Virginia Beach, VA, Beaufort North Carolina, Charlotte NC, Charleston South Carolina

Virginia Beach , Virginia -

Christmas Boardwalk Light Show

On Sunday we met up with some friends, The Boyd Family, from California that had moved to Virginia Beach a few years ago and went to Wave Church together. This church was massive! When you walked in it seemed like you were walking into a concert. Afterward we went to a grocery store called Food Lion and bought some flowers for the Boyd's as a congratulations present for the birth of their new baby. Then we went over to their house for dinner that night. For the next few days we did our school work and then on Thursday we made our way down to the U.S historic triangle to visit Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. At Williamsburg we went to William and Mary college, the second oldest United States College only after Harvard. We also found Williamsburg's famous candy shop. On Friday we visited with the Boyd's again and went out for dinner to a place called Dough Boys California Pizza. During Christmas time, Virginia Beach has a fun light show where you can drive about 3 miles on the beach board walk and it is completely covered in Christmas lights.

Shelby conducting her erosion experiment 

Tori conducting her experiment on condensation and precipitation 

Bennion's and Boyd's

Virginia Beach Christmas light show on the boardwalk

Beaufort, North Carolina ~ by Ally

This was a super small town , not a whole lot there . We drove the whole island called "Atlantic Beach" the first day that we got to town. Lots of big houses on stilts with storm shutters due to hurricanes. Very different then what we are used to seeing in CA. We also went to Beufort Maritime Museum and learned that a Pirate named Blackbeard had landed there and had sailed in the waters around Beaufort.

Beufort Maritime Museum 

Collin conducting a school report at the Aquarium 

Carrot Island with the wild horses

We took a bridge to Emerald island and went to a beach there and to an aquarium called North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. On Friday my mom stayed home to wrap Christmas presents and Dad took us out to a little sand spit called Carrot Island. The history to this island is that a Spanish ship sunk a long time ago and was full of horses. The horses were able to swim to shore. Now, there are still wild horses that roam the sand spits up and down the North Carolina Coast. We took a boat to the island and walked around. The minute we were on the island we saw a herd of wild horses. We then walked some more and saw other horses and hunted for shells along the banks.

 Charlotte, North Carolina ~ by Sandy

 Here we continued to enjoy the southern accent that everyone had , but most of all we enjoyed the company of our friends the Ramirez Family. They had just moved to Charlotte a month ago from San Luis Obispo so it was super fun being able to visit with them in their new home town.  We went with them to a cute downtown village called Baxter Village, NC and walked around and looked at the shops. We also went with them to the home of Billy Gram which has turned into a museum . There we saw Christmas lights and enjoyed some ice cream, even though it was a cold evening . We took them to Five Guys Hamburgers since they hadn't eaten there yet. It was a blessing to see familiar faces and enjoyed wonderful conversations over many meals at their home. We are  so grateful  for our time we got to spend with them .  Wes took the kids to Discovery Place in downtown Charlotte (What the locals call Uptown) They had a aquarium exhibit, a rainforest exhibit, and a whole bunch of other scientific exhibits that the kids loved playing with. I stayed home again and finished up wrapping presents . Hurray !

Ramirez & Bennion Families in front of Baxter Village Christmas tree

Ramirez & Bennion Family at the Ramirez Family house

Charleston, SC ~ by Ally

Folly Beach SC

We walked around downtown Charleston, and Rainbow Row which is a colorful row of historic houses. While we were in Charleston we also went to "Battery". This is a grove of large oak trees right next to the bay above a long defensive seawall that was used in the civil war. Shelby, Mom and I went on Monday to go watch the Hobbit for an early birthday present for me. We had a good time watching it. There are many islands around the town. One of them is called James Island we drove around it and went to a little town called Folly Beach. It was POURING rain and we had to wear our hoods to keep our heads dry. On James Island we went to a mexican restaurant named Taco Boys. They had some good tacos there. :) We just drove around Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island since it was raining so hard. Wednesday was christmas eve and we went to go see the Holiday Festival Of Lights. It was a County campground that lit up tons of lights all around the park, and it was a three mile loop around the park and a little lake! Thursday was Christmas and we woke up to see our little RV table covered in presents and our stockings full to the brim laying on the couch. Taking turns, we opened the gifts that were gathered by “Santa” from all over the USA (literally). I got PJs from New York for example and a bookmark that had the statue of liberty on it. After opening the presents we chatted with our aunts, uncles, and cousins through Google Hangouts. It was nice to see familiar faces and brought back the memories and the feeling of being home. Christmas dinner was steak smothered in yummy cherry pomegranate Habanero Sauce, mashed potatoes, cream corn, and bread crumbed artichoke hearts. SOOOOO good. :)

