This past week we went to Washington DC. This was Ammon's first time in DC. Although I've been there a few times, we did some new things that I hadn't done before! We decided to drive there (instead of flying)even though we parked the car at the hotel and didn't use it almost the whole time we were there! We drove all day Monday to get there. We were offered to stay at the home of some relatives, but decided that since this was our big vacation for the year, we'd stay in a hotel. Although it's nice to save money, it's also nice that we're NOT college students anymore (meaning we can afford a hotel!) We stayed in a really nice hotel in Alexandria, VA.
Tuesday morning we packed a lunch and took our bikes into DC. It was so much fun seeing the monuments by bike! The Washington Monument is still being retrofitted, so we couldn't go up in it, but we rode by it (a few times).
We went to:
WW II Monument
Korean Monument
Lincoln Memorial
Arlington National Cemetery (we took the tram tour - so glad we did! It was very interesting!)
Iwo Jima
Vietnam Memorial
White House
Capital Building
Martin Luther King Jr Memorial
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial
Thomas Jefferson Monument
Then we rode to Union Station and ate dinner, then headed back to the hotel. By the time we got back to our hotel it was around 8:30-9pm. It was a very full and fun day!
Wednesday:
Today was another busy, packed day! We started off going to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This was a very interesting tour! We really liked it a lot! Then we went to the Holocaust Museum. It was really good - a lot like the one in LA. Then we went to the Air and Space Museum. We only got to see a small part of it before we needed to head to the Capitol Building for our scheduled tour. After the tour we went to the Postal Museum and then to Union Station for dinner. We went to the Natural History Museum, and again only saw a small part of it. We got back to our hotel and crashed! Our feet were so tired!
Thursday:
We saw the backside of the White House. We also went into the White House Museum. We finished the Natural History Museum. Then we went to the National Archives building where we say the Declaration of Independence, Bill or Rights and the Constitution. We walked a few blocks to the Spy Museum. We were so excited to go to it because it sounded so cool! When we got there we found out it cost something like $15/person. We decided to skip it :( But we were really close to the Ford Theater, so we went there and to the house across the street where Abraham Lincoln actually died. We walked back to the American History Museum. After that we went back to the Air and Space Museum to finish it up. Then we headed back to our hotel. We changed clothes and headed to the Washington DC Temple. When we were walking into the temple, we ran in to Uncle Joel and Aunt Laurie who were also in DC on vacation! After the temple we stopped and grabbed a very late dinner.
Friday was our drive home. We had such a fun time! The museums were so wonderful - especially since they were all free! It was definitely a well-worth-it vacation!
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory
It's that time again...time for another SLEEPOVER MOVIE PARTY!!!!
Invitations: Golden Tickets hidden inside Wonka Chocolate Bars. This was a little tricky because chocolate bars are no longer wrapped in the foil paper with a paper band around them (at least not around here!) they're all wrapped in a sealed plastic wrapper. After opening the candy bars (I used Twix, Resess, Kit Kat and Cookies & Cream) I put the golden ticket around them, wrapped them in freezer paper, then put on my Wonka paper wrapper. When I told the Powell kids I had bought them a treat, it didn't take Avri more than 30 seconds for her to say, "I think I know what this REALLY is!" Meaning she knew that it was an invitation to our next movie party :) What a smart girl!
Games:
Unwrapped: In the movie, there are factories where the workers just unwrap Wonka bar after Wonka bar looking for a golden ticket. We put the kids to the test to see how good THEY are at unwrapping candy! We used Starbursts instead of chocolate.
Suction: In the movie, the large boy falls into the chocolate river then gets sucked into a pipe. He got stuck in the pipe until the pressure built up and forced him out. We used tubes (straws) to see how well the kids could suck things up. We had squares of paper and they had to get the piece of paper from the middle of the room to their cup only using their straw - NO HANDS! Who could get the most paper in their cup?
Oompa Loompa Walk: Who can waddle like an Oompa Loompa the best? This game was tricky because you had to walk with a balloon between your legs and not drop the balloon!
