Melins on the Move - The End

Lesson we learned: If you ever go north, don't come back south.  It makes the hot even hotter!  We spent the next two days in D.C.  The first day we spent walking the National Mall.  The big five were able to earn their Junior Ranger badges, but that is no easy feat!  It required lots of walking and fact finding.  However, have snacks - will travel.  We made it from one end to the other and even hit up some Smithsonians in between.  By the end of the day both Danny and I had a baby on our backs and another on our fronts.  We were a sight to be seen!

Their album cover!

Working on their Junior Ranger badge work!

It's PINK!

People always offer to take our picture.  I guess they figure if we did the work to get us all here we should have a picture! 

When we got back to our van we were blown away by a terrible smell!  After checking for a lost dirty diaper (it's happened before) and the bottoms of shoes we still hadn't found the source.  It was very fishy!  Finally, our sniffers led us to Jonah's seat.  He had saved the lobster claws from our meal a few days back and some crab parts he had found at the beach.   Since our van had gotten hot it really made them putrid!  Even after smelling the offensive smell Jonah still cried to keep them!

The second day in D.C. we went to the National Zoo.  This is one of our favorite zoos because of the apes and elephants.  However, this time we found some new animals to love.  The armadillos were running laps.  Nothing is cuter than those little legs going a million miles an hour under those shells.  Well, probably a few things are cuter, but they are cute.  My kids also went crazy for the naked moles rats.  We stayed at that exhibit so long Jonah was giving lessons on the animals and correcting the errant parents who gave their children incorrect information.  Sigh.  The chimpanzees had a new baby that provided hours of entertainment.  They also loved how active the leopards and cheetah were.  After seven hours we headed back to pull out the couch bed and have family movie night!

Our long journey might have been coming to a close, but we got to go out with a bang.  Our last stop was in NC to visit our niece and nephews!  More cousin fun!  We hadn't seen them in so long, but Zeke was instant buddies with Danny and the big kids were all off playing within seconds.  So thankful we had the opportunity to stop by!

So, now we are in South Carolina.  We continue to have adventures, discover new places, make new friends, and make memories.

For those of you who pray for us here are some prayer requests:

- Endurance as Danny goes to class each day while also finishing his doctoral work
- Peace as we await news of our next assignment and comfort to know that is just where God has planned for us to go
- Joyfulness in all aspects of life (schooling, parenting, homemaking, etc.)
- Sweet friendships will develop quickly

Thanks!