Standiford Family

Sorry this has been a non-publishing site for a while.  I haven’t been in the mood (and there’s so much to write about) and Mickey’s busy with school.  We have been on the go a lot this summer.  I probably better start with the remainder of our trip to Virginia.  I’m not going to give all the details since some of them have escaped my brain.  (I spent hours working on this and ignoring the kids so I hope you enjoy it.)

We decided to spend Memorial Day in DC.  That was a good choice.  It was a warm day but we mostly enjoyed our site seeing.  We took the train to the Mall.  The kids really liked that.

We saw the Washington Monument.

We posed for a few pictures there with the Karrens.

The kids were a little bored so they decided to play leap frog at the base of the monument.

While we were there Kade made a little friend.  We don’t know his name.  We don’t think his parents really spoke English.  Kade went up to this little boy and waved to him.  Then they started running after each other and playing.  It was so cute to watch.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

After the goodbyes we walked over to the WWII Memorial.  The kids were pretty hot.  They couldn’t resist putting their feet in the water.

Then it was time for the parade.  This was a good but L-O-N-G parade.  They didn’t throw candy but did hand out little flags and the kids didn’t complain.  That was a shock.  There were lots of bands and military people, past and present.  Here’s some pictures.  Mickey Rooney is in the last picture in the tan suit.

Like I said it was a long parade and we didn’t stay for the entire show.  We walked over to the Lincoln Memorial.  It’s bigger than you think it is.

We were very hot and tired by the time we got here so we decided to leave.  After a long hike back to the train station we went to a good little diner, The Silver Diner, for dinner.  It was pretty yummy.

We decided while we were that close to the ocean we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to go to the beach.  We drove to Ocean City, Maryland.  We stayed there a night so we wouldn’t have to drive 8 hours in one day.  The city is totally a tourist city.  There are hotels, restaurants, and mini-golf places everywhere.  We went to the beach as soon as we checked in and changed.  The hotel was 1-1/2 blocks from the beach.  In those 1-1/2 blocks the temperature dropped about 10-15 degrees by the time we got to water.  It was rather chilly, so we had the beach to ourselves, but we all had a good time at the beach.  This was Kade’s first time having a sandbox that big.  Here’s all the pictures from the beach.

After playing in the waves and sand we ate at The Dough Roller.  The food, pizza and pancakes, was pretty good but the service wasn’t good.  Our server didn’t speak English very well so it was rather difficult to tell her want we wanted.

Before going home the kids had to swim in the pool.  It was a little warmer than the ocean.

These are a few things we saw on the way back to Virginia.  What color house would you like to live in?

On the way there and back we had to drive on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  I took some pictures but they don’t look as nice as this.  While driving this scene popped out of the trees.

Once back in Virginia we visited the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Dulles.  I will say it took me a while to become interested, Mickey was hooked right away, and the kids were bored out of their minds.  The museum is in an old hanger.  There are dozens of aircraft from several different decades.  (How’s that for summing it up.)  We went up in the traffic control tower.  That’s a weird feeling.  Mattey didn’t like it at all so we didn’t stay long.  Here’s a few pictures from that visit.

Before we left Virginia Kade had to help John mow the lawn.  He thought this was pretty fun.  The Karrens also had a drum set.  Kade loved it.

We stopped for some lunch before hitting the road.  The kids got some pizza and Mickey and I had some tasty food from Pei Wei’s.  That’s the fast food version of P.F. Chang’s.  I want one of these in our city.

We then stopped for the night at the same hotel we stayed in on the way out.  We figured we knew it was nice so why not.  The kids got to swim again.  Here they are.

We got home on Sunday, June 1st, in the afternoon.  This is the mess we came home to.

This is no reflection on Amanda, who stayed at our house while we were gone.  This is the mess left from all the septic and plumbing work we had done before we left.  I must say it doesn’t look much different right now.  The yard is a little greener but that’s because weeds and trees have started growing.  The bathroom’s plumbing is now finished so some of the mess is getting put away.  We’re also taking A LOT to Goodwill.