Vacation 2013: Day 3. A Trip to the U.S. Capitol

We had a 10:30 appointment for a tour of the Capitol by a staff member of Senator Dan Coats’ office. I had concerns – how in the world would we get there in time??  We left around 8:40 expecting the worst and were pleasantly surprised to have a very smooth trip into D.C. Traffic got heavier the closer we got to the city, but it still wasn’t bad.

We might’ve been feeling a little over-confident by our quick trip; we were parking our 2 big vans at 9:45 – 45 minutes before our 10:30 meeting time at Senator Dan Coats’ office. We thought we’d be there in plenty of time, but sometimes we forget how long it takes to move this many people around. In spite of feeling a little rushed, it was still thrilling to walk toward this amazing building we’ve so many time in pictures.

After a couple of attempts to enter what ended up being the wrong entrance, we found out we weren’t even in the right building. Senator Coats’ office was across the street in the Russell Senate office Building.

After a few more wrong entrances, we finally found ourselves at the right spot.

By this time, it was getting very close to 10:30 and we still needed to go through a metal detector. All 20 of us! There was a clock prominently displayed right next to the entrance that read 10:25.

Mick got a call from a staffer at Senator Coats’ office wondering how close we were. “We’re in the building!” We were all scurrying by this time, throwing jewelry, loose change, cell phones, belts, etc. onto the conveyor belt and several of us making numerous attempts to get through the detector without lights and sirens.

Once we all got through, we were able to move quickly and made it just past 10:30.

The tour ended up being about an hour and a half long. It was all so interesting and amazing. I took way more pictures than I’m posting on this blog. I’ll just post a couple of my favorites.

These were taken in the Rotunda. The amazing painting behind us is called “The Baptism of Pocahantas.” It was even more spectacular in person. The Rotunda was filled with mammoth paintings of historic events just like this one.

This next picture was at the very top of the Rotunda. I zoomed in as much as I could and got a pretty clear shot of George Washington.

This is the famous painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Our guide told us that although Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were allies in their later years, there was a lot of animosity between them at this point. The artist demonstrated that by painting Jefferson stepping on Adams’s foot.

These pictures were taken in the room which was the original location of the Supreme Court. Much of the furniture is authentic, some is reproduction. It was a beautiful room and the pictures turned out surprisingly well, in spite of how dark the room was.

Here are a few pictures of most of us sitting in the Rotunda. It was very crowded and there was a bit of a wait at times.

We ended up finishing the tour right around noon, about 20 minutes before a historic vote in the Senate. We walked right past the line of people waiting to go in and watch the results. It was tempting to go in, but we had a lot of tired, hungry kids, so we ended up leaving.

The kids enjoyed relaxing back at the Ramseys for the rest of the afternoon.

Waiting for some momentum

Here’s Brooke yesterday all decked out. She just needs some water to pull her out!  :-) 

This is how I feel about my blog right now: I have all the necessary equipment (pictures, videos, stories) to blog about our amazing vacation. Now I’m just waiting for a wave of opportunity called TIME to gather it all and start blogging. We’re planning on shoving off tomorrow morning at about 5:00 am, and then there’s the 12-hour drive (not counting a few dozen bathroom breaks). I’m really hoping to work on some of it in the car!

Vacation 2013: Day One

Day One began at the tender hour of 3:00 am. All 12 of us (Alix and Kate, too) piled into the van to head south. After talking about “the cation” and  “Ginia Beach” for weeks, Trent was a bit reticent (i.e., fussy) about being put into his carseat at 4:00 am. I tried to ease him into the idea, reminding him where we were going, asking him if he wanted to come, too. “No” was his repeated answer. Finally, I asked him if he wanted me or Daddy to put him in the car. He decided he’d rather I do it. ;-)  Once we got going, things  smoothed out and he started to warm up to the idea.

We met up with the Bruces, Mom and Dad and Uncle Kent and headed out, Rachel at the wheel and the rest of us wedged in tightly, hemmed in by suitcases, pillows, books and food.

Several of us napped (and Trent is still asleep at 8:08, thankfully), but I think a few of the girls stayed awake the whole time, chatting quietly in the back.

Breakfast was a mixture of granola bars, hard-boiled eggs, strawberries, Fig Newtons, brown sugar Pop Tarts and orange juice. Believe it or not, in spite of all that food and all these kids, it went pretty smoothly! I guess they really are getting older. And now we’re in Kentucky, watching the hills and pastures of grazing horses and cows roll by. We’re keeping in contact with the others via a walkie talkie, which we bought way back in 2000, when we started taking family vacations.

Lots of excitement and we’re just so glad vacation is finally HERE!!

Vacation, Michigan-style

 

Just got back from a 7-day jaunt up in Pentwater, Michigan with the Orr family.  This is the second year in a row our friends have been gracious enough to lend us the use of their family vacation home, and we are so grateful.

The house is situated right at the edge of Lake Michigan, which allows for many days of beach fun, boat spotting and spectacular sunsets.

We had lots of warm, sunny weather this year, which was a welcome change from last year, which was unusually rainy and cool.  On Thursday, it actually got hot – 87 and humid.  We couldn’t complain too much, though; Mom said it was about 10 degrees hotter in Indiana!

