Awesome April!

What a great month! It all started with our family Spring Break trip to Washington DC. I had been home from Tanzania for 28 1/2 hours so it was time to hit the road! :-)

3/31Monday headed to DC, saw the new Air and Space Museum. Since it was raining, doing some shopping was the Barnes and Noble thing to do!

4/1 I started the day with a GREAT April Fool's joke! Then we did all the normal DC stuff: Arlington Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, the Mall, and the Memorial walls. Kim and the boys did the Museum of Natural History (aka Evolution Central) while Molly and I went to the Library of Congress.

4/2 On Wednesday the girls went to the Holocaust Museum while the men did the National Aquarium. After lunch we met back and I got to go on a 7 mile run around the city. That was fun! Then we saw the Jefferson Memorial surrounded by the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin at their peak.

4/3 On Thursday we did the National Zoo (very good!) and then headed for the eastern shore of Maryland. We spent the night on Kent Island, an island in the Chesapeake Bay that was first established in 1631. Our waterfront room allowed us to watch some of the wildlife in the marsh. We were suprised by the beauty of the area.

4/4Friday we hit the capital of the first state. That's Dover, DE if you're not sure. After that we headed over to the sailing mecca and beautiful town of Annapolis. While there was toured the US Naval Academy. (I have now seen all 3 service academies) After that it was Fort McHenry in Baltimore. We spent the night in Hagerstown and headed home the next day.

This sounds like a lot (and it was) but we were never hurried. Good planning and good fortune made for a very fun trip.

4/12 Molly and Kyle both had their first soccer game of the season.

4/15 Molly and I attended the Pikeville College Spring Choral concert. We enjoyed the performance, laughed a lot, and went home with a new inside joke!

4/17 Kim headed to Eclectic for her 20 yr. reunion (WOW! She's getting old!) and the kids and I did Hillbilly Days. Yes, the guys had their teeth!

Here's a kid-friendly recipe I tried out while Kim was gone. I call it Mini-Tacos and it's easy and fun. Fill a cookie sheet with Tostitos Scoops and fill each of them with already-prepared taco meat. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. Put the toppings on the table and let everyone top their own however they want.

4/19 My buddy Abe and I went to see Kansas in concert. It was a great show featuring 3 other acts as well. If you're interested, check out the Kansas video.

4/24-26 We had our annual Youth Rally and hosted 5 really good kids from Fairview, WV.

We had a great time and now have several new friends.

Whew! What a month! If you're interested in seeing more of our April just click the "April 08" webalbum and look around.

Have a great May! See you next time.

Love,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake