Meeting Matt

We have been looking forward to our trip to Washington DC for many months to meet our soon-to-be brother-in-law. We have enjoyed getting to know him over the phone, on Facetime, and through Amber. It has been fun to watch Amber's joy through their courtship.

On Thursday morning, we started the morning with a Donuts and Do-Nots shower (i.e. sharing things that Matt doesn't know about us) of tools and kitchen tools. The kids loved being part of the shower, and it was fun to see Amber and Matt together.

 

We were treated to a tour of Del Ray, including a trip to the famed 'Dairy Godmother for some frozen custard. The dairy godmother loved having the entire family in, and even took a picture to tweet to her audience.

Later that afternoon, we took a trip to Old Town Alexandria on the trolley. The kids have watched the trolley running in Wilsonville all summer, and they were excited to ride. We walked along the river and watched planes fly overhead. While waiting for the return trip, we were approached by a couple who asked if we were Jensens - they were Matt's aunt and uncle who had been with Nana and Papa in India and Nepal. Apparently we looked like a wedding-bound crew!

That night, the McDonald family hosted a pizza party in a park. It was fun to meet the McDonalds and see friends and family that we don't see very frequently. For Torin, it was the end of a long day. Fortunately, Jared's cousin Hayley wanted a few minutes of baby time!

 

Friday, we had a number of hours in the morning to spend outside, so we found a cool splash pad and park. Torin loved watching the trains and airplanes go by. It was fun for the cousins to spend some time together.

  

There were 2 funny travel notes. First, before we made it to the Portland airport, we stopped at Wendy's for lunch, where there were 7 cars in the drive-through in front of us - every single one of them was white!!! Then, a white van pulled in behind us. We were all disappointed when the first non-white vehicle joined the line.

Second, by the time we got in line to board the Southwest flight, we were at the end of the family boarding. As we boarded, we saw that the plane was quickly filling, and the flight attendants did to, so they made an announcement that "there is a family of 7 entering that will need 2 full rows plus one additional seat across the aisle." Dani got a few questions and comments about the size of our family on the way back - and one comment from an older woman, "she looks like a child herself - how could she have so many children?"