We heard that last winter was a beast with 10 "snow days" so we were anticipating much the same this winter.  However it was the complete opposite with only a handful of days with light snow and only one day with snow worth canceling school over.  The kids had a ball playing outside of course while the snow lasted.

When Savannah and her friends got tired of the cold, they came inside for some fun with water and food coloring to tie dye paper towels.  Whatever keeps them busy and happy!

We love exploring beautiful Virginia and getting to know what has become our de facto U.S. home.  Some neighbors told us about their experience going near Virginia Beach and looking for fossilized shark teeth in an area famous for them, and we decided to go ourselves.  On a cold Monday holiday, we headed out for the Calvert Cliffs at Westmoreland Park, and tried our luck hunting for teeth.  The setting was beautiful (and cold!), and while we didn't find any teeth, we had a good time exploring the area and playing on the beach.

One Sunday, we got in the car, drove to the west Potomac Park, and took a stroll around to see some of the monuments we haven't seen yet.  I love the symbolism of the memorial for Martin Luther King, Jr.  It's based off of a line in his speech that says, "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."  These two stones in the pic below represent the mountain of despair, and then the carving of Martin Luther King in stone some yards away from it, is the stone of hope that came from the mountain of despair.  Love that!  And it's beautifully done. 

We could see the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument as well.

Another monument I love is the FDR Memorial.  There are wonderful quotes from FDR engraved all over the monument, so it was great being reminded of things he said like, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."  I love how the monument captures different aspects of the life of President Frankin D. Roosevelt.  Like his wheelchair and disability he had, life during the Great Depression and standing in the bread line, life without a T.V. and listening to a fireside chat on the radio.

And FDR's dog and wife, the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Fun that we live this close that the national monuments can be included in a Sunday stroll!

There are a lot of great aspects of working for the State Department, but one of our favorites is getting federal holidays off (Bri the Lawyer needed to work through most fed holidays).  As President’s Day 2017 approached (yes, yes – we’re a little behind on the blog J), we thought we would take the kids to New York City and see some friends and a show.  Twenty years ago, I served an LDS Spanish-speaking mission in Brooklyn and Queens, and fell in love with New York City.  Bri and I (and my dad and brother) went to NYC when we were dating in 1999 but I haven’t been back since , and the kids are always up for an adventure.  We got on AirBNB, found a great old brownstone in Staten Island, and scheduled our trip.   

On Friday after Bri finished his morning Russian classes, we packed the van and hit the road.  After a long six-hour trip through Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, we finally reached New York and Staten Island, found our place, and moved in.  Our rental was a spacious old brownstone in a nice neighborhood that looked like it was about 150 years old, lots of wood and fun brass and iron work, and warm.  We were on the top floor (and the rest of the browstone was empty – not sure what’s going on there, but good for us!).  We got situated and hit the hay.  

Saturday morning, we made breakfast, got ready, and drove to the Staten Island Ferry parking lot.  I served on Staten Island during my mission, and it was fun to look around and be back.  The SIF is a free 5-mile, 25 minute ferry, and we enjoyed getting the harbor view of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, New Jersey, and Manhattan on our way in.  We all especially enjoyed the good views of the majestic Statue of Liberty on our way in and looked forward to seeing it (Mon).  

We landed in Battery Harbor, got our bearings, and headed towards the 9/11 memorial.  En route, we stopped at Trinity Church so Bri could make his pilgrimage to Alexander Hamilton’s grave (we also saw the famous engineer Robert Fulton’s grave).  After taking a peek inside the beautiful old church, we continued our walk, passing by the New York Stock Exchange on our way, and arrived at the 9/11 Memorial.  

The Memorial was huge and beautiful, and once inside we went through the different exhibits, saw the massive exposed retaining wall in a cavernous display area, and reflected on the atrocities committed that day.  It was a somber moment for all of us.  Bri was in law school and we were living with my aunt and uncle when it happened, and we both remember watching it all on TV very vividly and the chaos of that day.  The kids have always been interested in 9/11, and they took it all in. asked us questions about the timeline and the people involved, and internalized what happened.   