Christmas Cookies for Santa :) 

Kids with their stockings

That Christmas day we went to the most "posh" island: Kiawah Island. So posh in fact that they wouldn’t let anyone that didn’t live there park on the street, and had guards stationed at the entry.We received a day pass for the shops, but took a detour and parked at a construction site (so as to go un-noticed) to go walking on the beach. While we were there we explored a beautiful tropical beach. We found amazing shells, starfish and horseshoe crabs. On the last day, our minivan sliding door would not shut so my dad spent a couple of hours of the day fixing it. But when it was fixed, Dad took us to the movies theaters to watch “Into The Woods.” It was a funny musical. The trees in Charleston are a mixture of palm trees and oak trees with hanging spanish moss. It is humid and hot even when it rains. We went to a great place to eat called Page’s Okra Grill. There I ate some really good Okra! Yumy :)

Kids swinging on a canopy swing at the Charleston Pier

Our small christmas tree with the presents behind

Kiawah Island SC

Ally and Shelby pretending to have Spanish Moss as mustaches

Pineapple fountain at the Charleston Ocean Front Park

GATORS! 

Christmas Dinner 

Ally in front of an historic Charleston downtown home

Washington DC -By Ally

The first day we visited Washington DC we where actually staying in 
 Pennsylvania. We had made reservations for a tour of the white house, and when they tell you that you have been accepted for a tour there is no changing dates so we traveled to DC before we were  actually staying in DC.  When Entering the Presidents house, we saw the Blue room, the Red room, the Green room, the East room, State
Dining Room, and the Cross Hall. All these rooms on the East Wing
are used for the background to the Presidents interviews and
speeches to the Nation. 
Later that day, we strolled the streets to
the National Archives. There, we saw the real Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They were
faded and written on sheepskin. Though hard to read, these
documents were a wonder to see because they hold the words that gave
the U.S.A freedom. 
After spending the week in Pennsylvania we traveled back  to DC again. The first week was spent for the most part doing school. On Tuesday of that week we attempted to go to the
National Mall and visit the Washington Monument and the Lincoln
Memorial. We made it to the Washington Monument and had a
beautiful panoramic view of the whole town of Washington DC. That
days temperature was in the twenties and it was painful to go
outside, so we ran quickly to the Lincoln Memorial. I was looking down
at the camera to take a picture, when moments later I was on the
ground and a shot of pain ran up from my ankle to my knee. I had
tripped over a large step and rolled my ankle really bad.  I couldn't walk on it at all and we had to wait outside in the freezing cold while my Dad ran to get the car. 
The rest of the week was full of resting and letting my foot heal. The next
week I was hobbling about DC, and capable of seeing the rest of
the sites. 
We visited most of the Smithsonian Museums, however our
favorites were the Air and Space Museum where the Wright Brothers plane, Amelia Earhart's plane, and the first plane ever to cross the Atlantic ocean were on display. 
The National Gallery of Art was  another one of our favorites where the self portrait of Vincent van Gogh ,Degas’s Little Dancer, and Ginevra de’ Benci by Leonardo da Vinci
are.
At the National Museum of American history we saw the actual U.S Flag that inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner by  Francis Scott Key.
The same week we visited all the monuments. The greatest of
these (if there is a greatest) was the Lincoln Memorial. Seeing the
massive statue of our sixteenth president was breath taking, and to
stand where Martin Luther King Jr. stood for his famous speech “I
have a dream” was a very special treat. 
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool  that almost
connects the Washington memorial to the Lincoln memorial was
frozen one of the days and we laughed as we observed the
seagulls slip and slide as they walk on top of the ice. 
It was so cold one day that it actually snowed! Something we never see in
California. Shelby’s birthday landed when we were in DC so we
headed up to Georgetown to eat the most wonderful cupcakes in DC,
Georgetown Cupcakes aka DC cupcakes. 
Our first holiday in the RV was Thanksgiving, and we actually had our cousin Lyndsey over who lives in Maryland. We had a successful Thanksgiving dinner with
delicious turkey made in the crock pot as well as the many other
yummy traditional dishes. 
We had a tour of the Capitol Building and
saw the rooms were the Congress meets as well as the huge
statue collection that they have there. A room in the Capitol was
constructed so that you can whisper on one side of the room and it
could be heard on the other side, but if you talk in the middle of the
room your voice could not be heard well from anywhere in the room.
One other interesting fact about this building is that President Washington made it so that it was the starting point of the street numbers anywhere in the town. We went to see our Uncle in Washington DC! Not really actually… only his picture, but it was still
pretty cool to see my uncles face in the United States Navy
Memorial museum. 
The last of our adventures in DC was to see the
Ford Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. We saw
many artifacts such as the gun that shot Lincoln, the suit that he
was wearing, the pillow that he laid on, and John Wilkes Booth diary,
boot and weapons he used on that dreadful night. Across the way
was the house in which Lincoln died, and we got to go in and see
the room where that  tragic event took place. After all our
adventures we would drive back to our RV and stop off at our
favorite place to eat “Sardi’s Mexican Grill.” There we were
rewarded with delicious chicken and salad. If you ever are in College
Park, Maryland…. go there. :) 

