A Morning at the Beach

3 days after we got here we got invited to go to the beach for our ward's annual School's Out Celebration.

So we crossed this lovely bridge (and I drove on the Beltway for the first time) and ended up at the beach of the Chesapeake Bay.

It's hard to tell from this picture but the sand is almost orange.

The kids built sand castles and buried treasure (rocks).

It had rained the day before so the water was a smidge cold, but bearable.

And we ended the trip at the playground.

1st Metro Adventure and the White House

We made our first DC Metro trip.

The kids lasted a few hours, maybe more like an hour and a half, but we got to see this beautiful building.

The White house

The Drive

Let me start by saying my kids have now been in more states than I ever had.

They win that contest.

I love K's map:

the states we moved from. It starts from one to 50.

(now that she is so well-traveled she thinks we are going to live in every state, cute)

We were in the car for about 46 hours, 5 travel days, 12 states, and 3 time zone changes.

(Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland if you were curious.) 

 

We stayed with Ben's sister and family (Kaytie, she rocks!) and Ben's Aunt and Uncle in St. Louis.

We also stayed in hotels 2 nights which the kids loved.

Something about swimming in a heated indoor pool and a breakfast buffet.

The double DVD player was great.

I think Ben had enough of Madagascar and "I like to Move it Move it," but all in all, the trip was great.

I had a bunch of coupons for FREE Mcdonald's drinks, so that was often our bathroom break:)

The most important part is that we made it to our new home.