Happy Easter!

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc It is a perfect Easter message!

I Love to See the Temple

We made our first trip to the Washington DC Temple this week. It took about 30 minutes to get there. This is as close as we have lived to a temple in 15 years! We have decided to take full advantage of it and visit once a week. This is such a unique time for us because we are also unfettered by all of the extra curricular activities that run our lives back home. We actually have time to go to the temple!

The kids remembered the counsel given in one of the General Conference talks last week for those who can't enter a temple yet. The counsel was to go to the temple anyway, to walk around the beautiful grounds, to "touch the temple and the temple with touch you."

This is a particularly stunning temple. As you drive up the road it suddenly appears out of the trees. It takes your breath away! I truly enjoyed the peace inside as well. It filled me up. Neil and the kids had a wonderful time exploring the surrounding woods. Next week Neil will go inside I will explore the grounds and visitors center with the kids. Here is a website about temples if you are interested. http://www.lds.org/temples/home/0,11273,1896-1,00.html

Homeschool is Not for Wimps!

The Hansen Homeschool is up and running. It has been an interesting experiment and I totally respect anyone who does this full time! The kids have been great. They actually do the assignments I give them and come back for more! Giving them assignments requires me to be organized and to understand the material. I find myself reading textbooks at night for my bedtime reading. It has been good to get the cobwebs out of my brain! I think the kids would say that homeschool is much less stressful than regular school. I think I would say that my day is much busier and that I never have any alone time! In the above picture Emily and Hayley are trying to learn English Grammar by direct diffusion into their brains. Grammar isn't the most exciting subject. Really, how important it is to understand past participles? It is debatable.

Hayley is supposed to be working on a French Revolution project. I wonder if she is really checking her Facebook! Naw, she's doing her homework.

Mara, Jeff, Mark, and Emily (who refused to be in the picture for personal pride reasons) are working on making a topographical model of the ocean floor. The boys are making volcanoes. One great advantage to homeschooling here is that we can learn about the ocean and then go and see the ocean exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History! Awesome!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

On Saturday morning we had our first family subway ride as we made our way to Constitution Avenue for the Cherry Blossom Parade! The kids loved the subway, the parade was pretty good too. I was looking forward to seeing the giant balloons like they have in the Macy's parade in NYC, but sadly it was too windy. The parade was a bit lacking without them. There were hardly any floats. A lot of good marching bands though!

We took our kites with us. It was so windy that flying was difficult, but it was fun trying.

The girls were more interested in staying warm. They had their books to read to pass the time. I have heard that some political radio hosts have been criticizing Pres. Obama for including money in the omnibus bill to restore the grass on the National Mall. I don't know much about omnibus bills and grass money, but I do know that the grass on the Mall is in terrible shape. It really does need to be restored.

Can you see all of the other kites in the sky? It was fun, but you had to watch your head!

Cherry Blossoms!

These are the pictures you've all been waiting for! The Cherry Blossom Festival! The blossoms are truly breath taking. The pictures don't do them justice.

Paddles the Beaver is the mascot of the Cherry Blossom Festival. In 1999 a beaver family moved into the tidal basin and cut down four trees for a dam. The family was relocated. :) Paddles reminds people not to pick blossoms, put them in their hair, climb the trees, or cut them down for dam building.

Dogwood Tree. I couldn't help it.

That's the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

Neil's Job

I need to let Neil comment on these pictures, but the chances of that are slim. This is a photo in front of the US Department of Agriculture building. He actually works in a different building that houses the US Forest Service. But Ag is his thing! He doesn't know exactly what he is going to be working on yet--just a lot of orientation meetings and such. It will be a great experience for him though.

This is an exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It is called "Dig It: The Secrets of Soil" and Neil was really excited to take us there. It is sponsored by the Soil Science Society of America and Neil knew many of the contributing scientists. On the way out of the exhibit there was a man who was doing a hands on soil demonstration. Neil struck up a conversation with him and let him know that he is a soil scientist. One thing led to another and now Neil will probably be volunteering as a docent in the soils exhibit a couple of hours a week! Cool, huh?

Monday at the Mall

When we were done at Arlington Cemetery (see previous post) we ate lunch in the van (evidence of more frugality) and walked across the Potomac River to the National Mall. Notice the scooter next to Jeffrey. This was my brilliant idea. He is too big for a stroller or a backpack, but too small for all of the walking we need to do. The scooter has kept him going. Watch out though! He might plow you over!

Yes, the penny really is the Lincoln Memorial. And if you look really closely you can see Lincoln sitting inside!

We really enjoyed reading the words en graven in the walls in the Memorial. I am not as familiar with Lincoln's second inaugural address, but I got chills when I read it. Here is a brief, but powerful quote:

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'."

Visiting the Vietnam Memorial was also a sobering experience. It is designed so that as you walk down the sidewalk near the wall, the list of names of the servicemen who died grow longer the deeper you go. It was almost overwhelming. I think it felt personal to me because my uncle was killed in Vietnam. I never knew him, but I was born on his birthday. When he was killed, he left behind his lovely wife and five young children. His youngest daughter was an infant. I couldn't help but imagine what that must have been like for my aunt to raise her children alone. They are a wonderful family.

In this picture we are looking for Uncle Rey's name. The kids made rubbings of his name with pencils and paper the park service provided.

This really was a day of deep thinking and retrospect and respect. We were all touched by the memorials and by the service that so many great men and women have given to preserve freedom.