Westward Travel Part One

Last month Bria and I made the trek out to Utah for a reunion with my family. Everyone was there except for Sam (I think my family is starting to wonder if he exists anymore), and we spent an awesome week packed with fun activities.

Bria was in heaven the whole time with her many cousins. She and Abby we two peas in a pod.

The best part of getting together with my family was all the late nights up chatting with my sisters, playing hearts with my brother (and whoever else we could rope in), and playing games with all the adults. Filling the adult conversation coffer was enough to balance out being a single parent for 10 days.

The first official day of the reunion, we went up to Snowbird. We spent all day doing the Alpine slide, the zipline, the tram, and bungee trampolines-- everything. It was awesome.

The next day we drove over to my Aunt Lolly's house to gather eggs from the chickens she keeps in her backyard. She has a lovely garden, and since I arrived first, she picked some fresh zucchini and pattypan squash for me. We enjoyed her gorgeous flowers and amazing view of the valley before everyone else arrived. Lolly gave us some instructions, and then each child went in to gather an egg.

Summer Shakedown

 At the beginning of the summer, we sat down and made a summer bucket list. I'm happy to say we checked off nearly every item on the list! And we'll even manage to work through the remaining few in the next two weeks or so, before the season officially ends. Here are some highlights from our activities.

We saw the movie Brave. Can I say how happy I am to finally have a Disney princess who is worth Bria's admiration? Nice work, Disney. (finally!)

We hit up the Old Town farmer's market. Sure it started raining as soon as we walked up, but we snagged our farm fresh produce before ducking under this covered stage to eat muffins and have a dance party.

 Bria and I have had some excellent lunch dates.

We've worked diligently on reading lessons. The first few were tricky, but we found our groove, and now we're cruising through. We're using a copy of the same lessons my mom used with me and all my siblings-- it's fun to find some of my mom's notes on our progress through the pages.

We watched a lot of the Olypmics. And I mean a lot. There were days we had the tv, our laptop, and our desktop all streaming different events. Bria's favorites were swimming, synchronized swimming and gymnastics. She ran around the house yelling "I'm Gabby Douglas!" and staging floor routines on our bed. 

We went to Ocean City to celebrate a friend's birthday.

We rode the metro in for some DC fun.

 Including visiting the Navy Memorial (ok, we were really just there to go to Paul with some friends.)

Bria discovered Arthur. That show has been on air forever-- it's in it's 16th season!

Bria and I sneaked into Nationals Stadium after Truckeroo. Bria wanted to see it, and I saw an open gate. Sam waited nervously outside, while we snapped some pictures pretty close to the field. I saw a security guard spot us as we slipped back out through the gate, and he came up behind us and locked the gate up tight.

Bria expressed herself in the rain.

We took two trips to Great Waves.

And we ventured out to National Harbor to cheer on the rowers at the dragon boat regatta. 

We also went to Utah for 10 days (which deserves its own post), and we're heading down to Williamsburg with my parents on Saturday, so we have plenty more fun to pack in!

Thirty & Two Hundred and Thirty-six Years Old

 Fourth of July was great this year. Since Sam is working nights, Bria and I went solo to a breakfast in the morning, came home to make a second "breakfast," and finished up a special project for the birthday boy all before he woke up around noon.

 Thirty things we love about our thirty year-old, hanging in the family room

 

We spent the afternoon celebrating Sam's birthday (the big 3-0!), and then relaxed for a while before taking a leisurely stroll along the riverfront in Old Town (never mind that we almost melted in the unbearable heat) before joining our good friends Glen and Katie for a laid back barbecue. Our original plan to camp out all day on the National Mall fell through, so it was an easy choice knowing Bria would be happiest if she got to spend the day with her BFF Ada. We watched the fireworks from the Pentagon parking lot, which was a perfect spot-- particularly when it came to getting home. While everyone else on the freeway looked to be stopped dead in traffic, we flew right by, since the parking lot feeds right onto the HOV lanes. And because we were so pleasantly surprised to have not been in the car for hours on end, there was still enough time for some sparklers-- one of my favorite parts of the holiday, for sure.

 

Beach Babes

The Atlantic Ocean isn't exactly a straight shot from DC, but it's close enough that it tempts us all summer long. Some of our friends think we're crazy to drive three hours each way just to spend one day at the beach, but I think it makes for the perfect day trip. Last summer our beach of choice was Ocean City, MD, but this year we decided to try something new and head to equidistant Virginia Beach. (After the fact I can say that I think I prefer Ocean City, but only slightly.)

Sure enough, not even 20 minutes into the drive, Bria started asking "are we there yet?" We hadn't even passed places that fall within reasonable errand range. So it was kind of a long drive. Once we parked and got out of the car, the reality of 100 degree highs kind of overwhelmed us. It was really, really, really hot. Within a minute of getting our bags out and applying sunscreen, we were all dripping in sweat. Maybe this wasn't the best day for the beach. But we were determined to make it a fun day. We trudged to the beach, and when we reached the sand, it was so hot, Bria had to be carried to the water so she wouldn't burn her feet. (Like, legitimately burn them. Sam took a couple steps without his sandals and his feet were burning all day.) The first couple hours were a hot, sticky mess. The water was super crowded, the sand was hot, and we started thinking "why do we even like the beach??" but then a giant and lovely, puffy cloud crept up on the sun and gave us the most wonderful cover. Instantly perfect beach weather. The rest of the day was lovely. We stayed at the beach until 8:00 when we brushed off, packed up, grabbed some dinner, and made our long trek back home.

 Wish I had gotten a better shot of her (above) jumping into this pit some other kids dug out. She spent a good chunk of time lounging in it.

Mangum Mania 2012: The End

Let's finish this up, shall we?


As with any family reunion, we set up for family pictures.
I'm so glad Sam caught me making this awesome face in one of his test shots.


Apparently it was a fluke. I was able to look like a nice person when it came to the real thing.


A shot with all the grandchildren is a must (sad to be missing Jen and the kids and missionary David in all these pictures!)


Then obviously things led to planking.


And Tebowing.


And owling.


Which led to Matt trying to plank on the ladder and almost breaking his back. No biggie.



And as all Mangum family reunions end, there were closing ceremonies where we all received awards.

We headed out the next afternoon. Unfortunately a massive storm along the entire East Coast led to a five hour delay. Bria was a trooper, entertaining us and many other passengers with her skills and antics.


 



When we finally made it home, we were exhausted. But we're already looking forward to 2014!