12-27, Capitol Tour

Another "X" in that box before we move..... tour the Capitol.  It was a beautiful, sunny, FRIGID day.....and the line for the security was OUTSIDE of the building!  Nonetheless, it was great to share the experience with Sven, his mom and Nikolas for their first time inside the Capitol (I visited it back during the academy days).  

Charlie Russell's statue representing Montana.

I never really noticed what was on top of the Capitol before.  In case you hadn't either, this is a replica statue, except the one on the outside is dark-colored.

Inside the Library of Congress.

Back out into the cold.....

 Mom looks frozen, doesn't she?!

The view of the Mall.

We didn't realize the tree is from WY this year (but not as nice as the one from MT!).

Nikolas loves going inside the Botanical Gardens.  For the holidays, they had neat displays set up of all of DC's iconic buildings.

The Supreme Court.

The Lincoln Memorial.

The White House.

 And, that wraps up one of our last days in DC!

12-25, Christmas

It's the morning after Christmas and I still can't believe it's all over already.  Months of planning, shopping, preparing and waiting.....and it's over.  It amazes me every year how the day passes so quickly.  We picked up Sven's mom at the airport the morning of Christmas Eve and spent the day quietly-- baking, talking, etc.   

Sven and his mom talking to family in Germany.

Making cookies with his pastry-chef Grandma.  How lucky!

Sven and his mom.

We let Nikolas open a few gifts Christmas Eve.  It's become tradition that he open Darryl, Jackie, Kyla and Tee's presents on Christmas Eve (his thoughtful aunt, uncle and cousins who never let a holiday pass without thinking of us).  Nikolas was thrilled with these gifts that traveled so far to get under our tree.  Thank you guys!!

Tracking Santa on NORAD. 

"He's coming!  He's coming!  We need to hurry and get to bed!"

As he points to a bright star in the sky:  "LOOK!! Is that Santa?!?!"

We couldn't miss our last year of Santa driving through the neighborhoods on the fire truck.  We were a little thrown off by the echoing sounds of the sirens, so we ended up standing outside in the cold for over half an hour waiting for them to come to our neighborhood.  We were freezing but had a "jolly, ol' time" while we waited.  

They're getting closer.....

He's here, he's here!  Santa has arrived!

 Christmas morning and some of Santa's gifts......

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for the movies!!

Cool gyroscope!

 Sven sporting his new Penguins jersey.

 This was Nikolas' big gift from us-- an enormous crash mat for him to go crazy on.  You'll see.....

We were a little worried about the size of the box in comparison to the size of the item inside.   They had that thing vacuum-packed and we weren't sure what was going to happen when we unwrapped it!  Thankfully, it was a slow process of expanding vs the moment in the Christmas Vacation movie when they cut the rope off the tree and it busted out windows!  =).....but we weren't sure!

....and this is what I mean by Nikolas getting his crazies out.

Finally, our couches will be spared!  Jump, pounce, crash away!

 .....and the highly sought after gift from Santa.....the Nerf Stampede.  Santa SHOULD have brought two so we could at least defend ourselves during battles!  =) 

Don't blink or you'll miss our Christmas day snow....

And the grand finale......our Christmas day feast.  We were joined by our friend, Kim, who Sven met through his work.  She's originally from ID so it was nice to have another 'one of us' among us.  =)  We had a fantastic dinner (hats off to the chefs!) and wonderful conversation.  So many, many things to be thankful for on this great Christmas day.

12-21, Lunar Eclipse

Yes, I was the crazy lady standing out in the front lawn in her robe at 3 AM in 20 degree weather watching the lunar eclipse.  I was the ONLY one in my neighborhood doing that.  I guess for that I am thankful or else I would have been pretty embarrassed standing there in my robe.  =)  This is the image I was able to capture.  Not too bad for a lens that's 1/3 the size of the one needed for something like this.  It was definitely a 'been there done that' moment since the last winter solstice full moon eclipse was in 1638 and the next one is slated for 2094. I'd say it was worth it!