Spring Break in PA/VA

Spring Break was actually pretty relaxing for us. We left on Wednesday, March 27th and came back on Sunday, March 31st. So that left Monday and Tuesday to just get things done around the house. And on our vacation, we didn't want to overbook ourselves because I wanted to make sure that Logan at least got one nap a day and went to bed at a decent time.

We decided it would be fun to spend a little time with the Kreischer's (Nate's oldest sister's family). So we arrived at their house in Pennsylvania late afternoon on Wednesday. We just chatted, ate dinner, and Logan soaked up the attention he was getting! They kept talking about how it is so amazing that he doesn't get scared of strangers. And he really doesn't. He will let anyone hold him and Nate or I don't even have to be in the same room. It's nice in a lot of ways, but if he were ever to get kidnapped, he certainly wouldn't make a peep! But he certainly loved everyone doting on him.

Jacob and Logan. Love his "too cool for school" face

On Thursday, Nate and I went to the DC temple while Amy watched Logan. The kids also stayed home from school (they had Friday off already) so they could play with Logan. It was really nice that Amy was willing (and excited) to do this because it is hard to get to the temple when it is 2 1/2 hours away and you have a baby. We left during his first nap and he never even missed us. He was excited when we came home, though. The temple was wonderful and huge! I'm sure it is comparable to the Salt Lake Temple in size. You could definitely get lost in there. It ended up taking longer than we thought because the sessions were every hour instead of every half hour like we thought, and we had just missed the previous session so we had a bit of a wait. But it was nice being in there and just leaving all worries outside. Afterwards, we had a late lunch, then headed back for more family time.

On Friday, we all went to Antietam. It is a Civil War battlefield in northern Virginia. It was the bloodiest battle in that whole war which also means it was the bloodiest battle ever to occur in the United States. The most American lives were lost there, even up to this point. We checked out the Visitor's Center first and watched the movie there. Then we did a car tour around the battlefield. I actually stayed in the car most of the time because Logan fell asleep. Nate is more into history than I am, so I knew he would enjoy it more than me so he got out at the stops and learned from Jacob (who is a history buff, especially about the Civil War).

We didn't want to bring the big stroller into the Visitor's Center.
But Logan didn't seem to like the carrier too much.

Dunker Church - I think the battle started right here, near a church.

A monument

The Mumma house. Most of the battle was fought on their farm. Luckily they
had evacuated earlier so none of them were hurt. But they had a lot of cleaning
up and building to do when they returned.

The Watchtower

Alyssa, Jeb, Jacob, Brent in the top of the Watchtower.
Amy stayed behind in our car with Logan so I could climb the Watchtower.

Nate and I at the top of the Watchtower

After Antietam, we drove by Nate's and Amy's old house in West Virginia (he doesn't remember that one), then ate lunch, then made our way to Harpers Ferry National Historic Park (it's a historic community with museums, etc). Unfortunately,  when we got there we discovered that there was quite the fee. After already paying at Antietam, we just weren't expecting that. So we decided to part ways. They went back home and we went to our Springhill Suites hotel. We actually stayed there during our last Spring Break when we went to DC and had a great experience so we decided to go there again. Since it is a suite, there was a slight separation from where we set up Logan's pack n' play to where our bed was so he couldn't actually see us when he was going to sleep. So that was really nice. It also has a great breakfast and a fridge so we could take sandwich stuff and save some money by only eating out once a day.

Saturday we had planned on going to Mount Vernon (George Washington's home). We decided to let Logan have his first nap and we left right after he woke up, which I'm guessing was around 10:30. When we got to Mount Vernon, the parking situation was horrendous! It was so busy! We were circling around the different parking lots for probably an hour or longer. Finally, we discovered where all the cars were going. There was a gravel area that they probably only use when it's as busy as it was. We quickly ate lunch in the car, then made the trek up to get our tickets. We had been standing in line for probably about 15 minutes or so when we heard the ticket lady say that the next available slot wasn't until 5. And there were still people in front of us. We decided that would just be too late for Logan so we got out of line. The saddest thing about it all is that you can't even see the house from where we were. So no pictures. Oh well. We strolled around the gift shop and bought a couple of things and decided we should just go to the Arlington Cemetery instead. We were going to do that on Sunday, but we decided to change plans. In the end it worked out because we saved money (Arlington is free and Mount Vernon costs) and we were able to leave earlier on Sunday so we got home at a decent time.

It was a beautiful day so it was nice to walk around the cemetery. Logan seemed to enjoy being outside as well. We only had a couple of hours before it closed, so we didn't spend too much time in one spot, but I feel like we saw the important things. I never knew how incredibly large it is. I mean, I've seen pictures, but a picture just can't show the vastness. So many people have died for the cause of freedom and I am very grateful to all of them, including those who didn't die. And yet, as voters, we slowly give away one freedom after another to the government. But that is another topic of discussion that I won't go into.

The happy boy just enjoying the great weather.

John F Kennedy's grave

A view of Washington Monument, the Capitol, and Jefferson Monument

I didn't realize that there were different kinds of tombstones than just the plain white
ones. These seemed to be of more prominent people, like generals.

I think the one towards the middle had the name Davis on it. We didn't ever find a  Summers

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
It was really crowded so it was hard to see, but they were doing their  Changing of the Guard ritual.

On Sunday we went to the local ward for Sacrament meeting. I actually knew someone there who was in one of my BYU wards, so that was fun. We're both married now and our babies were similar ages and both boys. We actually left after the first talk. For some reason, the earliest sacrament meeting there doesn't start until 10:30. Logan was being really loud and we needed to get back so we could change and checkout before checkout time was over.

We had a fun time, despite the fact that things didn't go quite as we had planned. If we ever try to go to Mount Vernon again, we will have to try to get tickets ahead of time.