Day 5

On the morning of Day 5, we headed back into Washington D.C. We had tickets to go up in the Washington monument. The traffic was horrible, so the guys dropped us off to pick up our tickets while they hunted for a parking spot.
See the Capitol in the background!

It was fun to look out over the city and see famous landmarks.
Part of the Mall and the Lincoln Memorial

The Mall and the Capitol at the end.

The Pentagon

The White House

Mel and Jason flopped down on the bench while we were waiting for Mom and Dad to come back down. They didn't realize I was snapping their picture.

Once they realized what I did, they had to pose. ;)

We left D.C. and went to Mt. Vernon where we met George and Martha Washington along with their grandchildren.

They were a little hard to get to know--not very communicative.

Throughout the years he lived there, Washington added on to the original house.

He drew up the designs himself.

Looking out over the front yard at the Potomac River.

What a pretty view to have each morning as he woke up!

We were not allowed to take photos in the house itself, but the grounds were beautiful!

Washington was very knowledgeable in farming, building, and gardening. He had very innovative ideas for his time.

A barn he designed to thresh wheat.

This covered walkway led to the kitchen; it was separate from the house because fires were very common and was better to have just the kitchen burn down and not the entire house!

This tree is called a Crepe Myrtle and it reminded us of our Flowering Crab Apple trees back in Illinois. The main difference is that ours bloom in the spring and it was fall when we visited Maryland and Virginia! They were quite lovely.

Washington owned a lot of land and the grounds were just gorgeous...

This is where our first president is interred on a hillside below his home...

One thing that impressed us about Washington is the fact that he could have been king had he wanted to. His courage and skills during the war made him a hero; many people wanted him to be the ruler over the newly formed United States, but Washington firmly believed in the freedom he fought for. Later he did accept presidency and became the only man to ever be unanimously elected as president!

Day 4

On Day 4 of our vacation, we headed to our nation's capitol!

We started our day by visiting the Holocaust Museum. Somehow, half of our pictures from this day were lost. We don't know how it happened, but we were pretty disappointed. So...I don't have any pictures of our first stop. In fact I borrowed these next couple of pics so you could see where we were.

The Holocaust Museum was excellent. We walked out of there very sobered and thankful for our freedoms.

After lunch, we visited many of the memorials and monuments.

The Washington Monument was impressive!

The Lincoln Memorial

As we were walking up these steps, we couldn't help but be reminded of a certain movie.

Mel and Jase decided they should act out one of the scenes. They couldn't remember the exact wording, but they got it pretty close. Anybody know what movie it's from?
Take 1 of another scene. The final cut was one of the videos we lost, but I thought the blooper was cute.

One of our greatest presidents. At the WWII memorial, we found the Illinois pillar and took a picture by it. Alas...that's another one that didn't survive. We enjoyed hearing the accents and languages other tourists spoke all around us. We definitely weren't in the Midwest!The Vietnam WallAll those names...
Statues at the Vietnam Memorial

The FDR Memorial

It had a number of beautiful waterfalls!What do you think? Do they fit in?
The Jefferson Memorial was our last stop of the day. We were ready to be done! We estimated we walked at least 10 miles that day! We went home tired and sore, but it was worth it. Thomas Jefferson
After seeing all the monuments and memorials to the men and women who formed our country and fought to preserve our freedoms, we thought back to the beginning of our day at the Holocaust Museum. What a stark contrast--a country run by a dictator and the horrors that brought and a country based on Godly principles.

We are blessed to live in America!

East Coast Vacation - Day 3

We had ideas of where we wanted to go on this vacation, but we didn't really have everything planned out. We were too busy planning Family Camp. As it turned out, it was a good thing we didn't have a schedule to stick to since Jason got sick. Saturday morning, we decided to visit the beach. We thought it would be a relaxing day for him to recover.

Crossing the Chesapeake Bay

The boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware

This was the first time the three of us kids had seen the ocean! It was beautiful!

It was a bit chilly that day.

Jason didn't want to give up his sweatshirt.

Mel

After testing the water temperature, we decided we'd wait a bit before going all of the way in.
Soaking wet suits and a chilly breeze--not a good combination to start the afternoon. We spread our towels out on the warm sand instead.

Mel and Mom took a walk down the boardwalk and looked in all the shops.

Finally, it was time to brave the waves! Once we were in the water, it wasn't actually too cold.
Dad and me

Some of the waves were pretty strong. They knocked us over a few times.
Body surfing
Jase, Dad, and me (on the edge of the pic)

We had a blast!

As we were getting ready to leave, Dad said, "Hey look! Dolphins!!!" If we'd left a few minutes earlier, we would have missed them. As it was, we were standing up at just the right time! It was hard to time the picture when they jumped out of the water. Sorry. This is all you get. If you look closely, you can see two fins sticking up. There were probably 50 dolphins swimming parallel to the shore about 100 feet out. It was a very neat way to end the day!!!

This was our most relaxing day of vacation, and we absolutely loved seeing the ocean! It was beautiful!