Philadelphia

The first day we were there we went to Philly and went to the original makers of the Philly cheese steak -  Pat’s King of Steaks. You better know exactly what you are ordering and how to order before you get to the window, otherwise they will look at you like you are a moron and you could be asked to step out of line. The proper way to order is to say, “ one wiz with” which means 1 sandwich with cheese wiz and with onions. Of course that could change if you didn't want those things, but we dared not disturb the “delicate genius Philly cheese steak makers’ with our “measly preferences”

Our minds and eyes were again filled with history as we walked through Philadelphia.  We went to Independence  Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. We stood in the Assembly Room and saw the actual chair that  George Washington sat in during the signing of the Declaration of Independence,    We visited Congress Hall where  George Washington was sworn into presidency for his second term.

                                                       Ink stand used to write Declaration of Independence 

Liberty Bell

George Washington's Chair in the center

The line to see the Liberty Bell wrapped around the building. People waited in the freezing cold and we joined in so we could view the great symbol of freedom that has lasted through such a long span of time. We grabbed some hot chocolate to try and stay warm partly drinking it partly hugging it while we walked to Christ Church Burial Ground where Benjamin Franklin and his wife are buried, as well as four other signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Benjamin Franklin's Tomb 

Christ Church Burial Ground

We also visited the sight of Benjamin Franklin's home, where they built a “skeleton frame” of what the home looked like right over the foundation of the original home. You can still see the foundation underneath.

We stopped by Betsy Ross' home’ the women who sewed the first American Flag. We had had just about enough of the freezing cold at that time so our visit there was pretty short.

Location of Benjamin Franklin's Home

The most interesting thing we saw was the Original Declaration of independence written on scrap paper by Thomas Jefferson himself. We also learned that the Declaration of Independence was “penned’’ or handwritten out by Timothy Matlack. We all had assumed that it was Thomas Jefferson’s writing.

Thomas Jefferson's chair he sat in while writing the Decleration

We learned that before the handwritten declaration was the Dunlap broadside, a "typed/printed" version , around 200 of them all sent out to the colonies to be read, before the handwritten one was signed.  

Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration

First Post Office

Ally and Shelby were super excited about being able to have dinner with their online Science teacher.  Mrs. Sam lives in Pennsylvania  and it worked out that we could have dinner with her sweet family of 8. We went out to chinese food and while the restaurant turned out to be a pretty bad place the company was awesome. We all had such a great time visiting with them and getting to know her family a bit. 

