Life with the Shirley Family

Life with the Shirley Family

Sunday, July 28, 2013

No more cookie books :(

I am feeling a little lost.  I have read all of my cookie store murder books.  At least until more are written :)  They are actually named Hannah Swensen Mysteries, by Joanne Fluke.  How I usually read a series that I find is to go back to the beginning and read all the books in order.  I did that with these books and really enjoyed them. There were 17 in all and each had several recipes that I am have tried or am waiting to try.  In fact, for our Music Minister's good-bye fellowship tonight, I made Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies.  They are good, even though Dave and I both agree that they would be better without pretzels.  But the salt is good taste added to the cookie.  And the molasses are an awesome addition!!  And if I finish here soon, I might make the Lovely Lemon Bars.

So I am now looking for more books to read.  I do have a lot in my stack, so I should be okay.  I really enjoyed this culinary mystery series, and culinary series seem to be popular.  But I am thinking that my waistline needs an exercise series next! 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Another great Father's Day

On Father's Day this year, Camden was baptized.  This was special for two reasons, well really three.  One is that Nathan was also baptized on Father's Day when he was 5.  So when we were thinking of when would be the best day for Camden's baptism, it turned out the Father's Day 2013 worked out best.

The other two special parts of this baptism, other than the fact of him being baptized, was that a good friend baptized Camden; and he also baptized his daughter and Camden's good friend that day. 
It was a great day to see two young children acknowledge that they have accepted Christ as their Savior.  What a great way to begin a young child's life. 
Camden and his lifelong friend, well all of their 6 years :)
 


Monday, July 15, 2013

All good things must come to an end...


Our last day of vacation was Saturday.  Dad had driven up on Friday to have one day with us before Grammie camp began at King's Dominion, so our group had grown.  Originally we had planned on leaving DC and going to Williamsburg and eating gingerbread (that is my favorite memory of Williamsburg!)  But we changed plans.  The one place Nathan wanted to eat at was Peking Gourmet Inn and Ashton's was DC cupcakes in Georgetown.  We had gone to his on Monday, but still had not gotten to Georgetown.  So instead of heading south, we left Springfield and headed north to Georgetown.  The Metro does not go close to Georgetown, so we had to drive.  One more battle with the GPS!!

After eating lunch by the Potomac, we stood in line for about 30 minutes to get some very yummy cupcakes.  None of us have seen the DC Cupcake TV show, however, we were really happy to try their cupcakes!  I got the red velvet, however, I tried the chocolate ganache and it was better!!






Those are some great looking cupcakes!!

After eating cupcakes, we left Nathan with my parents and his cousins, Ashton and Declan.  Grammie Camp had begun!  Rob headed back to Memphis; and Dave took the rest of us to Charleston.  The GPS said that we would arrive home at midnight, so we thought we should just make the drive without stopping for the night at a hotel.  But after a slower than expected dinner at Shoney's and the GPS not accurately estimating our time, we got home at 2:30!  Don't know if we would have made the same decision again, however, I also don't know where we would have wanted to stop on the 95 drug corridor!!   But home at last :)  It was nice to be in my own bed again.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Vacation Friday!

Friday was a hard day for waking up!  We had to get up in time to eat breakfast by 9:00, but we didn't have to be anywhere until 2:00.  After slowly getting ready, we were able to get downtown in time for lunch before our 2:00 tickets at Ford's Theater.  (Unfortunately, Josiah got sick and mom graciously stayed back with him.)  Touring Ford's Theater was very interesting, especially after having read Killing Lincoln.  We did not, however, wait in the line to see the house where he died.  We went to the memorials instead.



Checking out the White House on the way to Ford's Theater

The box where Lincoln was sitting when he was shot

Waiting for the ranger to tell us about Lincoln
 
 
We were able to see four memorials:  the WWII, the Vietnam, the Lincoln, and the Korean War Memorial.  There were a few more that we could have walked to, but by that time we were all too hot and tired to go any further!  We headed to Arlington Cemetery to catch the Metro back to the hotel.

 World War II Memorial


Of course Dave found ducks!

 
 

Vietnam War Memorial


 
Lincoln Memorial
 
 
 
 







 
Korean War Memorial




 
What we always need to remember, and why it is important that we have memorials
 

 

 

Friday, July 12, 2013

Vacation on the 4th!!

Since we in our nation's capitol on the 4th, we planned on going to see fireworks!  It was definitely the highlight of our trip.  But before we got to the fireworks, we went to the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum.  It was fun to see the spaceships and big planes at Air and Space; and the Hope Diamond was another must see at the Natural History Museum. 

On the way to the museums, we saw the start of the parade.  Since we saw the big balloons and some cool cars and some marching bands practicing, we decided that waiting to watch the parade was not necessary.
All decked out in red, white, and blue!!

Interesting sculpture!


What a sweet car!
 
National Air and Space Museum





The children put tattoos on their faces...Nathan went a little crazy with his!

Posing with the Wright Brothers

The girls in front of Amelia Earharts plane
 
The Museum of Natural History





 

 
 
We made our way to the Washington Monument area to watch the fireworks and lucked out by sitting right in front of them.  (We thought they would be shot off near the Capitol, but they were shot off from the reflecting pool near the Washington Memorial).  They were amazing!!  The Metro ride back was a little packed and adventurous (Mom and Jenn had to get off one train and wait for another!), but by around 1:00, we were all safe and sound in the hotel.  And a shout out to the Homewood Suites shuttle driver who drove past their midnight cut-off to make sure everyone made it back to the hotel-including Mom and Jenn!