Camp 4th of July

Owen has fun with sparklers.

Sara eats a cupcake.

Sara and Daniel play in the pool.

Every year we go to Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Linda's for a July 4th celebration. They have a fish fry and we get to play in the pool until time for fireworks, but the best part is always being with FAMILY!

Flower Day and Barbecue

Yummy!
Sara's plate o' hash...

Sara and Owen were really ready to leave....

Park Seed

Pretty flowers :-)

A couple of Saturdays ago, we ventured down to Greenwood for Park Seed's annual Flower Day and as long as we were in the area, we stopped by our favorite barbecue spot, Wise's, for lunch.

Destruction

Owen carefully uses the drill.

Daniel breaks his hammer - lol.

Sara's tribute to Michael Jackson - 'just beat it.'

Sara learns the drill is easier.

Owen has the hang of it.

We've been in our house for 5 years now and so the time has come to start making a few changes. When we built the house we thought we'd like a screened porch and a patio, but as we've lived here, we've discovered that 1) the screened porch was too narrow to really enjoy 2) Maggie claimed it for her own (first by learning to open the gate and then by learning to open the screened door) and her hair accumulated in there so that no one ever really wanted to go out there. So, we decided to tear out the screen and open the porch to the patio. Here's the pictures of the destruction phase of the project. I'll post the "after" pictures when we get finished.

Vacation, Part 10 (Friday)

Last post about vacation (maybe) :-)

Changing of the guard

JFK and Jackie O.

I can't believe the Obamas didn't invite us in for dinner!


Just like on tv, but so much bigger in person!

These are pics from our last two stops - The White House and Arlington National Cemetery. Owen was really looking forward to seeing the White House. Next trip we'll have to get tickets for the tour.

Both the kids were unsure about going to Arlington, but once we got there, they seemed awed at the scope of the cemetery and what enormous sacrifices it represents. They were very impressed by the changing of the guard. I was too; it was so hot and humid that day!

These pictures are only a small sampling of the number of pictures that Daniel and the kids actually took. Daniel took nearly 400 on his camera and both kids took lots on theirs as well. Stop by sometime and see them all.

Vacation, Part 9 (Friday)

English Nerds: Continue reading.

Regular people: Skip to next post.

A personal welcome from the Bard himself.

Inside the halls

Caesar sculpture on the outside.


THE best site in all of DC!!!

The Folger Shakespeare Library was AWESOME! I was in absolute heaven. There were sculptures of scenes from the various plays along the sides of the building. The docent at the entry was a former English teacher from North Carolina and we hit it off immediately. She and another docent took us on the brief tour. Unless you're lucky enough to be doing actual research, the books here are off-limits too, but we saw a small theater, lots of Shakespeare memorabilia (including a First Folio!!!!!!!), and got to peek inside the reading room. The gift shop was small, but adequate. I got a Shakespeare bobble-head you just have to see. It's adorable!

Vacation, Part 8 (Thursday)

Sara Camp reporting live from the Nation's Capital...

A piece (a BIG piece) of the Berlin wall.

Sara in a journalist's hat at the gift shop.

The Newseum was lots of fun. It was very interactive and had many interesting stories to tell. The 9/11 exhibit was a great tribute to the journalists who kept us informed that day. it had a good exhibit about the recent Inauguration and had a good mix of print and broadcast exhibits. Owen got a chance to record the weather report and Sara saw a snazzy hat in the store. There were stunning views of the city from the balcony on the top floor. Even though it isn't free, I still highly recommend a visit.

Vacation, Part 7 (Thursday)

Outside the Library of Congress reading room.

Man, the Library of Congress is much nicer than our Middle Tyger!

The sun shines on the Capitol.

Our tour of the Capitol was short, but neat. I had never been inside before. The millions spent on the new visitor center made it look nice, but the food was the WORST we had in all of DC. The hot dogs from the street vendor were much better than the gritty mac and cheese (good ol' Kraft would have been an improvement) and the absolutely tasteless burgers. From the price of lunch, I think I now know where the economic stimulus funds are coming from... Anyway, it was a good tour and the tunnel to the Library of Congress was neat. The Library itself was grandiose and beautiful. Tourists get to look at the architecture, but the actual books are safely hidden away.