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| Anderson and artillery duty Yorktown National Battlefield! |
Video 1 from today: (Click here for video 1)
Video 2 from today: (Click here for video 2) Warning: long version of video 1
Video from 2009 of Anderson during a live cannon firing: (Click here for video) You can’t seem him but you sure can hear him!
Video 3 from today: (Click here for video 3)
We were up and out of the hotel this morning with a little more urgency than yesterday morning-as fast as any family with 4 kids can load up and leave a hotel. They even had breakfast but we skipped it and opted for McDonalds so we could eat on the way. Going down to breakfast is great and all but it takes at least 30 more minutes and we had lots of sights to see today (even though the only item on our agenda was getting to D.C.). And no, the hotel never resolved the issue from last night-Robby will just have to take it up with Marriott when we get home. They did call my phone twice today (he didn’t want to talk because there was nothing else he had to tell them) but they never left a message. Anyway, that isn’t too big of a deal because it will all be settled when we get home. Back to the day….
Not too long after breakfast, Graham said he had to potty so we found him one. We were in Elizabeth City and it seemed like we were taking some back roads to get towards D.C. At our potty stop, we even rented a few Redbox movies so that kept everyone entertained for the longest. Campbell’s car seat doesn’t change but the big 3 all are in booster seats so they can switch seats. Everyone wants to sit up front by Campbell so we do have to take turns. Reagan is good at riding up front but she plays with Campbell a bit too much. Graham is not good at riding up front because he wants to talk to us constantly and he is in that “I’m always right” stage. But he can’t really ride in the back with Anderson because Anderson will ignore him which sets him off. Reagan will at least humor him. Anderson is good up front but wants to know what is going on in the back and he would gets too rowdy riding in the back with Reagan. So no matter how you slice it, the car gets pretty rowdy frequently.
We saw a sign to Yorktown National Battlefield and decided to swing in there for a few minutes. We arrived a bit before they started a cannon demonstration talk and thought we would watch it. When the ranger asked for volunteers, Anderson’s hand shot up. He was chosen and then Graham and Reagan thought maybe they wanted too as well but it was too late. They didn’t seem to mind too much and when the ranger asked Anderson if he was fast, Reagan said to me “oh, he is real fast”-she was proud of her brother.
Anderson’s job was being the “powder monkey” which means that he delivered the ammunition to the cannon people. That little boy took his job very seriously. When the park ranger told everyone to follow her outside, he just walked right on and then eventually turned to make sure we were following. He listened intently to her every direction and stood as still as he could waiting on his few moments to shine. Reagan was very into listening, Graham was so excited when the ranger told everyone else that they job was to say “BOOM” (he was glad he had a job to do) and Campbell spent her time trying to eat a rock.
After the demonstration, we walked around the battlefield and even looked out over the York river. Then we were back in the car and drove down the Colonial National Parkway until we reached Jamestown (the first settlement). They had a great picnic spot again under some trees and we had our last picnic lunch for the trip. The kids really enjoyed it because that meant they could eat all of the chips, cheese and meat they wanted. At Yorktown it was cloudy and comfortable but at Jamestown it was sunny and warm. But we pressed on and hiked out to the settlement.
The most impressive thing out there to them was the statue of Pocahontas. We haven’t seem the movie but we have seen her before at her other home in DisneyWorld and she did not look the same. This caused big time confusion for everyone. We will have to watch the movie when we get home-man, I just can’t wait until everyone is a bit bigger and we can do things were history really comes to life for them. After a stop at the gift shop, we were back on the road. And again we didn’t make it too far because Robby saw a 7-11 and some icees were calling his name. At the settlement, they had one house that was a food area and we assumed they would have ice cream there and since that was our bribe to encourage them to walk in the sun out to the settlement and back they needed some type of nourishment-and Robby loves him some icees. I even had some ice cream-so everyone’s tummys were full and bladders were empty (for a few minutes at least).
