Cherry Blossom Parade

The big event of our third day in Washington, DC was the Cherry Blossom Parade.  This year marks the 100th anniversary of the gift of the cherry trees from Japan.  Unfortunately we didn't see any actual cherry blossoms because they bloomed early this year.  That didn't matter, though!  The parade was great!

It was the hottest day of our entire trip

The parade begins!

Ambassadors from Japan

Many many marching bands with many many drums!

From our seats, we watched everything pass by in front of the Washington Monument.  It was spectacular!

Unicycles!

Japanese drummers are Noah and Isaac's favorite!

The boys loved this robotic spider that "walked" the entire parade route

Miss Cherry Blossom

While the parade went on, Isaac ate countless cookies from this tub, then drank the crumbs...

...and wore the tub as a hat!

More drummers!

The parade was fabulous, and long.  It went on for a few hours!  We were ready to leave and get some lunch, but we had to convince Noah to leave early.  He loved watching every float and band coming down the street and didn't want to miss anything.

Seeing the Sights

On our second day in Washington, DC, we were excited to see Dave, Travis, Connor and Jacob arrive form Phoenix.  The red-eye flight and time change was rough for them, and Jacob had a fever, so unfortunately we didn't see to much of them during the trip.  But, Travis did join us for breakfast and he and Noah had a blast playing together.

Travis was amazed by Noah's magic tricks 

After breakfast, we took a double-decker bus sightseeing tour around the city. 

The boys had fun trying to spot our bus as we waited at a bus stop

The bus was a great way to see the highlights of the city without having to do endless walking

Isaac and the Washington Monument

Matt and the boys in front of the Lincoln Memorial

Laura and the boys

Abraham Lincoln is SO big!

It was a beautiful day for sightseeing!

The White House

The boys loved President Obama's front lawn.  It was a great place to run and play!

Air and Space Museum

Noah is obsessed with NASA and space travel.  He watches NASA TV on the computer and keeps up to date with the current projects that NASA and commercial space companies are working on.  He knows that  Expedition 30 astronauts recently returned from the International Space Station and landed in the Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan.  He is anxiously awaiting the launch of the next Soyuz rocket that will bring Expedition 31 astronauts up to the ISS.  He has been following the training of the astronauts in Russia as they get ready for their mission.

He is a wealth of information about he space shuttle program and has followed the various shuttles as they made piggyback flights to their new museum homes.  He knows where Discover, Atlantis, Endeavor and Enterprise are.  He also knows that Challenger and Columbia were destroyed, but we've kept him clear of the details of those events, which is a challenge when he's knee deep in NASA information.  His favorite movie is "The Big Space Shuttle," and he has memorized the entire thing.

All this information has rubbed off on Isaac too and he has become quite the space fanatic.  Noah has patiently taught him how to count backwards from 10 so he can announce liftoffs when they play.  When Isaac saw one of the rockets Noah got for his birthday, he gasped and said, "Oh!  Boosters!  Look Noah!  Solid rocket boosters!"

Here are the boys learning about the VAB building while watching "The Big Space Shuttle"

So, needless to say, visiting the Air and Space Museum was one of the highlights of our trip to Washington, DC.  Noah poured over books about the museum and knew exactly where he wanted to go and what he wanted to see upon our arrival.

First stop:  The Eagle lunar lander!  There is Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin!  

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"

Noah with a cosmonaut space suit.  

Isaac was not quite appreciating every detail like Noah was, so Grammy and Yaya whisked Isaac away and they had great fun together in a quiet spot of the museum.

Here's just a sample of our tour around the museum:

Watching a demonstration about the physics of flight

After lunch, while we were waiting to see "To Fly,"  Noah took a much-needed power nap.

While Isaac enjoyed showing us how a rocket lifts off:  3...2...1..

Blastoff!

Isaac soaks in all the attention while brother naps!

After we were finished at Air and Space, we enjoyed eating ice cream sandwiches even though the weather was chilly.

Wow, what a wonderful view!

It was a fun, full day for us and we were ready to take the Metro back to our hotel in Bethesda.

Like a Lion

One of the boy's favorite songs is David Crowder's Like a Lion.  

They love to perform it too - Noah sings and Isaac roars like a lion.  

It cracks me up every time.

"The funnest day of my life!"

Noah had his first-ever birthday party this year, and it was so much fun!  We decided to have a rocket party because he's so interested in space.  Almost all his friends from preschool came, so it was a big crowd.

When kids arrived, they decorated their paper rockets (which we had made ahead of time) with stickers.  We found cute space, star, and smiley face stickers for them to use.

The next activity was to make rocket necklaces and bracelets using rocket beads and alphabet beads to spell their names.

Then, it was time to launch the rockets!  

We had started with a very simple design for an air rocket launcher, but over time, Matt improved the design using PVC pipe, an air compressor, a regulator from an in-ground sprinkler system, and a cool red "launch" button.  It's completely awesome, and it launches the paper rockets at least 60 feet into the air!  In this picture, the launcher is in front of Matt - you can see the tall white tube, and the rest of the launcher is covered up with a black cloth because all the parts look very interesting to touch.

Each kid took turns pushing the red button to launch their own rockets.  Then, all the kids would run and grab the rocket after it landed.  

We kept launching until every kid had as many turns as they wanted and interest started to fade.

Then it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" and eat chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream!

The very happy birthday boy

After cake and ice cream, the kids bounced in the "moon bounce" as the party wound down.

It was a great theme for a party, and everyone really had a great time!

Noah collects his many birthday presents

Isaac had a great time playing with the balloons after the party.

Later in the day, Noah said, "This was the funnest day of my life!" 

 That made all the preparations worth it!

Happy Birthday Noah!

Happy Birthday Noah!

In the last year, you have had so many varied interests that it's hard to keep track of them:

* learning the United States and capitals

* doing a cross-over rhythm on the drums and cymbals

* learning continents and most of the countries within the continents

* Space Shuttles and their missions

* learning how to read

* license plates and flags

* fascination with the mail system

* finding out that you love running

* working on countless projects with Daddy

* getting your own email account and sending countless emails every day

* Saturn V rockets and the Apollo missions

* learning how to swim without a floatie

* water purification and sewer systems

* becoming good friends with kids at preschool

* reading the newspaper

Above all, you are a wonderful brother to Isaac (just today you patiently taught him how to count down before a rocket launches), and son.  

Happy birthday to you!

It's so fun to celebrate birthdays!  For us, we also get to celebrate that five years ago today, God answered our prayers and blessed us with a baby to raise and teach all about God and his love for us.

We love you, Noah!