Day 10

Today we went to Amish stores. We saw lots of quilts (including little church bags and quillows), crafts, and baking. At one of the Amish stores, we had a soft pretzel. We saw quite a few Amish buggies and we went by a school with the children playing outside and staring at us. In one of the stores, there was a little sign about the Quilt Pox. It is in the picture below.
We went to Valley Forge and saw lots of houses that soldiers slept in during the cold winter during the Revolutionary war. We saw General Washington’s house where he stayed – which was much more deluxe than what the soldiers had to live in.
Then we had a long drive and parked near the subway system of Philadelphia. We boarded the subway and took it to 8th & Market Street. We arrived at the Independence Hall Visitor Centre. We had a tour of Independence Hall and saw the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and a court room. Then we walked to the Liberty Bell and saw where the big crack was. After, we walked to Benjamin Franklin’s printing press and saw an old printing press that was used. We would have seen it in use but we arrived too late.
It was dinner time so we went to the Old City Tavern. There we had turkey pot pie and drank water out of pewter goblets. This food was the same type of food that they ate in the 1770s. Our waiter was dressed in clothes from the 1770s. We then started our way back to the subway and just barely made it. We arrived back at our van and had a long drive to our hotel in New Jersey. We are VERY close to New York City and will be going there tomorrow.
Allison (typed by SV)


A little bonnet for our author today...

The warning in a quilt shop we visited...

The cabins for the soldiers at Valley Forge.

Independence Hall

Hiding one of the cracks of the Liberty Bell.

Some 1770 style grub at the Old City Tavern in Philadelphia.

Day 9

Our kids are such troopers. I took down - word-for-word what Ryan shared today. He was so excited about the last two battlefields we visited...that he just talked about that today...and Allison will report about our visit to Amish country today and tomorrow - on Day 10! Here's Ryan's report:
On Monday, we went to Antietam and learned about General Burnside and what he did. He tried to get over a bridge and it took 4 hours as 500 people were defending the bridge on the other side. When the 500 men lost ammunition, they fled and General Burnside took two more hours dawdling and setting up his troops. He then went to attack General Robert E. Lee. Just then A.P. Hill’s troops came in but were really hungry and they just marched 17 miles. When they came, they attacked General Burnside and Burnside retreated. The hair on the side of our face was named side-burns after General Burnside.

Today, we went to the Gettysburg National Military Park. We saw a movie about Gettysburg. The Union troops were on Cemetery Ridge and Culps Hill. There were two more ridges called Little Round Top and Big Round Top. Big Round Top was really rough (rocky and lots of trees) so they did not go there. They forgot about Little Round Top.
The Confederates wanted to put a canon on Little Round Top to shoot the Union off of Cemetery Hill. One of the Confederate Generals marched to LRT and he stopped for camp and said he would take it in the morning. One of Union officers went and found out that the Confederates were going to take LRT so he took some Union troops there to defend it. When the Confederate General came and attacked LRT, the Union kept them back. When the Union troops ran out of ammunition, then they started fighting with their bayonettes. Then later, when the Confederates were weak, General Lee told General Picket to attack Cemetery Ridge. General Longstreet said it was a bad idea and suggested going around to attack. General Lee told Picket to charge…he attacked with 12,000 of his best men and broke through. He retreated and lost 7,000 men during that charge. When he came back, he had around 5,000 troops. Then they went to a river but it was flooded and they could not retreat. Union General George Meade did not attack General Robert E. Lee but General Lee defended his camp really well to keep away attack. General Lee went back to Virginia and was safe. This was the first victory for the Union.

Ryan standing just above where the 500 Confederate soldiers held off thousands of Union soldiers trying to cross the river.

This is the bridge the Union soldiers tried to cross. Brendan is standing beside the general with the famous facial hair.

So many monuments - this is of the confederates trying to break the Union line on Cemetery Ridge.

Our kids are such a blast...ha ha ha!

Day 8

Today we went to a Civil War battlefield called Antietam. We went to the theatre and saw a movie about men who had died for their country. The south was fighting against the north. Then we went to the cannons and saw different types. One fired a cannon ball which exploded into little pieces called shrapnel. Then we toured the battle field. We went into a road called Bloody Lane. It was called that because so many people died on the road. We saw a memorial to Clara Barton. She went out into the battle field and helped the wounded soldiers. We went up a tower and we saw the whole battle field. Finally, we went to a bridge called Burnside Bridge. The North tried to cross it but the South kept shooting them with sharp shooter. Eventually they made it across.

Bloodly Lane - so many dead in this part of the battle.

The cannons were not ridden like this...

From the tower - the battle scene on one side...

Charging over the Burnside Bridge.

Day 7

Here is the installment from today...a rest day of sorts...
We went to church...relaxed in our friends' backyard...a bit cold for a swim for us adults, though...

Maymont park in Richmond, VA...wonderful!

