Andy's Swearing In at the State Department

Here are a few pictures of the swearing in ceremony for Andy's A-100 class. I don't know what "A-100" stands for, but it is the beginning training course for all new foreign service officers. The ceremony was held at the main State Department building in DC. Secretary Rice did not attend, but Deputy Secretary Negroponte did address us. He reminded the class to do all they can to serve their country from their overseas posts, to represent the US in a positive manner, and not focus on how to better their careers. It was short and sweet, and we were back in time for the girls to come home from school. Wow, I think Andy is pretty darn cool.

Grace's Baptism

Grace was baptized on Saturday, April 19th, and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, April 20th. We had a very nice little meeting. Both Andy's and my parents were here, and everyone had a part. Grandma Ricketts led the music, Grandma Patrick offered the opening prayer, Jake and Poppa Patrick both gave talks (both were great, I might add). Andy baptized Grace, with both Grandpas as witnesses. Grandpa Ricketts gave the closing prayer. I didn't do much for the meeting...I took care of all the planning and behind the scenes work.

Grace was all smiles that morning. We all know she's a sweetheart, but she was especially sweet as she prepared for the baptism. She was very serious about this decision to be baptized, and told me she knew she was doing what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ wanted her to do. She said she felt really happy as she came out of the water. Andy did have to perform the ordinance twice, as the Grandpas thought her toe came out of the water the first time. The second time was the charm. Thank goodness for her because the water was a bit chilly! It was such a great day, and I am so happy she is becoming such a beautiful little lady.

Memorials and Natural History Museum with Grandma & Papa Patrick

My parents came to visit us for 9 days, and just left yesterday! We had such a great time with them and are so happy they came out to visit us! We visited lots of places with them, including stuff we hadn't seen yet.

Our first day out was Saturday. We visited the Vietnam War Memorial. My dad looked up an acquaintance from high school who died in Vietnam. We found his panel and row, and eventually his name. We made a rubbing of the name. Pretty cool momento.

Next, we saw the Lincoln Memorial, which we have seen before, but I think they really liked it.

We moved on down to the Korean War Memorial, new to most of us. We came up the back, and I tried to imagine walking through fields with a bunch of gear and a gun, not knowing what the next step would bring. I really liked this memorial. Along the soldiers in the field, there is a wall of polished gray granite, over 10 panels long. The wall has photographs of 2,000 soldiers' faces sandblasted into it. No names, just faces. Up at the end of the memorial, there is a small reflecting pool and the quote "Freedom is not free." I like seeing the war memorials, because they inspire me to learn more about the wars and the reasons they were fought. I'd better get busy.

After the long walk along the reflecting pool, we reached the WWII Memorial, also new to most of us. Very beautiful and very big. I love that the war memorials seem so interactive to me. Vietnam, we see our reflection in the names of those who died. Korea, we walk along with the soldiers who fought. WWII, we find the state we come from and take some time to sit at the side of the pool of fountains to reflect(and maybe dip our fingers into the water). It was very beautiful.

Monday was my first driving experience in the DC area. I took my parents and the kids into town to the National Archives. We parked about a million miles from it, but nobody complained about the walk! Wow, it was really neat to see the Declaration of Independance, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. They are so old. Not quite as old as dinosaur bones, but more impressive. I'm certain Jake was re-enacting the movie National Treasure in his mind while we were in there. Flash photography was NOT allowed, and all of my pictures turned out very dark. Check my parents blog...I think my dad took lots of pictures. There was a lot of other cool things in the rotunda as well. I liked the handwritten note on lined paper, from France, describing the delivery of the Statue of Liberty to the United States. We didn't look at the other exhibits in the Archives....just wanted to see the cool old documents!

We strolled through the Sculpture Garden again with my parents. The kids led the tour and showed their favorites to my parents. We wandered around the mall a bit more. We rode the carousel and toured the gardens of the Smithsonian headquarters. Then we headed back to the van, as we had to leave by 4pm or be ticketed.

We decided to stop at the Iwo Jima Memorial on our way back home, as it is right off the highway...very convenient right? Well, it being my first driving experience, I exited the freeway one exit too early, which led us north on the Washington Memorial Parkway, and I couldn't get off! I finally left-exited onto another freeway, took it for a little while, U-turned, got back on the Washington Memorial Parkway, heading back toward the monument, then...you guessed it. I passed the exit I needed. So, I headed south on the Parkway, somehow figured out how to follow road signs, and eventually got us to the Iwo Jima Memorial. Whew. Rachel had fallen asleep on this little adventure, so I stayed in the car with her whilst everyone else walked up the memorial. They said it was really cool. Maybe I'll see it someday.

