Fourth of July

Hayley's friend, Megan, arrived on the Fourth of July to spend a week with us! We have been looking forward to this for a few months now, but it also means that our time here is almost up.

After much deliberation about where we should watch the fireworks we decided to go to the big concert again like we did for Memorial Day. We had to get there several hours early, so we packed a dinner and some games and settled in.

It was a great concert. Neil and I know we are getting old because we were thrilled to see . . . .

Yes! Barry Manilow! And we knew all of his songs too. The kids were like, "who's Barry Manilow? Why do I know this song?" (Because I have his Greatest Hits album!) We also saw Aretha Franklin and the Sesame Street gang! Only in DC, right?

This is Jeffrey in action. He had five older boys surrounding him and listening to him. It was a hoot. He also always seems to get people to give him stuff. Maybe he's going to be a politician.

Fireworks!

Happy Fourth of July!

Checking off the List

Neil went through the entire Washington DC guidebook to see if there was anything important that we still needed to do. Happily we have seen almost everything we want to! So our last couple of weeks here we are checking a few more things off our list. It is fun to see some of the unique things in the area.

First, we dropped Hayley off again (we just got her back!). She went on a two night, 12 mile backpacking trip with some girls and youth leaders from church in Washington National Forest.

The Smithsonian hosts a Folk Life Festival on the National Mall every year. We decided to check it out after hearing two amazing African American storytellers from the festival on Monday night at the Kennedy Center. There were three sections to the festival: Las Americas, Wales, and Giving Voice (African American). The kids are listening to a storyteller from Wales in this picture.

He told some funny stories about "Jack." It was interesting to learn more about Wales and hear the Welsh language and music.

We loved the Mexican Mariachi group. They had wonderful voices. Exactly what you'd expect!

These guys were fun too. They did a concert called "MLK the Hip Hop Way." It was inspirational hip hop--believe it or not! They had a great message of self reliance and morality that they shared through rap and hip hop. It was Martin Luther King's message.

The Smithsonian Carousel was on Jeffrey's list. Check! So, where else can you hear Welsh, Mariachi, and Hip Hop all in the same stretch of lawn? !

We had so much fun canoeing on the Potomac in April that it was on all of our lists to do again. On Friday we tried the C&O Canal. The boys liked to hide under the trees on the side and ambush the girls in the kayaks. :)

I enjoyed getting the girls to sing canoeing songs and making up dramatic stories about the "unsuspecting canoers heading towards the treacherous falls around the bend."

It was a great afternoon. When we were done on the canal, we walked down a street in Georgetown and bought some fudge. A few more check marks on the list!

Caverns and Canyons

Hayley is back! We missed her so much! On Saturday morning we picked her up from her week at Especially for Youth in southern Virginia. She was so pumped up and full of the Spirit. She was also very sad to say goodbye to the many new friends she made. She probably won't be able to see them again since they are from Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and New Jersey. Thank goodness for Facebook!

Hayley was probably hoping to go straight home and sleep! But do you think we could pass through Virginia without making some stops? Inconceivable! The Luray Caverns actually wasn't on the top of our list. But it is now! They were very impressive. We think they are as good, or even more exciting than Carlsbad Caverns.

The headsets gave us a guided tour. The kids loved it. Jeffrey was especially enthralled with the narration and kept getting ahead of us, anxious to get to the next stop. That's why he isn't in many pictures!

After hiking in the cave, we went hiking in Shenendoah National Park. This is Dark Hollow Falls. We were really testing Hayley's new positive EFY attitude now! She was so tired! Hayley is resilient and patient though and she survived. :)




The view from Skyline Drive is so beautiful and green. Quite different from the Rocky Mountains rugged wilderness. As pretty as this is, we are really missing the Rockies.

The War between the States, revisited

On Friday we drove back down to Buena Vista, VA to pick up Hayley from her week at EFY at Southern Virginia University. On the way we couldn't resist stopping at a few more Civil War battlefields. Fredricksburg, Spotsylvania, and Chancellorsville were areas of the most brutal fighting and the most casualties over the course of the war.

This is the hill top where General Robert E. Lee had his headquarters during the Fredericksburg battle.

Dinner at Sammy T.'s was a fun treat. We liked the sweet potato fries.

Spotsylvania battlefield was a more sobering experience. It is in pristine condition and much like it appeared during the Civil War. We walked around the site that is called "Bloody Angle." We heard thunder in the distance and imagined cannon fire and men slogging through knee deep mud to fight hand to hand with bayonets. Shudders!