Lots of cool animals and gardens...a nice long walk...

Day 6

We've decided to give our kids a break from journalling and thought we would add a few pictures with explanations below as to what we did Saturday & Sunday! Enjoy...

We had a wonderful time with our adopted parents - they took such good care of us!

Allison on Route 66...well, in the Smithsonian Museum - she may sing this song in Children's Musical Theatre...


Obama was busy...so, we just took a picture outside his house.

This is going to be fun!

Loved the fyfe & drum parade in Williamsburg

This may be harder than it looked...

Brendan still needs to learn his lesson, it seems...

Yorktown was fantastic - great displays and such...

Day 5

Once again, as we just rolled in around 9:30 p.m., Ryan has asked that I be his Secretary to get his thoughts of the day down on the blog. Pictures will be coming later...
Today we went to the unknown soldier's tomb. We saw the changing of the guard. It was interesting because the guards did all kinds of moves with their guns.
Next we went to the Smithsonian and saw war weapon. The wars shown there were the Revolutionary, Civil War, World War I, II, Vietnam and Korean Wars. I saw a real chopper, grenade launchers, and movies about the war.
Then we went to Mount Vernon and saw how people made statues of General Washington and the colonial people.
At night, we went to the Lincoln memorial. It was made out of marble and the statue was made by some Italian brothers. Then we went to the Korean and Vietnam memorials. We saw statues of soldiers going through the rice fields.
My favourite part of the day was going into the Smithsonian.
~Ryan

Arlington Cemetary - the picture behind was quite moving.

In the Smithsonian - the Vietnam section...

Had to get a picture with the rocket-launcher...

In the slave's quarters at Mount Vernon...

Does he look like a Revolutionary?

I'm sure you have seen this guy before...

Vietnam memorial...

The soldier statues in by the Korean memorial.

Day 4

Today involved a lot and I mean a lot of walking. We walked the whole time except for when we sat like three times. Anyway we went to the Capital building and the Library of Congress and in both buildings we got tours. At the Library of Congress when we were on our tour we came across some stairs on the stairs there were little cupid like boys and they were all doing things to represent things that we do today. In the capital building we saw lot and lots of statues standing in almost every room we looked in. As we walked on and on in the hot huminity we stopped for lunch at a rain staition and ate hungrily. Right now in case you wanted to know we are right now three hours ahead. My favourite place I went today was the Library of Congress. I hope you all enjoy this message. I am looking forward to hearing your commets.
Allison

Here we are at Capitol Hill!

The chandeliers had 14,000 crystals on them

This is the top of the dome in the Capitol.

This is where the congress met.

Here we are at the Library of Congress...

Day 3

As we approach a late hour once again - Secretary Daddy comes to the rescue and takes notes from Brendan (Secretary Mommy had her turn last night)...

We went to two hotels, we went to the Hershey Factory and right now we are staying at Granny’s and Grampy’s friends in Virginia.
Hershey World was not the old factory. We went on a ride which told us about how to make the chocolate. We watched a 3-D show about chocolate and then we walked around the stores and bought some stuff. We went to the chocolate tasting. At the chocolate tasting we learned about the cacao tree: the roots, pod, and the beans. We also learned about the Aztecs and how they made frothing pots.
We are looking forward to going to the Capitol building in Washington D.C., a buggy ride in Amish country, and New York!


A little hot chocolate before we leave...

The Chocolate ride!

Workin' at the Hershey Factory - pay cheque was a Hershey kiss.

Nice pic, Brendan...the sign, that is. :)

We saw this preying mantis at the Air Force Memorial in D.C.

Day 2

It is 12 o’clock (AM)—3 hours ahead of the Lynden clock. We are in Pennsylvania. We’ve gone thru Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. We’ve been driving ALL day. It was sort of boring and I got carsick a little. We stopped at a rest stop that had a chocolate store. My dad liked it. When we were in Ohio, we stopped in at Thomas Edison’s birthplace. We saw his invention store that is now a restaurant. We also saw in the city square a bunch of old cars that people show off every Tuesday. The town was called Milan. We saw big water towers in the middle of Ohio and Indiana. Tomorrow we go to Hershey Chocolate World. We get to taste test. My dad is very excited! We’ve been having lots of fun. I can’t wait to go back on the plane because it was very bumpy and fun. We sat in the very back of the plane and the steward was very kind to us. He gave us everything that we wanted. I’m going to bed now. Zzzzzzzzzzzz...Ryan

Groceries! Now we can eat healthy!

A little scary on the side of the Interstate...

Fun pitstop!

Preparing for tomorrow...

Night night...

Day 1

At this very moment I am on the Alaskan Air lines with my brothers playing on our D.S. I hope you like the pictures that I took.
1. caring all that louge hard work.
2. In front of our gate
3.Waiting to take off.
4.This is me typing this blog.
The blog will be more exciting as the days go on. I am excited to here the comets that will appear. Allison