We were up early this morning and on the road by 8 a.m. Brett had to work today and we decided that we wanted to stop in Cleveland on the way home if possible. It was tricky getting out of D.C. and it rained in Pennsylvania for a little while, but other than that it was an easy trip. We had given Cal, Meg, Cam and HM options of where to stop today and they all chose The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. We were glad to have arrived there by 2 p.m. as that gave us time to explore the Hall before it closed at 5:30.
I had bought tickets online, so getting in was quick. We hadn't stopped for lunch so we tried their cafe. It was delicious and once we refueled we headed downstairs for the main exhibits featuring the early influence of rock and roll. Cal knew a lot of the artists from his music class at IU and Cam said that it was one of his favorite parts of the Hall. Meg remembered the Elvis exhibit and couldn't wait to find it. HM was able to spend time at the Beatles display and Doug enjoyed the Rolling Stones. The 2017 inductees included one of Doug's favorites - Pearl Jam and one of Meg's - Journey. With all there was to see I believe that Doug and I found the John Mellencamp area to be the most interesting. He was huge when we were at IU and being from Seymour his ties to Bloomington have always been strong.
After several hours at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame we were all ready to head home. It had been a great trip, but we knew it was time to get back on the road. We still had four hours to travel and were hoping to make it to Syracuse before nine. Traffic was heavy at first, but once we got about five miles out of Cleveland we were good to go. Cam put in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on the dvd player which kept us entertained for the majority of the trip, and we actually made it home by 8:30. Once we unpacked Meg and Cam had time to get Joe's and visit Graham and Gabby. Cal went to Grandma's after HM left and Doug and I enjoyed a quiet dinner with a lot of time for reflection. We felt incredibly blessed to spend a week with our children. We made memories the will last a lifetime.
Friday, July 7, 2017
Thursday, July 6, 2017
007 in D.C.
When we talked with Hannah-Marie and the Heinisch children about what they wanted to do when we were in D.C. everyone gave us ideas of exhibits, memorials and museums that they had visited before and liked. HM suggested one, however, that none of us had been to - The International Spy Museum. We didn't know what to expect, but were excited to try something new. It opened at 10 a.m. this morning and we were there with the early morning crowd.
We started on the top floor with our secret identity and traveled through exhibits learning all that we needed to know to become a spy. There was a lot of history intertwined with the exhibits of spy necessities - fake pens, false bottoms in suitcases, etc. This year additions were made to include memorabilia from the James Bond movies. Those have always been favorites of Doug and the boys. Thus, we really enjoyed the cars, the posters, the weapons, the outfits and discussing our favorite villains and Bond girls.
Right across the street from the Spy Museum was the National Portrait Museum. This was new to us as well and we decided to walk through it. I loved it as they had portraits of each President. We had fun asking Brett about his favorite Presidents and his least favorite ones. There was a lot of debate after that. We were close to the gift shop near Ford's Theater and the Hard Rock Cafe, so we made those our next stops. Everyone found a souvenir or two and Cal even purchased a Donald Trump chocolate bar. We had to wait for a table at Hard Rock. That was ok with us as it gave us time to sit down or walk around and enjoy the displays. The food was delicious and filling.
Our next stop was the American History Smithsonian. We had just been there in April, but I could walk through the exhibit showcasing the First Lady's dresses and china every month. It was fun picking out the ones that we would love to have and the ones that didn't quite fit our style. We made sure to see The Start Spangled Banner and the Bert and Ernie puppets before we left. There was supposed to be a Smithsonian Festival today, but it was rained out. That was ok with us as we walked to the White House instead and had plenty of time to walk all the way around it. While we were there we took pictures on both sides of it and we also enjoyed looking at the Dwight D. Eisenhower building. We hadn't seen it on our last trip and it was impressive.
We made it back to the hotel for the evening reception. The snacks and drinks were different than Wednesday night, but just as good. Brett was ready to go back to his apartment after that. He had packed everything that he had in D.C. that he would not need for the next month. Doug drove him home so that he could pick all of it up. Brett will now be able to fly home and not worry about shipping everything home. Once Doug got back, he, Meg, Cam and I walked to get ice cream. The closet place was in China Town. The ice cream was good, but I didn't particularly care for China Town. Brett said that I am not alone in feeling that way.
