Abingdon, VA

Last weekend, I tossed the kiddos in the car and we headed out to get in some quality time with Zack's folks. The destination: Abingdon, Virginia, home to the Virginia Creeper Trail. The plan was to bike it and take in some of the beautiful mountain scenery. We stopped in Boone on the way up to visit with some friends, but still arrived in Abingdon in time to check out some fishies and eat dinner before bed. 

We headed out the next morning to ride the trail. 

Grandpa took on the challenge of hauling the kiddos.  That adds somewhere between 50-60 lbs of weight, not counting the trailer, but the route is mostly downhill, so it didn't become an issue. 

And of course we stopped along the way to check out the scenery.  Ela loved watching the water and wanted to stop over and over again.  Lily just wanted out of her helmet. 

We stopped for lunch about 7 miles from Damascus (our final destination) and then booked it the last leg.  The bad thing about riding with kiddos: the grown ups are tired at the end of the ride, but the kids have done nothing but sit all day.  Ela was ready to wiggle so we took her to check out some trains.

She was sad that they didn't move, but she enjoyed climbing around in them. 

Grandpa was having so much fun with the girls that he volunteered to take them for the evening so Grandma and I could go see a show.  Tarzan was playing at the Barter Theater, so after dinner we headed out.  I enjoyed the break from my little sillies. 
We headed back to Winston after breakfast the next morning.  It was a lovely trip.  I bet it would be really amazing as the leaves change, and I hope we get to go back some time and ride again. 

Road Tripping

Apparently, my mom and I are gluttons for punishment, so last week, we decided to drive to Moline, IL with the girls to visit my great-aunt, among other people. It's a 16 hour drive, and we did entertain the notion of flying, but have you seen plane ticket prices recently? Ugh. The girls did really well on our trip to Pittsburgh, so we decided to see how far we could get them.

We started out Thursday afternoon, hoping they'd nap, and rolled merrily along until dinner time. We learned that Ela travels a lot like this:

And Lily travels a lot like this:

We stopped for dinner that night and then rolled on until we ran out of steam. The next day, we got up with the girls, and continued. We stopped in Effingham to visit one of Mom's cousins, which was a lot of fun. Then it was back in the car and we arrived in Moline in time to have a nice dinner with Aunt Margaret and my dad, who was in the city on business.

Saturday, we had a very fun day. We went swimming at the pool in the morning, then we went out for lunch at a lovely place owned by a friend of ours called Lagomarcino's. We got lucky and our friend was there, so we had a nice chat, too.

We had a little time, so we went down to the John Deere Pavilion to see the tractors, and instead we hit the jackpot. John Deere is celebrating it's 175th year, and they were having a "Farm Day", complete with animals...

...some of which wanted to eat the girls's skirts. But really, it was the very best petting zoo I've ever seen.

There were also games. Ela is still talking about milking a cow.

It was super fun.

After another lovely visit with some old friends, we headed back to my aunt's for another lovely dinner. The next day we went to see one more friend, had lunch with my aunt, and headed back onto the road. We drove until we hit Lawrenceville, where we stopped to visit Zack's Aunt, Uncle and cousins and have a quick dinner. Here are the girls with their second cousins. 

It was quick, but nice. We drove again until Lily ran out of steam, woke up a from a dead sleep and screamed until we stopped the car. So now we know exactly how far she can go before she's done. And it's really freakin far for a fourteen month old.

We had breakfast Monday morning with one more friend, and then it was back on the road for the day. We managed to make it to Winston in time to celebrate Zack's Dad's birthday with him and have another lovely dinner.

The girls liked the ice cream the best. After dinner it was a short drive home.   The whole trip went really fast, and we were busy non-stop.  It was actually a very good time.  I was really glad we could see so many people in such a short time.  And I'm also really glad the girls travel well.  I suspect it will come in very handy in the next several years. 

Colonial Williamsburg

Over the Veteran's Day weekend, Colonial Williamsburg offered free admission to all active duty military and their dependants. That comibined with a super good deal on a hotel room convinced us to go down and check it out. On the way, we stopped and picked up Zack's sister. We had a crazy night in the hotel room (Ela decided to skip sleep), and got up early enough to be there when the gates opened.
We were all very impressed with the people who worked there.  Every place we stopped, they were informative and intesting.  We found ourselves wanting to stay and hear more at every stop, but Ela kept us moving.  At the court house, we heard three mock trials. Amanda even got to be a judge.

