Who doesn't enjoy a good riddle?!

What takes 33 1/2 hours, 1775 miles, 91 gallons of gasoline and 8 states to accomplish? A real life road trip! B and I talked about how neither of us had ever been on a real life road trip. Now don't misunderstand, when both of us were younger we would go see grandparents in another state, but our grandparents house was the final destination. We had both been to California, but once again there were no planned stops on the way to California. We wanted to go on a family vacation, so we did! To say that it was awesome doesn't do the trip justice. As we all know, I hate the car for any amount of time, so I was worried that I was going to be the one asking if we were almost there and pretending that I needed to go potty every exit just to get out of the car. But, I was shocked to find out that to drive on the East coast is truly beautiful! There are so many trees! I am a little bit of a tree hugger, so to see so many trees filled my soul with total delight! I will warn you that there will be a lot of pictures!

We left our house on the afternoon of the third of July. The plan was that I would have the car totally packed when B got home from work. I would have done it too if it weren't for the cargo box. We got one of those awesome cargo boxes that go on top of the car. The thing is so awesome that it opens from both sides of the box. But it isn't supposed to open on both sides at the same time. So, I opened one side and loaded stuff in. I shut the lid, locked it and went to the other side to put the rest of the stuff in the box. I unlocked it and loaded in the rest of the cargo. I went to close the lid and the other side popped off, so the whole lid was off the base. The hinges on both ends of the box were all wonkey. I have no arm muscle, truly, lifting the suitcases to put them on top of the car was a workout. I'm pretty sure the workers building the house across the street had a good laugh watching me do that. Anyway, I tried to pull the lid, I tried to push the lid, I tried beating it into submission, but it didn't work. I was worried that leaving it like that would break the hinges. I didn't want to ask the workers because they make me nervous. I walked up the street where the teenage boys play basketball almost around the clock. I asked them if they would come help me. Of course they had no problem putting the lid exactly where it needed to be. They walked away all macho like. Not that I blame them! I was pretty sure that I broke it because I couldn't get it to lock. So, sadly, when B got home from work we weren't totally ready to go. He locked it, we loaded up and waved goodbye to our house. The first leg or our trip was from our house to Washington DC.

Spending the Fourth of July in Washington DC was A.W.E.S.O.M.E!

 This was at the hotel before we went out for the day. They were all so excited that they had matching shirts!

 We started the day going to the National zoo. I love that this zoo is free. I love that this zoo has a normal panda and a giant panda. I love that we saw a cheetah and the biggest gorilla I have ever seen!

 Wait a minute, what's going on here? M said that she was too tired and couldn't walk anymore. Little B loves to push the stroller! He was more than happy to push her around. He pushed her for about three minutes before he wanted to just run around. Things we loved about the National zoo: It's free, there is a normal panda and a giant panda. The cheetah they had was up and walking around. There was the biggest gorilla we had ever seen! Things I didn't like about it. K got lost. Well, not super lost, just a little lost. He was looking through a telescope outside the reptile house. As I walked by him I told him that we were going in. M was next to me and B was bringing up the rear with little B. I was told that we had to park the stroller before we went in. I parked it, turned around and B asked where K was. I bolted into the reptile house to see if he had already gone inside. I came out with no K. B looked back towards the telescope and could see that K was walking away in the opposite direction. B yelled his name, but K thought it was coming from the direction he was walking. K took off running towards where he thought B was calling him from. Thankfully B saw him start running and ran after him. The whole thing was probably less than three minutes. As B and K walked towards me I could tell that K was trying to be brave. I knelt down and opened my arms. K ran into them and started to cry. I asked him what had happened. He told me that he had been looking at the telescope and then looked up and we weren't there. I held him for a long time while he cried. It was so sad! I am so thankful that he wasn't really lost. We left the zoo and went to the National Mall. We thought that it would be pretty crowded, we were right. We weren't the only ones with the idea of spending the Fourth of July in Washington DC. The last time B and I were in DC was in July of 2001. A lot has changed since then thanks to 9/11. In order to get onto the Mall, you have to go through security. They had bomb sniffing dogs that sniffed our stroller. There were cops and military people all over the place. I told B that I think it's so sad really that we live in America where we have so many freedoms, but there are guards on every corner and security check points with bomb sniffing dogs. Anyway, the Mall was amazing. To be there on the Fourth was awesome! We saw the White House from a distance. They had it all blocked off because the President was home and wanted to be outside with his family. When I say from a distance I'm not kidding. If we looked between two trees. we could see it, but not well enough to take a picture of it. I asked the guard if it was always that blocked off. He said no, just that day because,"The Big Guy is home and wants to be able to go outside with his family." He told us that if we came back that night at 11:00, the President would be inside and the barricades would be taken down. A guy next to us tried to take a picture of the guard and he put his hand up and said,"Sir no pictures! I don't want to be all over Facebook and social media." The guy laughed and said,"I don't do Facebook!" He tried taking another picture. I was worried he was going to get tackled to the ground! The guard said,"Sir, it's not funny! I'm serious. I need to keep the Big Guy safe, my face can't be on anything." We decided not to make eye contact with the guard and kept walking. We also decided to come back to the White House the next day. Into the Mall we went!

