2013 Vacation 6

We finally arrived at the family reunion in the Shenandoah Valley, which was the original purpose for our trip.  We so enjoyed seeing family on my side, both relatives I had met and those I had never met before.  It was a fabulous reunion!

My brother, Julian, and me

Looking over photo albums from years gone by.  I'm showing the boys pictures of me as a child.

Here I'm talking to my grandfather's second wife, Margaret.  She is an amazing 91 years young!

Thankfully my Aunt Rachel brought toys for the kids to play with, since there weren't any kids their own age.  Tom and I are both youngest in our families, and we got married later in life, so all our kids' cousins are adults.

We went on a tour of family homes.  Here Lukas and Konrad are standing in front of the home where my father was born.

Talking to cousin Brigit, who is closest in age to my kids.

Our family tour standing outside of someone's home (which used to be our family's home).

This is the house my grandfather built, with the help of his sons, and lived in until he died.  My dad often talked about working on this home.

That's my Uncle John in the center, telling us about building the home.

The cousins who made it to the reunion:  me, John, Claire, Rolf, Colette, Julian.

The current owner of Grandfather's home actually let us inside!  Here is the fireplace, which is the only thing that is recognizable inside from the home.  All the cousins had great memories of sitting near the fireplace and having mint tea.

Lukas posing with his creation.  Uncle John and his new wife, Joy, in the background.

And here we are!  Quick group picture before anyone leaves!

Tom took the kids to a playground nearby...we have twenty or so pictures of this playground, with ideas for our next fort!

Natalie with her second cousin, Ryan...looks like someone's loaned her an iPhone!  I'm talking to my Aunts Huldah and Rachel in the background.

Cousin Heidi (I guess she missed the previous cousins picture) announcing a fabulous authentic Mexican dinner that she and her husband made.  The only Mexican food we ate on this trip and it was great!

We left Shenandoah Valley in the morning as the mist was rising.  So beautiful!

On the road again!

We stopped in Bristol, Tennessee, where one side of the street is Tennessee and the other side of the street is Virginia.  The kids had fun with that!

And we are back in Atlanta!  We went for dinner at the cafe around the corner from our hotel, where we ate the first night we arrived.

With the sun setting over the CNN building, our trip is coming to an end.

But the next morning we had a few hours before our flight, so we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens (again!  really, it's so fabulous!)

Flying home!

The gate for our flight out of Dallas was switched several times before we took off.  First Terminal B, then C, then B, then C.  I felt like I was in a bad version of Groundhog Day!

And the next day school started!

And that's our trip, finally!  We had a fabulous time, but it already seems like a lifetime ago...Tom has started a new job and we are preparing to move.  I know the next few months will be crazy and I will try to blog about the normal and the crazy.

2013 Vacation 5

But wait, there is more to Virginia!

We visited Appomattox, where General Lee surrendered to begin the end of the Civil War.  Dominik is in his "no pictures" mood again.

Have you read the children's book about the doll that was witness to the meeting of the generals?  Here's the doll!

We enjoyed listening to a re-enactor who represented a Pennsylvania volunteer soldier during the war.

He stayed in character while whittling some wood.

Nineteenth century--don't smile.

Then we went on to Fredericksburg, switched centuries, and visited George Washington's Ferry Farm.  Avid readers of The Happy Ones will remember that Lukas and George Washington share the same birthdate, so this was especially fun for Lukas.  Here we are in the area where they are excavating the childhood home of George Washington.

We talked about the story that George could throw a stone across the Rappahannock River that flows next to the farm.  That was a long throw!

Running through the same woods that George explored.

Next we went to the other side of the Rappahannock River, still in Fredericksburg, and moved forward a century to return to our Civil War tour.  Natalie found a caterpillar...nothing to do with Civil War, but at least she found something interesting!

This was all quite interesting to the boys, because there were cannon!  Here they are loading Confederate cannon.

Lukas is leading his troops on a charge, using the same trenches dug by the army of Robert E. Lee.

Lukas and Konrad posing near trenches (that went on for miles) dug for the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Then we went to the Sunken Road, a place made famous by the number of Union soldiers who died trying to cross it.

In the city of Fredericksburg, we visited an apothecary from the 1800s, where the boys saw real slugs and knives that a doctor would have used to bleed a child.  I decided it was time to take Natalie to the restroom at this point...I don't have much stomach for modern medicine, but ancient medicine REALLY makes my stomach turn!

Lukas is smelling rose water the doctor would have made.

Dominik and Tom listening carefully...this picture is taken minutes before Tom got the call to offer him a new job!  If you haven't heard about his new job, please email me privately and I will tell you.

But all this talk about herbs and ground up beetles proved too boring to some in our group...Natalie is playing a game on my iPhone and Dominik is waiting for his turn.

We caught a train just as it was running through town.

Enjoying the train!

On our way to the Shenandoah Valley, we saw signs to James Madison's Montpelier.  We didn't have time to stop, but we drove by and marveled at the beautiful estate.

Then it was time for dinner.  We really ate well on this trip, sampling the specialties in different areas (never time to take a picture when the food comes!)  Here we had some fabulous ribs.

We have almost made it to the end of our trip, and the whole reason we even went on this adventure...check back next time for the end of the story.