Thanksgiving with the Reese's

Steve's Uncle Brooks (Or Uncle Wacko as Cody calls him) took off work and watched our kids on Wednesday so that we could go to the D.C. temple with Aunt Gwen. We loved the D.C. temple and it was so nice to be able to go to the temple at the same time instead of trading off with the kids. Cody and Kylee had a blast with Uncle Brooks too. He took them to "Old McDonalds" (McDonald's) and Cody said he wanted a bun with four slices of cheese and nothing else on it. Uncle Brooks wasn't about to order that so he got a cheeseburger instead thinking that would be close enough. When Cody opened up his sandwich he said, "Um, there's other stuff on this."

Then Uncle Brooks, Nikki, and the kids met us at the Pentagon where Uncle Brooks works. He gave us a deluxe tour. I had no idea it was THAT big!

On Thanksgiving morning Uncle Brooks took us out to Fredericksburg, VA to see the battle field. All of the trees were pretty much bare except for two. Virginia is so beautiful!

Cody was too cold to smile. But Steve cooperated.

Cody saw these cannonballs and...

...thought he could pick them up but they were all stuck together as a display.

Cody and Kylee rode together in the stroller and sometimes they even liked each other.

After Thanksgiving dinner a tradition was born. Last year Uncle Brooks popped Cody on the air mattress at Nana's in St. George and Cody LoVeD it. So, Uncle Brooks got out the mattress and popped all the kids (Cody and some kids from their ward). They had a blast.

The kids lined up waiting for their turn.

On Friday we rode the Metro into D.C. to do some sight-seeing. Cody and Kylee loved Aunt Gwen and Kylee even started calling her Grandma.

Cody at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

After lunch we headed over to the Natural History Museum so Cody could get his fill of dinosaurs. On the way, Kylee crashed on my shoulder.

The U.S. Capitol Building

This is Cody's favorite picture: wearing a Capitol Building hat.

I love holding my kids when they are sleeping. It is one of my favorite things and I would do it forever if they didn't get so heavy! Luckily, Aunt Gwen was more than happy to help out with the baby holding.

Cody loves sharks! Here he is inside a Great White Shark mouth.

Here is our family at the WWII Memorial with the Washington Monument behind us. It started to get really cold at this point. The wind was bitter cold.

Cody was cold and wanted a ride too. So I carried him to keep him from shivering. This is us at the Lincoln Memorial which is just beyond the WWII Memorial.

By the time we got to the Metro station at Arlington Cemetery the kids were frozen. Their poor little noses were bright red. We were really glad to get on the warm train and think about hot chocolate.

Uncle Brooks likes to leave food on the deck for all the critters. They see raccoons, cats, squirrels, and all kinds of birds like cardinals, blue jays, and finches. It was fun to watch them from the kitchen window. Uncle Brooks put cat food in the window sill and the raccoons came every night to eat it. Cody and Kylee both loved seeing the animals up close.

We really lucked out to have such a great place to spend Thanksgiving!

Thanks Gwen, Brooks, and Nikki for a really fun holiday and vacation.