Gilson Family: Summer Trip

Marcus and I got back a on July 25th from a big two week trip! We had an AMAZING time! Here is a recap of some of the things we did:

First, we went to Washington D.C. We stayed with my brother and sister-in-law. They have the most adorable one-year-old girl named Ashlynn.

Believe me, you can't help but love her!

While in D.C., we obviously did some touring. We went to Arlington Cemetery, The National Museum of American History, The Holocaust Museum, Ford Theater, The Capitol, and The Library of Congress. It was a great three days of touring (besides the humidity that I'm no longer use to and felt like it was suffocating me).

Arlington Cemetery

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery

View of the Capital

We celebrated our one year anniversary while in D.C.
My Mom made us a wonderful dinner and it was great to be with family.
Here is a picture to commemorate :)

Ashlynn and her dad

The Holocaust Museum

Grisel, Kyle, and Ashlynn

The Capitol

This is me outside the Peterson House after the Ford Theater tour.
My parents have a picture of my Mom in this exact spot when
she was pregnant with me almost 22 years ago.

Next, Mom, Dad, Marcus, Shelby, Kendall, Tristan, and I drove up to New York City. Leah met us downtown and we toured NYC for 2 days. We spent pretty much all of our time in Times Square and Central Park. We saw the Metropolitan Museum and the Guggenheim Museum as well.

From left to right: Kendall, Marcus, Brittany, Tristan, Shelby, Mom, Dad

left to right: Kendall, Marcus, Brittany, Tristan, Shelby, Leah

Times Square

The Met

Empire State Building

Bethesda Fountain in Central Park

The Guggenheim

Manhattan Temple

The pizza place we ate at in NYC.

The highlight of the trip was:

It was AMAZING! Even better than I hoped!

I want to go see it again and again and again!

After all this traveling, we drove home to North Carolina. We hung around the house for a couple days. Then we decided to do a day trip to Top Sail Beach. It got windy as the day went on but we all had an enjoyable time. And what would a beach trip be without a few people getting really sunburned? Leah, Tristan, and I took one for the team and all got pretty sunburned. (And by that I mean we didn't re-apply sunblock like we should have).

While in North Carolina, we were able to see some friends from back home! It was really nice to catch up with old friends.

After a week in NC, Marcus, Shelby, and I flew to Arizona. We were able to visit Grandma and Grandpa Smith, Aunt Lori, and Bryce. We had a great time swimming, eating, and hanging out at home.

(I have no pictures of the second half of our trip. Oops..)

In the end, it was a wonderful trip. We're glad to be done living out of suitcases but we really miss our family!

This is my favorite picture of Ashlynn and I to end the post! :)