No Kids Allowed in NYC

The second week of our east coast adventure featured a trip to New York City. Caleb and I went to meet up with all of his siblings and spouses. The kicker is that no one brought their kids. It was quite strange for us, but with all of the things that we tried to pack in to 3 days, it was easy to just trust that they were ok without us. Caleb and I decided to take the Greyhound to NYC from Baltimore since it was cheap and we had heard that it wasn't too bad. Before we even got out of Baltimore the bus stalled out and though they got it started again, we were a bit skeptical (for good reason it turns out). So after two more instances of stalling out on the freeway after going through toll booths, the bus ended up starting again, but we were going up the freeway with smoke billowing out the back by the time we almost reach Delaware. Luckily, a bus from another line, owned by Greyhound was followed us into the rest stop and picked up everyone that was going to NY. We were already an hour late at this point, and ended up being 2 hours late arriving, but we made it. Not something I would recommend, but we got there.

Caleb and I were in New York for 3 days and it was quite a whirlwind. We were in bed at midnight and up by six everyday, it was like having a newborn again or something. We tried to pack as much in as we could, and still have plenty we would want to see when we ever make a trip back. Here are a few of the highlights...

This is our group and Lady Liberty

Nathan, Stacy, Caleb, Me, Rachel, Ben, Mara, Rich (partly obscured) and Crystal

While the large group got tricky at time, it was really great to travel and see everything with this great group. I hope that we will do it again someday.

Here are Caleb and I on Ellis Island.

Aside from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Statue of Liberty was my favorite thing.

This was from the top of the Empire State Building. The breathtaking skylines seemed to be one of Caleb's favorite, no matter where we saw them from.

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge after eating at Grimmauldi's Pizza. The Bridge was super cool.

The George Washington Bridge in the background.
The "dum-dum" at the Natural History Museum. (This wasn't my favorite place, I expected it to be different, and that more things there would be real and not replicas.)
Caleb with some sweet shades in Chinatown. He was right at home trying to barter people for everything, even when he secretly had no intention of buying it.
Mara and I at Saint John the Divine Cathedral. Very huge, this is just one of the doorways.
I am so glad that we were able to go on this trip and see this amazing city. We are also so grateful to Michelle and Laurtiz for taking care of the boys while we were gone. It was so nice to know that they were in good hands. As a side note, they did better than I would have ever expected, and Gavin didn't seem to miss us until the last day. Even with Henry being a bit sick, he still loved being with the Petersons and having so much fun. We definitely owe them for this. :-)

Happy Memorial Day

Yesterday, we made a trip to Arlington National Cemetery in order to avoid the president and the Memorial Day crowd that he would attract. There were still a lot of people visiting the cemetery, but we had a great experience. The sight of all of those who have gone before us and served our country was indeed profound. We had the boys bring their own flags so that there would be no temptation for them to disrupt the flags that were placed by each headstone. Gavin enjoyed trying to count and find all of the flags that were just like his. The sight was amazing. We were not the most quiet visitors that day, since the boys didn't quite grasp why there were being asked to be reverent outside, but they did surprisingly well at being respectful.

We also got to watch the changing of the guard and a traditional wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was very touching and hard to describe, but to see the care that is taken to show honor to that sacred sight was amazing.

Happy Memorial Day to you all, and a thanks to those who have gone before us to preserve the rights that we have and love.

(Gavin had a lot of questions about why people fight for our country after this trip, and finally decided that if it was so that we could go to church and wave our flag, then it was important to him. Amen to that.)

Sweet DC Architecture

On Tuesday before we went to the monuments at night we also tried to go and see the Supreme Court. We got there about 2 minutes after they closed the inside of the building, but the outside was also super amazing. It is just so big and the architecture is breathtaking.

You can glimpse Caleb and Gavin doing the traditional walk down the steps of the Supreme Court. You can kind of tell how huge it is by how tiny they are on the steps. Gavin had been asleep on the way, but was more than willing to make the walk.... perhaps he has dreams of being a justice there someday. 

We also went by the Library of Congress. It was really different than we had expected, and we wished we had been there in time for a tour. There were some old cool books on display that we did get to see, and once again, the amazing and huge building. We couldn't capture the whole thing with the camera. The windows and stone carvings were so intricate and detailed. We hope to go there again someday and get to see more of it.

Around the back of the Capitol building we saw this sign. Pretty funny. I went up the stairs to take a picture of it, and got a few funny looks at the way that we were all laughing about it. Just seemed odd placement, and a strange idea.

Monuments at Night

On Tuesday night we went to see the National Mall monuments at night. Very cool. Here are a few of our favorite shots.

The wall of the Vietnam Memorial with the Washington Monument in back. This is my favorite picture from the night.

The World War II Memorial.

Iwo Jima Momument... this thing is huge. Far bigger that you would expect... the pedestal that is stands on is probably about 7 or 8 feet tall.

From the side of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the US Capitol.

The National Mall- Our Day Trips

Finally- The photos that you have all been waiting for... We have spent part of several days at the National Mall sights and Smithsonian Museums. On Saturday, it was warm and sunny, so we spent most of the time outside. Sunday was another story all together and with all of the rain we tried to stay dry by visiting the Air and Space Museum and the National Archives. (and on Sunday, Caleb's friend from high school, Joe, joined us.) The National Archives only lets in a certain number of people at a time, so we ended up buying a couple of umbrellas from a street vendor and waiting outside for about 30 minutes in the rain. It was worth it, as there are some super cool things to see there, like the originals of the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights, as well as the Emancipation Proclamation, just to name a few.

By the time we left the National Archives, and we were still wet, the rain had stopped for the day, so we walked to the White House and to the Vietnam Memorial. Gavin somehow had a lot of energy after all of that walking, and kept making us run around with him. By the end of the day we were all pretty tired, and Lauritz and Michelle brought the van to pick us up. Right by the National Academy of Sciences there was a super cool and huge statue of Albert Einstein. By far one of the best huge statues that I have ever seen. (Loved it.)

It has been amazing to go to so many sites of our national heritage, and also a bit overwhelming. There are just so many things that we would love to see and do. It is probably lucky for us that our kids can't handle it all, or we would be more busy than we have already been.

Tonight we are headed back to see the monuments at night, as well as trying to squeeze in a few more museums.