this sign.

On Sunday we decided to attend a Ward that was on the way to the temple because we were going to see the temple after church. This church building had a Ward that met at 1:30 PM which we thought was perfect because we were so tired from the drive up that we needed a little extra sleep.  When we got there we were surprised to see Michele Richardson. Michele grew up with Brent in Fountain Valley, California.  Brent's dad and her dad served together in the Bishopric and both families went on summer vacations together! So yes they are like brother and sister. It was really neat to see her and her family.

We went to see the Washington temple after church.

At the temple we met Sister Sittilo. She is from Florence, Italy and she knows some of the same people I know. Sorella Forbes who served in the Milan, Italy mission with our daughter Alison served in Florence and knows her well. I texted Sorella Forbes who got back from her mission a few months ago and asked her if she knew her. She was so excited that I had seen her. She said she knew her and that her dad is one of the Branch presidents in Florence. Sister Sittilo has a facebook and now I am her friend on facebook.

My good friend Angel Alvarado and his wife Sandra moved to Virginia about 6 months ago from Arizona. Angel (I call him Mickey) and I grew up together in Ponce, Puerto Rico.  I am older by about 3 years so he calls me his big sister!  He is like my little brother, we get along really well. It was fun to see him and his family at the temple's visitor center.

I love this temple and I loved taking pictures of it. When I was 9 years old, in the summer of 1975 my parents, my brother and I got sealed in this temple! I loved seeing it again and it brought great memories of my parents and my brother.

We also met Hermana Shaw at the visitor center. We found out her cousin is Sorella Sadie Fuller who is serving in the Milan, Italy mission with our daughter Alison.

Sandra Alvardo and I. The visitor center is so beautiful. In the visitor center there is this beautiful house with a front porch and we took a picture there.

This is the foyer of the house.

This is the other side of the porch with little kid size chairs.

This window of the visitor center looks out to the temple. It is just beautiful.

Mickey and I.

Conner.

Our family.

The Alvarado Family minus one daughter who is at college in Arizona.

After the temple we went to Michele's house and the kids played games.

The frozen fountain at our hotel.

Riding the metro from Alexandria, Virginia to Washington DC

Parker in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Conner at the Lincoln Memorial.

Washington Monument.

Jefferson Memorial

Washington Monument is being refurbished.

In front of the capitol building.

Capitol building.

An old Barbie and GI Joe. The Smithsonian museum of American history.

I had a lunchbox similar to this one when I was little, mine was not a Flinstones one but it was like this one.

Pioneer wagon.

Fire truck.

Harry Potter.

When I saw this I knew it was from Puerto Rico.  It is a mask used at carnival and it is made in Ponce, the city where I was born and raised!

This was at our hotel room in Alexandria and I liked it.

The museum of American history. This is a simulator a ride like Star tours at Disney.

Old cars.

The Nauvoo exhibition at the American history museum.

The Poky little puppy. We have this book at home. This was the Little Golden Book exhibition.

The White House

Resting after a long day touring Washington.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

They took Brent's picture on the computer and made him look like this, a cave man.  We thought it was funny.

Resting on a bench.

At Brent's cousin's house all the cousins were playing a game.  We visited Brent's cousin Rebecca and her husband Peter. Rebecca's brother Jonathan was visiting from Georgia with his wife Natalie and their kids.

National air and space museum.

It was so cold I had to have hot chocolate all the time.

The capitol building.

Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel

Thanksgiving dinner.

Had to have some pumpkin pie.