Air and Space Museum - Dulles

One of the really cool things about living near Washington DC are all the FREE Smithsonean museums here!! We have been to almost all of them (National Zoo, Air & Space - Downtown DC, Museum of Natural History, etc). The Air and Space museum actually has two parts - one in downtown DC (which we have been to a few times) and one near the Dulles Airport in Chantilly, VA. We were trying to get our minds off the Boise State loss so Sheridan and I decided to head out to the Air and Space museum near the airport. It is free to get into, but parking is $15 -- unless you get there after 4pm (they close at 5:30) then parking is free! So, we were only there for an hour and a half, but that was just about as much time as Lincoln would last so it worked out.

We had taken family pictures that morning (which, by the way, turned out so awesome!! I can't wait to get them all so I can share them with everyone). Sheridan took a quick photo before we headed to the air and space museum.

Right when you walk in there is this AWESOME plane!! It looks like a stealth plane, but it actually wasn't one. They said you could fly this plane from LA to DC in 90 minutes. Amazing! My pictures are really blurry throughout this post - sorry! I am still trying to figure out the settings on my camera.

Lincoln was being sweet when we first got there....not so much by the time we left....

Same plane "Lockhead SR-71A Blackbird"

This picture doesn't do it justice, but there are so many awesome planes in the background here!

So cool....

You can't see it in this picture very well, but there is a really cool Marines helicoptor (Sikorsky HO5S-1) behind Lincoln.

So cool!

Lincoln was being feisty!! He refused to sit in his stroller and would scream and scream until we took him out. Then once we took him out he would go crazy and wanted to run everywhere!! He still trips often though and so it was a battle to get him to let us hold his hands while he walked. We ended up doing a lot of "1-2-3 Wheeeee!"

Sheridan thought these Navy planes were cool

Lincoln running around everywhere

I tried to get Sheridan and Lincoln in this shot, but Lincoln wouldn't stand still to get a clear shot!!!

M*A*S*H anyone?

This is the HUGE HUGE HUGE Enterprise space shuttle that they have right when you enter the "space" part of the museum. Sorry this picture is blurry!! I had my camera on "museum" setting, but that didn't flash which caused some of my blurry photos.

Here is a better one...

Tons of satellites they had displayed

Top view of all the awesome airplanes they have

Lincoln loved looking at the helicoptors! Look at the dinky helicoptor behind Sheridan! Could you imagine how scary that would have been to be riding in that thing!

Now THIS would have been scary!! This was engineered for the Marines (although they never ended up mass-producing them). You sit on that little ledge there and buckle yourself in and steer with the rod on top. SCARY!!!!

I have a camera again!!! Putting up the Christmas Tree

Ok so I know I haven't blogged in a LONG LONG time but I am back!! In March I lost my camera :( which I am still so sad about. So, for an early Christmas present this year Sheridan got me a camera on Black Friday!! It's not as nice as my old camera but I am SO happy!!! So, hopefully my posts will be more regular again.

Black Friday was a lot of fun. Sheridan and I stayed up until 12:30 and then had to get up at 2:30am again to start shopping! We went to Kohls first because they opened at 3am, but the line was too long (plus we got there a little late at about 3:30) so we decided just to head to Target and get in line. We got there at about 3:35 and the line was already almost a mile long!! Once the doors opened I beelined it to the back of the store (electronics) to get the camera I wanted that was on sale. We also picked up some jammies for Lincoln and a fake Christmas tree (more on the tree in a minute). After Target we went to Burlington Coat Factory -- I love this store!! You can find the best deals, especially on baby items. Clothes there are usually a third of the price of what you would pay at Kohls or Target. We got Lincoln two super cute outfits ($12 for a collared shirt, jeans AND jacket set), some new shoes, etc. I scored and got a new pair of jeans, a new coat, new running shoes, decorations for the tree, etc.

So we got home at about noon and Lincoln and Sheridan took a little nap (I ended up running back to Kohls to pick up a shirt for our family pictures the next day). At 2:30 we watched the Auburn/Alabama game -- it was a crazy game!! It got Sheridan all excited. We had ham leftovers from Thanksgiving and then watched the Oregon/New Mexico game at 7:30 -- another exciting game!! Then finally at 10:15 the Boise State/Nevada game came on. Boise State lost in the last few minutes of overtime, partly because their kicker missed two crucial kicks. This was a really sad evening at our house :( About a year and a half ago Sheridan's best friend from high school and college unexpectedly passed away. Steve was the ultimate Boise State football fan. He never missed a game and even traveled to the Tostitos Fiesta bowl to watch Boise State play! After Steve died, Sheridan always felt like Steve was watching over the Boise State football team. Boise State hadn't lost a single game since Steve passed away. Sheridan carried on Steve's legacy by always wearing Steve's Borah High School football shirt underneath his Boise State shirt every game day. In a strange way, Sheridan felt like Steve was still with him each Saturday when Boise State played and won. Sheridan knew that Boise State would eventually lose, but regardless, it was still a tough loss.

Here are some pictures documenting the day!!

Here is the Christmas Tree that we got at Target (fake). It was a great deal -- only $30 (regularly $60) and came prelit. I was so excited because I thought it was the perfect height for the window seat where Lincoln couldn't grab the ornaments or knock the tree down. Whoops!! It was just a few inches too tall!! Oh well.....we just have a squished Christmas tree this year :)
Here is Lincoln playing with his toys while I was getting the tree set up. Of course he is not smiling -- he never smiles when we pull the camera out!!!! :)

Pulling the tree out of the box and getting it all set up! I also just got this Scensty hat and I love it!!

We got these cute ornaments at Burlington for only $9.99! BUT I started to hang them on the tree and there were no hooks! Bummer! So, I fixed the problem by finding some of our fishing line from our bag of fishing gear and made little loops of fishing line to go through the ornaments :)

Sheridan passed out and taking a nap in between college football games

Before the game