Don't Ask Me Why Not...I Just Said So!: December 2008

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Going on Holiday

Just to let all of you know, my family and I are leaving tomorrow morning to go to Colonial Williamsburg. Hopefully, I will be able to survive the few hours stuck in the car with my siblings, and will be able to make it back to you all in one piece.

So, I still have quite a few updates left to do before the break ends; some from my old list, with the additions of:

Pretty Sidewalks, Dressed in Holiday Style
Just 'Cause We Can (possibly)
Celebrating Eight Crazy Nights
Big Rocks
Partying With Pilgrims (Parts 1, 2, & 3)

Hopefully, all of this will be completed before January 5th, so you have something to look forward to :)

Happy Holidays!

Happy Birthday...UMMI!!!!

OK FINE I put this pic up! Just for you. Happy now? ;-P

See? I didn't forget your birthday! But about that letter...

Anyways, happy birthday to you! Hope you have a great one, and you and Kejia had an AWESOME slumber party! I bet it won't be as good as our Christmas bash, however, eh? ;-P

Please please please ask your parents for a webcam and a mike! After all, it IS your birthday :)

Missing you loads! You ARE coming this summer, right?

Happy Birthday...SHAUN!!!

To some of you, I may be a day late, but I say I'm still on time!

Anyways, happy birthday, Shaunnywawa ;-P

Hope you had a great one!

We all miss you a lot, and I speak for everyone when I ask: when are you coming back? Of course, I only want to know so I can try to get plane tickets for the same time ;)

*I'll never let you go, if you promise not to fade away, never fade away...*

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Mount Vernon

One of the coolest places we're close to is Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington himself! :)

Shaking hands with the president

Classic shot

Walkway connecting the house to the kitchen, I believe

^ Deposit Gum Here ^

View of the Potomac River

The side of the mansion

Moi avec le masion (me with the house)

Rooster!

Roof of the grainery

Model of the house made of gingerbread

Beautiful sunset

Lily modeling her souvenir tri-corn hat

Sorry I don't have much to say about this. I've been here a million times as a kid so it all seems so familiar ;)

Woodlawn and the Pope Leighey House

Ok, people, I'm back and I'm desperately trying to catch up with the times! So, here we are, back in November during the Thanksgiving break.

The great thing about the area we're in is that we're so close to so many historical places. So, a day trip to a battlefield or old building is perfectly doable.

On this day, we went to visit Woodlawn (built between 1800 and 1805), the estate of George Washington's nephew, Major Lawrence Lewis, and his wife, Nelly Custis.

A short walk from the estate was the Pope-Leighey House, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1939. Originally, the house wasn't in this location, but it was moved to save it from flooding. This house we visited, too.

Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside, but here's the outside of Woodlawn :)

The cool thing about this house is that it was designed to be perfectly symetrical on the outside.

The Pope Leighey House, on the other hand, is not designed to be symetrical. Infact, every picture I took of the building was completely different! Above is one of the windows. All the windows in the house followed this design, but boards were just rotated to give the appearance that different designs were used. (and that's only one of the cool features of this building! but for your sake, I won't go into details)

Yay, it's Lily!

AHA! So he CAN smile! :)

Side view of the house

And now we're back at Woodlawn, waiting for Mom and Grandma to finish up in the gift shop ;)

I just thought this was a neat picture ;)

Typically Turkey Day

After hourse of slaving over perfecting the meal and then hours roasting away in the oven, it's finally time to take the turkey out of its baking bag...*drumroll please*

...opening the bag....

....the turkey survived!!!!!! =D

Taking out the stuffing

Our beautiful table, set with only the finest china

That's one big-*** turkey!

Carefully carving the bird

Sitting down to eat

Mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing...

...pumpkin, and turkey! Yum!

(appologies for the weird coloration: I was too lazy to edit my photos...)

Now, whose idea was it to use napkin holders as eyes, again....?

hehe ;-P

History and DC

It was Thanksgiving Weekend, and my family from California had come out to stay with us for the holiday. On Thanksgiving Day, to give my mom and grandma room to cook our very large dinner, we decided to take a trip to Washington DC.

The Jefferson Memorial! As seen from the car...

I went with my aunt and grandpa to the Museum of American History, while everyone else went to the Air and Space Museum. What you see in this pic is what was across the street from the museum (I have no idea what it is, but I thought it looked interesting!)

At 3, we all met up at the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, we didn't go inside: we were too hungry ;-P

The Capital Building across the street! This is where all the decisions are made =D

Father and Son :)

It took us forever to get a good one of these! But at least we got it in the end ;)

Yard Chores?

I am terribly sorry for my lack of updates, fellow readers! I have just been very busy during the past month, and only now have I finally found time to sit down and blog! Most of these posts are really outdated (such as this post), but still, it's something to show all the people who have been criticizing my lack of updates. Enjoy :)