In the middle of June the four of us boarded a plane bound for a great adventure! Don't they look excited?!?! We flew 4 hours into Baltimore, Maryland then rented a car, drove an hour to Washington D.C. where we picked up my dad at Dulles airport then drove 3 1/2 hours to Williamsburg, Virginia where we met up with my mom, sister, brother-in-law and 2 nieces. Whew! It was a long day!
We all stayed in a great hotel just walking distance to Colonial Williamsburg. We spent many afternoons just hanging out at the pool.
The girls had such a fun time being with their cousins. This is Emma with my niece, Savannah.
Ben certainly learned his lesson this day!
This was in Colonial Williamsburg. You don't see gardens like this in Arizona! If you look closely you will see Emma in the middle. She blends in with the flowers.
In Yorktown these misfits learned a hard lesson.
The girls had fun playing dress up in colonial clothes.
Then we toured some battlefields from the Revolutionary War. The novelty lasted about 30 seconds then we were off doing other exciting things.
The day we went to Jamestown may have been the hottest day ever. We did out best to enjoy ourselves anyway. Papa & Savannah explored a shady part of the ship.
Some frightening warriors we discovered.
This warrior couldn't hurt a fly!
He looks especially threatening with his name tag on his shirt.
This two munchkins were inseparable!
A statue of John Smith in Jamestown
After a week in Williamsburg we retraced our steps to my sister's house in Alexandria, Virginia. They are about 15 minutes from D.C. so we spent one day exploring our nation's capitol. If you look closely to the right of the picture you will see Emma in mid fall. Somehow she got pushed out of this cousin photo.
My dad and I spent some time at the Vietnam Memorial. Everyone else stayed in the shade.
Abe Lincoln!
Pretty cool shot of the Lincoln Memorial. But on a hot day, that's just a lot of steps!
I was fascinated by the war memorials. If you know me at all then you know that I'm a history geek. This is in honor of the soldiers who fought in the Korean War.
We spent a lot of time relaxing & spending time together at my sister's house. Here Papa is reading to the babies. (Yes, I realize Emma is 5 and starting kindergarten in 2 weeks. She's still my baby.)
Emma always makes friends with the local wildlife, whether they want to or not.
One evening we took a cruise on the Potomac River.
From the boat we saw the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
Sweet Savannah!
Uh, oh.
We took a quick drive by the White House.
Per family tradition, we enjoyed ice cream one evening.
Emma likes chocolate. Can you tell?
Maddie was pretty into her ice cream too!
After 5 days at my sister's we hopped back in the car and drove 4 hours to Pennsylvania for a family reunion with the Shannon side of the family. It was so great to see family that we hadn't seen in awhile.
My dad with his "little" brother.
Some of the cousins doing arts & crafts. Oh, and Ben too!
This is my uncle's daughter. They must share some of the same genes!
The next day, we piled back into the car (this is becoming a habit) and drove 2 hours into New York City! It was surprisingly chilly.
We boarded a boat headed for Liberty Island.
There's New York City in the background.
Lady Liberty, a red head and a slightly grumpy 3rd grader. I'll let you guess who's who.
She was much less grumpy after lunch and really enjoyed listening to the ENTIRE audio tour on Ellis Island. I say that because every time I was ready to leave the room and move on she would put her finger up and say, "One minute. I'm not done." Maybe she inherited my love of history!
On the boat ride back. It was a beautiful day!
That evening we went to 5th Avenue Pizza in Pelham, NY. The world's best pizza and I'm not exaggerating!
Before we left NYC for the day we stopped into the disturbingly underwhelming 9/11 memorial.
Steel from one of the Twin Towers.
This is a wallet and wedding ring found in the rubble after 9/11.
The shiny, mirror like building in the center of the photo is the first of 5 memorial towers that are being built to commemorate 9/11.
That night we drove to some friends that live near NYC. The next day Charis opted to stay at their house with my mom so my dad, Ben, Emma & I drove back into the city to explore some more. Here Emma is eating a pretzel in Time Square.
And a cannoli in Grand Central Station.
Here are our friends Jack & Cathy. Jack & my dad have been friends since they were 7. Cathy & my mom have been friends just as long! It was great to spend time together and laugh! You cannot go to this house and not laugh a lot!
After 2 nights in New York we drove (yes, again) 4 more hours to my aunt's house in Massachusetts. Ben & my dad were there for 2 more days before they had to fly home and go back to work. One of those days we went to the beach in New Hampshire. Emma is never satisfied with keeping her feet on the ground if there's another option!
The water was numbingly cold!
We enjoyed spending time with my cousins. Here Sarah was teaching the girls how to make stained "glass" windows.
Then she washed and braided their hair and did their nails!
One of our highlights of the trip was spending time with Aunt Dottie. Aunt Dottie is my grandmother's older sister. She is 100 years old! So really she is my mom's aunt, my great aunt and the girls great, great aunt! And to top it all off, she's really GREAT!
This is her in 1914 when she was 2!
Over the next 3 weeks we did a lot of fun things like:
- going to the beach (in Maine this time at the water was not as cold)
- watching how taffy is made
- eating more ice cream
- celebrating the 4th of July
(the sparklers are Charis' favorite part)
- celebrating Charis' 8th birthday with a special birthday lunch and shopping trip
- celebrating Charis' 8th birthday with a special birthday dinner
- complete wit fun presents.
We also threw a big birthday bash for Aunt Dottie!
It was fun to look at all the photos from the last 100 years.
She was able to visit with friends and family. It was a special time.
Me & my girls!
She blew out 100 candles!
A few days later we boarded a train headed for Boston!
While waiting for the train we read the book "Make Way for Ducklings" which is supposed to have taken place here. So we found the park, rode the swan boats (which are in the book) and
sat on some ducks! They're not real, of course.
If you ever go to Boston you must, must, must go to Mike's Pastry. You will have the largest and best lobster tail of your life! Not to mention they also have about 20 different kinds of cannolis!
This is the only picture I have of our cannoli. It was tasty!
Back up at my aunt's house we did a few more rural things.
One day we went to a farm and fed goats, pigs, chickens & sheep.
Then we had a snack of farm fresh blueberries, spiced cider donuts and fresh milk. We felt like the Boxcar Children!
Another day we drove up to New Hampshire to go to Parker's Maple House on a real maple syrup farm.
We also spent a lot of time hanging around and just having fun!
The town my aunt lives in was once one of the shoe capitols of the world. All over town different artists have decorated these shoes. We spent one morning on a scavenger hunt to see how many we could find. We saw 7 out of 14.
We also went bowling. It was the girl's first time.
Although by looking at the scores you would have thought it was my first time too!
Whew! 5 weeks, 10 states, planes, trains, boats & cars, lots of family, friends and memories made!
What a great Summer!