Most days were spent at least in part at the water’s edge, but we did do a little sightseeing in Pentwater.  We had dinner at a local pizza place on Saturday night and then wandered around the village, which reminded me of Zionsville somewhat.  There was a great children’s bookstore called “The Story Book” which we had to stop in.  The shop owners, a 60-ish looking couple, positively fell over with excitement when we wandered in with all 15 kids.  The wife immediately suggested a read-aloud and produced 3 storybooks and sitting mats for most of the kids.  We ended up buying a book called “Shakespeare’s Stories” which retells many of the famous Shakespeare works for kids. 

On Sunday, we worshipped at a tiny church in nearby New Era.  We arrived 15 minutes early and spotted several members standing at the entrance to the church. As soon as they saw our large, kid-filled vans pulling up, several of them disappeared back inside the church (did I mention it was tiny?).  Later, one of the ladies told us that when they heard there were two large vans pulling up, they thought it was a joke.  But they ended up being very welcoming and accommodating; the disappearing men had gone to get more chairs set up for us.  Ironically, one of the families had relatives in Lebanon.  When they told us the family’s name I knew it sounded familiar, but couldn’t place it.  I mentioned the name to Kelly when we got back to the house and she recognized it right away as one of her former neighbors! 

Unfortunately, this vacation will also be remembered for the virus that hit 3 of the kids.  Between Monday and Wednesday, Claire, Sarah and Rachel fell victim to a 24-hour bug of the fever/upset stomach variety.  We were bracing ourselves for the worst, but they were the only ones who came down with it … while we were there.  Courtney ended up getting a fever a day after we got back and Sophia, Noah and Luke have all gotten it in the last 24 hours.

But we all agree that it was a great vacation; the kids all got along famously and we had lots of good food and family time.  We ended up finishing the last ten chapters of Sense and Sensibility, so we were finally able to watch the 1995 film.  We also watched “Singing in the Rain” and “Meet Me in St. Louis” (yes, we were all walking around singing the songs.  :-D).  Glenn and Kelly read aloud to the kids from their new book “The Dragon’s Tooth” by N.D. Wilson. 

We dearly love our Virginia Beach vacations, but these last two trips to the Beach Haus in Pentwater have been so fun, too.  :-)

Trent at Indiana Beach

Just have to add these of our little guy!

(Don’t you just love that one?!)

Indiana Beach!

Yesterday, we took advantage of (1) an absolutely beautiful day, and (2) Homeschool Week at Indiana Beach (gotta love $10/per person admissions!) and headed up to Indiana Beach in Monticello. 

This is on the way into the park.  That coaster in the background is the one Mick and I rode later in the day.  The “Hoosier Hurricane”! 

The first requested ride was The Scrambler.  The older girls had ridden this the last time we went to Indiana Beach a couple of years ago, but it was Claire’s (and maybe Brooke’s) first time.  Suffice it to say, they loved it!

You can’t see Claire’s face in this (right next to Rachel), but trust me – she was smiling! 

After that, we went to this little Viking ship, which goes about as high as a good swing.  Just enough to give a few stomach butterflies and happy faces.  This ride is a hard one to get good pictures of because of the structures and supports that block the ride, so you can just barely see Claire’s expression here – cute!

We spent a lot of time in Kiddie Land, letting Grant ride every car, motorcycle, bus, boat, train, etc. that circled round and round.  He was in absolute heaven.  It was all so new to him; riding the rides, hearing the big roller coasters directly overhead, the train whistle intermittently, other kids buzzing the little horns on the rides.  He was soaking it all in and in most of the pictures, he looks like this:

or this:

or this:

or this:

Seriously!  He really did have a great time!   
Claire, on the other hand, was quite expressive and rode practically everything:  the ferris wheel, Scrambler, even the cable cars!)  We’re wondering if she may someday be a daredevil.  Here she is riding something a little more tame. 


Brooke had fun on this ride:

Then it was on to the swings.  I have never even been tempted to ride this one.  I can’t believe the girls like it!

Just look at those smiles!  <shaking head>

When they got off, I told them Grandma would’ve been under them holding a giant net if she’d have been there.  Yes, Claire did ask to ride these and yes, we did say no. 
After Mick got no takers on his repeated offer to ride a roller coaster (no Claire, you’re too little), I decided to bite the bullet and ride with him.  He chose the Hoosier Hurricane, a great wooden coaster that spans the length of the park.  I had a fair amount of nervousness while we were waiting, and briefly considered backing out at the last minute, then the last half minute, then the last second … But I swallowed the lump in my throat and went for it … and it was fun!  (after that first big hill).  I told Mick it was an appropriate thing to do to celebrate the 25th anniversary of meeting each other.    Sadly there were no pictures taken on this ride.  I was actually disappointed the ride didn’t have one of those cameras that takes your picture on the big hill.  I probably would’ve bought it for proof!    Everyone (but me and Trent) also rode the ferris wheel, but I had left the camera in the after lunch, so no pictures of that.  I really didn’t think Grant would like the ferris wheel, but Mick said he did fine.  When they were sitting at the very top for several minutes, Grant eventually said “Ok, Daddy, let’s get down.”  Brooke needed a little persuading, but Mick didn’t give her too much time to think about it, otherwise, I think she would’ve backed out.  I think she has her mother’s nerves. 
The park closed at 6:00, which I was a little disappointed about.  I was just imaging some early evening pictures taken with the bright lights of the park, but we were pretty beat by then.  On the way home, we stopped at Qdoba’s in West Lafayette and had dinner.  Always interesting to take a family of 10 onto a college campus. 
From start to finish, it was just a perfect summer day – a fitting way to start the summer.