We started on the top floor with our secret identity and traveled through exhibits learning all that we needed to know to become a spy. There was a lot of history intertwined with the exhibits of spy necessities - fake pens, false bottoms in suitcases, etc. This year additions were made to include memorabilia from the James Bond movies. Those have always been favorites of Doug and the boys. Thus, we really enjoyed the cars, the posters, the weapons, the outfits and discussing our favorite villains and Bond girls.
Right across the street from the Spy Museum was the National Portrait Museum. This was new to us as well and we decided to walk through it. I loved it as they had portraits of each President. We had fun asking Brett about his favorite Presidents and his least favorite ones. There was a lot of debate after that. We were close to the gift shop near Ford's Theater and the Hard Rock Cafe, so we made those our next stops. Everyone found a souvenir or two and Cal even purchased a Donald Trump chocolate bar. We had to wait for a table at Hard Rock. That was ok with us as it gave us time to sit down or walk around and enjoy the displays. The food was delicious and filling.
Our next stop was the American History Smithsonian. We had just been there in April, but I could walk through the exhibit showcasing the First Lady's dresses and china every month. It was fun picking out the ones that we would love to have and the ones that didn't quite fit our style. We made sure to see The Start Spangled Banner and the Bert and Ernie puppets before we left. There was supposed to be a Smithsonian Festival today, but it was rained out. That was ok with us as we walked to the White House instead and had plenty of time to walk all the way around it. While we were there we took pictures on both sides of it and we also enjoyed looking at the Dwight D. Eisenhower building. We hadn't seen it on our last trip and it was impressive.
We made it back to the hotel for the evening reception. The snacks and drinks were different than Wednesday night, but just as good. Brett was ready to go back to his apartment after that. He had packed everything that he had in D.C. that he would not need for the next month. Doug drove him home so that he could pick all of it up. Brett will now be able to fly home and not worry about shipping everything home. Once Doug got back, he, Meg, Cam and I walked to get ice cream. The closet place was in China Town. The ice cream was good, but I didn't particularly care for China Town. Brett said that I am not alone in feeling that way.
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Honoring the Fallen
We started today at the Holocaust Museum. They had a survivor talk scheduled for when we first arrived that we were able to listen to. The speaker was 91 years old and had spent time in a concentration camp building an airplane hanger. There were two parts from her stories that resonated with me. The first was that she lived in Hungary under Communist control, but still had no idea that the Jews from Europe were being exterminated. Even when they got to Auschwitz she did not realize that they were being separated for work camps and the gas chamber. The second part that stuck with me after she finished was that her family of nine became a family of three after the war.
Once the talk was over we headed to our tour of the museum. We each picked up a passport with our identity as a Holocaust victim. The pictures and information that we read were sad. It was not meant to be uplifting, but a time to remember. We spent almost two hours going through the exhibits. Meg remarked that the leather shoes of the victims exhibit was extremely sad. I thought the three story wall of pictures of a town wiped out by Nazis was equally depressing. The most eye opening part of the tour for me was the fact that Germany's population of Jews in 1933 when Hitler came to power was only 1%. Thus, he blamed an extremely small percentage of his country for all of Germany's problems. I thought of life today and the outcry during the election against the 1% in the United States holding the majority of the countries wealth. Just like today it does not make sense to me that any political party would blame a small portion of the country for the majority's problems. Hitler obviously took it further than anyone today, but knowing that others called President Trump Hitler because of his stance on immigration became even more offensive to me after walking through the Holocaust Museum. I also believe that it lessens the memory of the six million extermination by the Nazi's during World War II.
We took a break after The Holocaust Museum for lunch outside of the Pentagon Mall. It was a nice place to reflect and get everyone's perspective on the museum and speaker that we saw today. We each reported back on how our identity fared during the Holocaust. Brett, Meg, Cam, Hannah-Marie and I were all happy to report that we survived. Doug and Cal, unfortunately, were not so lucky. After we ate we spent some time shopping. Brett and Cam found some new games at Game Stop. Meg and I headed to the Lego store and Forever 21. HM and Cal spent part of their time looking for Vans and Doug made phone alls for work.
After the mall we stopped at Arlington Cemetery. We saw many of the same sights as last time - Taft's grave, the JFK's eternal flame, Arlington House and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I spent a lot of time reading other tombstones as well as I walked a lot slower tonight than I did last night and was alright with others going on ahead. Brett and I even found Oliver Wendell Holmes on this journey. It started to rain as we left the cemetery, but we were still able to visit the Air Force Memorial, the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and the Iwo Jima Memorial. All were impressive.