Treats:
In the room where everything is edible, we had lolly pops and gummy bears.
Of COURSE we had to have Everlasting Gobstoppers!
Fizzy Lifting Drinkes were a MUST!
What is a Willy Wonka party without the CHOCOLATE!?!
Sleeping Bags and Pillows were forgotten, so Cool Uncle Ammon made a fort for the kids to sleep in. He is good at fort making! Lol! Talmage also helped with the ideas and the building. It took us a while to regulate the temperature enough in there that the kids would actually fall asleep. But they had fun with it!
Invitations: Golden Tickets hidden inside Wonka Chocolate Bars. This was a little tricky because chocolate bars are no longer wrapped in the foil paper with a paper band around them (at least not around here!) they're all wrapped in a sealed plastic wrapper. After opening the candy bars (I used Twix, Resess, Kit Kat and Cookies & Cream) I put the golden ticket around them, wrapped them in freezer paper, then put on my Wonka paper wrapper. When I told the Powell kids I had bought them a treat, it didn't take Avri more than 30 seconds for her to say, "I think I know what this REALLY is!" Meaning she knew that it was an invitation to our next movie party :) What a smart girl!
Games:
Unwrapped: In the movie, there are factories where the workers just unwrap Wonka bar after Wonka bar looking for a golden ticket. We put the kids to the test to see how good THEY are at unwrapping candy! We used Starbursts instead of chocolate.
Suction: In the movie, the large boy falls into the chocolate river then gets sucked into a pipe. He got stuck in the pipe until the pressure built up and forced him out. We used tubes (straws) to see how well the kids could suck things up. We had squares of paper and they had to get the piece of paper from the middle of the room to their cup only using their straw - NO HANDS! Who could get the most paper in their cup?
Oompa Loompa Walk: Who can waddle like an Oompa Loompa the best? This game was tricky because you had to walk with a balloon between your legs and not drop the balloon!
Treats:
In the room where everything is edible, we had lolly pops and gummy bears.
Of COURSE we had to have Everlasting Gobstoppers!
Fizzy Lifting Drinkes were a MUST!
What is a Willy Wonka party without the CHOCOLATE!?!
Sleeping Bags and Pillows were forgotten, so Cool Uncle Ammon made a fort for the kids to sleep in. He is good at fort making! Lol! Talmage also helped with the ideas and the building. It took us a while to regulate the temperature enough in there that the kids would actually fall asleep. But they had fun with it!
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Peoria Chiefs
As part of a Summer Reading program we did through the Peoria Library, we earned tickets to a Chiif's game. It was a fun FHE night!
Friday, August 2, 2013
Eggett's Come to Town
July 21-27 was RAGBRAI and my parents and Kimberly were going! On Monday I drove to meet up with them and spent the rest of the week as their driver. If you haven't ever heard of RAGBRAI, it's a HUGE bike ride (both in distance and participants) that starts on the west boarder of Iowa and ends on the east boarder of Iowa. The route changes each year, but even so, every day is anywhere from a 50 mile ride to 85 miles. And it's NOT flat. It is FULL of rolling hills! Anyways, each morning I would get up and take down both of our tents, pack everything into the car, drive to the next stop (which was more miles than the bikers because we had to take a round-about route so we weren't driving on the same roads the bikers were on). The traffic was always horrible! Then, I had find a camping spot - which proved VERY difficult on many days because of the city's lack of communication/organization. Set up the tents and camp site. Most days I had other tasks too, like going to the laundry mat to dry all of our bedding that was SOAKED the night before in a crazy rain storm, pick something up from the grocery store, etc. My family would make it to the campsite in the early afternoon. They'd shower, then we'd head into town, go into an open building and play games, or just relax. I rode one and a half days of RAGBRAI about 5 years ago, and watching my family ride it made me want to do it again! The endpoint of RAGBRAI was only 2 hours away from our house, so afterwards, my family came and stayed with us for a few days!
