Washington DC - 8th grade trip day 5 (April 25th)

I have run out of time.  I have to pick Wyatt up from practice, so I will return to this post.  In the meantime enjoy the pictures.  See if you can guess what the first one is.

I'm back!

So if you guessed that this is the doorway to the Bible Museum in Washington DC and that it is an oversized Gutenberg press plate of a Bible page in German backwards, then you guessed it!

We started our day at the Bible Museum.  Our guide told us that some have said that it bests the Smithsonian.  Even a Bible believing Christian might think that this museum might be cheesy.  In fact I heard that very thing from a parent, but he changed his tune after seeing it.  We started our tour with a walk through the Hebrew Bible followed by a 4-D video tour of hidden Bible verses on monuments and buildings around DC.  When exiting those two experiences, our girls almost unanimously agreed that this was the best thing they had seen all week (there was a carousel loving holdout who shall remain nameless).  We couldn't agree on where to go next, so we did not see much of the museum  - didn't have time to anyway, but I would definitely go back.  Elvis' Bible is there - in case you care.  Trump's is too - though I contend that he should be using it instead of storing it in a museum :)

After the Bible museum we bid our guide Jay goodbye.

Starting on the road - you can almost see cardboard Trump in the back of this picture.  He journeyed with us, and that's all I will say about that.  The ride home included microphone singing from two of the teachers.  One of them sang an original song he wrote called Banana in a Bottle.  It's a clever tune about the danger of taking the easy way out, and the kids love it.  Our other singer used to sing in a rock band, so she brought us an 80's favorite with  Journey's Faithfully.  The kids then sang loudly for us.  Did you know that Neil Diamond is popular among middle schoolers?  They love Sweet Caroline.  When we reached the halfway point of the journey, they sang Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer - you know because we were half way there.  Get it?

The trip home was fairly smooth.  Our meal stops were not long enough to finish our meals, and the kids were not allowed to have snacks on the bus, so that was a bit stressful.  At one point a parent poured Chex Mix into Julia's hoodie pocket because Julia claimed to be starving.  We arrived back at school only fifteen minutes late at 12:15a.m.

I was at work the following day and had the library open by 7:00a.m.  I thought I was going home to bed after work, but I had to take Wyatt out of the city to a track meet.  It is now six days later as I type this (remember I backdated it), and I am just now starting to feel like myself.  Julia literally rested for four days before resuming a normal schedule.  I may be old, but I think I am crushing it!

Washington DC- 8th grade trip day 4

We started day four by looking at the Capitol Building and then having a group picture made on the Supreme Court steps.

We walked around the corner and saw the Hall of Justice and the Library of Congress.

My understanding was that we would tour the Library of Congress. That and Mt. Vernon were the two items on the agenda I looked most forward to.  I was wrong.  We walked through the Library of Congress, saw one room and continued through the tunnel to our Capitol Building tour.  I believe that  this would have been my favorite tour of the trip.  Andy and Wyatt had much time there last year, but their Capitol tour was impacted by a speech being given by President Trump.

Julia only allowed one picture of the two of us together.

I am sure the rest of the building is stunning.  I remember this was Savannah's favorite part of the trip when she went.  Zach's favorite was the National Cathedral which is no longer part of this itinerary. Wyatt liked Gettysburg the best.  Just keep on reading to see Julia's favorite part.  

We spent a good amount of time in the Rotunda with a Capitol tour guide.  I am going to digress just a minute to share my observations of our tour guide, and maybe this should not be public, but I am going to put it out there anyway.

1. He bore the scars of cleft lip and palate.  Why observe this?  Cleft often cannot be hidden even after corrective surgery, my other two observations will make the poignancy of this more clear.

2. He uses his voice to make a living. He shared with us the beauty and history of our nation's capitol.  He was clear spoken.  Cleft sometimes leaves a speech impediment.

3. He was wearing a wedding band, so he has been chosen and has chosen a lifelong love.

Why make these observations?  A well-meaning friend suggested to me that if I pursued the adoption of a child born with cleft palate, society would reject him.  He would live in my home lonely and depressed for life.  Now I believe that I may have been the only one in the group who even noticed this docent's cleft scars.  It is 2018.  Nobody with a facial deformity should be locked in a cage of loneliness and depression, and praise God, this guy is one example of someone who is not in that situation.