We also visited the shoemaker, the weavers, a blacksmith and a silver worker, among others.  Ela's favorite part was the animals.  There were horses, sheep, and even two baby cows.

We had lunch at a tavern on the main road in town.  I had a really yummy peanut soup.  I've since found the recipe on the Colonial Williamsburg website.  I made a pretty good replica this week.  I'm curious to try a few others from the site, too. 
After lunch, there were lots of little reinactments in the streets.  We grown ups enjoyed watching the actors, while the kids found their own entertainment. 

 

At the end of the day, Zack marched in a Veteran's Day Parade down the main road.  It was a beautiful day that went by very quickly.   We had a fantastic trip.

A Special Date Night

In honor of my birthday, Zack took me out for a dinner cruise on the Potomac.  My advice to everyone: go do this!  We were a little worried because it was stormy in the afternoon, and Ela and Lily were both threatening to have a fussy night, but it turned out to be really nice.  Here's the ship we rode on.

I was learning to use a brand new camera (I love birthdays!), and my shots of the monuments were terrible, but I did get a few sunset shots that I liked. 


We ate a lovely dinner and watched the city float by, and then we came home again.  Ela and Lily were good for the babysitter.  It was a very lovely night. 

Hanami 2011

One of my favorite things about Japan was the cherry blossom viewing, and we're lucky to have moved to a place where we can continue to go and enjoy the trees in the spring. The National Cherry Blossom Festival opened this week, and we went to check it out, despite the very cold weather, on Saturday. Here's what we saw:

Did I mention it was cold?

Of course, we've been following the news about Japan since the earthquake. I joke that I've been keeping track of the news via facebook instead of a major provider. At first, this was true because I was out of town when the earthquake occurred and I also was a little afraid of what I'd see. I was able to use the articles posted by NPR and friends to find out generally what was happening, and also to confirm that the people I know there, who thankfully are mostly in the south of Japan, away from the really scary stuff, are completely fine. I pray for those who are not so lucky.

So the Hanami this year has a kind of bittersweet feel to it, wondering how much anyone in Japan can celebrate the beautiful season. The flowers are lovely, but they do make me a little homesick for the country where we had such wonderful adventures. The people there are what made the trip so delightful for us, and I grieve for them in this time of crisis. It does my heart good to hear of all the ways that the world is helping out now, offering support in a variety of forms. We, too, have done our part as best we could, and I enjoyed the trip down memory lane that seeing the cherry blossoms allows. There is something soothing about all those pink and white blossoms. Also, it wasn't nearly as crowded as last year, when Hanami coincided with Easter. There were lots of people, but it wasn't just a mob, so that was nice. We might try to head back again next weekend.

The next day, it snowed, so spring is not quite here yet, but at least we know it'll be here soon.

Civil War Battle Fields

Two weekends ago, it was Zack's turn to choose what we'd do for our weekend outing, and he chose a place he's been hoping to visit pretty much since we got to DC: Manassas Battlefield. Two Civil War battles were actually fought there, and now it's a national park.

It was a beautiful day, so we set off in the early afternoon with the hope of getting Ela a nap in the car. Traffic was pretty terrible, but we found it easily enough. We arrived just in time to catch a guided tour of the fields, so we split up for a bit. Zack listened to the guide, while Ela and I did our own tour. First, we checked out the super tall grass behind the house where a family actually lived during the first battle.





Then we discovered a statue of Stonewall Jackson (so nicknamed during the first battle), which Ela loved because it had a horse. Horses are her new obsession. She spent most of Zack's tour trying to figure out how to get up to this one.



When Zack's tour was over, he joined us, and we walked a little further up the field to check out some artillery. As we walked, Zack gave us the historical background he'd gathered from the tour.




Further along the trail, we found the remains of a house that, at the time of the battles, had belonged to an African American family. There's not much left to it now, but Ela enjoyed climbing the walls.

After that, we decided it was time to brave the traffic to get back into town. It was a great trip, though. We got lots of fresh air, a little history lesson, and a good time was had by all.

Pittsburgh

Last weekend, we headed to Pittsburgh for a family reunion. I've said this to a few people and regularly gotten the reply, "I didn't know you were from Pittsburgh." I'm not. Our family is rather large, and all of us cousins grew up in somewhat different areas, so we don't go "home" for a reunion. I don't really know where I'm from. It depends on the day. Anyway, some of my cousins are currently living in Pittsburgh, and they volunteered to host the rest of us. So a bunch of us cousins, aunts, uncles, and so on gathered for a fun weekend.
We got there Friday night in time to have dinner. Ela even got to sit at the "big kid" table.