Growing up in the West we hadn't given too much thought to the Civil War other than what we were required to know for history classes. But now we are reading about it and seeing where it took place and we are coming to understand that as horrible as it was, it was the only way to put an end to slavery in this country. The miracle of it all is that our country came through it and we are still united. It's no wonder that the last 150 years have still been a struggle for civil rights. There was no easy way out.

Jeffrey's Day!

Finally, the long awaited birthday has arrived! Jeffrey's birthday (June 23) has come at last. He has been planning this day for months. When he realized his friends couldn't come he was bitterly disappointed at first and he started inviting any child he met to come to his party. We eventually convinced him that we could still have an awesome day with a family party.Breakfast in bed is a good start to any birthday! He joined the rest of us in at the table though. Too lonely! :) We dropped Hayley off at EFY the day before so we were missing her when we gave our birthday booster statements. But never fear, Jeffrey announced "I'm getting a brain connection! It's Hayley! She says, . . . .oh, I lost her!"

Emily planned a fun day with games and crafts. Here they are making tube rockets. The best game was "Lightsaber Tag." One person hid a lightsaber in the courtyard and the first person who found it ran around trying to tag everyone before they made it to the safe zone. It was great fun! Later we went to the new Pixar movie, "UP."

Jeff got a special treat when Mom and Dad took him to Johnny Rockets for dinner.

Happy Birthday Jeff! We love you!

Pony Island

Chincoteague, Assateague, Pony Island . . . . a small barrier island off the coast of Maryland and Virginia that is home to a herd of wild ponies, migratory birds, and all sorts of other creatures. It has an air of mystery and romance and we thoroughly enjoyed our day there.
Ever heard of "Misty of Chincoteague Island?" Well these are Misty's relations. No one knows exactly how they got here. Some say they swam to shore when a Spanish vessel sank off the coast in the 1500's.




This is the third birthday we've celebrated in a hotel this year. Happy 13th birthday Emily! How's that McDonald's "Big Breakfast?"



The wetland home to so many birds and turtles and crabs is also home to billions of mosquitos! Neil kept the bug spray out and spraying on our little walk to view the ponies (Emily is swatting in the background.)



Emily imagined we would spend her birthday day on the beautiful beach. She didn't expect to be dragging dead fish parts on a string to a creek to catch crabs! She was a good sport about it though! :)


Crabbing: tie some kind of stinky fish or rancid chicken to a line with a weight, toss it in a murky creek, wait, wait, slowly pull it in when you feel a tug, snag it in the net, dump it in the bucket!

Jeff caught the biggest crab! He gave it to the neighboring "crabbers" to take home and cook. He said, "Be careful! He's a feisty one! You'll have to throw him in the pot quick!"

We got to hold a horseshoe crab in the nature center. Those things are strange!

This is Margolo, the gull who invited his friends to share our lunch.

Finally! The beach!

We only had an hour at the beach. It was a fun filled hour of "body surfing," i.e. rolling and tumbling with the waves as they crash to shore. Only an hour because thunderheads rolled in and the lifeguards evacuated the beach. It was such an interesting day! Even our mad dash to the car and the changing stalls was exciting. The rain started coming down in sheets as Mara and Hayley were changing. When they finally made it to the car, sopping wet, Mara said, "I was stark naked in the rain!" We got a good laugh out of that!

Works of Art

Last week we had some artful experiences. Some of our own making, and some that we appreciated at the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Neil and the boys invested in some balsa wood and made these bridges. Mark and Jeff made their own designs on paper first and then worked hard to bring their creations to life.

Thursday afternoon we ventured to the Hirshorn to try to appreciate the modern art there. But first we stopped at the Smithsonian Castle to see the loot pile from the movie "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian." We watched that movie last week on an Imax in the Natural History Museum--it was pretty fun.

A curator at the Hirshorn tried to help us appreciate the artwork. She said "It doesn't matter what it 'means' to the artist. It is the effect the art has on you that matters." When she saw the kids posing she said, "Now they have become sculpture and part of the art." Hee, hee!

So, here is Mara . . . or is it a sculpture? We liked the bright, colorful art the best. Some of the other art definitely had an "effect" on us, but it wasn't all positive. Confusing, shocking, head scratching all might be better descriptors.

For instance, we just didn't quite "get" the bronze sugar beet pile with faces carved in them. The Big Man was quite shocking too. If you want to see him, you'll have to check out the Smithsonian website. I wanted to keep the blog family friendly. :) We did come away with a better appreciation of contemporary art though. It won't be our last visit to an art museum!