National Mall - Smithsonian Day #1

 National Mall - Air and Space Museum... 

 We learned a lot about engines, airplanes and space travel. 

 

 The longest line we had to wait in... The restrooms!

 We put both girls in strollers this day...  It made walking a LOT faster and this day we had to walk a LOT further than the other days.

 Look.  The National McDonalds!

 James is finding his vortex at the Native American Smithsonian Museum.

He looks so dorky serene.

 Shadow puppets.

 The ceiling of the Native American Museum.

 Gramma and Papa!

 Look closely...You can see Papa and Maggie waiting for us on the first floor.

 The Mayan calendar.  I'm not sure which one signifies the end of the world...but in my opinion...a circle is a ring without an end or a beginning.  So...I'm not sure if the world is really going to end...or just start over.  What do you think?

 Washington Monument.

 The White House off in the distance.

 The Vietnam Memorial.

 Lincoln Memorial.

 Korean War Memorial.

 Kayley asked Papa..."What are they doing?"

Really.  How do you explain War to a child?  

There is NO way it could even make sense in the eyes of the innocent.

It doesn't even make sense to me.

National Mall - Smithsonian Day #2

 So, if you didn't know already...(you probably did) the Smithsonian isn't just one big museum.  It is at least 5 or 6 really big museums!  So, on the the other day we headed to the Museum of American History and Museum of Natural History. 

 At American History we saw:

The infamous segregation lunch counter from the Woolworth's sit-in

Kayley

The original muppets!

Fonzie's Jacket, Minnie Pearls hat...

Archie Bunkers chair...

Abe Lincoln's hat...

Kayley saying "I am NOT a crook."

Wheee...

The Tucker...

Julia Childs' Kitchen...

Jar-Jar Binks...

We went to the Natural History Museum and looked for all the Night at the Museum Characters...but we couldn't find them.

But we did see:  The Hope Diamond!  Watch out!  It's cursed!

Kayley touched a piece of Mars.

It was a lot of walking that day too.

Oh! And it was really, really neat to run across Kristin and Justin who were in D.C. to run the marathon.  What a small world to run across old friends in an unlikely place!  I wish things had worked out better that we could've spent some time together!!

Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania & Fredericksburg

 It was a cold, wet, day and we decided to do a drive through the civil war battlefields.  I may have been the only one who had a great time...but...I thought it was really neat!   What do you think?  Does Papa look excited to be on a drive of Civil War battlefields?

But!  Look at me!  I'm super excited!

I had the map...and we had a great time!  We were able to see the place where Stonewall Jackson got his arm chopped off!  And where it was buried.   Just his arm.  Stonewall Jackson is actually buried somewhere else.

 Trenches dug by the Union Army in the Wilderness. 

Civil War Cemetery in Spotsylvania.

 Rows...upon rows...of unknown soldiers.  

Doesn't your heart just break for their families?

 We stopped to do the walking tour along the Sunken Road.  

This road was the main thoroughfare from Richmond to Fredericksburg.

 Here, on this hill (and it is another cemetery now with rows and rows of unknown soldiers) the Confederates won their most one-sided victory (Lead by General Lee himself).  In other words...the Confederates were up on the hill...and just mowed down the Union army as they tried in vain to advance.

 The Innis house stood between the Confederate army and the Union army.  It is riddled with bullet holes.  It is said that the lady of the home stayed throughout the battle, risking her own life to provide water and help for the fallen Confederate soldiers. 

It was here too that nineteen-year-old Sergeant Richard Kirkland of the 2nd South Carolina could tolerate the agonizing pleading of the wounded enemy no longer. He received permission to scale the wall (although he was granted NO white flag for his saftey) and bring relief to the suffering at peril to his own life. Union riflemen initally fired on him, but when the realized that he was aiding their wounded they ceased firing as Kirkland moved from soldier to soldier on his errand of mercy.  It is said that as he scaled the wall again and again taking water to the wounded that the enemy cheered and held their fire.  There is a monument there in his honor and he became known as the Angel of Marye's Heights.  Sadly, he was killed several month's later in another battle.   (Sorry!  I didn't snap a picture of that one!)

Ferry Farm & Chatam

 While in Fredericksburg we headed to Ferry Farm, the boyhood home of George Washington!  If and when old George chopped down the cherry tree and refused to tell the lie...it happened here.  And the tale of George tossing the coin (which was actually a rock) across the Potomac river (which was actually the Rappahannock river)...well...that would've happened here too!

Kayley is sitting on the foundation of George Washington's boyhood home!

Next we paid a visit to Chatam.   Chatam Mansion was built in the late 1700s and was witness to a series of historic events!  Visitors to Chatam included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Robert E. Lee and us!  During the civil war Walt Whitman lived here...and Clara Barton served as a nurse here when the home was used as a hospital!!  There are several graves of unknown civil war soldiers buried throughout the grounds. We were really walking in the footsteps of history!

 In the center gardens.  Those busts are kind of spooky.

 I snapped these photos along the hedgerows in the back gardens.

 What a pleasant surprise to find Spring at Chatam!

The Trip Home...

 zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 As we drove home through the Smokies...it was snowing...and slick!

 We are so clever, we set Maggie up with a DVD player using bungee cords!

Maggie Jamming in the backseat...

We had a GREAT trip!  I hope we can do it again really soon.  Thanks to Gramma & Papa for letting us come and disrupt your lives (and giving you both cooties)!