DC Finale

To finish off our time in DC we fit in all that we could.
(I thought this funeral home was awesome- farewell bacon.)

We saw the Lincoln Memorial (the reflecting pool was under repair- so no reflecting for us)

Notice Ruby in the front of the photo- what a cute head.

Who knew Lincoln was so BIG in real life?  This is a true to scale sculpture- right?

We saw the Washington monument-  (don't let that water fool you- it is NOT the reflecting pool)


Kim was very disappointed in the disrepair of the reflecting pool.

We saw the White House (front and back)

(Why do I look like such a nerd in this photo?  And why is Noni not looking in ANY of these photos?)

Ruby trying to break in. She didn't get very far before the secret service was on the scene.  (Just kidding- she got all the way in, I couldn't believe it)

And we walked some more.

We made Justin watch the kids most of the time.  He did a pretty good job- If only he could figure out how to hold hands, carry Noni on his back, AND push a stroller.  Next trip I guess...

When we were all done in DC we headed to Georgetown for some cupcakes.  I had been looking forward to them ALL weekend- then we got there and the line looked like this.  (Out the door and ALL the way up the street- a good 2 hour wait)

So we skipped the cupcakes and just got a passing photo.  It is just as good- trust me.

All in all- it was a great time.
My favorite place to visit was the Washington DC temple.
And the Lincoln memorial was a close second.

It was fun spending time with friends and I always love an adventure.
After DC we headed back to NYC- to do a little more exploring!
I love NYC.  There just is nothing like that place.
The traffic was horrendous this time- but we still made sure to enjoy ourselves.
We did a lot of exploring of Long Island as well.
More to come on that in the future!

Washington DC- Sunday

We headed to DC with the Hughes and I am finally getting around to blogging it.  It was a great trip.  My favorite day was Sunday- so I will start there!

We headed to church near the DC temple and ended up going to the spanish ward conference by accident.  It was definitely a little bit of a surprise but they did translate most of it so we still were able to enjoy the meeting.  We were a little bit out of place but no one seemed to care.

The temple was the highlight of the day.

I couldn't believe how big it was- and it was so beautiful!

Ruby, always a true lover of all that is beautiful, loved it and the gardens around it.

The visitor's center was a nice reprieve from the hot hot heat!

 I just think they are so cute chatting with eachother.  I wish I knew what they were saying!

 Ruby admiring all of the flowers.

 And we ended the day with Noni getting his head stuck in the gate.  I mean, it wouldn't be Noni if he didn't do something awesome!

We had a great time there.  It was nice to spend the time with friends and to teach our children a little bit more about the gospel and temples.  It was a great way to spend a Sunday....

Snells + Hughes + DC= Pure Awesomeness

We finally made the much anticipated and frequently rescheduled trip to Washington DC!
I have wanted to travel to DC for years and finally my dreams came true...
It was also great to be able to meet up with good friends along the way!
Mark and Kim met us in DC and we spent 3 awesome days exploring!
We were all looking forward to this trip and after some schedule maneuvering and waiting to get over sicknesses we finally made it happen.
Our first day we had a little bit of a late start.
The traffic was insane and the construction was even crazier, but we finally found a suitable place to park and eat (number one on my list these days!) and were able to do some exploring in the hot hot heat.
But it is DC and there is a beautiful fountain every few feet- that we may or may not have been allowed to wade in- but we did anyway.
That first day was all about wading in the fountains and trying to prevent Justin from getting heat stroke.













Of course Noni found a way to fall in...  But he was cool the rest of the day.  I wanted to jump in myself...

We also learned a few lessons that day- like the fact that we need to limit our sausage intake at the free breakfast at the hotel.  It catches up with you later.
We did a lot of walking the first day.

Stopped in  at a few museums as well!

Ruby learned all about the Wright brothers (who were born in Ohio- hence Ohio is 'the birthplace of aviation)

 And we learned a lot about dinosaurs and diamonds.  It was fun- and the best part- FREE!

It was a long, hot day- filled with friends and fun- so who can complain?

I Start Walking Your Way, You Start Walking Mine....

It was a magical moment when we headed to Hershey, PA to meet up in the middle with some long lost friends....

Our first stop was Wendy's of course.  What is a 'Snughes' adventure without Wendy's?  Nothing I tell you- NOTHING!  Plus we were famished.  Fries and a Frosty- is there anything better in this world?

It was a quick trip so we didn't waste any time- we headed to the Chocolate World and took a tour of the 'factory'.  There were singing cows and candy at the end- so it was pretty awesome.  Plus it was free....

CANDY!  (Which no one particularly liked- stick to what you know Hershey, stick with what you know...)

Stuck the kids in with the stuffed Hershey kisses- they didn't want to get out- and who can blame them?

Used the memorabilia, that we didn't buy, to cool us down...

And did our best to get all the kids in one picture together....

Met the Reese's Peanut Butter cup mascot- a dream come true!

We also headed to the amusement park- which was fun- for most of us...  Ruby discovered she is more like her dad than me- she got sick from the ride- no actual puking but no fun after that either...  We headed to Dunkin' Donuts for some hot chocolate while Mark and Henry finished up the fun having.

We also did some Hershey exploring- I love the light posts!

Trying to decide where to have our last meal before the dreaded good bye...

Houlihan's it is!

I think Justin's face says it best.  We had a great time in Hershey but mostly because we had great company.  (His face does say all of that, doesn't it?)  My favorite time was when we were just able to relax and hang out- order a little wendy's and watch a little modern family- while the kids were sleeping.  Just laugh and joke and have a good time.  And as an added bonus Kim and I were able to get a little bit of post Thanksgiving shopping in, which was nice.  We are just glad to have such great friends who are willing to drive 5 hours to meet up and have some great times and make some great memories.  Until next time Hughes', hopefully it won't be too long.....

Thanksgiving Tree 2011

I saw this at a friends house and decided it would be a great FHE idea and something to help us remember to be grateful.
Presenting our Thanksgiving tree of 2011.  (This will now be a yearly tradition)

Thanksgiving, isn't it a little late for that, eh?  That is what my Canadian friends are thinking right now- am I right?

Well it seems weird to me to but when you are in America you do as the Americans do.

So we completely skipped over Canadian Thanksgiving and jumped right into American thanksgiving.

Hence the Thanksgiving tree in November.

All I did was cut out a tree like shape from packing paper (Ruby thought it looked like a mushroom) and then cut out a whole bunch of leaves from various fall colored paper.

Then we spent an evening talking about all of the things that we are grateful for and wrote them on the leaves.  Noni and Ruby placed them on the tree and now we have a constant reminder of what we are grateful for.  It can lift a person's spirits just looking at it.  That is why I like it.

It can also scare a person half to death when they see it in the dark (it resembles a person lurking in the dark out of the side of your eye)

I am grateful for the constant reminder to be grateful, sometimes I need it.  It is important to remember to be grateful for the things in our lives, and I am.

I feel blessed and grateful.

At this time I am grateful for family and friends.

We had a great time getting together with all the 'orphan' families (those who don't have any family living out here) and celebrating thanksgiving.  There was so much food and laughter, it felt like family and it was great.

After dinner, instead of lining up for black friday specials, we headed to Gettysburg and Hershey to meet up with the other thing I am grateful for- old familiar friends.  (The friends aren't old, just the friendship)

More to come on that soon!