In my last whirlwind update, I predicted I would update again in mid to late November. I really tried to get this done last week but I've missed the mark by a few days. We had a great trip back to Virginia/DC and we brought back over 300 pictures as proof.
The +1 in my title refers to this picture obviously from Oct. 31. This is the first year we have attempted to use patterns to carve our pumpkins. When Alyssa selected the Trick or Treat pattern, I was a scoffer. I was sure it wouldn't work as it seemed to me to be just too complicated. She carved every inch of it herself and it turned out great. She is so far superior to mom in her artistic abilities. Brendan chose a scary face and did nearly all of it himself. Chase's had a little friendlier persona and I did most of it for him. Emily had a small pumpkin decorated with little plastic pins to look like a kitty. Since I didn't gut hers, we couldn't light it so it is barely visible here.
We headed to Norfolk, VA on Nov 3 to visit John's parents and see the sights. We spent 2 days in D.C. John and I hadn't been there in more than 10 years and of course, things are different after 9/11. We had an appointment to tour the White House at 8:30 AM which meant a very early morning. We arrived in DC the afternoon before so we could go down to scope out our route and figure out where we needed to go in the morning. They don't allow cameras, strollers, or even purses in the White House so this picture was taken on our trial run just outside the gate near where we entered the White House grounds for our tour. It was bitterly cold in D.C. and all we had with us were 'California coats' so we froze.
We arrived for our White House tour a little early and they let us right in. While standing in the Blue Room, Marine 1 landed just outside the window. We watched for a few minutes and soon a photographer came out and positioned himself facing the door of the helicopter. A few minutes later, Pres. Bush emerged from the building, boarded the helicopter, turned to wave for the camera and off it went. That was sort of the highlight of our trip.
After our White House tour, we took the metro back to our hotel about 20 minutes outside the city to retrieve our stroller, camera, etc.
The Metro was pretty empty as we traveled back into the city late in the morning and the kids had a great time holding the poles the whole way. Emily was showing off in this rather dangerous manuever. She's lucky she didn't fall on her backside when the train jerked to stop.
This was our feeble attempt at trick photography. We weren't able to go up in the Washington Monument as you had to be in line early the morning to get tickets to come back later in the day to go up but we took a good look at it.
We stopped by a Target on our first evening in DC and picked up gloves and ear warmers for the kids. This was the coldest day they had had so far. We had been watching DC weather for 2 weeks before we left California and it had been very moderate right up until the day we went.
As we walked along the Mall from the Washington Monument to the Capital Building, John spotted this sign and naturally, had to stop and take a picture in front of it.
Long may it wave!
The biggest disappointment of our trip was not getting to go inside the Capital Building. In the past, we've always been able to walk right in and see the Rotunda and walk down the halls but no longer. Now you have to get in line early in the morning and get an appointment to return for a tour later in the day. We had no appointment so this is as close as we got. While we were sitting at the base of the steps (which are completely blocked by barricades and no one is allowed up them) lamenting our misfortune in not being able to show the kids the inside, Emily announced she needed to pee. We asked a guard to direct us to the nearest bathroom which was all the way back at the Botanical Garden on the Mall. Off we went for unplanned visit to the National Botanical Garden.
The botanical gardens were very nice and wonderfully warm so we spent quite a bit of time looking at the plants and taking pictures of the flowers. By the time we were done there, we were so tired from our early morning (we were up at 5:45 to get ready and get to the Metro station by 7) we decided to call it a day and we headed out of the city before rush hour.
The following morning we drove into the city and John dropped the kids and I off to see the Memorials while he drove the van around. The kids were all very impressed with the Lincoln Memorial and we took the time to read the Gettysburg Address inscribed on the wall.
It was Nov. 9 and they were having a special ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial which included reading all the names in preparation for Veteran's day.
I had never seen the Korean War Memorial as it is fairly new (1995).
These were more preparations in anticipation of Veteran's Day.
A friend's father passed away earlier this year and was buried at Arlington. We were obviously not the only ones to visit around that time because these beautiful flowers were in place when we got there. Because we were there to visit a grave, we got to drive in and we spent quite a bit of time just seeing the sites there. They have several little monuments to various things that you would never see on foot. There are also wonderful views of the Pentagon and other very scenic landscapes. We got several nice pictures.
We also saw the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier and a very nice wreath ceremony there. I'm not sure if this wreath ceremony was routine or in honor of Veteran's Day. We were also there on the eve of the Marine Corp. birthday which may have had something to do with the special events taking place.
We drove back to Norfolk that afternoon, leaving D.C. around 2 PM. We got stuck in the worst traffic jam I have ever experienced (and I lived in L.A. for 3 years). We literally sat virtually motionless in traffic for 3 hours due to an accident and of course it was a holiday weekend which only made matters worse.
The one place I really wanted to see in Virginia was Jamestown Island. It is only a 40 minute drive from Norfolk so we spent a day there. The A Beka history book we are currently using actually includes a 2 page commercial about this place and that is how I found out about it. It is called Jamestown Settlement and it has a mock-up of the Powhatan Indian Village, replicas of the three ships the settlers arrived in, as well as a full scale replica of the Jamestown Fort.
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This year marks the 400th anniversary of Jamestown. Jamestown Settlement was actually built in honor of the 350th anniversary and Queen Elizabeth attended its grand opening. She was back earlier this year to commemorate the anniversary.
Apparently they change the fort from time to time to reflect different periods in its history. The fort we toured was the 1610 version and was a little less primitive than the original 1607 fort would have been.
We got to see this guy fire the musket a few times and he gave a nice little history lesson.
Everything at this place is designed to be very 'hands on' which was a lot of fun for the kids.
Here is Emily trying out a 17th century style broom.
Just a few hours before we had to catch our plane for home, we decided to head down to the beach for a quick peek at the Atlantic. We only had about 30 minutes to spend if we were going to get to the airport on time and we had no intentions of getting wet.
I don't know what we were thinking. Kids+beach+beautiful day=wet
Before it was over, they looked like this. We headed back to the house for a quick change and then it was off to the airport.
We had an hour or so lay over in Chicago and we took advantage of the opportunity to give the kids a last little cultural lesson with Chicago dogs for everyone to share. Sadly, none of us really liked Chicago dogs but once we got rid of the onions and the peppers they were alright.
We got back late on Nov. 14. November 17 was the last day of Soccer season and for us featured 3 games and 3 end of season pizza parties all in one day. I was the team mom for both of the boys' teams and so I got to organize the parties and I spent Friday making 84 soccer cupcakes. It is so wonderful to be done with soccer!
We had my parents down for Thanksgiving and had a nice holiday with all the trimmings.
The last week of November we focused on school and got quite a bit accomplished. With all of the activity during the first 3 weeks of the month, school was nearly untouched so we are now trying to make up some of that lost time. If it weren't for homeschooling, we wouldn't have been able to take such a trip during leaf season and it was certainly worth missing a few days of school for all the things seen and experiences had.
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