What a great Christmas present! Spencer and Noah were invited to go with their Grandpa Tom and Granny Paula to Washington, D.C.!
They got to miss the last week of school before the Christmas break and were in Washington from December 14-17th. Here they are in front of the White House! They really wanted to see Obama, but no such luck. He was at home, though, so they are sure they were within 100 feet of him, Spencer says.
Grandpa Tom has "connections" and was able to get them into both the White House and the Capitol Building (they had to have background checks, even!). This is in the Capitol in front of the statue of Brigham Young.
Spencer and Noah both loved the fact that they got to enter the Capitol through the underground tunnel from the congressman's office.
Looking up...
...at the gorgeous rotunda ceiling.
They had fun shopping for awesome souvenirs at Union Station.
They loved the food there, too. Noah especially liked the free samples at the Chinese food restaurant and the yummy cookies.
Grandpa Tom had to work during the day, so Granny got to do all the fun daytime sight-seeing with Spencer and Noah. They were able to visit the Air and Space Museum and loved it!
Noah took lots of pictures of all the air- and spacecraft. This is Granny in front of a giant booster engine.
Noah's favorite picture: the lunar module.
They also spent some time in the Natural History Museum. Spencer took this picture of the Hope Diamond.
Noah got some great pictures of fossil skeletons. This is an ancient sea turtle.
And this is a dinosauar. We wondered if the museum came to life at night?
The last day in Washington, D.C. It was FREEZING cold and the wind was biting but they braved the weather and visited some monuments, starting with the Lincoln Memorial.
The great president Abraham Lincoln.
Walking along the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
As they got out of the taxi to visit the Washington Monument, Spencer realized he didn't have Granny's camera. They looked and looked and think it must have fallen out of his pocket. Such a tragedy! Spencer had taken hundreds of pictures on the memory card and we mourn the loss of that documentation of their trip. We're blessed to be able to piece together most of the trip from Noah's DSi, Granny's phone, and Grandpa's camera.
Looking out from the top of the Washington Monument. Their last view of Washington, D.C., before heading to the airport to come home. We sure missed them at home. It was way too quiet around here, but what a super opportunity they had to spend time with their grandparents in our nation's capitol. Thanks Granny and Grandpa!
For Christmas, Granny gave Jacob and Isaac tickets to "Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells (and so does May)". Jacob has loved the Junie B. Jones books and to see it in real life on stage was thrilling for him! We love the Childsplay theater company. They are so professional, and so on the kids' level. It was awesome! The boys even got to make Junie B. glasses and talk to Junie B. after the play.
The only way we get snow in Mesa is when they truck it in. So we like to take advantage of the fun play days that happen every once in a while. Granny and Grandpa took us to Golfland Dec. 23rd to play in 15 tons of snow in the parking lot. The boys had a pretty intense snowball fight while Granny and Grandpa watched safely from behind the fence. So much fun!
On the last day of school before the break, Grandpa Tom took Isaac to play at a nearby park. He saw a class of elementary school kids ice blocking down the hill, so he asked if he could have some of the leftover ice at the end of their party. They agreed, so when Noah and Jacob came home from school, he took them with their friends Brenden and Kaleb Ethington to go ice blocking. They had a riot!
We love our neighbors, the Wallaces. They host a holiday open house every Christmas with homemade hot chocolate and goodies. The boys look forward to it every year and love to go.
After leaving the Wallaces we went to visit our favorite Santa. He comes to a house in our neighborhood every year. Mrs. Santa didn't make it this year and we really missed her. When we got there, we saw Noah's friend Ben so they shared a moment on Santa's lap. Noah told Santa what he wanted most for Christmas was "an absence of coal." Santa got a kick out of that.
Isaac showed Santa his muscles while it was his turn on the big man's lap!
The whole time we stood in line, Jacob fretted over what to ask for. He finally made up his mind and asked for a Madden 2010 football Wii game and a NFL football.
Even Spencer was drawn in by Santa but didn't want to ask for anything. Santa asked what he got last year and said candy was something he thought he might bring again. 
Grandpa Tom has "connections" and was able to get them into both the White House and the Capitol Building (they had to have background checks, even!). This is in the Capitol in front of the statue of Brigham Young.
Spencer and Noah both loved the fact that they got to enter the Capitol through the underground tunnel from the congressman's office.
Looking up...
...at the gorgeous rotunda ceiling.
They had fun shopping for awesome souvenirs at Union Station.
They loved the food there, too. Noah especially liked the free samples at the Chinese food restaurant and the yummy cookies.
Grandpa Tom had to work during the day, so Granny got to do all the fun daytime sight-seeing with Spencer and Noah. They were able to visit the Air and Space Museum and loved it!
Noah took lots of pictures of all the air- and spacecraft. This is Granny in front of a giant booster engine.
Noah's favorite picture: the lunar module.
They also spent some time in the Natural History Museum. Spencer took this picture of the Hope Diamond.
Noah got some great pictures of fossil skeletons. This is an ancient sea turtle.
And this is a dinosauar. We wondered if the museum came to life at night?
The last day in Washington, D.C. It was FREEZING cold and the wind was biting but they braved the weather and visited some monuments, starting with the Lincoln Memorial.
The great president Abraham Lincoln.
Walking along the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
As they got out of the taxi to visit the Washington Monument, Spencer realized he didn't have Granny's camera. They looked and looked and think it must have fallen out of his pocket. Such a tragedy! Spencer had taken hundreds of pictures on the memory card and we mourn the loss of that documentation of their trip. We're blessed to be able to piece together most of the trip from Noah's DSi, Granny's phone, and Grandpa's camera.
Looking out from the top of the Washington Monument. Their last view of Washington, D.C., before heading to the airport to come home. We sure missed them at home. It was way too quiet around here, but what a super opportunity they had to spend time with their grandparents in our nation's capitol. Thanks Granny and Grandpa!