On Sunday we went to church and did a bunch of relaxing and visiting.
Monday we went over to East Peoria. First we went to Bass Pro Shop and did their shooting range (it's indoors and the guns shoot lasers). Afterwards we went to Costco and a couple of grocery stores to get ready for the awesome FHE we had planned for that night! Then we went home and relaxed before heading to Mark and Carrie's house to set up for FHE. Unfortunately, my dad got sick that day and missed out on the activities! For FHE we (both Dietz families, Eggetts and Powells) played water kickball. To kick the ball you stood next to home plate (a mini pool), then ran to first base where you had to sit on a bag of ice (we couldn't find ice blocks!), second base you weren't safe until you got a water balloon out of the cooler and sat on the folding chair; popping the water balloon with your butt. Third base you had to stick your nose/head into a bucket of water (we said nose because I wasn't sure if it would scare Rigdon to stick his whole head in the water - but come to find out, he LOVED sticking his whole face in the water!), then run home to the baby pool! Then we had a BBQ of Brats, Polish Sausages, Chips, Salads, Corn on the Cob, and lots of other yummy foods! Then Sadie gave us a cute lesson from the Friend.
On Tuesday, Ammon took the day off of work and we went to the CAT Museum in downtown Peoria. It was really interesting! Then we went out to eat for lunch at a restaurant that use to be a Speak Easy hidden underneath a Performing Arts Theater. Then we took a little drive through some beautiful neighborhoods. We came back to our house for a little bit then headed back out to Bass Pro Shop to go bowling at The Fish Bowl. My parent's car was making some funny noises throughout the day, so after bowling we went to Mark and Carrie's house and Mark and Ammon fixed the car.
Wednesday morning we went to the Wildlife Prairie Park and then to Safety Town for a picnic lunch. Safety town is a public park that is for bikes. It has all sorts of traffic signs/lights, lines in the road, on-ramps, off-ramps, divided roads, etc for kids to ride their bikes in.
Thursday came and my family had to leave. We had such a fun time having them here!
On Sunday we went to church and did a bunch of relaxing and visiting.
Monday we went over to East Peoria. First we went to Bass Pro Shop and did their shooting range (it's indoors and the guns shoot lasers). Afterwards we went to Costco and a couple of grocery stores to get ready for the awesome FHE we had planned for that night! Then we went home and relaxed before heading to Mark and Carrie's house to set up for FHE. Unfortunately, my dad got sick that day and missed out on the activities! For FHE we (both Dietz families, Eggetts and Powells) played water kickball. To kick the ball you stood next to home plate (a mini pool), then ran to first base where you had to sit on a bag of ice (we couldn't find ice blocks!), second base you weren't safe until you got a water balloon out of the cooler and sat on the folding chair; popping the water balloon with your butt. Third base you had to stick your nose/head into a bucket of water (we said nose because I wasn't sure if it would scare Rigdon to stick his whole head in the water - but come to find out, he LOVED sticking his whole face in the water!), then run home to the baby pool! Then we had a BBQ of Brats, Polish Sausages, Chips, Salads, Corn on the Cob, and lots of other yummy foods! Then Sadie gave us a cute lesson from the Friend.
On Tuesday, Ammon took the day off of work and we went to the CAT Museum in downtown Peoria. It was really interesting! Then we went out to eat for lunch at a restaurant that use to be a Speak Easy hidden underneath a Performing Arts Theater. Then we took a little drive through some beautiful neighborhoods. We came back to our house for a little bit then headed back out to Bass Pro Shop to go bowling at The Fish Bowl. My parent's car was making some funny noises throughout the day, so after bowling we went to Mark and Carrie's house and Mark and Ammon fixed the car.
Wednesday morning we went to the Wildlife Prairie Park and then to Safety Town for a picnic lunch. Safety town is a public park that is for bikes. It has all sorts of traffic signs/lights, lines in the road, on-ramps, off-ramps, divided roads, etc for kids to ride their bikes in.
Thursday came and my family had to leave. We had such a fun time having them here!
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