October 18, 2015

Today we went to Washington D.C (again) but this time it was our last day. Because it was our last day, we were running out of energy. So we wandered around a little. Our first stop was the Fords Theater.

The Fords Theatre, for those of you who don’t already know… Is the theater where Abraham Linlcon was assassinated. When we got in the theater we went to the higher level so we got a very good view of the presidential box. We didn’t watch a play or anything, but just listened to a man tell us about what happened there. Let’s see what you know about Lincoln by answering these true or false questions. The answers will be at the bottom of the page.

1. T or F: Aberaham was the 16th president

2. T or F: Lincoln is buried in Kentucky

3. T or F: Lincoln’s middle name is Thomas

The next place we went was to see the White House. We didn’t get very close but it was still cool to see. Let’s see what you know about the White House.  These questions are going to be True or False as well.

4. T or F: George Washington oversaw the construction of the White House, but he never lived in it

5. T or F: The White House is not open to the public

6. T or F: Presidents are allowed to make changes to the White House décor during their term of residency

The answer to these questions are:

1. True
2. False, although he was born in Kentucky he was actually buried in Illinoise.
3. False, he doesn’t have a middle name!
4. True
5. False, up to 5,000 visitors go inside daily
6. True

We encourage you to comment and let us know how many you got right!

Here is a video I put together over the weekend. The audio is Martin Luther King Jr. , I have a Dream , and the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln.

-Grace

Oct 14, 2015

Yesterday we went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There we stopped at a few Amish stores and looked around. There were all sorts of homemade items for sale at the stores we stopped at. As we were driving around we also saw a very neat steam engine train.  You could go on train rides but we were holding out for a buggy ride!

After eating a family style Thanksgiving type meal at a place called Plain and Simple (which was supper yummy, buy way too much food) we got to go on a buggy ride behind a horse. It was cool to see how their life style is so much different from ours.  Our buggy driver informed us a little bit about the Amish life. Their life seems so much more simple but hard work! The men milk the cows and do the farming while the girls cook and clean all without the use of electricity. We got to play with some cute kittens as well. They had a lot of work horses pulling buggies that we saw along the road.

The horses that pulled us where named Jake and Sid. Jake got a little more distracted by things and was a little bit more eager. Over all they both did super well and it was very fun to go on that ride.

Here is Jake and Sid

We played with all the kitties hanging out by the barn.

After the ride we headed to a Walmart for a few groceries then went back to the camper and made kitty cocktails to eat with some of the treats we bought. It was a fun day filled with new experiences.

Here is the parking at the Walmart that we stopped and bought some groceries at.

-grace

We started our day yesterday by sleeping in. Everyone was very tired from the late night in New York the day before. After everybody got ready and showered we headed out to High Point. High Point is a memorial not far from our campsite that honors New Jersey Soldiers that fought by land and by sea. My dad was a little, okay… a lot freaked out because it was pretty high up. There where a lot of stairs in that building. After High Point we made our way over to an Ethiopian church. We mainly went there because Hannah has to write a report about an cultural experience that she attended. Even though we could not understand anything they where saying, other than the often “hallelujah” and “thank you Jesus”, it was pretty cool. We could not stay for the whole thing due to Amanda having to be to the airport. So we quietly left trying not to make a scene, which is kind of impossible for our family. So a lady followed us out to say bye and we explained to her that we just had to go to bring Amanda to the air port. We felt a little better knowing that they didn’t think that left because we didn’t like it. After getting out to the parking lot we realize that someone has parked their car behind our car in the street. My dad maneuvered the way out. He said its a good think he has practiced turning a car around in our garage just in case he would ever need to know how to do it. Then we made our way to the air port. We said our last goodbyes to Amanda as my mom walked her into the air port. After that we headed into to NYC for the night tour on the bus. (I was against it for the record.) I have definitely had enough of the city for a while. When we got to the bus line and boarded the bus we realized that we should have brought some warmer clothes. After we boarded we drove around the city. We even went over the water on the big Manhattan Bridge. That was another thing that my dad could have gone without. After a long cold bus ride we went home. Most of us kids slept on the way home. After getting back to the camper we all tucked in and went right to sleep.

Here are some picture from High Point, New Jersey

We were so glad Amanda joined us for the weekend!

This was the awesome Ethiopian Church we went to.

Our night tour of Manhattan.  The last picture is one we took over the double decker  bus ride over the Manhattan Bridge.

Here is a Video that I put together of videos that my mom took over the last few days.

-Grace