MARYS land

Coming to Maryland to visit Jakes family was a blast! We got to do lots of sight seeing, playing with family, and don’t forget, lots of gooood eating! This picture was taken at the Jefferson Memorial. We arrived in DC early morning and it was quite brisk out, but that made it good so we kept moving and looking around.
This was over by the Benjamin Franklin exhibit. I think he likes his dog. The sun was starting to come out, and bringing some beautiful clouds into the sky. In grass fields there would be tall green stalks, and we found out that they were green onions! They tasted good. The crows thought so to.
After watching “night at the Museum” I have been wanting to see Mr. Lincoln to see if he would really walk around. He didn’t, but I think it was because it was early and he was still sleeping.
Looking out the Lincoln memorial. “The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in D.C, and was dedicated May 30th, 1922. The architect was Henry Bacon (great last name and food), the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin. It is one of the several monuments built in honor an American President. The memorial has been th3e site of many famous speeches,including Martin Luther Kings”I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963 during the rally at the end of the March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” (wikipedia, Lincoln Memorial)
Jake and his cute mom in-front of the Lincoln Memorial.
A diving duck. This was no ordinary diving duck either. His bum was continually in the air for a long extended period of time. There must of been something good at the bottom of the water. “Duck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. Ducks exploit a variety of food sources such as grasses,aquatic plants, fish, insects, small amphibians, worms, and small molluscs. Diving ducks and sea ducks forage deeeeeep underwater. To be able to submerge more easily, the diving ducks are heavier than dabbling ducks, and therefore have more difficulty taking off to fly. Dabbling ducks feed on the surface of water or on land, or as deep as they can reach by up-ending without completely submerging. Along the edge of the beak there is a comb like structure called a pecten. This strains the water squirting from side of the beak and traps any food. The pecten is also used to preen feathers.” (wikipeida, ducks)

Arizona is the holy lands AKA the best place ever.
Jake and the stars.
The original Kermit! Ever since he sang the “rainbow” song, I have always loved Kermit.
We tried to be really serious for this picture. Being serious in pictures is one of my talents in life.The bottom of the American History Museum had lots of fun food options to choose from! Of course Jake and I decided to eat some “American” type food like, chicken fingers and collard greens. Don’t forget the pickles either! I think loving pickles is one thing that helped Jake and I decide that dating each-other could be a good option.

Now over at the Natural History Museum! Wahoo! This one was a lot like the one in England. But the England one had a larger Dino part, and this one had a larger ocean life area, and the HOPE DIAMOND!
ahhhhhhh TREX! also known as a Tyrannosaurs, (meaning “tyrant lizard”) T.Rex lived threw what is now western North America. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the last three million years of the Cretaceous Period, approiatlemently 68 to 65 million years ago.The Tyrannosaurus rex in size, was one of the largest known tyrannosaurid, and one of the largest know land predators, measuring up to 12.8m (42 feet) in length, and up to 4 meters (13 feet) tall at the hips, and up to 6.8 metric tons (7.5 short tons) in weight. (thank you Wikipedia)
Have you ever imagined or scene an elephant like this?
Stegosaurs please!
baby hammer head sharkA cool fishy. He really is not these colors though, his veins were died. Wouldn’t that be a cool job, collecting fish and dying them cool colors?!
shark attttttttack!
Giraffes have longs tongues. “ The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant. The giraffe’s scientific name, which is similar to its antiquated English name of camelopard, refers to its irregular patches of color on a light background, which bear a token resemblance to a leopard‘s spots. The average mass for an adult male giraffe is 1,200 kilograms (2,600 lb) while the average mass for an adult female is 830 kilograms (1,800 lb).^[3][4] It is approximately 4.3 metres (14 ft) to 5.2 metres (17 ft) tall, although the tallest male recorded stood almost 6 metres (20 ft).^[3][4]
The giraffe is related to other even-toed ungulates, such as deer and cattle, but is placed in a separate family, the Giraffidae, consisting of only the giraffe and its closest relative, the okapi. Its range extends from Chad in Central Africa to South Africa. Giraffes usually inhabit savannas, grasslands, or open woodlands. However, when food is scarce they will venture into areas with denser vegetation. They prefer areas with plenty of acacia growth. They will drink large quantities of water when available, which enables them to live for extended periods in dry, arid areas. (wikipedia, giraffe)Jake and I had just missed seeing the cherry blossoms all over DC, but we didn’t miss seeing some other beautiful trees coming into blossom!

