First Day of School, part 1

The boys actually missed their first day of school, along with the meet the teacher night. But we did make it home for the second day of school. I walked them both to school, so we could find their teachers and lines. Ah, my boys, 5th grade and 1st grade.
Funny thing, they both picked out their outfits independently, but it's funny that they matched each other so well.

And, the rest of the trip

After spending a fun week filled with cousins, trips, tons of mac n' cheese, aunts, uncles, brothers, sister, shopping, wii, thunder storms (and a brief blackout), and the loss of a well pump (among other things), we got to spend two very quiet days with mom and dad.

Maddie loved their cats. They tolerated her.

She also fell asleep at dinner, which is odd for my children, I can count on one hand the cumulative number of times that they've all done it. Funny little Aspen, she thought that she'd try to nap too, but couldn't get past her giggles.

Davin got to have corn on the cob again, and this time helped shuck the corn.

The kids also got to help toss the corn cobs into the swail.

We got to eat the most amazing (and HUGE) heirloom tomatoes from one of mom and dad's friends. Oooh, were those good.

And then we packed up and got ready to head home, and for school (that started they day we flew home).

Washington, DC

Also on our trip to do list was a visit to DC. I let the kids print out maps for both the Smithsonians they wanted to visit: the Museum of Natural History, and the Air and Space Museum. Having spent 6 months in DC, I would recommend doing only one Smithsonian a day, along with a monument or two, but no more than that.


We drove down to the nearest Metro station, Silver Springs!, and rode in from there. The kids loved the Metro, the didn't even mind the mad dash at metro center from the red line down to the blue/orange line that would take us to the Smithsonian stop.


Our first views upon exiting the Metro were of the Mall with the Capitol at one end, and the Washington Monument at the other. It was really neat to see the Washington Monument w/o the big blue exoskeleton. When we were out for Eric's internship, they were working on a major restoration project, the whole Monument was covered in scaffolding w/a blue web around it to keep the workers safe.


We spent 4 hours inside the Museum of Natural History, and we only saw half of the displays. But it was so much fun, and the kids loved it. With only a few minor issues with Maddie (who missed her nap), not too bad with 8 kids and 4 adults.


Davin and Aidan were in heaven in the dinosaur wing. To see the T-Rex that inspired "Rexy" from Night at the Museum standing off against a triceratops, with some sauropod in the background, it made us all feel tiny.


Maddie loved the newer Ocean wing, well, so did the rest of them. Aidan also found a few Egyptian displays, which was super cool for him since he just finished reading the first in Riordan's new series The Kane Chronicles.


Eme was thrilled to be able to see The Hope Diamond, which she decided she wanted (curse and all), along with all the other jewelery on display.



It was a special treat to be able to take a photo of mom in front of the minuteman missile. She worked on the punch cards for the guidance systems, my dad worked on the propulsion (?), and my mom's dad worked on the miniaturization of the "chips" (circuit boards). This is how my parents met, it's more than a little cool that the cold war brought my parents together.

Just in case you were wondering, a trip like this into the city should NEVER be taken by the feint in heart. Stock up on water (we burned through 10 bottles, having refilled a few of them), stock up on snacks, which we did, but Gramma's were way better-she's got connections :) But I'm so glad we did it.

Gettysburg, with a private guide

One word, wow! We have many thanks for Diana for spending her Friday morning giving us all an amazing private driving tour of Gettysburg. She was so energetic, and such an amazing story teller; she didn't just throw the bare facts out at us, but wove them into the background stories for a truly one of a kind experience.

This is the "first" eternal flame, Jackie O got the idea from Gettysburg

Last year Eric read the three Shaara books about the Civil War. And although he didn't have time to re-read them this year, he did insist we stay awake far too late for my tastes to watch day 1 and the battle of Little Round Top on Gettysburg. And I'm glad he did, it made it all much clearer to me. Seeing the landscape in real life (very hilly and boulder strewn) juxtaposition against the battle scenes from the movie gave me a greater understanding for just how devastating the battle was.

After day one, no one thought it would continue for two more days, the soldiers spent the night burying the dead. I can't even imagine how they got up the next day to fight again, and then yet again. And to see the space that 55,000+ men fought in, I still am in awe of how they all fit in there.

General Robert E. Lee's monument, looking across the field of Picket's Charge

I'm so glad that we got to hike up Little Round Top to the far left flank, to the site of the 20th Maine's astounding victory (and at such terrible costs). To picture the bayonet charge down the hill, over the boulders and the bodies (both wounded and dead), it was quite surreal. And then to the very top itself, to look across the battlefield, to see Devil's Den and Big Round Top.

I loved hearing about the artillery. It must be the math geek in me. The first shot might be a bit high, the second shot might be a bit low, but that third shot always hit its mark. The army corp of engineers was amazing. To have such accuracy at 1, 3, and 5 miles, with such rudimentary (by today's standards) equipment. And boy were those shells devastating: whole shells, tin coated buckshot (shrapnel) that left nothing behind, and exploding shells.

We ended our tour at cemetery ridge, so named because of an existing cemetery. It was here that they buried much of the dead, so many are "unknown"s. The unclaimed dead were buried by state and regiment. This was the last time that regiments were done by town, after the civil war, whole towns were lost.

There is a beautiful poem written up there, about war and death, and the eternal encampment of tents. This picture is part of an enormous monument there, you're looking at Death, Peace is seated next to him, along with the three other muse.

And this is a story for another time, about an amazing Englishman named Marse Buckingham, he was the flag bearer for his regiment. It was both a great honor, and a very dangerous assignment.

Over the river and through the woods...

to Grandmother's house we go.

So we didn't go over a river from the airport to get to my folks house, but we did go over some very lovely wooded hills and vales. And boy was it all green!

I think they store bears in that silo

Before our trip, my kids made a list of the things that they wanted to do in Pennsylvania. The first on their list was THE Bear Store. No, not a build a bear place (although, they do have their own on the third floor). This was the Boyd's Bear Mecca. Imagine a building twice as wide as a Dillards, and three stories tall (not including the cafeteria/bakery in the basement), that's a close size conversion. We went on Wednesday, and the kids loved it.

Everyone found just who they needed. Davin got his Civil War bear (after a long 2 year wait), Aidan found a karate bear, Eme got a glamorous pink bejeweled bear, and Maddie found one (after being shown several) and immediately said "my bear". I don't know how mom does it, if I had a store like that w/in 30 minutes of my house, I'd be in trouble (ahh, the Jim Shore stuff...)

Isabella and Campbell

Our list also included seeing lots of cousins. And boy did we do that! There were 11 adults and 17 kids ranging from 2 to 15 (this was on Sat and Sunday, there were fewer earlier and just us by the end). By the way, it takes 3 boxes of mac 'n cheese to feed 12 kids, just in case you were wondering. But my mom deserves major kudos for the meal planning for that many people, including those with food issues (diabeties, celiac, colitis, and just plain picky), the meals went with out a hitch each night.

Aspen and Eme

Eric's to do list included hitting the Hanover Shoe outlet (Bostonian/Clarks, for those not in the know), which we did on Thursday before people got in. He went with the intent of buying one new pair of dress shoes, I went with the intent of getting him to buy 2 pairs. We left with 2 pairs of black dress shoes, a pair of brown leather casual shoes (for Eric), and a pair of cute sneakers for me, all for just under $100. Especially awsome when you concider that the cheepest reg price for one pair was $80. I love that store!