We were ready for dinner after the memorials and found a place near Brett's apartment building called the Union Bar. The food was delicious and we appreciated sitting down for awhile. We dropped Brett off after dinner so he could take the suitcase we brought for him home. Once we got back to the hotel Cal, HM, Meg and Cameron all went to the hot tub. Doug and I tried the bar in the lobby. It was a completely different scene than the one from breakfast this morning. There were a lot less people and for the most part a nice place to unwind.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Happy Birthday Doug!
Today we celebrated Doug's 47th birthday at Mount Vernon, the home of George and Martha Washington. It was a hot, crowded day to visit, but we really enjoyed all of the 4th of July activities. I had bought our tickets online Sunday and we were glad that we did as it was crazy getting into the home. It took us over 20 minutes just to get through the line to park. While we were there we were able to walk the grounds, visit the grave sites and tour the mansion. With the holiday there were bands playing patriotic music, revolutionary war reenactments, and a fireworks show over the Potomac hosted by George and Martha. Brett and I remarked several times how amazing it was that last year we were at the home of Calvin Coolidge on the 4th - the only President born on the 4th of July - and this year we were at the home of our nation's first President.
From Mount Vernon we drove to We the Pizza in Arlington. Everyone really liked the food and it was easy to get in and out of. After lunch we headed to our hotel in D.C. We decided to try an Embassy Suites that was close to the White House. It definitely was nice and we rested for awhile before trying their evening reception. There were some good snacks and once we were refueled we thought we would tour the monuments.
It wasn't too far to the National Mall. We went to the Washington Monument first. It was fenced off and the only way in was through a security tent. We realized at that point that all of the monuments were that way in anticipated of the fireworks later in the evening. As we could see Washington's Monument from all spots on the Mall we decided to walk on to the World War II memorial. We couldn't access it because of the festival, but we could see it without any problem. We then walked to the Lincoln Memorial, which was absolutely packed. We were able to make our way up the stairs to see Lincoln. That part was not crowded and we got some great pictures.
The Korean War Memorial as well as the Vietnam Wall were close to Lincoln so we stopped at those next. The realization from these two was the fact that the death toll from the two wars were relatively the same, but the Vietnam War tends to get more historical attention. The fences for the festival detoured us through the baseball fields for our next two stops - the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the FDR. Both were impressive and I have to say that I believe that the FDR one was my favorite of the night tour this trip. Our last memorial stop was the Thomas Jefferson. It was packed as well but we were able to navigate the crowds fairly well to get inside to see the man himself.
Our goal was to make it back to the Washington Monument area before the fireworks started. The fences caused us to have to detour though and the fireworks started 20 minutes early otherwise we would have been there at the start. All that said we only missed the first three minutes and once we got to our prime viewing spot they were spectacular. After the fireworks were over Brett split off from us. It was close to 10 and he was ready to head home. We had talked about going to dinner, but everyone was exhausted. Instead we went back to the hotel and ordered pizza from room service. That worked out well. We had walked 12 miles today. Resting was exactly what my feet were asking for. Even though it was a lot of walking, it was definitely worth it to spend the 4th of July in our nation's capital.
From Mount Vernon we drove to We the Pizza in Arlington. Everyone really liked the food and it was easy to get in and out of. After lunch we headed to our hotel in D.C. We decided to try an Embassy Suites that was close to the White House. It definitely was nice and we rested for awhile before trying their evening reception. There were some good snacks and once we were refueled we thought we would tour the monuments.
It wasn't too far to the National Mall. We went to the Washington Monument first. It was fenced off and the only way in was through a security tent. We realized at that point that all of the monuments were that way in anticipated of the fireworks later in the evening. As we could see Washington's Monument from all spots on the Mall we decided to walk on to the World War II memorial. We couldn't access it because of the festival, but we could see it without any problem. We then walked to the Lincoln Memorial, which was absolutely packed. We were able to make our way up the stairs to see Lincoln. That part was not crowded and we got some great pictures.
The Korean War Memorial as well as the Vietnam Wall were close to Lincoln so we stopped at those next. The realization from these two was the fact that the death toll from the two wars were relatively the same, but the Vietnam War tends to get more historical attention. The fences for the festival detoured us through the baseball fields for our next two stops - the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the FDR. Both were impressive and I have to say that I believe that the FDR one was my favorite of the night tour this trip. Our last memorial stop was the Thomas Jefferson. It was packed as well but we were able to navigate the crowds fairly well to get inside to see the man himself.
