A post, posted Twice!

For all of you who don't read the Four Star Reviews blog, I want you all to know that I LOVE this movie!!!! It is fabulous... so I posted this there and here on Ortegaville. Disney/Pixar: Up... 4.5 Stars
Ok... I really don't know how high I am allowed to rate movies, but, UP was ...wait for it... A-mazing!!!! I loved it! We went to see it while we were in Baltimore. The movie exceeded my expectations. The trailer peaked my interest and ofcourse we all expect great things from Disney, but I really was in the dark about the plot. I loved it! I laughed out loud while watching it and I laugh out loud just thinking of many of the parts in the film. If you haven't seen it... GO!

Back to Life, Back to reality...

While being back at home is fun, it is also a little different than vacationing. Israel is studying lots for the LSAT and I am trying to focus and work! Real life is stressing me out! I have been in a bad mood constantly for the past few days and poor Israel has had to put up with me. I am really grateful for Israel for all that he does for me, for doing the dishes tonight and for being the wonderful person he is. PS. I miss his beard!

DC Area Trip Post #3...

Wow this trip is fun! I'm glad it is as long as it is!! We get to do everything we want to AND just hang out with my siblings! So one really fun thing we got to do was go to Asia's Ballet performance. Stacey has a class of about 5 girls that she teaches ballet to. SO CUTE!!! We got to go. It was really good and fun! I helped Stacey make wands for each of the girls... so I felt invested in the performance and I really wanted it to go well! It did! Asia did so good. Better than the other girls. (but don't tell them I said that!) The past week has been a patriotic one! I am really grateful for the USA! Saturday we had the chance to go on a tour of the Capitol Building. It was awesome!!! Jessica and kids and Darryl and Stacey and kids and Israel and I got to go on the tour! Thanks Jessica for booking it! The Capitol building was amazing! There's so much history there! I learned lots! Our tour guide was funny and really knew her stuff! There was beautiful archi- tecture and artwork! We loved it! Sunday was fun! We made Mexican food for dinner. Darryl claims that the food out here is amazing and there are so many different ethnic restaurants to visit, but he has not yet had really good Mexican food! So he requested it! Monday and Tuesday of this week were pretty fun filled (BUSY)! Monday was long and well... long. Actually it was GREAT! I loved it! We drove with the Shepherds up to Baltimore to visit Fort McHenry. It's the fort that Flew the Star Spangled Banner (the Flag) when Francis Scott Key was in the harbor on a British boat and wrote the words to "The Star Spangled Banner". AMAZING! It was a great experi- ence! There you can visit the officer and soldier barracks and the grounds. I helped to take down the flag that they fly there during the day. It was pretty huge and the Park Ranger said that it was only large enough to cover the blue part on the Star Spangled Banner! WOW! That flag was big. I took a picture of the one we took down right before we began folding it. You can get a feel for it's size! Coolest thing.... Israel and I bought a flag and got to fly it at Fort McHenry. AWE- SOME!!! We were so excited to do that! And now we can take it home with us! Israel and the Park ranger flew it and I took pics of it! It made me really feel connected with History! I took some fun pics of Jessica's fam and a few of Darryl's fam. I just thought I'd let you all see them since we failed to get a picture of us all together!!! I wish we had! That evening for FHE we went to a Crab Shack. Darryl thinks Maryland is the only place to eat crab. He was right about that! It was a fun and new experience to rip apart and eat the crab right out of the shell! It was pretty messy but yummy! It's an experience that is worth having once... probably only once! in the future I think we will order crab cakes, They are less work! But it was fun to go to Annapolis and eat crab! We took a few pics by the water there. Tuesday Darryl Stacey, Asia, Callie, Israel and I all went to the most visited place in Washing- ton D.C., Arlington Cemetery. It was a really neat experi- ence. It is a Memorial to ALL Men and Women who have died defending the United States of America. When I was walking around I felt extreme reverence and gratitude for all who have fought for this country. It really is a sacred place! We got to see the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier and we walked through looking at the rows and rows of head stones marking the graves of noble men.WOW! If you are ever feeling unpatriotic, Go. Wednesday January and I made Thank you cards! YEAH!!! It was fun to do together and now they have fun thank you cards whenever they need them! January made three and I made two. We got to use fun scissors that are shaped like animals! It has been a really good week! I love visiting my family!!! I'm glad we are vacation- ing here!

