Kuol in DC

Makett telling Kuol "I'm named after you!!"

 This is our dear friend and brother, Kuol.  Makett's Dinka name is in honor of Kuol, as well as the other Lost Boys we love.  Kuol and his wife now live in AZ--so ironic- he moved there months after we moved from Phoenix!  He had a conference in DC and we were ecstatic to drive down and see him and his fam!

 His daughter, Akuat.  I really wanted to keep her! So many people would stop us to gush over how cute his kids are...cuz they totally are.

 Tanzen and Kett with Awan, who is 2

 See how cute?!!

 Makett and Tanzen were really excited to see the building that's on the penny.  Too bad, for Kuol and Atoch, that the reflecting pool was under construction.

 We were spending the day walking around the mall- not the easiest thing to do with 5 kids 3 and under!  The kids were troopers, and luckily it stopped raining.  The biggest trouble was finding a restroom near enough for the boys--it was often a 20 minute walk

 The boys love hugging Ryme's head- not sure why, but I'm always reminding them to be soft!!!

 Atoch had really wanted to tour the Whitehouse-- one of the last things on my DC bucket list, but you have to plan so early to get tickets I've never been able to!

Letter's are so fascinating!  I love this age!

 Akuat was so good-- she didn't fuss the entire day!

We can't wait till we live closer to Kuol and his family-- I keep pestering them to move back to Utah, and am afraid they'll up and go back to Sudan!  They are incredible people and we're so grateful to have them in our lives.

Stubborn 14-month-olds...

 For the past few months Ryme has insisted on feeding herself.  This has it's ups and downs...it's great that I don't have to feed her, but since she only wants to use utensils it's a rather time consuming--and messy--process.

Adventure Aquarium

Makett (and Tanzen, but REALLY Makett) have been dying to go to the aquarium for months.  We finally went and they were entranced...it's been nothing but sharks since!

This tank has an observation bubble inside

 This swordfish cracked me up-- we were in the shark tunnel, and he was asleep on top of the tunnel

 In the shark tunnel with our awesome friends, Ben and Eliot

 Nemo!

 

 I was so proud of Kett, he was scared but still petted the sting rays.  

Shoes, leaves and fountains

Geocaching

Brandon has started taking us geocaching- the boys love finding "treasure", and the time exploring new places is fun as well.

Looking for a cache on the Walnut Lane bridge-- there's an App Brandon uses 

Ketty brings his phone to use the map- it's an old flip phone, so imagination is required

It took some tricky urban hiking to get there!

This was a tricky cache- it was stuck inside the guardrail

 There are several cache's around Boat House Row

Consulting the compass...quite differently than I learned growing up!

Ah, Azaleas!  Please tell me we can grow these in Utah?  

You can't see it very well in the picture, but I love the view from the art museum- the manicured grounds, then the river, then the train bridge covered with graffiti, topped with row homes.  Very Philly.

Nap time?

Finding the cache-- makes me nervous sticking their hands where they can't see!

Treasure found!

Just a few more Azaleas!  :)

Everyday pics...

This doesn't seem suspicious at all, right?  It usually means they snuck a treat they know they shouldn't be having

Not sure what it is about socks, but ALL my children take them off.  They are the bane of my existence!  I am SOO glad it's getting warm enough to ditch socks, as I'm tired of finding them strewn all over the house!

We love dancing in the kitchen, and Kett and Tanz are developing some great moves...this was to Gotye's "Somebody that I used to Know"...it's their current fav for dancing.

My Dad often has a pencil behind his ear while he works, and Kett likes to pretend he's working like Papa

Now that we're potty trained, the boys help each other with reading material

Pretty sure the benches weren't intended to be train cars, but that seems  like a good idea anyway!

I would love to know what goes through Kett's head...he plays with his trains like this for hours!

This window always has fingerprints, as it's our favorite place to be around 6, when we look for Daddy to come home