When we made it to D.C., we stopped first at the Pentagon Memorial. We tried to explain to the kids what happened on 9/11 and they just can’t understand. Reagan and Anderson get some of it but since they really don’t understand about dying yet they think everyone was fine. And Graham couldn’t figure out where the plane was but they did understand that we needed to be respectful.
The Pentagon Memorial is nice and now I would like to see it at night because I read the lighting under the monuments are pretty. Anyway, at Disney the kids learned that mono means one from the monorail and they learned today that pent means five from the pentagon. Graham could not understand why we couldn’t go in there and see the army men inside. Robby finally told him that it was closed because it was Sunday and the army doesn’t work on Sundays. This appeased him but kind of frightened me-the army doesn’t work on Sundays?
After leaving the Pentagon, we saw another building and Reagan asked “is that the octagon?” I don’t know if she was kidding or not but later in the evening I looked over and saw a building called the Octagon House but we passed it before I could show it to her.
Next up was the Iwo Jima Memorial. Parking is sure nice on weekends around here and we were right nearby. So we walked around it, took a few pictures and then passed out juice boxes back in the car. We then found a spot at our next destination: the Air and Space Museum.
It was pretty crowded inside but we made our way to the Wright Brothers exhibit. They had lots of hands-on stuff like touching fabric from the wings and touching other pieces like the real Wright Brother’s plane. They all were impressed with us saying that it was their real plane hanging up there. We also explored the area about planets and Robby and I feel outdated because we remember when poor Pluto was a planet.
About this time, we looked outside and the sky was getting dark and before long it was pouring outside. We could tell the storm must have been bad because the entryway was packed full of people trying to get inside and go through security. Later, as we walked along we could see that many, many branches were down-some were about 3 inches in diameter so it must have really been some wind.
The kids went through a few airplanes, saw Amelia Earhart’s plane and even piloted a plane. Reagan could stop and look at everything-we practically never could get her to leave one room and go to the next. When everyone is older, we will come back just for museums-of course, it would be days and days of museums. I glanced through one museum gift shop while they were going through one plane and decided that I just love all of that gift shop stuff. I wish we could just have/get that stuff for Christmas.
Our last stop at the Air and Space was seeing a moon rock and Anderson asked if it was still floating-it was not. Then we walked across the street and grabbed supper at McDonalds and then found our hotel. We are about 4 blocks from the White House so after checking in and finding awesome street parking (like within 20 feet from the front door of this place and avoid the $42/per night parking fee. Yikes!). Our room is huge-huge for a big city but also huge for a regular hotel room. It is twice the size of our den at home-needless to say we have spread ourselves out (even though we have to check out and recheck back in tomorrow so we will have to change rooms and move all of our stuff-not a big deal though since we are pretty much packed for the plane now).
We couldn’t just be a few blocks from the White House and not go and pay the Obamas a late night visit. Of course, Graham really didn’t understand why we couldn’t go in the White House and see Obama. I told him that we had to know him to go in and he said I know Obama. Even though, we were not invited in for coffee. But we did walk around the house and Reagan was fascinated by learning that 2 girls lived in the White House.
Back at the hotel, Robby hosed everyone down in the shower while I dressed them, brushed teeth and put them in bed as he finished. Campbell laid on Anderson’s sleeping bag and said “night night” so I laid her down a blanket and she surprisingly stayed on it for a bit. Then Robby laid beside her and she is still there. We will see if she stays there through the night-though we now have her caged in with the bathroom door and suitcases.
Oh, the kids did get a little something we picked up at the gift shop today. I had seen a cannon pencil sharpener and thought Anderson would like that so we got that so he could remember his cannon firing experience. There was a ship pencil sharpener that Graham got so he could remember the boat the settlers came over on. And Robby picked out a little sticker paper doll book for Reagan. Earlier in the day, she had shown me a larger one and said that she really wanted a book like that. So needless to say, everyone was thrilled. Oh, Campbell wasn’t let out-she received the bag that the other gifts were in. Good, good day!
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