This year our summer vacation took us out to see Kendra's brother Darren and his family, and also visit some historical sites. Our trip started out by flying into Washington Reagan National Airport where Darren met us with Adam. It was great to see Darren, I think it has been several years since we last saw him. It was also great to meet Adam who is Darren's foster child that he hope to adopt. Darren and Kendra drove his car with the luggage to the hotel in Washington DC, the rest of us took the train which was a new experience. The train dropped us off right in downtown DC and from there we wondered around for a few minutes before finally meeting up with Darren and Kendra at the Hotel. Later that night Kendra's mom flew in and joined us for our vacation. What a great treat that was. Tanner, Paxton, and Adam were great friends from the start. They have everything in common and really enjoyed each other.
While in DC we saw the many memorials and visited a few museums and even got to see President Obama and his security team scooting around town. After our feet were finally tired from walking around we decided to catch the double decker bus and see all the other sites in DC. The kids sure loved riding on the top and it made for a quick and easy way to travel by all of the sites and get off and see the sites we really wanted to visit. At night we hung out in the hotel rooms while the kids goofed around and we caught up with Mary and Darren. Another highlight in DC was when we left we went and stopped at the Washington DC Temple. What a beautiful temple that is.
After DC we headed to Darren's house in Townsend Deleware. It is about a 2 hour drive from DC. It sure is a pretty drive. When we got to Darren's house we met Darren's roomate Tom, who is a great guy. Their house was absolutely amazing inside and out. They had obviuosly spend a lot of time and effort on the house and we were very impressed. A few things that stood out to the kids was the deck and hot tub in the back, the three flat screen TV's, and the grass and the fact that Darren cuts it to look like the outfield at a major league stadium complete with straight lines and even the checker board look. His family was very generous to us and let us all take over their master bedroom. For all six in our family to fit in there, you can imagine the size of it. The funny thing we noticed about the location of there house is that Darren said that everything was just a few minutes away. This was a funny conversation througout the trip because nothing was few minutes away except Walgreens.
The first day at Darren's 7/27/09, we slept in and ate a big breakfast and then headed to Rohoboth Beach. The weather wasn't to cooperative that day as it was raining and lightening when we got there, so the beach was temporarily closed. That didn't stop us from having fun though, on the boardwalk they have a mini carnival complete with rides and games for the kids. Larissa and McKenna went on the smaller rides and Tanner, Paxton, and Adam enjoyed the more daring ones. They had a swinging ship there that most of us went on expcept Mary and McKenna. The skies then began to clear up and before you new it the kids were out playing in the ocean. One of my fondest memories of that day was the awesome fries they sell there on the boardwalk at Thrashers. The fries come with salt and apple cider vinegar, no ketchup. Needless to say we consumed several buckets of them. On the way back we stopped at Grotto pizza for a awesome dinner.
On Tuesday 7/28/09 we headed for Philadelphia to take in the historical sites there. Philly is about an hour from Darren's. I tried to ensure we were there close to lunch because we had to take in a authentic Philly Cheesesteak. The first place we went was to Gino's who is world reknown for their cheesesteaks. To be honest it was ok, but I still prefer the Philadelphian in Sandy Utah. From there we went to see the Liberty Bell and Consitution Hall. The kids were looking forward to our next stop which was the art museum and home of the steps in Rocky. We parked righ in front and everyone ran up and down the steps a few times raising their hands just like Rocky. We then all posed for a picture by the Rocky statue. Much to our delight, when we returned back to Darren's there wa a turkey dinner just waiting to be devoured and that is exactly what we did.
Wednesday 7/29/09 found us spending another day at the beach. The weather was better this day so the kids really had a blast. Of course we also consumed a few more buckets of Thrasher fries. After spending a afternoon at the beach and sand getting in litterally every crack of your body, we were all headed directly to the hot tub for a good soaking and then a BBQ Hamburger and Hot Dog dinner.
Thursday 7/30/09 was the day we set aside to travel to New York and see some of the sites there. We left early in the morning and drove to Jersey City to park the cars at the mall and then take the subway into New York. While there we saw Times Square, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, and Ground Zero. We walked up fifth avenue and back down broadway. We saw where the Today Show and David Letterman is filmed. The kids even got to see some really crazy people like a 85 yr old lady dressed in a really revealing bikini calling herself the Naked Cowgirl. That was a sight I would like to soon forget. This was a long day with a lot of walking, but we got a lot done and finally got back to Darren's at 1:00 in the morning.
Our last full day 7/31/09 the kids wanted to spend back at the beach, so that is where we headed. Darren, Tom, and Mary decided to stay back and catch up on some movies. The rest of us enjoyed such an awesome day. The waves were huge, we had such a blast that we didn't want to leave that day. I have never had such a good time at a beach. We have been to Destin, San Diego, and many other California beaches and we like a Rohoboth Beach better than any of them. The water might be a little colder, but there was no sea weed and the waves were just fantastic. While the boys and I took in the waves, Kendra and the girls finsihed using the ticket for the carnival on the rides. Oh yea, and of course we consumed a few more buckets of fries from Thrashers this day as well.
Saturday 8/1/09 was a sad day, we were heading back to Texas. We got up and the boys and I went and watched Adam's first practice, he tore it up and was easily the fastest kid on the team. We then started packing for our flight home. We exchanged pictures, said our good byes and then headed to the airport.
Our family all agreed that this was probably our favorite vacation. We really had a lot of fun with Darren, Tom, Mary, and Adam. I for one was a little skeptical about the vacation, but I had the ime of my life. We can't thank Darren and his family enough for hosting us and letting us take over their house and master bedroom. We even talked about making this an annual trip and have already started planning for the next one.
For better viewing of photos click here http://www.flickr.com/photos/texaslarsonclan/sets/72157621953704172/show/
