road trip

I apologize for any grammar errors as I don't like to proof read unless its necessary. Sorry


After much deliberation and planning (2 hours) Michelle and I decided to buy a car in Washington D.C. through my father-in-law (Thanks Mike and Susie). We looked around the Northwest Arkansas area for several weeks and found only one possiblilty. We found an 08 Civic which was exactly like our last car and decided that was what we wanted because we like our last one so much before it got totaled.

After being at the dealership for almost four hours they decided they weren't going to come down one cent of the sticker price. I said literally not one cent. The guy said he could sale them the next day as is. I said well good luck selling them. I felt bad for about an hour when I got a phone call from my father-in-law saying they were going to come down three-thousand dollars ($3,000.00) I said where do I sign.

As we look book at this whole wreck fiasco, we reflect on the fact that we wish it had never happened. But God has done some cool things for us. We made over 2500 on the old car because of appraisal value. We got an upgrade from an lx to an ex. (sunroof, steering wheel volume, alloy wheels) as Michelle smiles! We got an interest rate to go from 5.9% to 1.9% and are paying less per month than the last payment. I know Dave Ramsey says your not supposed to buy a car with out cash but I'm ok with getting a brand new car. It is pretty fun seeing you only have 21 miles on the car.

in front of the Smithsonian information center

The 21 miles didn't last long! After buying the car the next step was figuring how to get it back. WE looked for plane tickets off of cheaptickets.com and found a one way for $126 dolares. So i flew on a roller coaster to get there and here is where the vacation for me starts.








I got to hang out in D.C. from Monday night until Friday morning with Michelle's family. While some might look at this as a drag. I truly and absolutely adore my in-laws. They are incredible to be around and I was so excited to hang out with them. I even got the bonus of my sister-in-law and her husband being there as well because they are living with them right now.

TUESDAY: (Tuesday and Wednesday were days with Susie)
To be perfectly honest she has got to be the coolest mother-in-law ever because she is very short and those of you who know me, know that I walk very fast. She kept up the whole two days of walking without one complaint. I know she had to be getting tired because I was all over the place. (Anytime I get to see history I salivate) Here are some pictures from the first day:

This is the Natural History Museum
This is the bones of a rhino i think

This is what it looks like all together
Sweet Susie with an animal behind us but I can't remember what???



A cool looking elephant, who needs the zoo

My favorite part!! I love lions......
A real ART museum: While I find these to be pretty boring because I don't appreciate art it was actually kind of neat to see some of the famous pictures. I only took pictures of the ones i recognized(which was like two) *Prepare to laugh at my commentary

Stonewall Jackson one of my favorite hero's from the Civil War.
Here is a story about him that is really kinda cool)
Robert E. Lee (I have some books about him) Silly I know but he is the greatest General America has ever had in war)

The Greatest President we have ever had!





Woops how did that get in here?????



This is one of my favorite pics of all time...I have seen it several times. Does anyone notice anything funny about this picture. If you do I will give you a dollar!
DAY TWO: (And Susie is still walking)
Just a neat statue next to the Capitol
A cool picture of the capitol before our tour.




Inside the Capitol main room which this is called the Rotunda

OK, really funny, but sad story. We decide to schedule a tour inside the capitol. We get a ticket at about 10:00a.m. that morning that tells us to come back at like 2:30 that afternoon. We go around all day looking at stuff and come back. WE get this guys that can't talk and is completely slurring everything he says. They give us these headphones that are really loud. We can't understand a word this guy is saying!! Everyone is looking at each other wandering if this is for real. He ask really loud like 8 times if we can hear him and then he begins to discuss the history of the capitol only he loses his train of thought about every TEN seconds. He repeats they same thing over and over, until finally we decide to ditch him and go with another tour. You aren't allowed to walk around inside without supervision so we just kept sneaking places with other groups until we saw what we needed to and moved on.
We couldn't believe that they let this guy be a tour guide. I am all about giving someone a job and equal opportunity employers but let him hand out tickets not try to explain and lead a tour of 25 people. It was the WORST! By the time his particular tour was over we saw that they only had about Eight people left with him. OUCH! It was really a shame. But we still saw some neat things.

DAY 2 AT NIGHT: (This time I get to hang out with my awesome SISTER-in-LAW Meg)

The funny thing about this picture is she first got in between his legs and I looked through the lens and it looked like she was in his crotch so she moved to the outside to take the picture.

Albert Einstein



HONEST ABE

US WITH HONEST ABE

Cool Background

Vietnam Memorial


One of my favorite memorials. There is also a wall with names on it of those who served.


WWII Memorial (My grandpa's brother 's name is on the wall of this one.

Washington Monument




Ok so I am really mad about this one. Meg said she saw the silhouette of a sniper on the roof of the White House so we stayed for like 15min so I could see one and I never SAW IT! Dang it MEG.

OK more to come later because I don't want to overwhelm....
To come: Rest of trip including the Pentagon & drive home (that was fun!)

B