Once Upon A Dream

We are on a family vacation that is taking us through many states. We stopped in Staten Island on the first night, and drove down to Washington DC the next day. We met up with the infamous Sara.....and saw many sights. Here are some things that we saw during our time there.....

The White House (front and back)

Washington Monument from the White House, The White House Christmas Tree, The Washington Monument from the base of the Lincoln Memorial

The Treasury Department, National Headquarters for the Red Cross, The Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building

The Sherman Memorial, World War I Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial with family...

The Jefferson Memorial, Gabby and Gillian at the Jefferson Memorial (Washington Monument in the background), The World War II Memorial

Abraham Lincoln, The Capitol Building, Thomas Jefferson

(From top left to bottom right)
The Library of Congress, The National Botanical Gardens, The National Holocaust Museum, The Federal Reserve, Our family at the Smithsonian Institute, The Supreme Court Building, The National Archive, The Watergate Hotel, and the Smithsonian Castle

The Korean War Memorial....and other fun moments.

The Albert Einstein Memorial and The National Zoo

The Zoo, Sara's house, Nando's

The Old Post Office, The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, Eleanor Roosevelt

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and more pictures from the National Zoo

After spending a couple days in DC, we traveled across the river to Arlington, VA to see some of the landmarks in that neck of the woods.

The Airforce Memorial, Marine Corp Memorial,

Sara with the girls, The Pentagon and 9/11 memorial

Construction on Pentagon and The 9/11 memorial, again

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard at Arlington Cemetary

The Washington Monument from Kennedy's grave

The Kennedy graves and Eternal Flame

After leaving Virginia, we traveled down to Raleigh, NC. We stayed overnight and played at Marbles children's museum. The girls have been loving all the states that we have been traveling through...and especially the pools and hotel rooms. One night they were sleeping hooked together like a pretzel in their bed. The museum was nice. There was a pirate treasure hunt. The pirates were very funny. When the children and captain of the pirate ship found the treasure chest, inside the box was a letter from the pirate's mom telling him that he forgot to clean his room...a pair of his "dirty" underwear (just a prop), and pirate tatoos for all the kids. It was actually pretty hilarious because everyone was expecting gold coins. The pirate asked Gillian if she wanted to hold his underwear for a sec......I can't even describe the look of disgust on her face. It was priceless. We got to see an actual piece of the Berlin Wall...it is the second picture down on the right.

We went to a family night at Ripley's Aquarium a couple nights ago. We had the best time ever. We went on a scavenger hunt around the aquarium and saw all the exhibits. The girls got to pet the horseshoe crabs and sting rays. We saw some diving shows. They gave us pizza and we danced. There were also fireworks and we had a private balcony to view if we wanted. There were seven families who slept over the night that we did. The shark tunnels were all so twisty and long that each family had their own private section of the tunnel. There was one sawnosed shark that camped over us in the tunnel...it was like he was our guard shark. There was also a giant leatherback sea turtle named "Gabby". We wished we could have stayed in the tunnel for our entire vacation. It was definitely the highlight so far.

Here are a few things that we have done on our vacation that the girls really liked....
We ate at Planet Hollywood, played mini-golf in a castle, and visited The Hard Rock Cafe in Myrtle Beach.....

We spent some time on the beach in between the other activities going on....it was very nice and relaxing. The first day was really hot...but the rest were nice and breezy...no rain and the waves were perfect!

Resort and Beach pictures....

The resort in which we stayed in Myrtle Beach had a tiny water park attached to it...perfect for little kids. There was a lazy river and a bunch of fountain features.....and there were slides next to the pools. The girls liked the lazy river the best because Gillian could walk in it, and Gabby could float along with the current.

If you have never heard of Medieval Times, it is a dinner theatre....There is jousting, horses, falcons....and a few other interesting things to go along with the story while you are eating your meal with your fingers. The knights compete against one another. When they win...they are given flowers by the princess.... the knights then throw the flowers into the crowd. After the show, the knights take pictures etc...and there is music on a dance floor for the kids. We were seated in the Yellow Knights realm....and he happened to be the winner of the night!