We visited the Museum of Natural History on Wednesday after the kids got out of school. That was awesome too, but you'll have to take my word for it, as I forgot my camera. I wonder if I enjoyed the experience more because of it. haha. I loved the photography wing, and seeing the Hope diamond and other large jewels. Poppa treated us to ice cream afterward, and I've never had a better Dove ice-cream bar. We had such a fun time spending time with my parents! I hope we'll get to see them again soon! Next time, we'll be in Mexico!

Generous George's Pizza

Our friends, the Porters and the Sevys, told us this pizza place was great, so we had to try it! We're so glad we did! The decor was crazy, the atmosphere was fun, the pizza was good, and the kids had a great time. They made their own personal pizzas. Well, they topped them. Each of them had a tray with the dough all rolled out, a cup of sauce, a pile of cheese, and the toppings of their choice. They got to put it all together...all by themselves! The finished products looked wonderful. The adults shared a barbeque chicken pizza and a sausage pizza, both of which were tasty. What a great time! Thanks Grama and Poppa for treating us!

And the assignment is.......

We had our flag day today (finally)!! After all of the drama and worry about exotic locales and malaria medication, we are headed to South Texas, also known as Monterrey, Mexico. I will be a Vice Consul of the United States in Monterrey starting in July sometime. We are excited for the assignment. Although it is not as exotic as we might have hoped, we are in this for the long haul and I'm sure Monterrey will seem really nice to us when we travel next to Burma or Nigeria. The Consulate in Monterrey is one of the busiest visa stations in the world, and I anticipate spending 2 years standing at a visa window all day. Someone has to do it.


The kids are excited for Mexico, since "Scooby Doo and the Monster of Mexico" is one of their all-time favorite movies. We will make sure we keep them on edge looking out for la chupacabra on our frequent hour and a half drives to Texas to hit the Costco for goldfish crackers. As we learn more, we will certainly keep you posted. Viva Mexico!

Also, as far as our poll went on the site, no one guessed right. Mexico is in North America and that option received zero votes. Well done, people. Thanks for playing along. We can all try again in two years.

Andy

New Email Address

Due to AT&T's insistance that we cannot use our email address andybeccakids@sbcglobal.net anymore since we no longer pay them any money, we have switched our email address to andybeccakids@gmail.com. Please use the new gmail address in the future. Sorry for the inconvenience. Google is now our favorite company. Thanks much.

Horkin' Out?

Okay, I think my kids made up the phrase "hork it down." Has anyone ever heard or used this saying? It means to stick food in your mouth and eat it as fast as possible. They use it quite often..."I just totally horked down that whole donut in 10 seconds," or "Quit horkin' down the M&Ms, we'd all like some!" Sometimes they have to "hork down" food at dinnertime that they don't really like. If they have in fact created this wonderful phrase, please feel free to use it. We'll see how long it takes that new phrase to get back to us here in Virginia. If we have stolen it from somewhere or someone, let us know. I'm curious.

Rachel's Piles

Yesterday morning, Rachel brought me into her room so she could show me something. She said, "Look mom, the colors with the colors and the silvers with the silvers." She had sorted some little toys into these two piles. I thought it was cute.

Grace's Birthday Party...Finally!

This birthday party was "OFF THE HOOK!" You might be wondering why there was movie stuff everywhere. Well, we went to go see "Nim's Island" for my party. It was really good. My friends enjoyed it. For presents, I got a "webkinz", which is a stuffed animal with a code that unlocks a virtual world on the internet. It is really cool. Instead of a cake, Mom made a pizza cookie (because I don't like cake). It looked like a real pizza. We also had real pizza for dinner before that. Being 8 feels great! Love you, Grace.

It's Harare, Zimbabwe!!

In a surprise, word leaked that we are headed to Harare, Zimbabwe for our first post!! We are set to head out by 31 July. We can hardly believe it. The official flag day isn't until next Friday, but Andy received an email from the embassy with the details (they aren't supposed to contact him until after flag day). We are kind of freaking out about the whole thing. This was not our first (or even 40th choice), but we signed on for adventure and we might as well get started now. I'll post later when we have more information and I stop shaking.

(2 April -- A little April Fools' joke, obviously. Flag day is next Friday, April 11th. Stay tuned.....)