DAY 2: Annapolis and Baltimore
Jakes Grandparents came down to visit for the weekend so we got to play with them to! They both love the outdoors, and his grandma loves to sew! We all had lots to talk about! They were so fun to play with and spend time with! We started off the day in Annapolis, Maryland. We got to see pretty water, lots of Navy people, and more. When I told my mom about all the Navy people there, she told me that my grandpa (her dad) used to be a teacher for the Navy in Annapolis. Neat!
What a cute couple 🙂
We saw this neat little ally way. We thought it was pretty small, small enough to put both feet accross the alley way. Dont let Jake deceive you as he is against the wall. This is only possible with shoes that have “grip” on them. ha ha
A great Saturday party!
The Capitol Building
Now we are at Fort McHenrys. Remember how I told you Jakes grandparents loved the outdoors? Well they each have National Park passes, so we all got to get inside free because of their passes! Sweet!

This is where the worst criminals are held captive. The doors were surprisingly really heavy to push. “During the American Civil War, the area where For McHenry sits served as a military prison, confining both Confederate soldiers as well as a large number of Maryland political figures who were suspected of being Confederate sympathizers. Among the imprisoned were the Baltimore Mayor George William Brown, the city council, and the police commissioner. Ironically, Francis Scott Key’s grandson was one of these political detainees. Fort Mchenry was also used as an artillery training post during this time period, from wen the Todman guns presently displayed at he fort originated.” Jim Bailey, National Park Service
Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, is a star shaped fort best known for its role in the War of 1812 when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British nave in the Chesapeake Bay. It was during this bombardment of the fort that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write “The Star-Spangled Banner,” he poem that would eventually be set to the tune of the The Anacreontic Song, to become the national anthem of the United States. (in this picture dont mind the large whole in my tights. later explanation to follow.)
Fort McHenry was designed by Frenchman Jean Foncin in 1798 and named after James McHenry, a Scots-Irish immigrant and surgeon-solider who became Secretary of War under President Washington, For McHenry was build after America won its independence to defend the important Port of Baltimore from further enemy attacks. It was positioned o the Locust Point peninsula which just into the opening of Baltimore Harbor, and was constructed in the form of a five pointed star surrounded by a dry moat-a deep, broad trench. The moat would serve as a shelter from which musket-men might defend the fort from a land attack. In case of such an attrack on this first line of defense, each point, or bastion was fortified, so that the invading army would be caught in a crossfire of cannon and musket fire.

neat shadow and pretty view


Beautiful tulips we saw as driving to the city.
So remember how I told you when you try to do the splits in a small alley way that you should look into having grip on your shoes, this is why. My leg kinda slipped…..and my knee smacked the as-vault. Luckily Sue, and Jakes grandma were prepared and had wet wipes, that toke care of some blood drips. When we got back to the car, Sue had a full first aid kit and bandaged me up well! Surprisingly it would not stop bleeding, so we had to bandage it up again. It was good we didn’t get a close up of the knee, but if you would really know what it looked like, check out some ground beef. Thanks for being so prepared Sue, and family and taking care of me!
All good to go now! Let the partying begin!
arg….a pirate ship!!!! “Piracy is a war-like act committed by private parties that engage in acts of robbery and /or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator (e.g. one passenger stealing from others on the same vessel). The term has been used o refer to raids across land borders by not-state agents. Piracy should be distinguished from privateering, which was a legitimate form of war-like activity by non-state agents, authorized by their national authorities, until this form of commerce raiding was outlawed in the 19th century.” (wikipedia, piracy) This pirate ship was neat to see among, large boats of all kinds in the lake. It even would shoot off gun shots from its cannons to show all the other boats in the area its power and strength.
Yummy sushi for dinner!
Paddle boats here we come! Wahoo! I love paddle boats, and Jakes and my’s matching one piece bangs.