Good Bye South Carolina.....Hello, Baltimore, Maryland. We stayed in Baltimore for one night on our way home fom South Carolina. It was a nice little stop. We visited the home of Edgar Allen Poe and spent a little time in the inner Harbor area. The ships were huge, and there was a crazy shark submarine docked in the harbor.

Good bye Myrtle Beach....

One quick stop in Staten Island to say, "hi", eat pizza, and pick up our pets.....

Now....home to relax...

What do we do early on Saturday mornings...before the birds are up?.....

WARNING: View at your own risk....you may turn to the dark side.

We recently went hiking in a mountainous region that we hadn't heard about before. The trip started out great, but got a little strange.....We don't like to talk about it.

We visited Gabby's doctor on Friday and had an X-ray of her broken arm....yup, still broken, but it is healing. She has to keep it on for another two weeks....have another X-ray...and maybe get it off then. She will then have to wear a brace and do exercises to build up the strength in her arm. In the meantime...we are just hanging out...having fun!

Gabby and her Dr.

Alex and Janet stopped by for a visit....

On Saturday afternoon, we visited the playground where Gabby broke her arm. It was the first time that she was on the playground since the accident. She had a good time giving us all the details of what happened leading up to the accident...then we played like crazy.

We went to Hoffman's a couple nights ago with our neighbors, Barry and Carol. Their grandchildren, Elena and Brice, were visiting. It was a blast. All the kids loved the cotton candy, but Gillian loved it the most.....

Gabby went to the allergist to find out more about her peanut allergy. She had to eat peanuts in an increasing quantity over a four hour period. She had no reaction. The doctor told us that she has probably outgrown her sensitivity. She is looking forward to trying a lot of foods containing peanuts.

The Ferri boys invited us to swim at their Grandparent's house yesterday. We wished we could stay all day long, but we still have a time limit for Gabby's cast. Less than two weeks to go before she gets it off. She can't wait!

Another birthday party....woo hoo! This is Madalyn....our neighbor from the block behind us.....

We went to participate in the Music Mobil at Central Park today. After coloring and singing, all the children made guitar boxes. Then there was more singing while playing our newly made instruments. It was fun....as always. Music Mobil is a family favorite. We invited our friends, Sara Jane and Caleb....and we also ran into nieghbors...Madalyn and Tyler.

We took a long weekend and visited the Varrati family at the Cuccia lake house. We had a blast! The kids played so nice together....We spent time on the lake taking picutures and skipping stones. We went on a hike at Panama Rocks. We took a cruise that was perfect for kids...face painting, balloon artist, coloring, pizza.....and driving the boat with the captain. We can't thank the Cuccia/Varrati Fams. enough. Michael and Sophia - Gabriella and Gillian miss you already! I borrowed a lot of these pictures from Meg....isn't she an awesome photographer.

After too much fun in Chautauqua Lake, we traveled slightly north to Niagra Falls, Canada. We spent the day on Sunday doing all kinds of touristy things like the Maid of the Mist, the White Water Walk, and Journey Behind the Falls. We at dinner at the Skylon....which I haven't done since I was a little kid. We stayed the night overlooking the falls and saw the fire works from our hotel window. It was absolutely gorgeous.

The base of the falls

Portal behind the falls

Sunday night fireworks on Fallsview RD.

We visited Canada's version of Seaworld while traveling over the weekend. It was different from theme parks that we have visited in the US....It was very large and open. There was no landscaping...and everything was natural. You could pet and feed so many of the animals. There was a dolphin show, a killer whale show, a walrus show and many other rides. The favorite of the day was definitely the Beluga whale exhibit. The whales were so cute and friendly. Three babies were born in the last month. There was another baby that was born last summer. She was so funny. She kept coming up to the glass in the underwater viewing area and kissing Gabby and Gilli through the glass. We got to pet and feed the Beluga's.

Feeding the fish....

Feeding the bears

Two of the walruses during feeding...

Feeding and petting the deer....

Some fun rides....

baby beluga whale and momma

Andre

Baby Beluga playing

Killer Whale

Killer Whale feeding and making sounds