We're all here in D.C. now! Briant got here the day before he started his A100 class training for new Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) on June 30th. The kids and I flew out a few weeks later after attending my extended family reunion and saying goodbye to friends and family in Utah (I wish I could write more about all of that but I really don't have the time right now!). Our plan was to drive out here with the help of my dad. But a week before we left, our adopted Alpine parents/grandparents, or as we refer to them here because of all the fairy tales we read and watch, our "Fairy Godparents," Marc & Julie Nielsen, graciously volunteered to drive our car out for us (Julie had to stay and work so Marc drove alone with his books on CD). It's no surprise that such a charitable person would also offer to help us out by being our property manager for our home we left to renters!! He's an incredible fix-it-guy who has done an immense amount of work on our home for years. I am eternally grateful to him (and Julie for her willingness to let him make such a long drive alone) for sparing my dad and I the pain of driving with 3 energetic kids, for probably a total of 6 days!
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I'm going to advise Marc to use this pic of himself the next time he lists our house online to find renters.
They will be so impressed that he is our property manager. :) |
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| The night before the drive out here. They are so cute! |
The kids loved the flight (their first time flying)! They were so excited, animated, and full of questions that I had people comment on how cute it was to watch them. Briant admitted that he was jealous he couldn't be there for their first flight because he knew how excited they would be. During the take-off, Rhea asked in all seriousness, "Why aren't they counting down 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 blast off?" :) I also found her in the bathroom later pushing the flap that opens on the bottom on the toilet to "see what was down there." Savvy excitedly came out of the bathroom carrying a small-boxed feminine pad and exclaimed, "Mom! They have small diapers for my doll!" Thomas suggested we study clouds again like we did earlier in the year of homeschooling because they were soooo cool at 30,000 ft. And of course, having the engineering mind that he has, I was asked a zillion questions about how the plane worked, the wings specifically because he had a window seat. This is when I really wished Briant had been with us! I mean, no, I totally knew all of the answers. :)
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| The LEGO Movie played a large role in surviving the 4 hour flight! |
Life is good here. We're actually in Falls Church, VA. It's less than 10 miles from Washington, D.C. It's a beautiful, charming city full of large trees that tower over everything. I love driving around the community looking at all of the adorable homes or what I would call cottages on streets lined with trees. We were blessed to be assigned a 3 bedroom apartment here at the Oakwood, that caters to temporary housing needs (they told us we would have a one bedroom when we first signed up). We got here and the kids immediately identified their beds that they wanted and began "nesting." We're on the 6th floor (7 floor building) that looks out toward a beautiful cemetery. The other side of the building faces the swimming pool and playground so we have the "quiet side." It actually has two kitchens, and each of our rooms has a bathroom as well. We just use one of the kitchens to cook, although we do use the other one to hold some boxes with our winter clothes and miscellaneous things. We also use the 2nd fridge as an overflow for holding food. Always helpful after a Costco run, especially because the Costco is not nearby! It's not the 4,000 sq ft house on a half acre that we're used to, but Briant and I are more than ready to give it up. The kitchen gets cozy when we're all in it trying to feed our stomach beasts, but it's all good. I'll get over it because there is free housekeeping once a week. :)
Here at the Oakwood, they have a pool, playground, tennis courts, volleyball court, a small workout gym, and an activities room for the kids. They host an organized activity every day for the kids. It's so great! They have a Friday night movie, Saturday morning crafts, pool activities, game days, etc. It has been a wonderful way for us to feel a part of the community as we have interacted with other children and their parents. Most every day, we're swimming in the pool, playing on the playground, and exploring the community and its parks. One of our favorite parks has a 4 mile paved running/biking trail that runs along a river where the girls can roller skate & Thomas can ride his ripstick. Unfortunately our bikes would not fit in the 800 lbs allotted to us for our stay here in D.C., so they're in storage. :( It is of course lined with very tall trees. After going to it 3 or 4 times, we discovered that across the river is another public park that has a beautiful rose garden! This picture only captures a piece of it. We couldn't believe it! It has more roses than the rose garden at Thanksgiving Point in Utah which is pretty spectacular when in bloom. Briant proposed to me in the Portland Rose Gardens because he knew of my love for roses, so you can say that I was thrilled to discover this park so close to home!
The last few Saturdays, we have gone into D.C. to explore the Mall with Briant. The kids LOVE the metro! That in itself was like going to Disneyland for them. They of course love to stand as the train moves to test their balancing skills. We've seen the Smithsonian Castle along with the National Museum of Art full of Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Whistler, etc. So cool. We also visited the Air and Space museum with other foreign service (FS) families and then went and touched the Washington Monument.
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| Disneyland in Washington, D.C.: The Metro. The escalator comes in a close 2nd. |
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| First time on the Mall as a family. I think I was the most shocked of everyone that we live a little metro ride away from all of this! Briant and I laughed when Thomas said, "I've been here on google earth!" |
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| National Museum of Art and Sculpture Garden. We had to get a few pics of the kids with Monet, because we have a good friend named Monet and we thought of her! The girls also took a pic with "A Young Girl Reading" by Jean-Honoré Fragonard because they used to have a print of this painting in their bedroom before the move. :( It was one of the many things we sold or donated in our quest to downsize all of our things to less than 18,000 lbs (7,200 lbs can go with us to post, and the other 10,800 lbs are put into long-term storage). |
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So cool to see things like the "Spirit of St. Louis," retired army planes, a space suit,
different bullets used by fighter planes from different countries, etc. |
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We love this monument! The kids and I studied the civil rights movement this year in homeschooling, with of course Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech that was delivered right there, just west of the monument at the Lincoln Memorial with the reflection of the monument in the Reflecting Pool. We have since appreciated the design and grandeur of this obelisk even more. It's good to see our smiles despite the fact that we were feeling uncomfortable for sure with the heat and humidity. Savvy decided to lay herself down on a bench to relax for a minute because she was "dying." :)
And of course, with all of the wonderful things we can see here at the Mall, we also see a few interesting things:
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| We think it is an air conditioning unit blowing into his clothes. Yes, he was getting tips. :) He actually was the smartest person that day because he didn't have to deal with the heat and humidity like the rest of us! |
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And then there's this: Something about stopping forced live organ harvesting in China.
The kids asked a lot of questions to which I had no response. :) |
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