Our Country's Birthday

I feel like most of my blogs lately are about trips. Sorry about the one track blogging, but here is more journaling and more photos about our time to explore. Someday I won't have any trips to blog about--

We took advantage of the long weekend over the 4^th to drive to Washington D.C. And Philadelphia. It was good and bad timing—We encountered lots of patriotism and crowds.

We ate our lunch in front of the Library of Congress -facing the Capitol. The Library of Congress was one of the impressive places I remember from my visits to D.C. when we lived in Virginia growing up.
Jared enjoyed seeing the Supreme Court building.



We made it to part of two Smithsonians to show Jordan the dinosaurs and Michael the space ships.


Of course the best part at the end of a long day was our stop to the temple. It is a spectacular sight and such a peaceful place.

The rest of these pictures are in Philadelphia on Saturday the 4th!
Waiting for the parade--Michael's patriotic artwork

We arrived just in time to claim a great spot for parade watching. The red brick building we faced across the street was the restored "Declaration House" where Jefferson rented a room while he worked was working on the Declaration. Michael wants me to include that he was the photographer for that picture.


One of the fun floats in the parade was the carriage with Abraham Lincoln commemorating his 200th birthday. The Lincoln festival outside the visitor's center had fun activities for the boys like building Lincoln Log cabins and making stovepipe top hats out of paper....

Our last two stops before heading home were the Liberty Bell and Independance Hall where the Declaration was signed.


There is the synopsis. condensed but not brief..
Happy Birthday America!

p.s. this one's for posterity

Jordan enjoying dress up at the Children's Discovery Center

Summer Swimming!

Michael and Jordan are so excited about their swim classes right now. We have missed them in the past because of moving and transitions. But this is perfect timing now--I think the swim lessons are what they will remember most from Virginia. The swim teacher, Debbi-Jo has a calling in life to do what she does. After two or three lessons Michael is jumping off the side of the pool, going under water to sit on the bottom.... Debbi Jo adds a hula hoop to swim through and a fun song or name to everything....
Michael is the one swimming to his classmates in the first picture. --in the orange shirt with white sleeves.


















I love this picture of Jordan. He has to have his goggles on his ears (-so they poke out) and he often puts his sandals on the wrong feet when we are running out the door.








On a side note, this is the house we have our swim lessons at. I had to take a picture for future reference. I love this kind of house with a big front porch for rocking chairs and hanging pots.

Monticello

Charlottesville's main claim to fame is Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home and plantation estate. Its second claim to fame is the University of Virginia, designed and founded by Jefferson. We visited a few weekends ago and gave Michael a crash course in U.S. history. After visiting so many church historical sites, it took him a little while to understand that Thomas Jefferson wasn't a prophet. Now it is fun to hear him shout "Thomas Jefferson!" every time he sees pictures or statues. He associates red bricks and columns with Jefferson's house too.

a few photos of Virginia

Yes we are in Virginia and we are doing well! Jared loves his internship. We even found out that he will be paid for some of it- we weren't counting on that.

Here are a few pictures of the place we call home for two months.































Our first weekend outing was to the campus of Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista. It is a historic hotel and women's college that has been educating LDS students for about 12 years. My dad sang at the dedication service in 1996. Jared look part in an LDS conference on religious freedom. We are learning that anything that has to do with the constitution is hot in this area. I love the beautiful buildings and scenery around the campus. and the boys and I enjoyed exploring while Jared went to a meetings.



This is an old civil war home owned by a family in our ward. It is thouroughly modernized now with a private outdoor pool.... They also have horses for training and therapeutic riding. I love the mix of history and agriculture.




























In Richmond last weekend, we visited my family's old house (1994-96) and had a picnic at the local park. We visited the downtown sites and walked across the bridge to Belle Isle.















































The boys and I find adventures to keep us happy during the weekdays like church playgroups, storytime at the library, a trolley ride downtown, etc. We miss our friends the Hepworths who started the Virginia experience with us but finished early.


The boys love nature walks in the many forested parks --especially with their dad.

Trips

As some of you fellow-bloggers know, we are moving to Southern Florida in August. I feel like we will be very far from family and the rest of the country. --although we will be fairly close to DisneyWorld and the Carribean (so come visit). Before leaving Michigan and the midwest we took the opportunity to visit some of the nearby sites. Jared finish his exams and we took off the next morning on a trip around Lake Erie.
First we visited Amish country in Berlin, Ohio. We learned a little about their way of life in farming, schooling, and religious practice. We met a few impressive people and tried some of their specialties like buttermilk cookies, pickled eggs and peanut butter spread.

In Kirtland we went to church and visited the LDS historic sites as well as the temple maintained by the Community of Christ (RLDS).

In Palmyra we got to stay in a local ladies bed and breakfast which was nice because the area is very rural and the motels are quite a ways away.
I thought it was interesting that the new Palmyra temple is located on the property that the Smith's owned when they built their farm --and where Joseph had his First Vision and visits from Moroni. The Church bought all that land and since I last visited the area 15 years ago they have developed really nice visitor centers.


We walked through the sacred grove in the morning. --beautiful places and a beautiful spirit.

Michael enjoyed learning how they made books at the time the Book of Mormon was published. The missionaries at all the sites were wonderful and very kind and patient when the boys attention spans ran out. The walk up the Hill Cumorah used up some energy from the boys and from a pregnant mom.
The picture of the boys in the cabin doorway is at the Whitmer farm where the Church was organized and where Joseph worked to translate the plates.









From Palmyra we drove to Niagara Falls. The first picture shows Jordan's distressed first reaction. He called the mist rising
from the falls a "storm." The boys and I are on the New York side with Canada behind us -where we stayed overnight. Jared is standing on a lookout on the Canadian side where you can see both areas of the falls.

This is the riverwalk in downtown Detroit. We decided to spend an afternoon exploring before we left the area. The people mover circles the city and is fun for kids at 50 cents a ride.
The (former) GM building behind Jared is a whole mall, hotel and office complex.










The next weekend my sister Jenny's husband graduated from medical school in Chicago. They are moving to Spokane. Jenny took us to the beautiful Chicago temple and botanical gardens with my parents and her parents/sister-in- law.













The boys loved to play together outside Jenny's apartment.
After these trips I decided I will be ready to "settle down" a bit this fall. Now for our next trip/sabbatical in Virginia.