First, we had some prep work before we left. Logistical things like renting a van, arranging for a hamster-and-fish-sitter/mail getter/house watcher/etc, and things like packing and preparing food. My mom is shown below preparing food the day before, on Saturday. We packed our food for Sunday (3 meals), and Monday lunch. I did help with that and made the burritos for Sunday breakfast...surprisingly, they turned out quite well :)
But I get ahead of myself. I mentioned packing (one can see my three lists, pen, and backpack):
So Sunday morning, we arose at an insane hour, like 6 or something. The van was packed completely, sleepy and hungry people squished themselves in, and we left at 7:21 am. (Yes, I like my cellphone background too...) Random Quote from riding in the van: "No throwing up allowed in the van!!" -- Mom (We have, ahem, some members who have a tendency to get carsick. Some of us have learned over the years to avoid reading and so forth, and others are in the process of learning this themselves.)
Speaking of the van...here tis!
So anyhow, we whizzed off. It started raining, and Katrina thought the puddles splashing sound was bears trying to get in. [Random Quote: "It's raining cats and dogs...I just stepped in two poodles." -- Dad] We were hungry, of course. Daddy said that we would stop shortly past Warren, so we talked, listened to music, and tried to fall asleep while we waited for Warren to hurry up and go by. It finally did, and we started to look for a nice little place to eat. We didn't find anything, and we just were getting hungrier and hungrier. We got to some little PA town (I forgot its name :P ) and made a wrong turn. We hadn't gone 30 seconds down this road when we saw this:
We were like, YAY!!!!! and promptly disembarked and ate breakfast. Good news: there was only one spider spotted during breakfast. Bad news: he was at my place. We had the aforementioned breakfast burritos, with yogurt, granola, and orange juice.
Then we hopped back in the van and continued on our way...
...to Arlington National Cemetery!
We got there at maybe quarter to 5, after a couple stops to stretch and eat lunch. Arlington closed at 7, so we had a couple hours. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. The lighting was *perfect* for pictures, and it's a beautiful setting. We parked (it's always so exciting taking a big homeschool van into those parking garages with only like 7 feet of clearance...I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about!), and found a map. We wanted to walk to the Tomb of the Unknowns, and stop at JFK's Eternal Flame along the way. It didn't take us as long to walk there as I thought it would...well, actually, it might have and I just didn't realize how long it was taking!
The Flame
Walking...
Taking pictures...
...of tombstones.
Hosanna and Lydia pose for me
This next batch of pictures is from the amphitheater. The Tomb of the Unknown is basically on its back porch (or is it the front porch), so we wandered through it first. It's huge, and like I said...the lighting was awesome.
Katrina
Joanna
Joanna and Hosanna
Me :P
And then we walked out to see the changing of the guard. Very impressive. I liked their sunglasses.
After that, we started heading back to the main gate. We walked around behind the Tomb, and I took a picture. I mean, you all have seen probably tons of pictures looking AT the Tomb of the Unknown, but how many of you know what it looks like from behind? That's what I thought. Thus, picture. And I discovered the paintbrush in photoshop, so I labelled everything for you. I even labelled where I was standing when I was taking the pictures of the changing of the guard.
And then we pose for still more photographs...
And we found the CAP memorial!
So Hosanna and I got our picture with it.
And we got some group shots..not sure if they're Christmas card worthy or not. Random Quote: Jess, looking at a picture of herself taken on the trip: "Does my knee look fat?" Mom: "No...it's a normal knee..."
This one is funny...Katrina is so short, and Josh and Joanna are barely tall enough!
The Washington Monument can sorta be seen from everywhere. Katrina called it the Pencil, and I think one of her highlights was going up into it the next day.
So after Arlington, we header to our hotel.
Both of our hotels had pools and the complimentary breakfast, which we took full advantage of. We checked in, went up to our fifth floor rooms and got settled in. Then it was time for supper, and we basically had the deserted hotel breakfast area to ourselves. So we brought our food in and sat and ate it. And I don't remember what we had...leftovers, peaches and cottage cheese, cheese sticks, stuff like that. Then we went to bed. And Jess takes all the blankets, by the way. Random Quote: Lydia, speaking about sleeping arrangements: "I only roll and kick when I'm on a trip." Annetta (no doubt with a feeling of impending doom): "You're on a trip..."