Dinner with Ally's and Shelby's Veritas Press teacher

Wes and I also celebrated our 15th year anniversary  . We went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, and just enjoyed a quiet evening talking about some of our favorite memories over the years.

I love NYC ....for a little while at least.......

Tori and Collin watching random people
play video games on the subway. 

What an amazing view of the Manhattan Sky Line we had from our RV site. We stayed across the bay on the Jersey Side and took either the Metro into the city or the ferry across the bay. I still can’t believe we took all 5 kids on the subway and that no one got lost … there were times  when the subway was soo packed that I had a difficult time corralling all the kids close to me. People push and shove their way in and out of the subway , not even looking up to see that they are shoving a child. On the other hand there were the select few that would give their seat up the let one of the kids sit down. 

Collin Listening 

We went to Grand Central Station, and got to see the beautiful architecture and witness the packed dining area where strangers share tables and others hover over you waiting for your table like a hawk circling its prey. Wes’ brother Jon who lived in New York tipped us off on the “Whispering Gallery” found in the Terminal. You stand with your face toward the wall and another person stands diagonally 40 feet across from you on the others side of the arch way and you can whisper facing the wall and the other person can hear whatever you say.

Ally and Shelby talking to Collin 

Jon happened to be in town that week so we were able to visit with him and we all went to the Museum Of Modern Art together. It was hard to grasp that we were actually looking at the originals of some of the worlds most famous pieces of art. We saw Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and The Three Musicians, Henri Matisse's Dance, Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory ,Jackson Pollock's works and so many others.

 

 

Brothers found each other at Grand Central Terminal 

Top of the Rock/Central Park below

We went to the “Top of The Rock” which is the top of Rockefeller center , in my opinion it is a  better view then the top of the Empire State Building, and much less crowded.  It is bizarre seeing Central park’s huge rectangle of green amongst tall buildings. A perspective that is hard to grasp when walking through the park itself . The night that we went up to the Empire State building  was super cold and windy but still a sight to be seen all light up and towering over the bustling city. 

We walked the jammed packed city streets and went to time square where the ball is dropped on New Years Eve. We watched people skate at Rockefeller Ice Rink. Although the kids were more interested in playing with the toys and dancing on the BIG piano  at FAO Schwartz. We watched an IMAX movie on Sharks at the Museum of Natural History and found “Rexy the Dinosaur” from the movie Night at the Museum. 

We happened to be in town the weekend of the NYC Marathon and we joined Jon to watch the inspiring event in Brooklyn . The kids cheered the runners on by giving out high fives while I was wishing I was running along with the mob of people.

We took the  mile long   icy cold walk across the Brooklyn Bridge rewarding ourselves with a delicious hamburger from Shake Shake.

Finish Line

Jon also showed us around upper west side  and treated us out to some good NYC pizza at Patsy’s. For dessert he took us to a local favorite "Levain Bakery,” where they serve huge decedent cookies. We all loved them although, I think we loved the banana cream pudding Jon got us from Magnolia’s even better.

Brooklyn 

Brooklyn Bridge

Wes enjoyed going to NBC where the Tonight Show is filmed and also seeing where the Today Show is taped . He also gave the kids a lecture on how stocks work while standing in front of the NY stock exchange. 

Toward the end of the second week we finally made our way to the Statue of Liberty, we learned so much about the statue that we hadn’t known before. From the Crown of her head to the broken shakels around her feet , the statue's every detail represents something specific. It was interesting going to Ellis Island and tracing back our ancestors that came over by boat.

"Had to fight like a bull" to get a pic in front of this guy!
New York Stock Exchange.

Freedom Tower from the ferry

The last day we were there we went to Ground Zero, a very sobering experience. The museum was well done. It honored the victims, as well as educated the public about the events of that day.  It seemed that the Freedom Tower could be seen from anywhere in New York.

Last beam removed from Ground Zero 

We all were fully exhausted by the end of our two week visit and thoroughly great full that we don’t live in a big city.