I think she was a tiny bit intimidated by all the kids, but she seemed to have a good time anyway. And she got to see Phoebe, who is one of her favorite people to see in pictures now, so that was awesome in her book. :-) She fell recently and gave herself a black eye, and over the weekend, Danny had a little spill and ended up with stitches, so we kind of looked like the walking wounded (or riding wounded?) as we wandered around on Saturday doing our sightseeing.

Here's our "look, we were really there!" shot.

After that, I kind of got caught up in chatting with people I haven't seen in forever, and forgot I had a camera, but we enjoyed a ducky ride (Ela enjoyed a ducky nap), and a trip to the science museum before dinner at the Hofbrau Haus (we're German and proud). Sunday we had to head on home to pick up the dog, but it was an excellent trip, and a great chance to see everyone!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation: Part I - Cruisin'

When we were in Japan, Zack had very few opportunities to use his vacation time. Now, he's got a ton saved up, so we decided to go on a cruise with his family this summer in honor of us coming back to the US and his sister graduating from high school. We dropped Ela and the dog at my parents' house, and hopped a flight to Miami. There, we met up with Zack's family, and we were off for our Eastern Caribean adventure.

Our first stop on the cruise was Half Moon Cay, in the Bahamas. This island is privately owned by Carnival. We took a kayaking tour around the bay opposite of where the ship landed and then chilled at the beach for the day. The water was perfect: clear and just the right temperature. It was a great way to start out the trip with just the combination of relaxing and activity.

Next up was a stop at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. We started that day with a trip to a high peak on the island with a great view.

From there, we caught a taxi to the shopping district and checked out some fabulous jewelry. In the afternoon, the "kids" went on a snorkeling trip, while the "grown ups" took a trip over to St. John. The water was a little murky from rain the previous day, but it was still good to check out some fish and just float around. The boat ride out and back was quite nice, too.

This is where we snorkeled.

After St. Thomas, the ship took us to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I learned that originally, the island was named San Juan (by Columbus) and the town that grew up at the port was called Puerto Rico (Rich Port) and somewhere along the line they got switched, though no one said why or how. There, we took a walking tour of the historical district, which mostly showed us around El Murro, a fort originally built by the Spanish.

Then we walked from El Murro through the historical district past several older buildings. We got rained on, and I mean really rained on, but it actually felt good because it was quite hot.

Factoid: the cobblestones are actually large stones that ships used as weights on their way across from Europe. In the Carribean, they bought spices or sugar or what not and left the stones behind. San Juan had literally tons of the stones, so they used them as pavement.

After the tour, we grabbed lunch at a place recommended by our guide and set off for more shopping. On the way out of the port, we had another great view of El Murro.

Our final stop was Grand Turk. Here, we split up again. The girls took a snorkeling/beach trip, while the boys went for some more intense snorkeling. We all ended up at the same place for part of the time, and it was amazing. There were fish EVERYWHERE. It was really gorgeous. After that, the boys were taken to another good snorkeling spot, while the girls went to a private beach where we floated around and relaxed. When we got back to port, we had a little time to look around at the shops again, picking up any last minute gifts we needed. Unfortunately, this stop didn't lend itself to lots of photography, but here's a nice shot of our home away from home.

The whole trip was a great way to relax, but by the time it was over, I think we were all ready to get back. Zack and I were delighted to hear that Ela was good for her grandparents. We had a quick birthday celebration at their house for me, then Zack hurried back to DC, while Ela and I hung out in NC for a week.

The National Cathedral

A few weekends ago, we branched out and took a trip to the National Cathedral to check things out. It turned out to be a really nice trip. It's a beautiful Gothic-style building with great stained glass.


And Ela loved running up and down the aisles.


Plus there was the really cool view from the top.



We took a guided tour and enjoyed the atmosphere. Here's another picture.



While we were there, we saw signs for an organ concert on the 4th of July. So over the holiday weekend, we found ourselves back to hear some music.
We got there a bit early, so we took a short stroll through the gardens, listening to the bells.


Then we had a good time at the concert, which was beautiful. Lovely space, lovely music, lovely day.