Sonlight Garden

Arlington National Cemetery

Day 6

I know I keep saying how hot it was on our vacation, but this last day it was truly, truly hot. I believe they broke the record in DC this day. It was something insane like 105 or 106. This was the day we decided to be outside and trek around the National Cemetery. You were only able to walk so far and then you had to stop under a shade tree and rest and drink water. Despite the heat I am still glad we visited. I want the children to see this. I visited this place in high school and I remember being so moved. The rows and rows of grave stones gave me chills.

As hot as we were, I can't imagine how hot these soldiers were. We were privileged to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

This picture was actually taken at the WWII memorial but I thought it fitting to go here.

 

After we returned back to Aunt M's house we had dinner and then celebrated A. and Joseph's upcoming birthdays.

When John Paul found out we were celebrating birthdays he immediately set out to make some cars made out of Duplo blocks. He gave these cars to his cousin whom he adores. We had such a great time with Terry's sister, BIL and nephew. We love them so much. They were so gracious to house the  TEN of us for the week. I'm sure they were ready for their own vacation after we left!! (hee hee)

And that's a wrap!!

Washington D.C.

Day 5

On Friday we went to DC. We spent most of our day at the Museum of American History. We were there for about four hours. We didn't plan on spending all of our time there, but there was just so much to see. After we left the museum we walked to the monuments. It was still so stinkin' HOT. But the scenery was just beautiful with the sun starting to go down.

trying to cool off in the sprinklers.

Mary Jane holding up the Washington Monument.

The WWII memorial

The girls in front of our new home state

The ever patient, ever happy Henry. It was way to hot to carry him around in my carrier. My goodness, he is such an easy going baby. He had a smile on his face most of the day. 

Silver tree in the sculpture garden at the Museum of Art (i think).

The National Zoo

Day 4

Short and sweet post.

On day four of our trip we went to visit my cousin and her family in the morning and then we went to the National Zoo. The highlight of our trip to the zoo was seeing the Panda Bears. The Panda is Julia's favorite animal. We have never seen a live Panda, so we were thrilled that we had this opportunity.  They were in their inside habitats on the day we visited. (Why the Panda picture is not that great) It was sooooo hot that day. Looking back on my pictures I realize I did not take a lot. I think because of the heat. We were bummed that it was so hot because I think we would have enjoyed our visit more. 

Monticello and UVA

Day Two

On day two of our trip we went to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We loved this place. We took the "family friendly" version of the house tour and enjoyed it so much. Our guide was great with the children. In some of the rooms the children sat on the floor and looked around for clues. In one of the rooms the guide had talked about how Thomas Jefferson's daughter Martha and her family had come to live with him. When she came to live them she had eight children. The guide exclaimed "Can you imagine that many children! And then she had three more. Can you imagine that many children running around here!" Terry and I looked at each other and chuckled. Great tour. A little pricey for the amount of time we got to spend in the actual home, but I am so glad we were able to see this. Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant man. They also had some hands on activites for the children and a hands on discovery center. We learned a lot that day.

 

We also went to the University of Virginia. Our nephew R. just graduated from there. His senior year he had the privilege of living on the lawn.  R. was out of town when we visited his family so we took a picture of us in front of his old room.  Behind the professors housing were these beautiful gardens. It was so fairy tale-ish. 

That wraps up day two!

 

Manassas and Bull Run

Day One

Sorry a lot of pictures!

We went to Manassas the first day of our vacation. This is the site of the first battle of the Civil War. Henry House was the wooden house on the top of the hill. Eighty-five year old Judith Henry died in that farm house. She was bedridden and refused to leave her home when the first battle broke out. She was killed by an artillery shell that was meant for a sharp shooter. So sad.

This is the stone bridge that crosses Bull Run. It was a strategic crossing for the troops. This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I would have loved to have explored this area more. I think it would have been fun to skip on down those rocks.

Joseph found an artifact. a vintage Pepsi can. Not from the Civil War but from the 1970's we believe.

It would have been so fun to have had a metal detector. I can only imagine what we have been able to find, however they were strictly forbidden.

Henry hanging out. I would have been lost without my Ergo baby carrier.

Stone house. This house, I believe, was an old tavern, however during the first stage of the war it was used as a place to house the wounded soldiers.

Obnoxious right? So many pictures, so little blogging space and time. I will be back tomorrow with more. I took a total of about 600 pictures on this vacation. Thank goodness for digital photography. Oh, and the big guy in the photos is our nephew. We will call him A. He and my sister-in-law were our tour guides. We had such a great time with them. 