Trip Post #2

OK... SO Wed. was really fun!



All of us "Wade's" out here in the DC area went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It was really cool! Right when we got there we got to see the Dolfin show. That was so neat! I just kept thinking that being a Dolphin Trainer has to be one of the coolest jobs in the world! The Dolphins are huge and they move so gracefully! It really was amazing! There were a few scary sea animals there too! There was a set of teeth I definitely was happy were no longer in the ocean, Both Israel and I fit inside them! The Submarine had big teeth, and a set of teeth on the Saw fish in the picture behind Israel and Jonas that I'm glad is in the tank behind thick glass! SCARY! It was really fun being there with everyone! The kids were really having a good time with all the neat animals that you can see there! If you are ever in Baltimore, I definitely recommend going to the National Aquarium!!!! The Old man that took our group picture was great! He could totally go pro as a photographer!
We have been having loads of fun!
Today we went to the National Museum of American History. One of my Faves!!! We got to see all of the many Inauguration Dresses of the first ladies, Kermit the Frog Oscar the Grouch... We took a picture with Oscar and of course we had to all have angry faces so that he would feel comfortable in a picture with us! We also saw a special exhibit on President Abraham Lincoln. It was really neat! We took a picture with his top hat. While at this Museum we also saw The Star Spangled Banner. It was truly ... Awe inspiring!!! I loved it! I just felt SO extremely blessed that I am an American and that this is a free country because of the people who fought in the Revolu -tionary and every subsequent war. I am really Greatful for the Freedoms we experience! I am glad to be an American! We hung at Jessica's house one night and we had so much fun playing a game named "Qwirkle". It's really GREAT! It's fun because it really makes you think and you can play it with kids and you and them all have fun! We played and loved that! We had a yummy dinner Chicken Catsu. Yum! We have really eaten good since we have been here! We had Panzarati one night. Stacey made it. YUMMY!
PS. While driving in DC I saw two busses that said Wade Tours and I really wanted to Take a picture! Maybe we as an extended Wade family should go on one of those tours sometime! LOL!

DC Area Trip Post #1...

Ok these are fun Pictures...
Callie has cool sunglasses that open and close! I love them!!! OK. So Israel and I are spending a couple weeks visiting my family in the DC area. We flew in Sunday and drove to my brother, Darryl's house where we are staying for a few nights. YEAH! we got here. We ate a yummy dinner and planned a bit, played a game or two, talked to Darryl and Stacey until like midnight, which is only 9pm for us, and went to bed. Day one, Monday was pretty laid back. I woke up early and went to the park to play with the girls. So fun!! We spent the rest of the day hangin' out, playing lots of games with Asia and Callie, My nieces. Asia LOVES playing Checkers!!! She really understands the rules and likes to tell her opponant ALL of their options and the consequences of those moves. She played a game with Israel the first night and beat him and on Monday I played her at least four games and Israel played her twice. The games all end the same way... Each player ends up with two or three pieces left on the board and Asia plays it safe running away from any possible contact with the opponant and ending up in the corners where one must seek her out and figure out ways to let her jump you and win the game. Otherwise the game could go on forever!!! I tried in one of our games to chase her and we ended up moving the same two pieces back and forth to the same spots. I couldn't handle it anymore. I lost to Asia by a double jump.
Here's a picture of Asia woopin' Israel at yet another game of checkers. The girls loved when Israel read them that book, Socks on Fox. Wow... tongue twister! The next picture is of the girls eating the popsicles that Stacey bribed Callie with so she would stay and play with us, while she went to pick up Darryl.
We also played connect four. Israel and Callie against me and Asia. Callie was good! I don't think she fully under- stood the game, but she managed to put her pieces in and get four in a row multiple times without Asia or I knowing it! Israel and Callie won three times and Asia decided it was time for a new game, but "Asia was going to be on Israel's team and Steph was going to be on Callie's team." I guess she wanted to win and Israel was the best partner! Later we ate a yummy dinner! I made a salas and D&S went and picked up some Yummy shrimp. It was good. We also visited a Harley Shop and Darryl and Israel watched Terminator 3. It was a fun and pretty laid back day! I get a bit picture happy sometimes!... Especially when I have such cute subjects to practice on! Connect four ROCKS!!!