After touring the museum, we came out and spent some time looking at the reflecting pools and honoring the dead before we headed across the street for some pizza.

We had booked (expensive!) late afternoon tickets for the Broadway musical School of Rock, and found our subway station and hopped on.  The kids enjoyed the subway train, and we got off at Time Square.  We all took in the spectacle of Time Square as we worked towards the Winter Garden Theater, and stopped in at M & M World for some merchandise and very overpriced M & Ms.  

After bleeding our bank account a bit, we headed to the School of Rock, found our seats, and settled in for a great show.  It was a fun time (if a little loud), and the kids loved it.  

Afterwards, we grabbed some McDonalds and Subway, and headed back thru Time Square.  In the Square we stopped and watched a group of kids hustle the crowd in hyping up a couple of them jumping over a group of bystanders.  After getting people (including participants) to pay up a few hundred dollars, a scaled-down version of the jump happened, and we laughed at the scam (we only lost $5, and it was worth it to watch).  We caught the train back to Battery Park, rode the ferry back, and settled in at the Browstone.  

Sunday morning, we identified a nearby LDS church on Staten Island and headed out to participate in their services.  En route, we realized we had picked up a screw in a tire, and decided our best option was to get to church and enlist help from the locals in figuring out where to get it fixed.  We found our congregation, slipped in, and enjoyed participating in the services.  Afterwards, we met the bishop who was disappointed we weren’t moving in, and spent several minutes talking to a couple of colorful New Yorkers who chatted us up and gave us directions to a tire place.  We found the place, had the tire repaired, and had lunch.  

I always saw this on my mission -- shoes thrown up on the powerlines!

After lunch, we headed to the ferry en route to Brooklyn to see some friends from my mission.  We caught the train uptown, and walked to and over the Brooklyn Bridge.  It was a fun way to see the city and river and get some sun.  

Bri has a growing obsession with Ben Franklin, the country's first diplomat and someone we see everywhere in our  travels!

On the other side, we found out our subway exit was closed, took a bus back to Manhattan, and caught the right train to Bushwick.  We quickly found our way to Cathy and Mami’s house, some Salvadoreneans I met on my mission, and had a great reunion and visit with them.  We ate Papoosas until we were stuffed and talked and caught up for hours.  It was fun to see my kids make connections and memories with people that mean so much to me!    

After a long visit, Cathy walked us back to the subway station.  On the way back to Battery Park, we had a guy on our train who would remove an item of clothing and throw it off at each stop.  We were happy to get back to the ferry after about eleven stops and before the guy was naked.  : )

Monday morning, we packed up the car, said goodbye to the brownstone, and drove to the ferry terminal.  We caught the ride in to Battery Park and ate breakfast at the Nathan’s Hot Dogs in the terminal.  

We then queued for a ridiculously long line to get on the Statue of Liberty ferry, and just missed one before catching the next and getting the best seats on the ferry up on top.  We marveled at the enormous beautiful statue as we approached (and Bri took about a million pictures).  We got off the ferry, walked around the base of the statue, then entered and queued in another lone line for the pedestal climb.  There is about a five-month wait to get tickets to climb to the crown, so unfortunately that wasn’t an option, but we did get to climb about halfway up to the pedestal.  Up at the pedestal, we walked around the narrow walkway, took pictures, and enjoyed the view.  

We headed back down and walked through the little museum they have on the main level before heading back to the ferry and continuing on to Ellis Island.  Ellis Island was a lot of fun, with great exhibits that really helped us/the kids to get a feel for what it was like to enter the country.  We have been Americans abroad and I think were all feeling a little tender at the thought of the millions of immigrants that fled poverty and persecution to become Americans, and our time on Ellis Island was touching and informative.  After Bri grabbed some bookmarks at the gift shop (and a spoon for Savvy’s growing collection), we caught the ferry back to Battery Park.  

We ate pretzels and hot dogs for lunch and grabbed some Wendys frosties at the terminal before catching our last ferry ride back to Staten Island and loading up in the van.

We had a long drive back to Virginia, and went to bed tired and happy.  I love New York and it will always have a special place in my heart, and I’m glad the kids got to have a great weekend and their own experience there as well!