We all thought that the Washington Monument was so cool! We wanted to go inside, but you have to have tickets. In order to get tickets, you go stand in line in the wee hours of the morning and hope you get in. We didn't want to wake the littles up to go stand in line, so we just looked at it from outside. We wanted to see the fireworks from the steps of the Lincoln Monument. We were there at four and there was already a huge mass of humanity. There were no seats on the higher steps. We were worried that if we left, we wouldn't be able to get a seat at all. We also didn't know how the kiddos would do waiting for five hours for the fireworks to start. But, they did awesome!

It was kind of hot on the Fourth. Not as hot as we thought it was going to be, but hot enough to know that it was hot. We had been walking all day and had five hours to burn. We let them take their shoes off and put their feet in the reflection pool  between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The water was nasty, but they didn't care and I tried not to think about it. They played in it for a long time. When they got tired of that, we went up to see the Memorial. Before we went up there, they asked if he was big. B and I tried to tell them he wasn't big, he was HUGE! of course they had no idea. We had already gotten our plot of step to sit on for during the fireworks. We didn't want to lose the prime real estate. B and I took turns taking them up to look at good ole' Abe. B had taken them first. They came zooming back to be with huge smiles on their faces as they yelled,"Mommy! We saw him! You and daddy were right, he's huge! We wanted to sit on his lap, but there's a chain so daddy said that we couldn't." They were so excited to take me up there to see him. K told me all about the steps we have to climb up and M was so happy to lead the way.

Taking them to see this was so awesome! I am so glad that they loved both the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial so much!

This is waiting for the fireworks to start. I think this was taken at about 7:00. Only two hours and 15 minutes to go!

This is just because I like this one. 

That is crazy! That's crazy that we were crazy enough to join the throng of people to watch the fireworks. I am so glad we did too! There was a spot in front of us and a couple came and laid out a few blankets. When I Saw them I thought, I wonder if they are members of the church. All the sudden it went from one couple to a large group. One guy laid out a Utah State blanket. All the girls had long shorts and the guys had white sticking out above their t-shirts. Now, I'm going to risk sounding cheesy, but it was so awesome to feel the spirit as they walked up and sat down. The whole group brought the spirit with them. They noticed our BYU cooler and said,"Hey! They're one of us!" It was pretty awesome! Finally the clock struck 9:15 and the show began! Watching the fireworks over the Washington Monument was truly amazing. These were the best fireworks that we had ever seen. They put the stadium of fire and the beach to shame. Not gonna lie, being in Washington DC, watching the fireworks and being surrounded by people I love so so much made me a little misty eyed.

If those aren't cool pictures, I don't know what are! We didn't know how little B would do with them because this is his first year being big enough to not sleep through them.

He kept pointing at them and saying,"Whoa! What's that?!" He loved them! I love these people so much and I am so thankful that we were together for the Fourth of July.

Day II of Washington DC was for the viewing of the White House, The Air and Space Museum and the Museum of American History. 

 M was so excited about going to see the White House. Not that you can tell because she's not smiling, but she was really excited about it. We learned that this is the front of the White House. We wanted to see the back too. When we went to walk around to the other side, a secret service guy stopped us and told us that that area was being shut down, so no public was allowed. At least we got to see the front close up and the back from really far away!

