Trip to our Nation's Capital

Washington D.C... what a place! Ok, so here is my theory on D.C.... as American's, it is something we all need to visit at least once in our life. It is a very significant place with a lot of great sites to see. But once you have seen them once, I don't see the point in going back! This is coming from someone who is very non-political and not very into history, but that is just my take! I am so thankful that I had to opportunity to fly out with Curtis last week. He had to go on business, so we stuck Hayden with family here in town and I tagged along. I will admit, I was much more mesmerized by the sites than I anticipated being. Seeing the White House and all of the monuments in person was very awe inspiring. I had a great time getting a few days away with the hubby!

Now... for the FUN part. The trip home. We were scheduled to fly out of BWI at 8PM on Friday night, go through ATL and get to BHM a little before 11PM. With D.C. traffic and all, we decided to head to the airport around 2:00 to ensure we had time to get checked in and make our departure time. We arrived at the airport a little after 4 PM, and gasped at the line for baggage check. Luckily (ha) Curtis is a Platinum Medallion member with Delta (weekly trips to and from Kansas City for a year will do that), so we were able to get in the "shorter" preferred guest line. After waiting in line for about 2 hours, we were checked in and ready to go. Even had a little time to relax and get a snack before our plane took off! Departure time started getting pushed back a little at a time, until it got to the point that we would not make our connector flight in ATL. I, being pregnant and uncomfortable, started getting a little freaked out facing the fact that I could have to spend the night in the airport. Delta was claiming that the delays were caused by air traffic control, so they would not be comping hotel rooms for the night. Remember, I am PREGNANT, and Curtis is a Platinum Medallion member! So anyways, our flight out of BWI finally departed a little after midnight, we arrived at ATL a little after 2AM, and we got booked for the first flight home at 8:30 AM. So we found a cozy corner in the ATL airport and fell asleep! Sleeping in the ATL airport is about the equivalent of trying to catch a snooze in the middle of Times Square. A very cozy and quiet place. NOT. We got up (or stood up) in the morning to discover our 8:30 flight is now delayed 2 hours. SERIOUSLY! So we got to play the waiting game a little longer... finally departed ATL at 10:45 smelling like sour milk, and safely made it home. What a trip! So again... I don't think I will visit D.C. again until I have to take my kids to see the sights :)

Washington Monument

A little camera fun

Lincoln Memorial

Capital Building

Dinosaur at the Smithsonian

Dorothy's Slippers at the Smithsonian

Kermit the Frog (The highlight of my trip)

And one for the road....

20 Week Belly Pic

4th of July Fun

The 4th of July was wonderful this year! The weather was beautiful and we started the day with a BBQ at the Meacham's house. We are so blessed to have them right next door! Curtis and Bobby have been best friends for 15 years. After lunch at their place, we came over to our house and put Hayden's new pool to use. The kids had a blast swimming and a pretty heated water gun fight took place! We then headed down to see Thunder on the Mountain... the first time in a few years! Baby Hayden was never a fan of fireworks, so we have avoided them for the past few years. Last year Curtis and I were able to watch the fireworks out on the lake in a boat with some friends, but this year Hayden was super excited to see them too!

*Before the big show, there were some people shooting fireworks right near us and they were LOUD. Hayden was not digging it, and kept requesting for us to hold his ears, because it was making his shoulders tired. Curtis whipped out these earphones and voila, Hayden was happy!

It's a....

That's right! It's another boy for the William's family! I cheated and went to a local ultrasound school and let the students use my preggo belly as a guinea pig in exchange for finding out the sex of the baby a few weeks early. There were clearly boy parts there, and we are thrilled! We will get the official anatomy scan at the doctor in a couple of weeks, and will hopefully have a few ultrasound pics to share then. We have decided on the name Garrett! Still playing around with the middle name, but Garrett Williams will be gracing us with his presence around Thanksgiving of this year! We feel very blessed!

18 Weeks

Super Mario Galaxy (Number 2!)

As some MAY know, Hayden is a pretty big fan of the Nintendo Wii. Has been since around his third birthday. He can stomp us in any game, and we often find ourselves asking him how to do certain things in games. (Yes, we play too.) He sits on You Tube and watches strategy videos for his favorite games... it is pretty comical. Well, he caught wind about the fact that the sequel to his favorite game, Super Mario Galaxy had recently been released. However, we had to make some kind of deal with him before running out and spending $50 on a new game. Since he had gotten into the habit of sneaking into our bed in the middle of the night, we seized the opportunity to break that habit. We told him that if he stayed in his bed all night for 5 straight nights, he could get his game. He stepped up to the plate! Task was complete exactly 5 days later and he became the proud owner of Super Mario Galaxy 2. We have had a lot of fun with the game, and I'm happy to report that he has continued his streak of sleeping in his own bed!