Easter 2012

  

 

Easter was a bit of a whirlwind for us this year! We had just gotten back from vacation (a day late due to travel delays), so we literally drove into an Easter block party we had planned to attend Saturday when we arrived home. We dropped our bags in the entry hall and headed outside for the fun festivities. Preston had fun hunting eggs and playing in the bounce house with the neighbor kids. It was a lot of fun, but we got nothing done to prepare for company on Sunday!

Sunday morning came and the scramble began! We somehow managed to get everything and everyone ready before our family arrived for the festivities! This is the first year that I can remember missing church on Easter Sunday, which was sad. We had a lot of fun with the family once everyone arrived anyway. We had lots of yummy food, an indoor egg hunt with Preston (since it was raining outside in the morning), colored Easter eggs with everyone, watched Preston open his 4 Easter baskets (he's a little spoiled) and then finally the weather cleared up and we got to spend some time in the hot tub. Ultimately, despite the scramble, it was a great Easter!

Mota Vacation!

Washington Square Park

Mr. Mota playing chess...his passion

Visiting a Chess Shop

Only tree that survived
Date Night!

Where Preston was given his first Knight and King

Fun toy stop!

Preston LOVED this dog!

Tough like daddy!

Reading time with mommy

Central Park

A whole new way of getting bunny ears in a pic!

One last pic in Times Square

Cutie

The White House

Cherry Blossoms

Vietnam Memorial

Picnic in the park

Lincoln Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Front porch of The White House

Such a stud

And we ARE NO LONGER WALKING

Unbelieveable

My boys

Cheese!

Preston Time

Loved it

NEMO!

Watch out America!

Our Future President!

The Capitol

Supreme Court

More Cherry Blossoms

Perfect photo opp

Georgetown

With Steph and Gene

WOOHOO!

Time to go home!

We were all exhausted!

We just returned from a fabulous family vacation with Stephen's family. We all went to NYC and Washington DC. We started our venture in NYC. It was a fast couple of days, but we managed to get a lot in. We went to Washington Square Park where Mr. Mota was able to play chess and visit a few of the chess shops he wanted to see. All of the guys played chess and all won a game at The Village Chess Shop. We were also able to fit in the 9/11 Memorial which was a beutiful tribute to all lost in that terrible tragedy. That evening Stephen and I had a little date night and went to see Rock of Ages. It was a fantastic show! We had such a good time!! The next day we went to Central Park, FAO Schwartz, the Statue of Liberty, Canal street and of course made another stop in Times Square. We had a great time in NYC, but had planned to spend the majority of our vacation in DC since none of us had ever been there.

The next morning we woke up bright early and took a train to Washington DC. Once we got to town we ate at Old Ebbitt's Grill across from the White House and then walked by the White House. That afternoon we spent time walking around town and getting aquainted with the city. We during the Cherry Blossom Festival. Unfortunately mosty of them were already gone, but we did manage to find a few still in beautiful bloom! We hit up the Spy Museum that afternoon and then went to a bar called POV that overlooked the White House at night. What a view!

The next day we woke up ready to hit up all of the National Monuments. We first made a stop at one of the Smithsonian museums where we saw beautiful china of past presidents. Then our monument tour began! We went to The Washington Monument, then walked to down to the WWII Memorial. After that we stopped for a nice picnic in the park, so much fun! Preston had a ball running around. After we filled our belly's we headed toward the Vietnam Memorial. This was a special stop where we were all able to stop and thank the Lord for bringing Mr. Mota home safely! After some good reflection time, we headed off to the Lincoln Memorial, then around to the Korean War Memorial, MLK Memorial, FDR Memorial and way over to the Jefferson Memorial. Needless to say our feet were hurting, and we were officially EXHAUSTED after that day of walking! That evening we ended our long day with a delicious meal at The Capital Grille. DELICIOUS!

The following day we went to the Pentagon and the Pentagon Memorial. After that we headed to Arlington National Cemetery where we saw JFK's grave along with some of his families burrial sites. We were also able to see the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknowns. We were also able to tour Robert E. Lee's home which had an absolutely amazing view. Following our day of Memorials, we took a cab to see Iwo Jima. Then we headed to Georgetown for a fantastic meal at a great Italian restaraunt called Filomena. It was completely decked out for the Easter Holiday.

Thursday we decided it was time for Preston to have a little fun, so we took him to the National Aquarium. He loved seeing all the fish especially NEMO! After that we did some more site seeing around town. We saw the U.S Capitol and The Supreme Court. We ended our day at the Capitol Brewery which was lots of fun.

Friday we thought was going to be our departure day, but our flight was cancelled. This actually worked out to our benefit because we were scheduled to do a tour of the White House that day and were unsure if we were going to be able to make our flight. Some things just happen to work out! We went to tour the White House which was the highlight of our trip! Such a neat tour seeing a lot more of the White House than I ever thought they would show. We also got to see them setting up for the National Egg Roll they have for Easter. It was a really neat tour! Following that Stephen and I headed back to Georgetown for some shopping and met up with Steph and Gene for a good night out at Mr. Smith's Piano Bar. So much fun!

Saturday morning we caught a flight home. It was truly an amazing trip! Preston was great on the flight there and had his very own seat coming home, he was BIG STUFF! He was such a trooper through the whole trip, we couldn't be more proud. What a great time with wonderful family. More great memories to cherish forever!