In person this looks like it is carved into the Rotunda.  In pictures it looks like a painting.  I wonder if it is an illusion.  I ended up ordering a book on the Capitol Building as this was my favorite tour of the trip, so maybe I will find out.

We could not go to the White House because the President of France was visiting, so this was the best we could do.

The afternoon was dedicated to exploring the Smithsonian. We had under four hours.  If you know anything about the Smithsonian, you know that four hours barely scratches the surface.  So we got off the bus and asked the girls which museum they wanted to see, and they unanimously said they wanted to ride the carousel. Julia still tells everyone that this was her favorite part of the trip.

For the record she has not been denied carousel rides when they are available.

We moms made an executive decision to see our original national constitution at the National Archives Museum.  I have to say this was a disappointment. After many years it has faded to the point where you can't read any of it.  The only fascinating thing about it is the size of the paper - so different from our typical letter and legal size sheets.

We then proceeded to the Museum of Natural History where we visited the hope diamond - that was a must-see for my gem loving boy last year :)

Tired and thirsty we then visited the cafe for drinks.  It may be free to get into the Smithsonian, but it is not free to have a drink there.  $5.78 per drink.  These three energy boosts were shared by two girls, but I didn't see any noticeable changes in energy after they were consumed ;)

I wanted to see the first lady dresses, so we went on to the Museum of American History.  My favorite part of that museum was the Star Spangled Banner.  I had no idea the flag that inspired the song was so big.  (30' by 34')  It was originally 30' by 42', but was snipped in places for souvenirs back in the 1800s.  It took over the home of the lady who made it, and she had to move it to a distillery across the street.  Crazy.

I have two favorite quotes from the girls on this day.  While the moms enjoyed the fashion displays of purses, shoes, and dresses worn by our first ladies, the girls sat in a corner and goofed off.  When I returned to check on them, I was greeted with:

"Mom, please give me your phone.  I am having a lyric crisis!"  

Turns out nobody could remember the song from Beauty and the Beast that Belle sings with her dad.  Sorry if I just caused you a lyric crisis. lol

The other came from one of the other girls.  I asked the girls if they had seen Melania Trump's dress.

 H: "You mean that dress in the box?"

H's mom: "Some would call it a display." 

lol

We ended our day by racing through the Martin Luther King Jr and Roosevelt memorials.  It was cold and rainy.  We ended up at the Jefferson Memorial where our stir crazy kids bench hopped for photo ops.  This picture is the chaperone group for the gold bus - tired and weary but still smiling at the end of day four.

Ford's Theatre and Gettysburg, PA - 8th grade trip day 3

We started day 3 at Ford's Theatre - actually shopping street vendors just outside where Julia scored a nice sweatshirt.  We took the theatre tour and learned of Lincoln's death there, but I was not in a position to get any worthy pictures.

We followed that by going to the Gettysburg Cemetery where we gathered by the site that was originally believed to be where Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg address.  However, documentation has revealed that the marked spot is actually incorrect, but moving the marker would disrupt gravesites (I think), so the real site is marked with a flag pole.  Many of the 8th graders were assigned the task of writing the Gettysburg address in modern language, and one of them was chosen to read it at this location.  Leigh did a great job with it.

From there we proceeded to the Gettysburg Visitor's Center. The cyclorama presentation was fascinating, but we could not get the kids to go into the museum.  They hung out for too long near the gift shop and got a bit too squirrelly for the taste of most of the chaperones.

Finally, we started our Gettysburg battlefield bus tour where we learned that people came and watched the battle.  Say what?  One sixteen year old girl is memorialized in front of the house where she went upstairs to bake bread for the union soldiers only to have a stray bullet pierce the door and end her life.  

We learned that the north had good cannons, and we could identify them because they were black.  The southern cannons were green.  We learned how to determine a real cannon from a model.  We learned that some decisions changed the battle, and our country could be completely different today had a few minor things gone differently.

