Mount Vernon and The Biggest Snow Storm in DC History!

I promise Eve updates, but I have to report on a few things that happened just prior to her birth. She is doing well and growing like a champ. More pictures to follow.....now on to Mount Vernon and the biggest snow storm in DC history - oh, yes, it was pretty amazing. (But first, some fun Reed pictures)


A smile! Yahoo! Reed is going through a "no smiling for pictures" phase....so this was a lucky picture!

Love those eyes!

Reed loves putting on m sunglasses to dance! He also found the TV remote and was pretending to turn it on and off while dancing! Yes, my son can multi-task and I am proud of it!

On Thursday, December 17th, my mom, Reed, and I ventured to Mount Vernon to see the camel that they have around at Christmas time. Apparently, George Washington had a camel (probably given to him by someone) and had it out at Christmas each year. So, I had to go and check it out!

The camel's name is Aladdin and he is about 2 years old - just a baby in camel years. They reach maturity at about 20, so Aladdin was just a toddler, like Reed! He was pretty funny. He was not people shy whatsoever and would suck your fingers right off if you would let him! Reed liked him from a distance, but got more scared the closer the camel got to him. At the end, Reed sort of warmed up to him, but still had a death grip on me when Aladdin would come close. It was pretty amazing to see a camel. To this day, Reed still talks about the camel and can now pick out pictures of a camel! Smart kid!

We also were able to learn how they made chocolate. This is not your eating chocolate, but more like baking cocoa. Let's just say that I am glad I can just buy chocolate at the store instead of grinding up the cocoa beans. I did learn an interesting fact - white chocolate is more fatty than regular chocolate because it is the cocoa butter in each cocoa bean! Maybe that will be on Jeopardy someday :) Good trip to Mount Vernon!


Outside at Mount Vernon


Learning how Martha Washington made her chocolate!


Aladdin!!!!


This man let Aladdin suck his chin!

Yeah, I am not that brave!

Camel kisses feel very strange!

Reed had finally warmed up to him a little bit.

Aladdin trying to take my purse!


Looking at the rams. Reed's arms were not quite long enough to touch them. But, he sure tried.

The House at sunset - so beautiful!

Friday, December 18th, there was a reported blizzard coming to the DC area. That same day my bro and sister-in-law and 7 kids were going to come and stay at our house for the night. So, they got to our house no problem - no snow yet. My bro and sis-in-law were even able to attend a temple session on Friday night since the snow had not started yet. Later that evening the snow started.....and it did not stop!

We woke up on Saturday morning and snow covered the ground and it was still coming down steadily. The kids went out to play for a bit, but did not have their snow gear to be able to stay out longer than 10 minutes at a time. We even bundled Reed up and took him out in the snow. He really loved the snow and did a great job until he fell face first in the snow. Yeah, that was the end of that (but Reed still loves the snow. He still talks about it every single day and gets excited when he can kick it with his shoes).

Reed exploring the snow

"What was that?"

The face plant in the snow....it almost looks like a snow angel with a face! Poor Reed!

There ended up being about 2 feet of snow! Yeah, 2 feet! I have not seen that much snow in a very long time and definitely never expected it to fall in Northern Virginia! All the cars in the parking lot were buried under the snow, people without 4-wheel drive were getting stuck everywhere, and our 2-bedroom apartment was filled with a total of 12 people! All things considered, it was actually a pretty good time. We watched a lot of movies and would venture outside every once-in-a-while and then rush back inside to get warm again.

My brother's family ended up needing to stay until Sunday morning when they dug their van out of the snow and headed back to Richmond. I felt bad because we had planned on seeing so many things with them, but ended up being stuck inside. Even the metro stops running after 8 inches of snow (good thing to know in case this ever happens again). My parents were going to come and visit, but could not get their car out of their street. Yeah, it was pretty intense!

Tyson was pretty excited because his truck does have 4-wheel drive. So, he and a few of our house guests took off to the grocery store. They saw cars that were stuck on the entrance to the freeway since they didn't have 4-wheel drive, and I was just thankful that we do. Being so close to my due date, I didn't know what would happen. But, if we had needed to get to a hospital, then we could have made it! Tyson was so excited to get out of the house and actually go somewhere without worrying for his safety! The truck drove amazingly well and was our mode of transportation for almost a week after wards since one the roads you have to take to get to our apartment was not plowed for a while.

On Sunday, church was canceled since most people could not have gotten there. We took the time to dig out my little car since the sun was finally shining. It is not a normal Sunday activity, but one of those necessary things that needed to be done. Some helpful neighbors lent us some shovels and Tyson and I got to work! I've decided that it's a good way to meet neighbors - have a snow storm and then all dig your cars out together :) Fun, fun!

I must give a shout out to our maintenance guys and whoever else plowed our complex! They did an awesome job and did it faster than any other complex around! We always forget that somebody has to do the jobs that nobody wants to do! So, thank you guys!

Well, I am definitely glad the storm is over and the baby did not during the storm. But now the only problem is the wind! It has been so cold because the wind just rips right through your coat. I have never had less of a desire to go outside than I do right now. Normally, I like to at least be walking outside, but not with this wind! Hopefully, it will stop soon!

Our parking lot

Yes, that is my car under all that snow!

Cleaning off the car....

Tyson did most of the work...

Yes, that pile is mostly from my car....

Shoveling in action!

I did help as well. I started with a pan (we only had one shovel), but then got a second shovel from a neighbor who had finished.