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. :)