 They loved riding the Metro. Thankfully it wasn't too crowded. When we got on, K was in a happy stunned silence. He would whisper once in awhile that this was his first time on the metro and then happy silence would follow. Little B loved it too and would say Whoa over and over. The Air and Space museum wasn't as big of a hit as we thought it would be. Well, at least not when we first went in. There were a million and a half people there. Ok, maybe not that many, but there were a whole lot of people. We started with looking at the space part of the museum. We found out that no one in our family has a huge interest in a space movie and reading what happens to a astronauts body in space. We went upstairs and saw the actual plane that the Wright brothers flew for the first time. That was really cool! Then there were all kinds of planes to look at. K loved that! M liked it too, but not as much as K.

 There was a small aircraft carrier in a case that we could look at. Next to it was this display case of things that could land on the carrier. That was cool too.

There was a thing that you could watch what it would have looked like to land an airplane. All I heard as I took the picture was,"Whoa! Is this really happening right now daddy?!"

Naps were kind of tricky. He took one everyday. They were a far cry from his regular three hour naps, but they were better than nothing! We would lay the seat in the stroller back, cover the shade with a light blanket so he wouldn't just look around. He fell asleep and would sleep anywhere from 15 minutes to just over an hour. He was a trooper the whole trip. He didn't really get too cranky and loved being able to get out of the stroller and walk around.

The kiddos had earned their own spending money. Of course everything K got had wheels on it. At the museum he had found a Blue Angels Jet that he decided he couldn't live without. He made it all the way out of the museum before he started playing with it. This is what he looked like every time we were somewhere he could play with it.

At the American History Museum, they have an original Ford Mustang from the early 1960's. No need to say that this little kid was in car heaven! The American History Museum is so awesome! We saw the flag that was made from 1812 that inspired the words for the Star Spangled Banner. It's kept in a dark room, no pictures allowed with employees on guard to make sure that no one tries to take a picture. There are no words to describe how amazing the flag is. There is also an original sun stone from the first Nauvoo temple. It was up too high to get a picture with cute kids and the stone, so we looked at it and moved on. We didn't want to cram tons of things into each day. We didn't want to get burned out and we didn't want our already tired kids to get cranky from doing too much. We left DC the next morning and drove to New York City. The drive is only supposed to be four hours. Traffic was awful! We knew it would be crazy once we got on the Jersey Turnpike, but it was bad from the get go. Instead of taking four hours, it took 8. The kiddos did fabulous! We had thought that we would get there with enough day left to see Central Park and do the Empire State Building. We got there when it was almost dark, so Central Park was totally out. We're no New Yorkers, but it doesn't take a genius to know that you don't go to Central Park after dark. Thankfully the Empire State Building is open until 2:00 A.M. so we had plenty of time to do that! Traffic in NYC is the craziest thing I've ever seen! It's like the lines painted on the road don't matter. People drive wherever they want to. I think honking one's horn is something they do out of habit. It seems like if one car honks, someone else honks just to hear the sound of their horn. B and I wonder if people that live there just tune out the sound of honking horns. Our Hotel was about two blocks off the freeway. We drove through the Lincoln tunnel and turned left twice and we were there. It took us about 20 minutes to get from the Lincoln Tunnel to our hotel. We were so happy to park our car and walk! There was humanity everywhere! People in NYC are rude and loud and only concerned about themselves. Little kids walking may as well be invisible. We were told that we have enough kids to almost fill a bus. We just stared at the guy since we only have three kids. We had to push M and K's heads down to stare at the ground more than once. I'll spare you the details, just know that people are a strange breed and do strange things to earn money. Going to visit was fine, but I can't say that I ever want to go back. 

Because we were in NYC so close to the Fourth, the top of the Empire State Building was red, white and blue! That was really cool to see. When we went up, we were on the white section.

This is on the wall right as we came off the elevators. We wanted a picture. We got our camera out and the elevator man said,"There are a lot of people up here and you want to take a picture. Now is not the time to take one!" I said ok and started to put the camera away. He got all flustered and said,"take the picture if you're going to! You do it and then someone else sees you and wants the same picture and pretty soon there's a line to take a picture there." I wanted to say,"Simmer down hot sauce! It'll be ok. If you don't want us to take a picture we won't. Calm down, you are doing a great job of pushing the down button on the elevator. Will you take a family picture for us?" But, I didn't. We took a picture without B and hurried along. There were way too many people up there. It was so crowded, you really couldn't move very well. We would be standing behind someone waiting to get their spot next to the wall. They would move and someone else would push us out of the way to get the spot. 

It was crazy town at the top, but the view was awesome! The city is huge! 

These little people loved it up there! I don't think they noticed that it was crazy. I don't think they noticed that they were shoved out of the way more than once. They just loved the lights!

