Work & Sightseeing in D.C.

After much trepidation on my part and a lot of faith on Vycci's part I ventured off to a very important training/conference for work in Washington D.C. this week while my wife is 35 weeks pregnant. I don't know how she agreed to let me go but this had been a very fun, eventful, insightful, and important (work wise) trip for me to have taken. I have a plethora of pictures below of my short time spent in D.C. thus far. I am still here tommorrow and with a very flexible training schedule I have been able to see one of my MTC companions, sight see, go the temple, ride the metro, and enjoy some good food. I hope you enjoy the picture tour.

One of the first things you see when you get to D.C. is the Washington monument. I don't think this picture does it justice but it was a pretty shot with the trees. It has been raining and cloudy since I got here so I apologize for the gloomy pics. I wish I had a picture of this lit up at night but it was raining too hard when I could have taken the night pictures when I first arrived on Sunday night.

What would D.C. be without the capitol. Rather than taking a picture of the real capital building here is a model of it that is in my hotel, this variety is sculpted out of white chocolate; I think I would rather go to this one anyway.

On Monday night I went to Chinatown and ate a real "hole in the wall" eatery. Here was my meal which was delicious by the way. Sorry Isaac, it had peanuts. :(

A walking picture of China Town, it didn't come out too good but it was very busy while I was down there.

Here is a picture of one of the statues at the Vietnam memorial. Most people were taking pictures of the statue where soldiers had their guns. This one was of nurses helping the wounded, much more my cup of tea.

Here is a picture of the actual Vietnam memorial. As I walked along it I thought of all the stories my Dad told me about his time serving in Vietnam. I am grateful he had the patriotism to fight in a war his country called him to fight in. His sacrifice along with all those enscribed on the wall are a testament of bravery to me.

Here is the Lincoln Memorial, again, much more impressive up close, but I really like the distance shots and there are too many people crowded when you are close to get good pictures, especially since these pics are all off my phone.

This is the WW II memorial. It is very nice and symbolic of the war. I was here for maybe 5 minutes.

More WW II memorial

During lunch today I walked around the national zoo. Did you know all the museums, monuments, archives, and zoo are free in D.C. All paid with by our taxpayer dollars. It's worth the trip to come just to see your tax dollars at work. :)

Here is the giant panda exhibit. I only found this sole Panda. Can you find him?

My kids like Fruit Loops so here is their favorite bird.

The wild Mongolian horse. One of my favorites at any zoo.

After my training today I attended a session at the D.C. temple. What a remarkable building. Of everything I've seen here this wasy my favorite. I think there are like 5 levels in this temple.

After my session I went to the Visitor center where they had an exhibit on eternal families. I felt the spirit so strong as I looked at a map of the world dotted with all the locations of temples in the world. I have never felt the spirit so strong as I did about the miracle of temples on this earth as I did today. By the way, the temple is huge. If you get a chance to ever attend or visit, it is well worth it.

This picture is for my kids. They wanted a picture of the white house. This is the best I could get in my limited sight seeing time frame. I did not get a picture when Jared my MTC companion drove around the front side. Marina asked if I got a picture of the bee hive in the back yard. I'm not sure you can see it from this angle.

The one museum I went to and the one I really wanted to go to was the Native American museum. This statue was the lone picture I took. I think I have had better experiences in my own study of the indigenous people of America, but this was still very interesting. There are so many museums here that you could spend at least a week going to just museums.


I am excited to come home to my family tomorrow and hope that I can post some more pictures when I get back. If it is good weather we might try to get to the cherry blossom festival before we leave for the airport.

Mickey Mouse Sighting!

It is not very often that one encounters the famous Mickey Mouse in person. Most people travel to California and Florida to catch a glimpse of this big eared super star. Most of you know that our family is planning to travel to Orlando the last week of this month and we are going to Walt Disney World. I did not expect Mickey Mouse to find me and tell me that he was personally extending an invitation to my family to come visit him in the next couple of weeks. Somehow he found me in Denver earlier this week to offer the invitation. Mickey was making a cameo appearance at the HACU (Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities) national conference being held in Denver this past week where I was in attendance. I am very impressed he took the time to take a picture with me and wanted me to pass on to Isaac and Marina that he was very excited to see them at the end of the month. I hope we will be able to share more Mickey and general vacation photos in the future. For now, here is the preview!

Wet KIDS!

Isaac, Leilani, Lafai's bum, Marina, Tristan

Tristan, Marina, Leilani, Lafai, Lilli, Isaac

My sister actually beat me to posting these pictures from yesterdays afternoon of trampoline excitement. Marisa and I got to have our nephew Tristan this week. We love any time we can get him. Before the backyard fun, we all went to the free movie in Arvada and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. The kids of course had seen it at least 20 times, but loved seeing it again. It was my first time watching it, and I have to admit it was very cute. There is something about sitting in a movie "vader" (as Marina would call it) with more children than adults. They quote the movie and sing the songs throughout the entire show. And while on other occassions it would normally make you want to run out screaming. It is actually kind of endearing, hearing and watching the kids have such a good time. One of my favorite's was from a previous summer and the free movie was Madagascar. The entire movie theater of kids all stood up at the end, danced, and sang "We like to move it, move it. We like to...." and they all in unison shouted, "MOVE IT!" I have to admit that my summer's off are really about spending time with my kids, and my nieces and nephews. Sometimes I get worn out and tired of what seems like constant sibling fighting and arguing, cleaning up messes, and feeding children. But when all is said and done,I take a moment to reflect; I wouldn't want to loose one minute of my time with the kids. Someday they won't be kids, and I know how precious each moment will be when it's gone.