step right up!

Continuing with the Spring Break fun, we took Mom, Robby and the boys to the Ringling Bros Circus Thursday evening.  Always a great show, and lots of fun!

artistic elephant!

Honor Air Chicago

Two weeks ago, my friend Aimee posted information on Facebook regarding Honor Air Chicago.  The Honor Air program is nationwide, and pays for WWII veterans to visit Washington DC and all the war memorials that are  here in their honor.   Its an amazing program, and this time last year, we participated by writing letters to some veterans who were flying here to visit from Florida. 

Different organizations raise money and the trip doesn't cost anything to the veterans.  Most of them are in their 70's, 80's and sometimes even 90's, and many of them have never been to Washington DC in their lifetime.  When I first heard about this program it really resonated with me. Both of my grandfathers served in WWII and it just made me so happy someone thought of a program to honor these heroes and show them how thankful we all are for their service to this country.

When Aimee posted that an Honor Air flight was coming thru Dulles Airport on April 4th, and that they needed people to greet the veterans, I knew we had to do it.  The airport is so close to us, and I thought it would be a great experience for our boys to pay their respects.  There will soon be a day when there aren't any WWII veterans still alive, and I wanted them to have this experience to remember.

We headed to the airport Wednesday evening.  I had given our names and birthdates to the area coordinator about a week ago, so she had gate passes waiting for us at the Southwest ticket counter.  I bought the boys American flags to wave, and we headed to Gate B50 to greet the veterans as they returned from a day of sight seeing in DC.

They were running a little late, and while we waited we met an area swing dancing club there to perform for the veterans, and dance with anyone who wanted to.

This swing group raised $6,000 for the Honor Air program, just in February alone.  It warms my heart to know there are groups out there making this happen for these guys.

Finally it was time! The veterans pulled up in buses outside and we lined up to greet them, hug them and shake their hands.  Some of them had cameras, some of them were crying, laughing and probably experiencing a huge range of emotions.

This is my favorite photo of the evening.  Dylan saluted all of the veterans, all 97 of them.

Dinners were passed out to all of them, and the dancing began. Some of the veterans got up out of their wheelchairs to dance a jig themselves!  The boys helped the Girl Scouts pass out cookies to anyone who wanted them, too.

It was a great night, and afterwards we took the boys to Fuddruckers for celebratory burgers.  I think they really enjoyed the experience.  I know I did!  They have many of these flights coming thru town frequently, so we hope to attend another one soon!

 

spring break trip

We've been enjoying a week of no school, no schedules and lots of fun activities.  I'll just share some highlight photos below of our trip to Dad and Bobbie's on the shore of SE Virginia, which is how we started off our spring break for the first four days.

Logan and Maya

it was chilly on the boat

We took the boys to Jamestown Settlement..

We also visited Nauticus in Norfolk... a cool museum about all things maritime, military and such.  We got to tour the battleship US Wisconsin, super cool!

sundays

Dylan has been on a year round swim team this school year, and he practices every Sunday afternoon at a local indoor pool.  Rather than torture ourselves, oops, I mean Logan, we usually conquer and divide. Andrew will take Dylan one Sunday, and I'll stay with Logan.  Then the next week I'll take Dylan and I'll do something with Logan.  Its nice for the boys to each get to spend some time with us alone.

I usually try and trick Logan into a trip to Target or Wegmans to run some errands during our special time. Yesterday was no different, I desperately needed a few groceries.  And sadly, an annual egg hunt event we were supposed to attend with lots of other friends was cancelled due to heavy rain.  But we salvaged the day anyway.  After Wegmans, we stopped at a park so he could run around, and then went to visit our local turtle pond.  No turtles yet, but the geese were out in full force and we had two stale loaves of bread.    And I had one happy boy!

bro-mama birthdays!

My Mom and brothers' birthdays are close together, and every end of March we have a great excuse to get together for a little family fun time.  Next up, we have Easter and Dylan's birthday...another great excuse!  Lots of people don't get to see their family as often as we do.  I love that we live close enough to all spend time together celebrating these occassions.   My stepsisters live in Maryland, not too far, so we can truly all be to my Mom and Robby's within 45 minutes. 

Between our kids, my brothers, and my stepsisters, there are now 10 cousins/grandkids.   Makes for quite the party when we're all in one place at the same time!   Its always a group effort, but my Mom and Robby always host a great time, and the kids love their time with the cousins!

the purdy blossoms

The Cherry Blossoms have bloomed early this year, due to all extremely warm weather.   A girlfriend invited me and another friend to go downtown with her this afternoon and have a little picnic to check out the blossoms.  The blossoms are a HUGE tourist attraction and you can't even get near DC on the weekends this time of year.   It was great to go down this afternoon with much less traffic, better parking options, and up close and personal views.

Beautiful, and FLUFFY!