Richmond

Well, the wedding has dominated the past couple of weeks and rightly so, but it's time to wrap up our vacation post before it is ancient history. We spent the last day in Richmond, where we got to spend an evening with my dear college friend Virginia and her husband Charles, who, FYI, recently published a book - pretty impressive!

Maymont Park

The next day we traipsed through one of our favorite city parks, right up there with Como Park in St. Paul, Central Park in NYC, and Wheaton Regional right here at home.

There were lots of cute baby goats to see, along with their parents and some sheep,

as well as a zoo that includes a black bear, bison, and bald eagles.

After you wander through beautiful gardens, cross the stepping stones, hike up to the waterfall, and then climb up the hundred or so stone steps beyond, you get to this gorgeous garden with a trellis walk just made for wedding photos. Then we cut across hills and over rustic bridges like the one below to finally circle back to our parking lot, where we threw open the cooler and guzzled juice boxes like we had just crossed the Sahara.

Were we on a mission to get the kids tired out? I'm not sure we actually intended to wear out the boys, but they walked probably a couple of miles in this place in fairly intense heat. But I wasn't content to stop there. I knew they would just love...

Tredegar Iron Works & Belle Isle

And they did. The machine pictured at right made little pieces of iron that connected two pieces of rail, and another machine made railroad car wheels. They were quite impressed. We surveyed these relics while Chris parked the car a long way away. David fell flat on his face while we were crossing the street - thankfully no cars were coming! - and then fell again on the other side - fortunately right into a thornless blackberry bush, which was bursting with ripe berries for the public picking. That cheered him up right way! I couldn't believe it, such a thing seemed very un-American (why wasn't somebody profiting from these berries!) but we thoroughly enjoyed them until Chris caught up to us.

Then we called upon the little legs to keep on trucking, over this pedestrian suspension bridge which dangles between a car bridge and the James River, to Belle Isle,

which the boys apparently thought was called "Belly Isle" as Chris observed.

The rapids viewed from rocks in the midst of them were arrestingly powerful as usual.

Naturally we did not let the boys go near them and instead bade them cool their feet in the somewhat stagnant water pooled among the rocks.

By the time they had walked back across the bridge and part of the way to the van, this refreshment was long since forgotten. I had meanwhile trotted up a huge hill to the van to bring it back to meet Chris and the boys. He definitely had the easier part walking down hill earlier! And we once again were drenched in sweat and quenched our thirst with juice from the cooler. Multiple juice boxes on one day is definitely a sign that we are on vacation!

And indeed, the boys were completely tuckered out. It was a good day, and a good way to end our trip. We're thankful for lots of great family memories and quality time together.

Charleston

Scenes from Downtown

We're back from vacation! It was a wonderfully relaxing trip. We stayed with our friends the Brinsons, who moved to John's Island from Gaithersburg about 6 months ago, and their amazing hospitality allowed us to get plenty of R&R. To more fully appreciate the extent of their hospitality, realize that South Carolina in July is HOT, and our hostess Christine is 8 months pregnant.

We opened and closed our stay by enjoying the 83-degree water on Folly Beach. In between, we toured the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown, wandered around downtown Charleston's stately old homes, and watched boats.

The South Carolina flag against the backdrop of the new Ravenel bridge, quite a lovely bit of architecture.

U.S.S. Yorktown, CV-10 (Essex class)

If you can imagine a floating airport, with a hotel/dormitory and a dining hall underneath, along with an entire level devoted to machinery, and another to a cluster of lecture halls, and a third to storage of ammunition and sundry supplies and services such as a post office and a laundromat, then you can begin to imagine the size of this ship. We found ourselves wondering how long it took the sailors and aviators on board to learn their way around their ship.

The ship is actually the second Yorktown. The first Yorktown sank after being heavily damaged at the Battle of Midway. The present ship was being built when the sinking occurred and was promptly christened Yorktown in honor of the first. Yorktown the second played an important role in the victory over Japan during WWII. It was a bit of a thrill for me to be strolling the decks where men became heroes, courage conquered, and freedom was bought with blood, after Samuel Morison depicted Yorktown's battles so vividly in the naval history series I'm reading.

Our wonderful hosts, who will probably have to see this vessel many more times than they wish.

After seeing the aircraft carrier, Joshua and Chris built their own.

When we went downtown, the boys climbed all over the cannons and cannonball piles in White Point Gardens. They ran around pretending to fire and load, fire and load, and fought off an invading armada of about "200 battleships," according to Joshua.

Here we are...this restaurant was situated just below a drawbridge, with an excellent view of passing pleasure craft. The bridge didn't open while we were eating, but we did have to wait for it once while driving. And for the record, while it's nice to watch other people's boats, we cannot imagine ever owning one or wanting to.

This is Miss Sharon, spunky gal!