A great adventure!
I kept hearing about this amazing “Ritas” ice cream, slushy place and that we had to go. There was one in Baltimore and we got to go to it! OOOOOOh so good! We tried the Strawberry Kiwi, with vanilla ice cream on top and the bottom of it! A delicious summer treat. “Ritas” needs to branch out to states that are always warm like Arizona, or California. Summer Joy all the time. But all the the hype about Ritas was accurate, and it was better than I imagined!

Day 3 SUNDAY 🙂Sunday was a great day. Sadly Jakes grandparents left, but we had a fun time being able to spend some time with them. We got to go to church, and also participate in fasting for fast Sunday. Lately, I have been so grateful for fast Sundays. I never realized how cool, what a blessing, and great thing fasting once a month is. I am really grateful for that opportunity and fast Sunday experience. After church we watch a LDS movie, and all went to the Washington DC temple. It was huge! And also a very neat structure. Then we went and walked around the ground and had fun watching butterflies and bees, looking at flowers and taking a tour of the Visitors Center.
When we got to the temple, Jakes family told me of a funny story of a man that flew over the DC temple in a helicopter, and tried to still angel Moroni because he thought he was made of solid gold. I thought that was such a good story.
“The Washington D.C. Temple (formally the Washington Temple) is the 18th constructed and 16th operation temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in Kensington, Maryland it was built with a modern six-spire design, wit the three towers to the east representing the Melchizedek Priesthood leadership, and the three towers of the west representing the Aaronic Priesthood leadership. The central easter tower reaches a height of 288 feet, the tallest of any LDS temple. It was the first temple in the United States east of the Mississippi River since 1846. The temple was designed to be similar in style and form to the Salt Lake Temple so that it would be easily recognized as a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was estimated that it would cost fifteen million dollars to build the Washington D.C. Temple and members of the Church that would be attending the temple were asked to help in providing at least four and a half million dollars. Local members eventually raised six million dollars. The Washington D.C. Temples angel Moroni statue, which sits atop the tallest tower, is eighteen feet tall and weighs two tons. Another interesting feature is hat the temple appears to not have any windows. From the inside, however the thinly cute marble appears translucent. The open house continues for seven weeks and over 750,000 people went through the Washington D. C. temple. Spencer W. Kimball dedicated the temple on November, 19 1974, which also happens to be Kelsey’s birthday. ” (Wikipedia, Washington D.C. Temple)

“The large striking look and brilliant white color of the Washington D.C. Temple coupled with a very prominent location along the Capital Beltway has caused the structure to become an instantly recognized landmark. It i not uncommon to heard D.C. area radio stations which broadcast traffic condition to refer to the landmarks as “Mormon temple” or simply as the “temple”. The large stand of forest around the temple further highlights its prominence. Curves in the beltway cause an effect for traffic traveling along the outer loop (westbound) lanes whereby the temple “pops up” out of nowhere direction in front. As the traffic continues o approach the temple seems to grow in size as the tree line opens up.”

DAY FOUR: DOWN TOWN D.C.A view from a small window in the Washington National Monument.
I liked this sign.
Hidden secrets inside the monument.
The Washington National Monument is an obelisk near he west end of the National Mall. It was built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington. The monument, made of marble, granite, and sandstone is both the world’s tallest stone structure and the worlds tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5 1/8 inches. There are taller monumental columns, but they are neither all stone nor true obelisks. It is also the tallest structure in Washington D. C. It was designed by Robert Mills, an architect of the 1840’s. (wikipedia).
The Obahmas house. “The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington D.C,. it was designed by Irish born James Hoban, and build between 1792, and 1800 of white painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style. It has been the residence of every U.S. President since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the home in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage.” (Wikipedia, white house)
A great company…… ” The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of Treasury under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Interal Revenue. The IRS is reponsible for collecting taxes and the interpetation and enforcement of the Interanl Revenue Code, the body of federal tax law in the United States. (Wik, IRS)