Next morning...Monday. We arose bright and early. Question: why is it always bright and early? That doesn't even make sense to me...if it's super early, it's not bright because the sun isn't up yet. Whatever. Regardless, we got up, ate breakfast, and grabbed all the stuff we would need for a day sightseeing in DC. They had a TV in the breakfast area, and as we ate, we heard how part of the metro was flooded and people were all jammed up and stuff. We even saw footage of it. Well...that was us a half an hour later.
I stood with hundreds of people at the Braddock Street metro station, proving once again that the American public, when faced with a catastrophe of this sort, rallies itself together into one big confused mess.
The Public Media showed up after a while and took pictures of us. I felt like a scientific specimen or something, so I took a picture of the photographer. I think he saw me, and we both felt awkward.
We stood for quite some time...45 minutes maybe...and Lydia was so bored she turned her lunch bag into a bunny. Ah homeschoolers...
At any rate, if nobody has guessed yet how this story turns out, we made it through to our final destination. It involved getting split up, a super long shuttle bus ride, and then a super long and CROWDED metro ride to Smithsonian, but we made it. It was so crowded that for the last little bit, I did not have to worry about falling over. It seemed like at every station we stopped at, we gained several people, and were lucky if we lost one or two. I would compare us to sardines, but believe it or not, I have never seen a can of sardines (I'm a sheltered homeschooler), so instead, I'm going to draw a comparison between us and Jessica's closet. Packed.
This little metro thing did put us behind schedule an hour or so, which means that we didn't get to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We have seen Night at the Museum and wanted to go, but it didn't turn out.
We first went to the Washington Monument.
And while we were there, guess who showed up??
We went up to the top and looked out. Then we went back down.
Next was to walk along the National Mall, taking in everything along the sides, and the Lincoln Memorial. We may or may not have fed the ducks, in direct violation of the numerous signs that instructed otherwise.
Lydia and Hosanna...
Vietnam Wall [photo credit: Annetta]
Photo credit to Annetta for this one too
Lounging at the World War 2 memorial...
White House. Photo credits to anonymous tourist with photo skillz. Michelle Obama's garden is under the tree that is off to the left of Jess's shoulder. You can't see it. Also not shown (but present) was the White House Lawn Mower, buzzing around, trying to ignore the tourists staring at him, photographing him, hurling small objects at him, etc.
Then we walked back to the Capitol Building, where we had a tour. It was actually an awesome tour. We were in a group with like 60 other people (it wasn't a personalized intern tour like we had when my mom, Jessica, and I went with Grandpa Bob a few years back). But the tour guide was hysterical! He had such a great sense of humor. We had headphones on, and he had a microphone so we could all hear him. We walked all over the Capitol, stopping for his educational and humorous commentary.
Family picture on the steps of the Supreme Court:
Joanna at the Supreme Court:
Hosanna at the Supreme Court:
Then we went back to the hotel, had supper, went swimming, and crashed. Here are some metro pictures:
Tuesday morning: This place was awesome!!
It was on our way from DC to PHC, and since Jessica couldn't start signing in until afternoon, we thought we would stop here. We only had about a half an hour there, which was not nearly enough time to absorb everything in it. A tour would have been super awesome too, because I'm sure a lot of the stuff had interesting stories and facts. Also, all pictures inside are taken by Annetta. I wandered around sans camera.
I think I took this one, actually...
This is a space shuttle. Cool stuff :)
After lunch, we drove to PHC, hopped out of the van, and Jess began in-processing.
We waited while she went around to the various stations, and then took her stuff to her dorm.
We helped her get unpacked, mostly, but after a little while, the [non]natives got restless, so we walked around. Some genius had left soccer balls throughout the campus, and we could only assume they were for us. So we grabbed one and went to the basketball court. We weren't actually allowed to be there, so after a little but there, we moved on.