During afternoon naps and after bedtime, the grown-ups talked, read, rested, and played lots of games (by the way, if anyone has a copy of Rail Baron lying around not being used, we are now on the prowl for one). While we were cooking and cleaning up, Joshua and David enjoyed playing with 18-month old Sharon, who has bright red hair, the chubbiest cheeks, and a big grin that lights up her whole face. She is as bright as her hair and smile, and as bold too - she has no qualms about running right into the ocean or squishing unwelcome little ant visitors with her fingers, and she passionately loves fire trucks.

The Presbyterian church the Brinsons attend is renting space in a historic Lutheran church downtown. Next door, some members of the church are renovating a historic home, and they opened it up for light refreshments and tours after church.

I loved how they were blending new and old; I've always had a fancy for interior brick walls for some reason. And the bathrooms! Marble this, granite that, my goodness it was gorgeous.

Joshua and David best loved the beach, the bridges, the boats, the horses, and - maybe tied with the beach - the cannons along the Battery. We ALL enjoyed quality time with our friends, visiting a beautiful place, gelato at Charleston Candy Kitchen, and getting lots of rest! (I even read a whole book - A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.) Thank you, Rob and Christine, for giving us the gift of this refreshing vacation and all the memories!

New Jersey

Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island

I couldn't wait to come here. All these years I had never been to the lighthouse near my grandmother's house, and recently it was restored and now beams a bright beacon once more. I learned that George Meade, the Union general, was responsible for its design and construction; as a government engineer before the Civil War, inspecting the old lighthouse, he foresaw that light's crumbling into the sea and recommended replacing it.

We had a lovely picnic on the bay, and then...

Joshua scampered with alacrity up more than 200 steps! I could barely keep up with him! David also climbed all the way up by himself, but not quite so quickly, probably to the relief of the rest of the party.



Happy climbers at the summit, not even breaking a sweat.



Out on the catwalk it was quite windy and I lost my sunglasses, but the view was beautiful. My favorite sight was the southern tip of Island Beach State Park, where we used to go to the beach when I was little.

We all enjoyed the sunshine and the ocean views, and I - this is one of my quirky things - particularly delighted in the salty air. I insisted that we roll down the windows in the van so I could smell the sea.

Grandma Monika generously suggested we stop for ice cream on the way home.

David very decidedly wanted a chocolate ice cream cone.




And he thoroughly enjoyed eating it!



Joshua and David had a wonderful time with their dear GG. She is one in a million!

She even gave us a plant to take home!

It was somewhat of a mystery plant until it just bloomed. It turned out to be a Black-eyed Susan, which I recently read is the Maryland state flower. Isn't that fitting?

Thank you, GG, for letting us visit - we love you so very much! And thank you, Mom and Dad, for joining us in Philadelphia and Forked River. It was so fun to be with you and such a blessing to have your help in caring for the boys!

Philadelphia

This conference was the reason we went to Philadelphia.

Independence Hall.

The Liberty Bell.

Mural in the convention center and old railroad terminal entrance. There were huge murals on many buildings around the city.

The food court where we tried Philly cheesesteaks.

Joshua loved the guitar sign at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The seaport museum on Penn's Landing housed an active wooden ship-building shop.

The four-masted Moshulu (now a restaurant), the Spanish-American War cruiser U.S.S. Olympia, and the U.S.S. Becuna (a WWII diesel sub). We toured the latter two.

Yum! Fifty-cent soft pretzels!


Benjamin Franklin's grave in the Christ Church cemetery. We also went to the U.S. Mint right across the street from here but were not allowed to bring cameras.

We took a ride on a historic PCC trolley car down Girard Avenue. (Thanks Dad! We never would have done this if you hadn't been there!)

"There he is! There's William Penn!" His statue is visible atop the old city hall from all over the city center, and the boys shouted excitedly every time they saw him.

The Please Touch Museum was an experience unto itself. We took the city bus there and back, a roundabout trip through the real Philadelphia. We went during a two-hour window when admission was only $2pp, compared to $15pp for over age 1 at all other times. To say it was crowded would be a severe understatement! But it was worth it. I didn't get too many great photos being focused on trying not to lose the boys, who were obviously enjoying themselves despite the jostling mobs, but this children's museum had it all. We managed to at least see most of it, but we plan to go back someday.

They both waited patiently for a turn to drive the excavator. David needed a little help but Joshua managed to scoop a bucketful and dump it on his own.

The child-size grocery store was worse than Costco on a Saturday. There was hardly a cart to be had! But they had all this nice bread to bake, and Joshua had a blast as Able Baker Charlie. And guess what he and David stuffed their cart with when given the opportunity to make their own grocery shopping choices? Bread, bread, and more bread!

One area was devoted to water play. They had a non-slip draining floor and convenient blue smocks with drying racks for all the kids to put on while they splashed in the locks, canals, rivers, water wheels, rapids, rain storms, and all kinds of water activities.

We're so grateful we had the opportunity to visit a new place and spend some time with Chris during a week when we otherwise would have been apart. Philadelphia was wonderful and we had a great time! Next I'll post the pictures from our side trip to New Jersey.