I missed a week of posting so I'm a little delayed. We've been enjoying our lazy June with lots of tennis in the morning while the kids have swim team. Ellie moved to the elite swim group so she practices at 7am for two hours before the other kids get there and then stays to help with the junior river rats. She's doing a ton of babysitting...almost every day. I had a few JWJ meetings- with Megan to take over the Facebook page and Mr. Stuckey, the principal to get geared up for the next year of PTSA. My nephew, Alex spent time with us to beat the summer boredom. We have been spending evenings at the TCC pool...it's just too hot for much else. There was a dive in movie one night. Last Sunday morning (Father's Day), Chris picked Marly and I up and we hitched a ride to Regency mall where we met up with 6 bus loads of patrols from all over Jacksonville to head up to DC for the week. What a week! We pulled out at 6am and arrived in Potomac Mills at 7:30pm! I shared a room with Emma. Marly was in a room with two of her pals, Kayleigh and Izzy. Monday morning we were up nice and early to take a group pic in front of the Capitol. Then we toured the National Cathedral, WWII Memorial and Air Force Memorial. We had lunch at the Pentagon City mall food court (poke bowl for the win!) then toured the Smithsonian Museum of American History, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean War Memorial and then a big family style pasta dinner at Primos in Alexandria. Tuesday we did Arlington Cemetery, tomb of the unknown soldier (where a rep from our school laid a wreath), lunch and tour of the Air Force museum. I think the morning was a little too military heavy. Luckily we went to the National Museum of African American history which was amazing. I could have spent all day there. We went back to the mall for another poke bowl and took it to go to eat at Iwo Jima while watching the hot marines show. Wednesday morning we checked out of our hotel then went back to the DC scene. We saw the National Law Enforcement Memorial, TikToked in front of the Capitol, saw the Library of Congress and did the cha cha slide in front of the White House. We had lunch at the International Trade Center food court then saw the Jefferson Memorial. Then we headed out to Williamsburg. The next morning we went to Busch Gardens. It was the perfect day. Not too crowded, overcast weather. I made Marly ride all the roller coasters and she ended up loving it. I was officially roller coasted out which says a lot for me! We did a pizza party, tshirt signing in the hotel lobby and one more TikTok before bed. What a trip! We were home by 5:30pm on Friday night. I went to sleep at 8pm and didn't wake up until 8am on Saturday! While Marly and I were on the patrol trip, a village of people helped at home. Ellie did the most of it; cleaning, organizing and keeping the younger two in line. She had some fun with Cora, did lots of babysitting and a night with Charlotte after the swim meet on Monday. My mom took the littles in the afternoons to hang with their cousins. My neighbors drove the kids to and from swim team each day. Phil took them bowling, out to fun dinners and more time at the pool. We took it easy with a lazy pool day on Saturday. Ellie babysat. We did a family tennis match. We did a tour of the rooftop bars last night. More drinks than food made for a slow Sunday. We went tubing with the VanWies and then to 5pm mass. Here are the pics from the week.