Vacation Tuesday

On Tuesday of our vacation we headed to Capitol Hill!  We had an appointment to tour the Capitol at 10:10, but we were late because we had to eat all of our food that was in our backpacks before we could enter.  This was the only place to ask this of us, thank goodness!  We proceeded to a long line of people and were given headphones.  The kids thought this was cool.  Our tour guide could talk to us through them, however, we could not talk back.  Camden and Josiah didn't know this though, and when she was asking if we could hear her, they "spoke" into their battery packs, "Yes!"

Ready to tour the Capitol

Yes I can hear you!!

 

Amy beside one of Alabama's statue's-Helen Keller

A model of the statue on top of the Capitol-the actual size

 

After finishing our tour, we then headed to Mark Sanford's office to get passes to go to the House chambers.  Nothing was in session since it was the week of the fourth.  Maybe that was a good thing so that we wouldn't get too upset and yell at the Congressmen for passing dumb legislation :)

 

Lunch in the Capitol was followed by an underground walk to the Library of Congress.  It is a beautiful library!  Wish the West Ashley library had been renovated like this :)

 

 

Camden found his favorite new book character!

 

 

Our next stop was the Supreme Court.  We were able to go inside the court, but no court in session. 

We couldn't take pictures inside the court room, but I was able to take one from outside :)

Good thing Nathan didn't push Taft over on us...we might have been kicked out!

The dizzying spiral staircase that we weren't allowed to walk on

 

The next stop was a joke for Jennifer...a visit to the Taft Memorial.  Not to President Taft, but his son.  Who?!?!  Can just anyone get a memorial in DC?!?!

 

 

 

Our last stop before parting ways for the evening was Union Station.  The upstairs was really nice, however, the food court left a lot to be desired.  



 



 













Union Station

We were a little tired after all the walking!

 

 

We then parted ways.  Dave and Rob took the older kids to the Nationals baseball game in which they lost to the Brewers.  Nathan was happy about this because he is a Braves fan.  He even wore his Braves stuff to the game and almost got kicked out by the Nationals Mascot!!  The rest of us went back to the hotel for swimming.  It was an overall fun day; but very long for the baseball gamers!

 

 

Tomorrow is going to come early...



Vacation Day Two

Well I am now revisiting day two of our summer vacation.  After we drove to Culpeper, VA on Sunday night, we left there Monday morning and headed to Manassas Battlefield.  As Camden said, battlefields are great places to play tag, except when there is fighting!  Today there was only tag :)

 

Lots of grass and cannons at battlefields :)

 

 

We left Manassas, checked in at our awesome hotel, and headed to Arlington Cemetery.  We were able to see JFK's grave; the changing of the guard and the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; and many tombstones representing men and women who served our country.  It is a sacred sight.

 

 

Reading words of Kennedy

 

 

Kennedy's tomb and the eternal flame

 

One of the impressive tombs

Changing of the guard

 

The 911 Pentagon Memorial near Arlington

 

 

After a long day of driving and sightseeing, we ended with a great dinner at The Peking Gourmet Inn.  We ordered duck and several Chinese dishes.  The food was great and laughter all around while eating fortune cookies was a great way to finish the evening.

Nathan eating duck 

Josiah eating duck and Camden playing with the fans handed out to the children

A fun dinner for all!

 

Vacation Day One-part two

Liberty!  We wanted to drive the boys through our old stomping grounds at LU.  Since it was Sunday, and the summer, we weren't sure what we would be able to go into, but figured we could at least drive around.  We lucked out and were able to walk through all the buildings...which was good because the rain finally came!  There has been a lot of change since 1993, but there was also a lot we recognized.  We made so many memories there.  And now they have a beautiful baseball field...maybe we will have reason to watch the team play in the future!

 

 

Dave beside the place where we met and spent many hours!  We both we TA's for the Biology Department.

Future LU grads :) 

 

Dr. Falwell's memorial

Behind the mansion

We found this autoclave in the hallway...maybe it is ~20 years old :)

Sporting our LU spirit

Grammie with the grandchildren behind the visitor's center

 

Miss those mountains!!

Vacation Day One-Part One

Our vacation this year was a VA and DC trip; with a trip down memory lane at Liberty :)  We left around 2:00 on Saturday, June 29, and made it to Lynchburg, VA in time to get to bed.   We met my sister's family there on our little adventure.  My mom also joined in on the trip.  (Dad had to take the next week off for Grammie Camp so had to miss most of VA)  After breakfast on a cloudy, rain threatening morning, we went to Appomattox Courthouse.  Here are some pictures of the first part of our first day.

 

 

 

Camden somehow put on Dave's shorts by mistake!

 

 

 

Josiah and Camden ready to be Junior Rangers!

The men of our trip

Josiah and Camden in jail

The gang of cousins...at least all the ones that are born :)

Taking a Civil War style picture...no smiling

Scoot over..my turn on the potty

A little privacy please

Amy and Dave

Grammie with her five favorite people