Day trip to D.C.

Last Saturday we went on a day trip to Washington D.C.!

We took two of Brandon's Young Men with us and were able to meet up with Brandon's brother Brett and his wife Shelby, who moved to Virginia last month.

This is Michael and Amir, Brandon purposely took the pic so that the monument is coming out of Michael's head. I was excited to walk around the mall, but quickly found out that I was no match for the heat and humidity! We glanced at the White House, then Shelby and I went to enjoy the air conditioned comfort of the Smithsonian art museum while the boys braved the heat.
Brandon and Brett in front of the Lincoln memorial...Brett was a great tour guide!

We stopped at a very sketchy Wendy's on the way back.

I got a kick out of the "Metropolitan Police Substation" in the back corner of the Wendy's. A cop came in, went back behind the counter and got a drink and some fries, then sat down at his substation. I really wanted to take a picture of him sitting there, but figured that this picture would have to suffice.

Perhaps the world's smallest library?

Across the street from the Wendy's was the saddest public library I've ever seen. It's in DC, and is barely bigger than a snow cone shack. I surely hope there's a bigger library somewhere closer, can't help but wonder why they would bother building such a tiny library in the first place!

Pretend I posted these pics 6 weeks ago!

We met my family in Cancun the 2nd week of June, it was wonderful! There were a few setbacks getting started...We were supposed to leave on Sunday, and on Saturday, as I was packing and Brandon was starting his 30 hour shift at the hospital, I saw that Brandon's passport was expired! The hysteria mounted as I called 24 hour passport places, and found that since the Department of State is closed on weekends, there was no possible way Brandon could get a new passport in time...and of course, nine months ago they changed the law so you must have a passport to go to Mexico.

Lucky for us, there are only 13 Department of State buildings in the US, and one of them is 7 miles from our house! Tosh was so sweet to spend five hours helping me find a new plane ticket for Brandon. I felt terrible flying away on Sunday, leaving Brandon home. We were so happy when he flew out on Tuesday to join us! It ended up only taking him 2 hours to get his passport--he had it by noon on Monday, but since I didn't know how long it would take, I didn't rebook his flight till Tuesday afternoon...but we try not to think about that!

Chitzen Itza...

Xel-Ha

Xel-Ha was great, we went snorkeling, the boys jumped off cliffs and went on rope swings. I personally enjoyed the natural lazy river and walking through the jungle. I'll be honest, the all-you-can-eat food and napping in a hammock under the palm trees was a plus too!
Brandon jumping off a cliff...

Talum

Tosh (23), Me, Brandon, My Dad, Kenzi (21), Chaz (18), My Mom, Kao (10)

My favorite activity of the whole trip...bobbing in the ocean!

The boys...and an insanely gorgeous view!
a Cenote

(Underground water hole)

Our last family picture before Chaz goes on his mission!

Brandon helping Kao with his first drumming session

Thanks to the talented Amber Pollei!

So I feel embarrassed putting pictures of just me on our blog, but my sweet friend Amber took some FABULOUS pictures (she's so artistic and talented!) and I have to show off her great skills. Her talent is further proven by the fact that I am a very awkward model! If anyone's interested in getting their own Amber masterpieces, you can check out her blog, http://polleifamily.blogspot.com/, which has more beautiful pictures by Amber! Thanks again Amber!!! Oh--and before anyone comments to say that I'm NOT showing very much, let me correct you! I'm only 21 weeks in these pictures...and just 5 weeks later, let me tell you, now I REALLY have a belly to take belly shots of! Still skeptical? In the past week alone, I've had 3 people ask if I was 8 months or only had a few weeks to go...and how I loved watching the horror on their faces when I told them that I have 3 more MONTHS left!!! By the way, she took these at my house, for those of you wanting to see inside pics, perhaps this will get me off the hook? I had to post this one for Tosh, who just loves feet...his Christmas present is all taken care off now, I'm planning on cropping it to just include my feet and blowing it up for him.

It's getting crowded in there!

We got another ultrasound today--2 hours of looking at and measuring the babies, I was in heaven! I loved watching them yawn, stretch, and practice their karate moves! An added benefit of delivering at Hahnemann Hospital is that Brandon was able to come upstairs during his lunch and join us for awhile.

I know all ultrasound pics tend to look alike, but I just had to share this one. Just as the Ultrasound Tech went to measure one baby, the other baby's foot came down and kicked his brother in the head. We watched it again in slow motion, and she took this picture right before impact.

For those of you who need a little help deciphering the picture, it's a frontal shot of the baby's head and he's lying horizontally--I think it's a pretty clear picture of his face, he doesn't look quite as alien as he does in other pics. The other baby's foot is coming in on the bottom right.

The poor little guys are so squished in there already...and they still have 2 1/2 months to go! I'm afraid they're going to come out with bruises everywhere. One weighs 1 lb, 9 oz and the other weighs 2 lbs.

All 3 of us are sure getting big!!!!!!!!

Thank heavens for Brandon's Green Thumb!

Lucky for us and our neighbors, Brandon is quite a landscape artist...and when we moved here, he definitely had his work cut out for him!

Before...

(this was taken right after the insane growth had been chopped down...this spring it looked like "the Secret Garden"...it was out of control!)

During...

After...

After Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Summac, after hours of hacking down 6 foot tall weeds, wrestling vines, and balancing precariously on the other side of the fence to attempt to transplant a stray rose bush....after searching Lowe's for their $1 half-dead plants, after resurrecting said plants, after salvaging and painting fence posts the neighbors were throwing out, after digging up brick after brick and relaying said bricks, after shoveling dirt and creating a retaining wall, after watching in amazement at the spontaneous growth that repeatedly took over everything, after transplanting daylilies, after creating a fountain...and mainly, after lots of sweat, blisters, and hard work!!! (all on Brandon's part, although I did supply lemonade and sustenance :)

Brandon sculpted the face for the fountain, and recycled the bricks from the brick path to make a retaining wall. I couldn't figure out how to turn the fountain on, hence the reason the water's not spewing out of the creature's mouth.

I'm amazed at how fast things grow--we planted most of the flowers from seeds...and lots of the vines just grew on their own (yes, I'm sure some of them are weeds, but they look pretty and are free, right?)

Thanks to our friends, the Muldowney's, for giving us the pots and cool wire decorations!

It's Brandon's dream to put a sandbox and play house behind the picket fence...we'll have to see!

If anyone has any tricks for keeping the squirrels from eating our sunflowers and strawberries, let us know (any humane tricks--rat traps are definitely out!)