road trip

This morning Jason loaded his saddle bags to the brim, had a good breakfast, and headed out for the 4 hour drive to Tallassee, TN- where he is meeting his dad and brothers for a guys getaway.

They have a house rented to stay in for 2 days, but the main attraction is the Tail of the Dragon at Deal's Gap, NC. They will be riding it over and over and over again, as a part of his Dad's last motorcycle riding hurrah. He is having an eye surgery next month which will make riding impossible for him in the future, so the guys planned this trip together to have one last chance to ride together.


Dad and Michael and Lance are driving from TX, pulling their bikes on a trailer. But since we are so much closer, Jason decided to just ride to meet them on his bike. I have a lot of confidence in Jason's driving abilities, but this trip still makes me a tiny bit nervous with him being alone. So I wanted to post these photos right away so our readers could be sending him safe riding vibes today!

I have some photos on our other computer from the trip we made there with Jason's folks a few years ago, so I am going to try and dig those out. In the meantime, watch some of this video that gives you an idea what it is like riding the Tail of the Dragon!

postcards from the road 5

(the last batch from Minnesota- we're on the way home now!)


group hug!



every little dude needs a pink car!



the whole group together (observe the flannel shirts- it was like fall in Minnesota!)

postcards from the road 4

(I wasn't able to get to WiFi as often as I had thought! So here are a bunch from our last few days)


the Cherry Spoon at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden



tree hugging cousins!



got the heels turned on the socks... stay tuned!



digging takes a lot of concentration



fun at the rope park



Stella lost her first tooth!!!

postcards from the road 3

backyard picnics


shucking corn with Grandma


backyard bonfires


with s'mores!


finding critters


rolling in the soft grass

postcards from the road 2

sleeping kiddos



sock knitting



stir-crazy kiddos!



our fearless leader

postcards from the road

Off we go! We are planning to leave around 4 am (otherwise known as "crazy o'clock) to head for Minnesota. I'm going to post photos whenever I get a chance but probably not much text. We'll be gone for 13 days! Please send us lots of safe traveling vibes and cross your fingers for me that our car stays nice and organized like this. Yeah, right.

last day in DC

On Sunday Hazel was feeling better again and were all able to go out together. First we went to the National Arboretum, and the first attraction was the fish pond! There was fish food to buy, and the koi were absolutely jumping over each other to get it! The kids could have spent hours there, but we had to drag them away so we could go see the bonsai trees.







The bonsai garden was really beautiful. We just could not get over the wonderful shapes and everyone kept running from one to the next saying "Come look at THIS one!" We even got to see a demonstration about how to get a bonsai tree started, which was really interesting.



This azalea bonsai was just at it's peak and SO beautiful.



Then we walked down to the National Capitol Columns, which were really cool. You can read about them here.





We took a group shot on our way back up to the buildings, and I really liked how the silly one turned out. The regular one is in my Flickr.



After the Arboretum, we headed for the White House, which we had saved for when Hazel and Jason would be with us. Everyone was very excited to see Obama's house!





The kids enjoyed the visitor's center and we all spent some quiet time looking through books and doing some worksheets they had out. It was nice and quiet as they were about to close.





Lyle finally fell asleep in the carrier as we walked around to see the other side of the White House, and we were ready to head back to our hotel. We were all very tired but had a great time getting to see Washington, DC, and I know we will jump at the chance to go back since there is so much more that we were not able to fit in during this visit.

more sightseeing

I'm only a week behind now, and almost through with photos from our trip. I'm going to go ahead and get caught up and then we'll be back to stuff at home, moving into the summer routine!

Last Saturday, we headed into DC for some more sightseeing, but things were different than we had planned. Hazel was still recovering from the stomach bug that hit her Friday evening, so Jason stayed at the hotel with her, and kept Lyle there as well. Of course I hated that Jason & Hazel missed out, I was excited about a whole day not having to tote that heavy boy around on my back! And we were able to do several things we would not have been able to do with him, so it was very nice.



First stop was the East building of the National Gallery of Art. We had stopped in the main building for a few minutes on Thursday, but Lyle was NOT interested and was very unhappy. This time we got to take in a little bit more of the art before Stella decided she did not like all the security guards freaking out every time we turned around. She also thought it was preposterous that there were so many things which looked like something you could sit on, but were in fact art and therefore could not even be touched. We did get to see Jackson Pollack's "Lavendar Mist", which is cool because Daisy recently learned about his work at the teen library program she attends. We also got to see some of Alexander Calder's amazing mobiles, but no photos were allowed in that room. The older girls and I could have sent hours in this one museum, but we were thankful for what we did get to see.

Next we headed for the capitol, which turned out to be a really awesome visit and we all learned a lot. We never would have been able to stay as long as we did if Lyle had been along, but Stella really enjoyed herself and we got to read and look around and watch the films about the Senate and House of Representatives. The visitor's center was very nice- engaging and informative. And outside the building was such a great backdrop for photos! I think the kids felt like they were in a movie shoot or something. :)











Stella even took a picture with me in it- she loves shooting with my big camera!



Lastly, we headed for the National Portrait Gallery, where we were looking forward very much to seeing Shepard Fairey's portrait of Obama. It was really cool to see it up close and get to look at all the detail that is lost in the reproductions.



We headed back to the van then, very VERY tired and ready to get back and relax. Daisy and Bea suffered from the over-tired giggles that evening and were laying under the sofa bed while I was in and out of the room doing laundry- our visit was almost up and I needed to start packing again!

DC at night

Friday evening we went into DC to see everything lit up at night. First stop was the Washington Monument, just as it was becoming dark out. Everyone was really amazed at the hugeness of this monument as we looked up. It really made you feel so tiny.







We had a bit of excitement when Hazel got sick in the car on the way downtown, but we thought it was just car sickness, so we went on with our plans. We ended up seeing less than planned though, as it became evident that she was actually sick and feeling worse and worse as the evening went on. We did manage to see the WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, both of which were so beautiful lit up.