Look at Lou!

Since taking first steps on her birthday three weeks ago, Lou has walked a little more each day - just wanted to share my cute wobbly walker.

Willeitners in Washington

The countdown to go home has started. We leave in 9 days and I have to say that in spite of all the fun things we have seen and done, I am ready to go home. Fortunately we had some visitors last week to distract us from our homesickness. Warren's sister Brianna and husband Ryan decided to celebrate their one year anniversary by visiting us! They visited the typical tourist attractions of the Nation's Capitol and we tagged along to some places not yet visited - Georgetown, Mount Vernon, and the National Archives. We visited the temple together to celebrate their anniversary. Being the outdoorsy type Ryan and Brianna expressed interest in visiting several nearby National Parks. We took a Sunday drive and short walk in Shenandoah National Park and viewed the Potomac waterfalls at Great Falls National Park. Highlights of our week with them -

Mount Vernon
Curly petting a mule at Mt Vernon, Nikki & Lory came too!
Happy Anniversary!
Shenandoah National Park

Brianna, truly young at heart on the Carousel at the National Mall

We visited the monuments at dusk and that is now what I recommend - Less crowded, cooler, and they glow!

Great Falls National Park - This day was super hot!!! Notice Ryan and Brianna carrying the girls - they insisted on being helpful all the time! It is a great talent they have!

I guess this blog post wouldn't be complete without a mini history lesson - so here you go. The colonies were set up to produce goods for the mother land. Many farmers in the colonies were going into debt trying to farm tobacco as it was taxed heavily. George Washington decided to beat the British system. He grew some tobacco that he would sell to Britain, but on the side he grew wheat and developed faster ways of threshing. He sold his wheat all over the world and made quite a profit.

Both he and Jefferson took seriously the management of their households, even while away serving the nation. In detailed letters, they specified how they wanted things run at their homes.

Interestingly, President Washington wasn't home much to enjoy the place. After leading the military in the War for Independence, then retiring as Commander in Chief, he headed the Continental Congress that wrote the Constitution and then was elected President. He served two terms before returning home, where he died two years later. He basically served his country all of this adult life.

My Handy Man-ny!

The sink is fixed!!! It took three trips to Home Depot, two evenings, lots of advice from the experts (my Uncle Paul and Aunt Michele) and some help from our cousin Lory (THANK YOU!) but it is now good as new (and much better than it was before)! Plus, they removed the offending baby washcloth that started this whole mess. It looked very nasty! We saved at least $250 dollars by doing it ourselves. So next time you have a plumbing problem call Fisher... or just do it yourself!

A Very Happy Anniversary!

Lest you think all that we do is lose and break things, I had better report on the fabulous weekend that Fisher and I enjoyed. It is my turn to plan our 6th Anniversary date this year and since we will be driving across the country on August 10th, I decided we should celebrate early, even better, I am so sneaky that Fisher was totally surprised! I arranged for wonderful Jill to watch our girls for the weekend and planned a getaway to the City of Love - aka Philadelphia (it really is called the city of Love). I was so excited that it was very hard for me not to let anything slip that would give my plan away.


On Friday afternoon I dropped Curly and Lou off at the Collings where they could play until Jill got off work. Fisher arrived home while I was gone and found a note that said "I've taken your children and all your money, if you ever want to see them again, meet me in front of the house in 10 minutes!" I picked him up and away we went.

I loved Philadelphia, not just because I got to spend quality time with Fisher. The history there is amazing. Apparently when William Penn requested a Charter for Pennsylvania he designed it to be a place where all religions were tolerated. There were many congregations in Philadelphia that were as old as the city. We toured Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. We visited the site of Benjamin Franklin's home where there is an underground museum all about him. We also learned about the Liberty Bell and why it is the symbol of Liberty. I think that being in a place that is so old and unchanged is awesome! You wonder what you would learn if the walls could talk.

Independence Hall

Where the Continental Congress met

Liberty Bell

A trip anywhere wouldn't be complete without sampling their famous food. We walked to a huge, indoor farmer's market called "The Reading Terminal" to sample an authentic Philly Cheese Sandwich - complete with Cheese Whiz (which is apparently what makes it authentic). It was good, reminded me of an Arby's Cheddar melt - no offense to Rick.

Besides the history and food, the city is beautiful. We stayed in the historic area right by the river. On Friday night, we ate delicious Afghanistan food and then walked down to the Delaware to watch boats and lights and a few random fireworks.

On our way home we drove through Valley Forge. The History Center was closed for the day, but we enjoyed the beautiful, green country. We love the trees here!

We picked the girls up from Jill's. Curly and Lou had lots of fun swimming and playing at Jill's house, hopefully Jill enjoyed them as much as they enjoyed her. We are so grateful that she would watch them! It was a wonderful anniversary!

If It's Not One Thing ...

Good news - The car is fixed. We took it to a place recommended by some ward members and they had it fixed in a day and a half. The engine control module needed replacing - which is basically the computer for the car. Shocker! A car that old has a computer. Now it is running wonderfully again and I have to admit that after all these miles together we have grown rather fond of the chrysler.



As the title of this post suggests - "Another" thing has been on our "to do" list for several weeks now. True to her habit of putting things down holes they don't belong in, Curly 'watched' a baby washcloth go down the tub drain a few weeks ago before exclaiming "Mom! Lou's washcloth went down the drain!" The tub has been backed up and out of service since then. We have tried many things to get the washcloth out, but have not yet succeeded. Fisher decided to take apart the p-trap on the sink to see if he could get a better angle with the drain snake. But, at the slightest touch the p-trap cracked! So now the tub and sink are unusable (Thankfully this is a two bathroom house). Feeling that he may be losing his MacGyver touch, we decided to call a plumber... until we found out how much that would cost! So, now we are trying to replace the p-trap and remove the washcloth on our own. We will keep you posted.