We passed the geese of Lake Bob
on our way to the kickball/baseball field. [photo credit: Josh or Joanna]
There was a dinner for the students and their families that evening. The line was crazy long, but we made it though, passing with some dread the memorials to past students who had succumbed to hunger while in line, may their souls rest with cheeseburgers in peace. Dinner was in the gymnasium.
Michael Farris
and Graham Walker spoke.
After supper, we went back to our hotel and went swimming. There were several families that we recognized from PHC there at the hotel as well. Random Quote: At the beginning of the trip, Katrina's idea of swimming (from within the safe confines of her inflatable vest) was to kick her legs like a egg beater with electrical issues, or a bicycle pedaled by someone on some serious adrenaline. She got better, and informed us that, "I'm not kicking like a motorcycle anymore!" Ah Katrina...motorcycles don't kick...
Wednesday morning, we ate breakfast and went to Walmart to buy stuff for Jess and roommates. Then we went to the camps. Wednesday was the day where they started orientation, and the parents were invited to attend sessions as well. So the kids and I tried to keep a low profile, slinking around campus. You would think that on a primarily-homeschooled campus, there would have been a ton of other kids doing the same thing, but no. There were a couple other siblings-of-students strolling around, but no hobos like us. In the morning, we went out to the athletic field and played soccer. It was really hot, and we discovered a volleyball net, with sand. That's where we were till lunch. The soccer team came out to practice, and we watched them a little bit before heading back.
We had lunch in the cafeteria.
Also, I'm going to share this picture with you now. As we were walking along, I was bemoaning the fact that PHC has been photographed so much that you pretty much can't take a random snapshot and have it be original. Annetta suggested (I believe her tone was sarcastic) that I take this following photo, so I did. I would bet that very few have taken this shot. If you see it again elsewhere, rememer...you saw it here first!
This is Josh, hanging out on the steps of Founders Hall.
Group shot (minus Jess, who took the pic) of us heading out to find a playground. We found one, and we hung out at it for a while in the afternoon.
After we got back from the playground, we had quiet time in the lobby of D3 (Dorm three...Jess's dorm). Then we had supper again. The menu board said that it included something called "beluga." Now, I was under the impression that a beluga is a sort of whale. I was pretty concerned, and also, I did not eat any meat that night. If any of my readers can ease my mind on this matter, I'd be much obliged.
Following dinner, the RAs were introduced to us all, and then they put on a hilarious program. Then...prepare the Kleenex...it was the crying time. We had all done so well up to that point, but when they started praying for the students and families, it was a losing battle. We had a few minutes in which the families prayed together and hugged and blew noses and so forth, and then a closing prayer. Then, they announced that there was ice cream!
I went through the line and was just sitting down when I remembered that I had a live Spanish chat in 5 minutes. Normally, I would have gotten out of going, but my partner Shannon and I had to read our Spanish assignment. So I sprinted to Jess's dorm, grabbed laptop, and headed for the lounge. 15 minutes later, I emerged, and I'm sure the folks in the entry area were wondering if they should be concerned or not. I gave them an enigmatic smile and returned to the family scene. They took these pics while I was gone...not sure who took them, though.
A friendly PHC-er asked Katrina what she wanted to be when she grew up. Without hesitation, Katrina replied, "Skinny!!"
The Barbara Hodel Center, silhouetted against the evening sky, shown here with multitudes of camera grain.
And then we got a family shot outside Jessica's dorm.
We went back to the hotel for the night, and packed up and left the next morning. Fairly uneventful trip, except for this cat.
I can't close this post without mentioning Tom Giraffe and Louie. Tom Giraffe and Louie went with us, and we are most grateful for their presence. With them, Katrina managed to entertain herself for hours on end. It just sorta adds to the atmosphere, you know, to have Tom Giraffe and Louie (Louie is the mom, btw) interacting and going about their daily lives as we drive down the highway or hang around at PHC.
Elizabeth, our awesome pet sitter, made us supper (!!!!!), so that was all ready for us when we walked in. She also had our mail organized on the table, along with a sweet note. Thanks again, Elizabeth!
I can think of no better way to end this post than with a quote from Joanna, when we were getting a bit stir crazy on the long drive home: "As soon as we get home, and out of this van, I'm going to howl." [She's harmless...no, really!]