 

We're back

We returned home on Sunday. The rest of our trip was fantastic. We wore ourselves out though. We were busy busy busy, however we were busy all together and that is what was so great about this road trip. Not so great was the heat. 100 degree plus weather in Washington DC is not so much fun. It was stinkin hot!! We drank a lot of water. 

Anyhow. I want to recap our trip in photos. I hope you all, my dear readers, all five of you, don't mind. This blog is our family scrapbook and I want to remember this trip. So my plan is to go back and post pictures from each day. That is the plan anyway.  I already have a few posts in my draft folder that I need to publish, it is just sitting and taking the time to do so. Typical for me. I feel guilty for sitting here when there is laundry to do and bathrooms to scrub. Oh well, here goes.

Perhaps the most memorable part of the trip was when we hit the deer, or rather, when the deer hit us. We were driving along and the deer is standing out in the middle of the road. It looked like it was eating. We slowed down, changed lanes, and instead of continuing on it's merry way it darts back in front of the van. As you can see it left us a present on the passenger door. Poor dumb deer. 

Florida Trip

The day after Patrick's First Holy Communion we left for Florida. The main reason for this trip was a confirmation. Aubrey chose me to be her confirmation sponsor. I was so honored to be asked and started planning this trip so that I could be there for her on her big day.

It was a quick trip. Four days of our vacation were taken up just by driving to Florida and back again. We stayed with my Dad the first part of our trip. It was so nice to spend time with him although not long enough.

We went to the the National Seashore on New Smyrna beach. It was deserted and so very relaxing. It was so nice to be back on the beach. (sigh) I really miss the beach.

The next day we went to Downtown Disney. The kids really wanted to go into Disney. There was just no way that was going to happen. Downtown Disney was the next best thing.

While we were in central Fl we visited our old house (which is still on the market) That was gut wrenching. So sad to see the empty garden beds, empty barn, empty house. Ugh. We also visited with our homeschooling friends. Also gut wrenching but nice. It was great to see everyone and visit. I really miss those friendships. It was so nice to just go and hang out and talk and laugh. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that. I think we were to busy visiting!

The next part of our trip we went to North Fl to stay with the Websters. We were there for Aubrey's Confirmation into the Church, which was beautiful. We just hung out and visited and relaxed. The kids played and played and had a blast. It was so great to spend time with them.

(John Paul asleep on Aunt Sussie's shoulder)

Lucas and Joseph, these guys have known each other since they were 5 years old. Somewhere I have a picture of them at their Homeschool Kindergarten graduation. They have grown up so much!

And then it was back on the road again to get back home.

More Vacation Pictures

I wasn't going to post anymore vacation pictures because it takes soooo long to load them and well they are just vacation pictures. Well, now I decided I am going to because #1 it is my blog after all and #2 I said I was going to. So I am going to sit here and be very patient and load some more pictures. Not as many as I had originally intended though. (lucky you!) Thanks for stopping by!

Jamestown

Washington DC

Mount Vernon next time. Typepad is refusing to load anymore pictures right now. Oh and in case you were wondering we did let Amelia out of her stroller. I swear. Every picture seems to be with her in the stroller!

Oh Yes, Our Vacation

 We had such an incredible time on our vacation and I have an incredible amount of great pictures. I am not going to post them all. Although the urge to is pretty strong. We had a very busy, fun, exhausting two weeks. This is what we did.

• Stopped in Oconee, Georgia for a few days for a family reunion with my Husbands family. There we celebrated Joseph's 11th Birthday. (I have to blog about that also. Happy Birthday Joe!)
• Drove to Williamsburg stayed there for 2 1/2 days. Not enough time
• Spent 1/2 day in Jamestown. Again, not enough time
• In the evening stopped in Yorktown, walked on the battlefield, had dinner and drove around to see the historical buildings.
• Onto Washington DC

1. Air and Space Museum
2. Natural History Museum
3. Native American History Museum
4. National Archives
5. Walked by the White House
6. Walked by the Capitol
7. WWII Memorial
8. Washington Monument
9. Lincoln Memorial
10. Jefferson Memorial
11. I briefly walked in the National Gallery of Art. Wow, I wish I could have stayed longer.
12. Mount Vernon- I wish we would have had an entire day here. It was wonderful!

We did all of that and then our van broke down. Luckily we were staying with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and their three sons. We had such a great time with them. So it was all good.

So now for the first installment of pictures. I will go in order of our trip. Just to warn you I will have no self control when posting the pictures in Williamsburg. Our girls were dressed in colonial garb(?) and they were to cute. What a great place to learn early American History and all about colonial life. We can't wait to go back!

Above: The kids playing colonial games

Paddy helping Catherine tie her hat (for the hundredth time) He will make a wonderful husband someday.

And the last one for tonight

Up next, Jamestown and Yorktown...