Summer Vacation Back East

We had such a lovely time visiting Chris and Tamie's families in Virginia this past month. Can't wait to go back again! There are so many things to do and see that we'll need to get back! It's easy to make it a priority when you have family there to see. We hope it won't be long. Will is still upset that we didn't go visit the Lincoln Memorial!

 The first day was spent getting there. The kids did awesome on the plane but I'm sure it helped being plugged in with head phones. My kids love their electronics and we love them for travel!

All ready to go!

 Our first evening there was spent hanging out with some of our Schroeder cousins. We marveled at all the green. As the sun set, all the beautiful fire flies came out and looked like fairies in the woods behind Uncle Chris and Aunt Rachel's home. Wish I could have captured a picture of them all!

Day Two

Waited in line at the National Archives to see the original Declaration of Independence signed by our multiple great grandfather Richard Henry Lee.

This is an imprint from the original. You can't see most of the signatures in the original document anymore.

In the room with the original documents, they have huge murals depicting all those who signed the document. This is a portion of that mural in a small version with Eric pointing at Richard Henry Lee. He looks so confident!

American History Museum is so fun but even better with cousins!

Will was so funny and had everyone watching when he pretended to be the president. I wish I had a video recording of it.

One of the things we enjoyed at the American History Museum was seeing the Star-Spangled Banner. It was at the top of Will's list of things to see on this trip. It is in extreme preservation mode and pictures were not allowed. We would later in the trip visit Fort McHenry where the National Anthem was written by Francis Scott Key when he witnessed this very flag waving triumphant after a night of battle during the War of 1812.

DAY THREE

We spent a second day in Washington DC.
Our first stop was at the White House Visitor Center.

After learning about the White House, the kids received a junior ranger badge.

Our next stop was at Ford's Theater and the house across the street where President Lincoln died.

Where President Lincoln was sitting when he was shot.

Eric taking Lyndsee out. Ford's Theater was creepy to her.

Lyndsee spent a bunch of our trip feeling leery of all the old places we were visiting. They seemed creepy and dark in her mind.

Emma, Taylor, and Will in the room where President Lincoln died.

I had no idea there was a whole Lincoln museum across the street from Ford's Theater. This column is made up of nothing but books written about Lincoln.

Walking downtown in search of lunch.

Large group of us ready to eat.

From the kids' end of the table.

Siblings - Eric, Chris, and Tamie

Love this photo! ^

I overheard Reagan delicately explaining to her cousin that this giraffe used to be alive.

The natural history museum is beautiful in its architecture.

To the air and space museum we go!

 

The kids participating in a demonstration about how planes fly.

 

Wright brothers' flyer

Outside of the Air and Space museum. We are starting to get a little tired at this point.

I might have been a little disappointed at this site (all of the scaffolding around the dome) if I hadn't seen it a couple of times before.

Thankful to have spent time with Tamie and Val and their kids!

Jefferson Memorial

The Roosevelt Memorial was a new one for us to check out.

Beautiful Taylor

We had a long but wonderful day which ended at Chick-fil-a for dinner around 9:00. We stayed at Tamie's home for a second night in a row where our niece Emma so graciously gave up her room and bed for us. We would also get news that night that we would have the opportunity to tour the West Wing of the White House through a special hook-up Aunt Rachel arranged for the next day. Exciting!

DAY FOUR

The following morning brought rain and soggy, wet grounds. We would stop on our way through Alexandria to visit some of my side of the family. My fifth and sixth great grandmothers and my six great grandfather are buried in the Christ's Church Episcopal Cemetery. They weren't much for conversation so we didn't stay long. I'm fascinated by old cemeteries. We also had the extreme rare and awesome opportunity to visit their homes, one of which is a museum that we took a tour of.

Edmund Lee and his wife Sarah "Sally" Lee (daugther of Richard Henry Lee--Virginia delegate and signer of the Declaration of Independence) and their daughter Sarah Lee.

My sixth great grandparents--Edmund was mayor of Alexandria at one point

Their home before moving across the street to the home below.

Lee-Fendall Home--This home we were able to tour and learn more of its history and about my sixth great grandparents who lived here during a portion of its history.

We met up with Aunt Rachel and Uncle Chris and fam for a very special tour of the White House. We had to get dressed up in our Sunday best. I hadn't brought anything fancy for Will but he got by.

The Press Room - Even though we saw other famous rooms like the Oval Office, we couldn't take pictures inside most of the West Wing or the rose gardens. The ban was lifted we heard however just days after our visit. Ah well.

Waiting at the gate for approval to get into the West Wing

We were soaked to the bone leaving the White House that day. The rain was coming down in sheets!

 We made the hour drive back to Uncle Chris and Aunt Rachel's house where we would spend the rest of Saturday hanging out and visiting with them.


DAY FIVE

We went to church on Sunday morning with the Chris Schroeder family and then spent the rest of Sunday just relaxing and enjoying each others company. Aunt Rachel did a lot of cooking for us and it was always stupendous! She also took the kids and I on a stroll through the village streets of Waterford, VA where they live. I loved all the old homes that lined the main street.

Old Mill

Old jail house

Shooting guns into the woods

 

Flying kites and playing with Bear the dog

 No pictures but we also roasted marshmallows in the newly constructed fire pit and watched the fire flies come out again. Such a sweet day in the Virginia countryside!

DAY SIX

We would leave Monday morning with Tamie and Val's family for Pennsylvania. We drove through Baltimore and stopped there to visit Fort McHenry.

Lyndsee teamed up with Will for help getting her Junior Ranger badge.