Our goal was to make it back to the Washington Monument area before the fireworks started. The fences caused us to have to detour though and the fireworks started 20 minutes early otherwise we would have been there at the start. All that said we only missed the first three minutes and once we got to our prime viewing spot they were spectacular. After the fireworks were over Brett split off from us. It was close to 10 and he was ready to head home. We had talked about going to dinner, but everyone was exhausted. Instead we went back to the hotel and ordered pizza from room service. That worked out well. We had walked 12 miles today. Resting was exactly what my feet were asking for. Even though it was a lot of walking, it was definitely worth it to spend the 4th of July in our nation's capital.
Monday, July 3, 2017
Off We Go!
We spent the morning cleaning and finishing the packing for D.C. Cal didn't get home until late last night, so we didn't have his clothes in the suitcase yet. Doug has been notorious for setting a time to leave and then arriving early. This time we anticipated him and had everything ready before 3 p.m. That worked perfectly as he originally said we'd leave at 4 and showed up at 3 on the dot. All he had to do was change in we were off.
The trip was an easy one. Meg, Cam, Cal and HM kept busy with their phones, reading and watching Star Wars and Dodgeball. Traffic was light all of the way. Doug wondered if it was because of the holiday and maybe everyone had already arrived at their destination. We hadn't decided for sure where we were going to stop for the night, but as we drove on we realized that we could probably make it to Alexandria, Virginia if we tried. Thus, we reset our goal and with only one stop we were at our hotel in Virginia by 12:30 a.m.
The hotel had a problem with our room, but after changing once we finally were able to figure out the sleeping arrangements. Doug was ok with the floor and everyone was in bed by 1:15. The metro station was right across the street from our hotel, so Brett will be able to meet us for breakfast before our trip to Mount Vernon tomorrow. Thankful for a safe, quick trip.
The trip was an easy one. Meg, Cam, Cal and HM kept busy with their phones, reading and watching Star Wars and Dodgeball. Traffic was light all of the way. Doug wondered if it was because of the holiday and maybe everyone had already arrived at their destination. We hadn't decided for sure where we were going to stop for the night, but as we drove on we realized that we could probably make it to Alexandria, Virginia if we tried. Thus, we reset our goal and with only one stop we were at our hotel in Virginia by 12:30 a.m.
The hotel had a problem with our room, but after changing once we finally were able to figure out the sleeping arrangements. Doug was ok with the floor and everyone was in bed by 1:15. The metro station was right across the street from our hotel, so Brett will be able to meet us for breakfast before our trip to Mount Vernon tomorrow. Thankful for a safe, quick trip.
Sunday, July 2, 2017
A Day of Rest
As we went to mass last night and Meg got home late, we decided to sleep in this morning. I have noticed that sleeping in for Doug and I means 8 a.m. Strange how that changes over time. Cal "slept" in as well as he didn't have to be to work until 9 a.m. today. Last night he had gone out with HM on the boat to watch the fireworks on Lake Wawasee but was home before midnight. Meg was the one who took advantage of sleeping in. She said that she set her alarm for 11 a.m. as she felt that would be late enough. When it went off she still wasn't ready to get up.
We spent the day getting ready for our trip to Washington D.C. Doug didn't feel the best, so he took a nap this afternoon. That was extremely rare. He said he felt a lot better afterward. Once I finished some laundry and finalized my photo album on Shutterfly we decided to go out to the winery. It was a beautiful afternoon and they had live music. Meg went along with us and shared more stories from her trip to Vincennes. It was nice catching up with her.
Cam spent the afternoon golfing with my parents. He almost broke 40 on the front which he was happy about. Cal had to work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but texted to let us know that he would be late. Their range picker broke down, so they had to pick all the golf balls up by hand. It was also very busy today on the course. Cal was happy to announce when he got home that he had made $200 for the day and would get in 20 hours this week even though we would be on vacation for five days.
Doug cooked steaks tonight and we celebrated his birthday early. The food was delicious and he enjoyed his gifts and cards. Cam got out the ladder ball set glad that we were finally able to get the one set he through in the tree down. It took some physics from Doug to figure it out, but we have the full set again. Preston and Aaron came over to visit with Meg. They hadn't seen her in awhile and wanted to talk to her before she left again. They drove down to Joe's for ice cream and to bother Graham. Doug and I took a walk and got home just as the rain started. The good news was that I made my 10,000 steps daily goal and didn't have to water.