“The national mall receives approximately 24 million visitors each year.” (wik, national mall). Jake, his family and I are included in the 24 mill. I had a really fun time visiting DC. I have always wanted to go there and check it out, and I liked being able to see a lot of sites that are landmarks for America. It also made me feel american. I liked that.
Inside the “air and space” museum. Remember how every-time I heard of this place, I always thought it was the” aaron space museum?” In this picture Jake is driving a boat.
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It is also a center for research into the history, and science of aviation and space-flight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysicist. Almost all space and aircraft on display are originals or backups to the originals. It is the most popular of the Smithsonian Museums.” (wik, national air and space museum.)
They had a really neat plants museum. I love outer-space.
The sun kept going and going off the wall and was not able to make it in this photo. I was surprised, compared to everything else, how small earth really is.
Live long and prosper
There were beautiful tulips everywhere we went. Very pretty.
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the U.S. Congress, the legislature of the Federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of he National Mall. Thought not in the geographic center of the District of Columbia, the Capitol is the origin by which the quadrants of he District are divided. Officially, both the east and the west sides of the Capitol are refereed to as “fronts”. Historically, however, the east front was the side of the building intended for the arrival of visitors and dignitaries. (wikipedia). When we actually went into the Capitol we had to walk around the entire capitol to get into the entrance. The walk to get inside the Capitol was longer than the tour inside the building itself.
Waiting to go inside the movie room to see what the Capitol is all about.
Cool ceiling.
This cool metal structure is in the National Botanical Gardens. I loved these metal flowers. I wanted them for my backyard.
We got to see lots of neat pretty flowers. Jake had fun taking a lot of pictures in here, so I posted some…or a lot of my favorites that I thought were neat.


This flower was called a devils tongue. It could be used for medical purposes. Synonyms for this plant could be, Konjak, voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam. “This is a plant of the genus Amrophophallus. It is native to warm subtropical to tropical eastern Asia, from Japan and China south to Indonesia. It is a perennial plant, growing from a large corm up to 25 cm in diameter The single leaf is up to 1.3 m across, bipinnate, and divided into numerous leaflets. the flowers are produced on a spathe enclosed by a dark purple spadix up to 55 cm long. The devils tongue is used for its large starchy corm, used to create a flour and jelly. It is also used as a vegan substitute for gelatin.” (wik, konjac)
Aloe vera. Growing up we had one of these in our backyard. It came in handy lots. I remember anytime any of us would get burned or hurt my mom would get some aloe vera plant and it would heel our wounds.



These trees reminded us of Jurassic Park and the scary little dinos running around. Remember in the movie when the dinos take a step and the reflection in the water of a plant shakes?
“Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure thriller directed by Steven Speilberg and based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. The film centers on the fictional Isla Nublar (Spanish for “Cloudy Island”), in Costa Rica, where billionaire philanthropist John Hammond and a team of genetic scientists from his company have created an amusement park of cloned dinosaurs. Threatened with legal action of the accidental death of an island worker, Hammond invites a trio of scientist- paleontologist Alan Grant, palebotanish Ellie Satler, and chaos theorist Ian Malcome- to inspect the park (and appease the company lawyers) before its public opening During a storm that evacuates most of the island, except for the visitors and a small team of employees, sabotage engineered by a rival company sets the dinosaurs loose, and the island’s few inhabitants attempt to escape the island under peril.”
This was a bark on a palm tree that was neat looking.

Along with taking lots of pictures of flowers, Jake wouldn’t stop taking pictures of me….
Many, many pretty tulips.
Hiding in Bamboo.
In a kids play area you could water the plants. I was so excited to water them, until I realized I picked a broken pail that had a hole in it.


A cool water fountain.
We heard about a famous “bens chili bowl” and we had to go. We picked up chili dogs for Jakes family for us all to eat.
Yum! The chili was spicier than I thought it would of been, but it tasted really yummy! I think I love hot dogs so much though I would like anything on them.
Jakes family is awesome at Karaoke. Wesley loves to dance and sing, so he gave me courage to go give the karaoke thing a shot.
Of course, it turned out to be a blast, and I became a true devoted fan to kareokiing.

Day FIVE: DC
The longest escalator in the world. After three minutes of being on the escalator, it still kept going, but I stopped counting. The crazy thing to think is how deep were we really in the ground???….. “An escalator is a moving staircase- a converyor transport device for carrying people between flooors of a building. The benefits of escalators are many. they have the capacity to move large numbers of pople, and they can be placed in the s