Heading into the fort

This was a great quick stop on our way to Philadelphia. I have to say though that my favorite part of this stop was in the visitor center here when we watched the movie about it's history and they played "The Star-Spangled Banner" and everyone watching put their hands on their hearts.

DAY SEVEN

 We spent this day in Philadelphia. It was one big history tour starting out at the visitor center to get tickets to Independence Hall where we headed first thing.

  

Familiar parts of the Hall to our kids due to the movie "National Treasure".

 

We come full circle after seeing the actual Declaration of Independence in Washington DC to now the room in which it was signed. These 3 are at a perfect age for this kind of stuff!

Next door we would visit Congress Hall. It housed the Federal Congress from 1790 until 1800 when Philadelphia was the US capital. It was here that Washington had his inauguration for his second term and John Adams took his oath as President.
 

  

The Graff House was the residence of Thomas Jefferson when and where he penned The Declaration of Independence.

 

 We spent time walking around Philly to see all that it had to offer mostly where history is concerned.

Unknown soldier of the Revolutionary War

A special lunch stop on our history tour at the City Tavern. It was cool to eat in such a historical place!

 

Elfreth's Alley - America’s oldest continuously inhabited residential street. So cute so of course, I loved it!

Next stop was Betsy Ross' house. Very fun and family friendly though Eric still had to carry Lyndsee through at first due to her uneasiness with old houses. Ha ha!

Betsy Ross telling her story of making the US flag.

Betsy Ross' grave next to her home.

"Once Upon a Nation" storytelling spot. The kids loved this actress and her way of telling historical stories. I would take more time for this if I was in Philadelphia for longer and had known more about it going in.

We ended up making some time for Valley Forge in the evening since it was very near our hotel in King of Prussia, PA

Getting another Junior Ranger badge though thankfully this one didn't take much effort.

George Washington lived here during the winter his army was encamped in Valley Forge.

Another Chick-fil-a (got to take advantage when we're in towns that have them) and we were back to the hotel to rest up for the night. We had another BIG day ahead!

DAY EIGHT

Giant candy bars

Inside the store was a ride to take you on the Hershey Chocolate Tour.

Taylor and Emma

How Lyndsee measured up--Hershey Kiss

How Madison and Reagan measured up--Reese's peanut butter cups

How the big kids measured up--Twizzlers

How the adults measured up--Jolly Ranchers

Lyndsee on a favorite. She also liked the baby coaster Cocoa Cruiser.

Taylor was able to ride every ride and didn't skip a chance to get in some pretty exciting thrills. Her favorites were Storm Runner and Skyrush. They were INTENSE!

Will's speed when it comes to amusement park rides.

Reagan rode her first loop roller coaster and loved it!

Not a great shot of me but I had to share this shot of Will going on his only roller coaster we could talk him into. We really had to push him onto this mild family roller coaster but he loved it and it ended up being his favorite ride. His favorite rides were the Trail Blazer and the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Challenge.

Reagan is a thrill ride junkie like her parents and enjoyed every ride they would allow her on. Laff Trakk was her favorite ride that day. It was also the longest line of the day so I'm glad she loved it so much. This is her on her second favorite ride Comet which was just a classic white wood roller coaster.

Hershey Park was not overly crowded and the weather was great! I wouldn't mind going back again someday and spending some more time. They had some coasters that scared me like no other coaster I've been on before! It was great to throw in a day at an amusement park amongst all of our days of historical sites touring.

DAY NINE

 We spent our time in Gettysburg during the anniversary of the battle (July 1st-3rd). We were there on the 2nd so they had some extra events going on for the kids. The kids got to learn more about the time period of the Gettysburg battle starting with dress up time!

Reagan was not into this like I thought she would be. My only picture of her dressed up in period clothing.

Madison was cute because she wanted her picture taken with the man in the group.

Precious Lyndsee!

 The battlefield of Gettysburg is immense and surrounds the town. There are literally thousands of memorials that have been put in place through out the battlefield. It takes some serious time and attention to learn about this place and all that was sacrificed here. Hopefully we can get back someday to learn more! Here are random pictures from the rest of our time there.

DAY TEN

More fun time with family! You can't go to Virginia without a river run down the Shenandoah River. Thanks to Uncle Val, we have some pictures from the trip.

Taking a bus from the parking lot down the road to get in the river.

Let's do this!

Getting into the river.

Just chillin'.

The kids liked getting in all the way.

We enjoyed being able to relax on the river and enjoy each other's company. It makes me think about "The Family--A Proclamation to the World" where it says, "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities". Let's not leave out the fun!

DAY ELEVEN - Fourth of July!

This would be our finally day spent with family back East. This day started out very rainy. We had had very nice weather up to this point. We hadn't been rained out yet and the temperatures were moderate and on the cooler side for this time of year. It made all of our touring around so much more enjoyable than it might have been if we were facing hot and humid conditions. We debated on this morning as to what we should do. Chris and Eric went out and bought camping chairs and a canopy. We decided to wait it out downtown. We parked at Chris' office where we did some waiting hearing that the Mall had been evacuated due to thunder storms. We decided to eat in the shelter of a restaurant rather than picnicking. By the time we got done with dinner, we decided to face the crowds as the rain was little to none at this point. I'm so glad that we decided to go because even though we didn't arrive to grab our spot until around 7:00 that evening, there was plenty of space (be it muddy space) and the rain held off for the fireworks that night. I've seen the fireworks on the National Mall sitting under the Washington Monument! Check that off my bucket list!

Waiting at the restaurant for a table

All of us!

It was a very happy 4th of July!