Fences as they would have looked.

A lookout tower over Gettysburg.  I don't do open stairs, so I did not get to check out the view from the top.

Devil's Den

We took lots of pictures of the kids at the memorials and looking over the battlefield.  I don't share them here due to my desire to respect the privacy of my friends.  It is a little strange to take pictures on sacred ground where lives were lost or in places where lives are memorialized.

The land was beautiful.  What surprised me about Gettysburg were the wooded areas and rolling hills.  I expected something more flat, and I guess I thought it would look more like a natural arena.

Then there was the broken bus.  We sat on the bus and waited for this one to be fixed just in case we had to take some of their passengers.  The ordeal ended with the bus driver taking a leak on the side where you see the trees in view of the girls side  of our bus (as much as you can see in this picture - we did not get a full view of the action - just enough to know what was happening, thank goodness).  The laughter from the moms was terrific.  

Thus ended day 3. 

Arlington Virginia and Mt. Vernon - 8th Grade trip day 2

On day two we visited Arlington Cemetery, Mt. Vernon, and the Korean, Lincoln, and Vietnam Memorials

It was a lot of walking.

Looking out over Washington DC from the Lee House at Arlington Cemetery

Robert E. Lee house

This land became a cemetery after 1800 soldiers were buried in Mrs. Lee's yard in rebellion against her husband.  I looked forward to this day prior to the trip.  I was anxious to see beautiful Mt. Vernon, in part because of probably my earliest childhood memory.  My family lived in Manassas, VA when I was around four years old.  At some point my dad's cousin and her family visited us, and we all went to Washington DC.  I remember asking in an old house why the table was set where nobody lived.  I wanted to see if my memory of that table which I believe was at Mt. Vernon was accurate.  I saw nothing like it on our tour.  We also visited the Lee house but did not go inside.  In reviewing online pictures of the inside of the house, I now wonder if it was this house from where I have my earliest memory.  I am not sure anyone who is still alive can confirm this memory for me, so it remains a mystery.

The flag remained at half staff during our visit in honor of former First Lady Barbara Bush

our bus group

We missed the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC but got to see some cherry blossoms in Arlington.

We had the distinct privilege of hearing from a tomb guard.  It took him nine months to train for this honorable position.  They are not allowed to smile during training - except in the kitchen.  They have to be 5'10, and he was very clear that when visiting the tomb he wanted us to pay attention to the tomb, not the guard - to remember that there were thousands of family members who came to the service to bury the unknown soldier because those families did not know what happened to their serving loved ones.

Our school participated in a wreath laying ceremony, and I have to admit that when I looked out across that field and saw boy scouts standing at attention on the other side of the gate while Taps was played, my eyes might have leaked a little.

lunchtime and picture time for this pretty group - Alexandria, VA

Mt. Vernon

The boat dock on the Potomac at Mt. Vernon

We heard so much information that I can't possibly retain it all, but one of the most amazing stories we heard about Divine providence in the forming of our nation pertained to George Washington.  In a battle were his unit was ambushed by Native Americans, losses were significant.  Washington lost two horses beneath him, and everyone around him was wounded or died.  He walked away unscathed but had four bullet holes in his jacket.  Later the Native Americans told him that they knew he was destined to be a great leader when they shot directly at him and the bullets seemed to ricochet off of him.

Vietnam Wall

Our students made cards to leave at the memorial.  We could not find Julia's, but this one belongs to her friend C - the same one who kissed her phone goodbye :)

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

We also saw this Korean Memorial on this day.  I think it is the best of the modern memorials, but I could not really get any good shots of it, and it was a quick walk through for us.

Thus ends day two.  This day ended with one of my girls struggling with a headache, and bless her, she's not a complainer.  We probably should have skipped the evening memorials for her sake.

It may be a few days before the rest of the trip days are loaded.

We met for breakfast at 7:00a.m. every morning and returned to the hotel at 10:00p.m. every night.  It was a grueling trip for all, and as I type this on April 29th, I am not fully recovered.  (I am backdating my posts to match the trip dates).