We tried to take a family picture, but little B wouldn't look at the camera. He just kept saying"Whoa!" and pointing at the lights. A little oriental lady started laughing and said"Oh! Baby is so excited!" She was right. When we tried to leave, he cried because he wanted to see the lights again.

We left the Empire State Building and went to Time Square. It smells disgusting in NYC. There were huge piles of garbage all over the sidewalks. So, it smelled like a dump until you got passed the piles of trash and then it smelled like a nasty soggy diaper. But, the lights and the people watching were fascinating! K wanted to take a picture in Time Square. He took two. The first one was no surprise...

When he saw them just standing there, he said,"I want to take a picture!" The next picture he took was pretty awesome.

   He doesn't like that people walked in front of him, but he loves that the flag was in lights!

The next day was our visit to the U.S.S. Intrepid, Central Park for lunch, The Natural History Museum and then at the last minute we decided to go see Ground Zero.

The U.S.S Intrepid- Thought it would be a whole lot cooler than it was. It was cool to see so many planes on the top deck. It was cool to see that during World War II, the ship shot down 302 enemy planes. They destroyed a lot of the ships from the bad guys too, I just don't remember how many. It was pretty hot with no shade and three tired kids. That means it wasn't as cool as we thought it would be. We left there in time to go to Central Park to eat lunch. The subway system in NYC is way more confusing than in DC. We truly had no idea what we were doing. We, and when I say we I mean B had me ask the lady in the booth how to get to where we needed to go and pay for it. I told her I had no idea what I was doing. I told her that we wanted to go to the American History Museum(it's across the street from Central Park) She told me what train to get on and what stop to get off which I promptly forgot. Then she said that she needed to see how tall the kids were before she could tell us how much it was. She looked at them and then told me a total. There was a slide thing for a card, so I tried to slide the credit card to pay for the subway tickets. She asked me what I was sliding. I told her our credit card. She started laughing really hard. Hard enough that she needed to rest her head on her hands. I asked what she was laughing at. She said that was to slide your subway card in to see how much money you have left. She told me that sliding a credit card through that would ruin it. I was laughing too, kind of, and said,"I told you that I didn't know what I was doing!" She said if we wanted to use a credit card we had to use the machines on the wall to buy tickets. We used cash so she could just do it for us. She hadn't stopped laughing yet. I said,"It's Monday right? So, I'm allowed to not know what I'm doing." She said,"That's right! I've made a lot of mistakes myself this morning! You go right ahead!" I told her thank you, we walked through the emergency exit, because it's the only place big enough to take a stroller through, set the alarm off and kept walking. More like a speed walk because we didn't want to get tackled to the ground for setting off the alarm. We got to the actual trains, didn't know how to get to where we wanted to go. We asked some guy if he lived there. He said yes and tried to help us. He said the problem is that he'd lived there for so long, that he doesn't even think about how the subway works, he just knows what trains he needs and what direction. So, it took him a minute. He told us to get on the C train. He said,"Whatever you do, don't get on the E train. That goes to the scary areas." He got on the D train and was gone. Another guy leaned over and said,"I think you can get there on the A train too." The A train was there, so we got on and were whisked away. We were on there for a long time. We wanted to get off  at 81st street. You can imagine our surprise as the 81st street stop zoomed past us. B said,"That was the stop we wanted." A guy sitting there said that we were on the express train. It didn't stop at 81st street. He said we needed to get off at the next stop which was like 180th street, get back on the C train and rode back to where we needed to go. We should have just listened to the first guy. Oh well right? Central Park was different than I thought it would be. I had pictured the grass really nice and green. It was more yellow than green. I thought it would be landscaped really well. It wasn't. It was fine, just different. I get that it's huge and we only saw a teeny tiny part of it. Maybe there are parts that are more like I pictured it being. The Natural History Museum was cool. You could spend weeks in there and not see everything.

This is one of a set of Tusks that were found on an elephant in Africa after it had died. I had no idea that tusks could get so big!

He was so happy to just walk around and point at everything.

Of course we had to get a picture next to the gum gum guy from Night at the Museum! After we saw him, M and K were ready to go, so we left. It was so nice not really having set plans. To just go with the flow and as soon as they were ready to leave, we left. As we left here is when we decided to go to Ground Zero. I am so so glad that we went and I am excited to write about it, but it will have to wait. Little B is awake from his nap and needs some attention. So, until tomorrow, farewell!