Family and Friends, Good Times

After a long few weeks of barely being able to talk to my husband because of his crazy work schedule we had some family time!

Our trip started on Friday with me and children stopping by Brain's work to see his new office and to pick him up. While in the parking lot we witnesses a women hit a parked car while backing out of a parking spot. She got out, saw the damaged and then drove away! Luckily Brian memorized her license plate and snapped a picture with his iphone. The lady returned to the "crime scene" and pushed the broken tail light back into the mini-van in an attempt to hide the damage. We also have reason to believe she returned yet again and took the note Brian left on the windshield off! The owner of the struck car later told us not only is her tail light busted up but she can't even open her side sliding door. I don't understand this level of dishonesty and lack of integrity displayed in this incident.

(Picture taken in the cafe at the museum)
Once that drama was over we headed to D.C. We had wanted to see the Terra Cotta Warriors but the exhibit was sold out for the rest of its stay in D.C. So instead we went to the Natural History Museum. We had a good time despite the fact it was very crowded. My favorite exhibit was looking at the birds from this area. We were able to look at a Great Horned Owl up close and personal (it was stuffed, of coarse). It was neat because Garrett and I had just read about the horned owl in a book we are reading for homeschooling called Among The Forest People. Garrett enjoyed the dinosaurs and the totum pole. Garrett and I have visited this museum once before but he didn't remember it. When we were there last time he was scared of the dinosaur bones.

We then headed to our hotel room in Tyson's Corner. Garrett was so excited to spend the night in a hotel! We went to the mall, which was really boring, because it was mostly high end clothing stores. We are not rich or classy so the mall was really, really boring. We were so sad there wasn't even a book store! We did, however, get to see 3 cars in the mall that cost more then our house. Brian and I enjoyed asking each other questions such as, how much money would we need to have before we could buy a car that expensive with out feeling guilty? And, can you imagine how much it must cost per year just to maintain insurance on a car that cost 300K?  And oh the horror, what if we actually hit one of these cars on a road in one of our modest cars?! I have to say, Brian is a huge car and truck fan. He drools over fancy sports vehicles, but I don't think he would ever buy a car that expensive even if we had the money!

On Saturday my wonderful, wonderful, friend Kim and her two adorable kids meet us at our hotel. Kim and the kids used to live right down the road from us but sadly they live far enough away now that we only get to see each other about every 6 months. This was Kim's first time meeting Tristan and Garrett and the kids were excited to see each other too! We packed a picnic lunch thanks to Subway and then headed to a place called Great Falls which is on the Potomic River. We walked down the trail (it was a cold day!) enjoying the sites of nature and just hanging out together. When we were done we went our separate ways. It was a fun trip just seeing each other despite it being just a few hours long. And as you can see from the pictures, it is a pretty spot. (Note for my LDS friends: this spot is not far from the D.C temple! You should visit one day!)