We spent the day getting ready for our trip to Washington D.C. Doug didn't feel the best, so he took a nap this afternoon. That was extremely rare. He said he felt a lot better afterward. Once I finished some laundry and finalized my photo album on Shutterfly we decided to go out to the winery. It was a beautiful afternoon and they had live music. Meg went along with us and shared more stories from her trip to Vincennes. It was nice catching up with her.
Cam spent the afternoon golfing with my parents. He almost broke 40 on the front which he was happy about. Cal had to work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but texted to let us know that he would be late. Their range picker broke down, so they had to pick all the golf balls up by hand. It was also very busy today on the course. Cal was happy to announce when he got home that he had made $200 for the day and would get in 20 hours this week even though we would be on vacation for five days.
Doug cooked steaks tonight and we celebrated his birthday early. The food was delicious and he enjoyed his gifts and cards. Cam got out the ladder ball set glad that we were finally able to get the one set he through in the tree down. It took some physics from Doug to figure it out, but we have the full set again. Preston and Aaron came over to visit with Meg. They hadn't seen her in awhile and wanted to talk to her before she left again. They drove down to Joe's for ice cream and to bother Graham. Doug and I took a walk and got home just as the rain started. The good news was that I made my 10,000 steps daily goal and didn't have to water.
Saturday, July 1, 2017
Home Sweet Home
My parents had been in Las Vegas since Tuesday. We had heard from them several times during the week. They were enjoying the shows immensely and Mom had even won some money. Their flight out was scheduled for yesterday morning. It was delayed getting out, but not like last week's fiasco when they had to cancel altogether because of the delays. Once we saw that they took off, we stopped checking. They were supposed to stop in Charlotte, North Caroline and then catch a connecting flight to Fort Wayne. Unfortunately, we heard from them a little bit after take off that there was a medical emergency and they had to make an unscheduled stop in Wichita, Kansas. Getting the woman off of the plane didn't take long, it was waiting for an American crew to arrive to inspect the plane before they could take off again that took forever. By the time they landed in North Carolina it was after midnight. They had missed their connecting flight and spent 14 hours on the plane.
Once my Mom explained to the American representatives what had happened they put them up in a hotel, bought them breakfast and lunch. That was nice, but the next available flight out was 8 p.m. tonight. Thankfully, they found someone else in the morning that was able to put them as priority passengers on a 1 p.m. flight. Once we saw that took off on the earlier flight we all felt relieved. Cam's first question was, "So, do they want to go golfing once they get here?" Fortunately, that was their plan and they were able to make it to our house before Doug and I left for mass.
Meg also made it home from her trip tonight as well. She got in late, but thankfully, there were no delays. Meg was thrilled to be home, but told us over and over how much fun she had. She met a lot of girls and got to play a ton of basketball. At one point she had played 11 games in 24 hours. That was challenging as she hadn't played competitively in 2 years, but by the end her nervousness was gone and she even hit a couple of threes. The best part for Doug and I, however, was listening to her stories about her teammates and all that they did together. Bean Boozled was the activity that her coach chose for team bonding. Meg choked down dead fish, moldy cheese, and canned dog food. Meg found that she had a lot in common with the girls and enjoyed getting to know her coaches better. We were impressed that they were interested in her well being and glad to have her be part of the team. Between basketball, soccer and tennis this summer she definitely has had chance to meet a lot of her classmates.
Once my Mom explained to the American representatives what had happened they put them up in a hotel, bought them breakfast and lunch. That was nice, but the next available flight out was 8 p.m. tonight. Thankfully, they found someone else in the morning that was able to put them as priority passengers on a 1 p.m. flight. Once we saw that took off on the earlier flight we all felt relieved. Cam's first question was, "So, do they want to go golfing once they get here?" Fortunately, that was their plan and they were able to make it to our house before Doug and I left for mass.
Meg also made it home from her trip tonight as well. She got in late, but thankfully, there were no delays. Meg was thrilled to be home, but told us over and over how much fun she had. She met a lot of girls and got to play a ton of basketball. At one point she had played 11 games in 24 hours. That was challenging as she hadn't played competitively in 2 years, but by the end her nervousness was gone and she even hit a couple of threes. The best part for Doug and I, however, was listening to her stories about her teammates and all that they did together. Bean Boozled was the activity that her coach chose for team bonding. Meg choked down dead fish, moldy cheese, and canned dog food. Meg found that she had a lot in common with the girls and enjoyed getting to know her coaches better. We were impressed that they were interested in her well being and glad to have her be part of the team. Between basketball, soccer and tennis this summer she definitely has had chance to meet a lot of her classmates.
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