Our friends visit us in Virginia!

So a few months before Jason and Leah and I packed up to move east we became great friends with another young family, the Iverson's. Micah, Caitie and their adorable daughter Maisie quickly became our close friends. We shared many family dinners at each others houses together and enjoyed many days and evenings hanging out with them and letting our girls play together. There are many similarities between both of our families, and even us as couples, and needless to say we were really sad to leave them in Utah.

They had moved from SLC to Price, UT a while before we found out we were leaving for Virginia, and if you look in our archives or follow this link, you can see that we went and stayed at their house for a few days over the Fourth of July last year. We had a blast. Caitie and Micah are truly kindred spirits. When we moved here to northern Virginia the Iverson's expressed interest in coming out to see us and also to see all of the great and historical landmarks that are near by. We told them we wanted them to come out and if they did they could stay with us and not worry about paying for a hotel and such. We hoped that they were serious and it turns out they were!

We kept in contact with our friends and they eventually bought plane tickets out here. We were more than excited for their visit. They came out for a whole week. Unfortunately, Jason ended up out of town on business for the first few days they were here in town (which is why he isn't with us in some of the pictures), but he was able to join us at the end of the week. We are so grateful that Micah and Caitie made such an effort to come see us and take in the sights of Virginia and D.C. It was a great week! We wish we didn't live so far away from them!

This set of pictures is from the Iverson's first day here in Fredericskburg. We visited the Fredericksburg Cemetary and Marye's Heights. We saw many old civil war landmarks and remembered the many people who died here in Fredericksburg for a cause.

Leah and Maisie picked up right where they left off. Leah is a year and a half older than Maisie and certainly exercised her seniority from the get go. We had to constantly scold her for being too bossy and for mothering Maisie. This is one of their cutest moments, I had to take a picture.

After Marye's Heights we went to the very beautiful Chatham Manor. The scenery is really amazing here and we had a good time walking the grounds and smelling the wisteria in the wind.

The second day Caitie, Micah and Maisie were here we went to D.C. We visited the Smithsonian and spent most of our time at the Museum of Natural History. Here are some of our pics from that day. . . .

The girls checking out all of the cool animals . . . .

Me holding one of the coolest and biggest grasshoppers in the world, and certainly the biggest cockroach I have ever seen as well . . . . it was awesome.

And we saw the Hope diamond!

A cool highlight of the Natural History Museum was the butterfly exhibit. For a few extra bucks you could go into this awesome butterfly green house and see many different species and experience all of them thriving and flying around you. You weren't allowed to touch them but you couldn't stop them from landing on you. Micah experienced this first hand. This butterfly was on his head for a while.

And Leah enjoyed the butterflies SO much. Leah loves butterflies, so this was a personal heaven for her. As we were leaving she even sang an impromptu song for one of her new little friends.

After the Smithsonian we walked around D.C. to see the sights.

I can't believe I live an hour from all of these things! It is really a great blessing, and I am glad that the Iverson's were here to share it with me. I had yet to go see many of these things (whereas Jason already has seen most of them) and so it was a really special day to experience it all at once!

So the next day we went to the Arlington National Cemetary. Which I am sure is one of, if not the most, beautiful cemetary I will ever see. The grounds are in pristine condition.

This is the eternal flame at the graves of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, it was a very beautiful and reverent site.

We were able to witness the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was very moving. It is really cool how reverent Arlington National Cemetary is and how things are done with such grace and order there. it was a nice time for us to remember the many thousands who have died for our country.

The next day we spent walking the trails through the Chancellorsville battlefield sites. It was actually quite a hike and we weren't expecting it to be so long, but it was good exercise and a beautiful cool day for us to enjoy being outside. The coolest part was the trenches and earthworks used by the Civil War armies that were still obvious and in tact. Here is the Iverson family from behind (they didn't know I took this cute pic of them!), the visible trenches left, and another pic of Leah on the trail *Notice that we used our CarryMeToo carriers to hold our kids, Maisie fell asleep in hers!

On our way home from Chancellorsville we stopped by Ferry Farm, George Washington's boyhood home. (This picture is of the visitors center there, the actual home does not stand anymore, they actually just found the foundation of his orginial home only 7 years ago)

On Saturday we chose to go to Mt.Vernon. Jason was back and we spent most of the day there walking around the plantation. It was awesome! There is so much to see there and the main house (in which George Washington died in) was gorgeous and remarkably preserved. Here is Jason and me in front of the mansion and then all of us in front of the tomb where George Washington and his wife are laid to rest. Jason felt awkward smiling since it was a grave site, so he opted for a frown, he thought that was more appropriate. He told Leah to frown too, so she did of course.

They had real blacksmiths and a real working farm!

The Iverson's trip here to Virginia was an amazing week for the Chong Ohana. We really love them and hope we continue a life long friendship. I am grateful they were able to come see us and visit all of these famous and reknown landmarks here on the east coast with us. We love you Micah, Caitie and Maisie! We miss you already!