Day 6-Lexington, Concord & Boston!

 Here we are in Lexington Virginia! This is one of the places where first shots were fired to begin the Revolutionary War. Paul Revere rode through here and you can see the church in the background that was used as a light tower...one if by land & two if by sea!

 Melissa Riley & I in Lexington!  The Fall colors were just starting to show themselves!

 Riley and the Minute Man! Many of the Colonial Army were very young men some even as young as 14. Riley will be 14 next week......

 We walked around Harvard. Harvard was established as a college to educate Pastors. There are many buildings with Christian verse and quotes on them.

 The students re-enacted the event which sparked the Boston Tea Party. They did a great job (Riley especially!) This was in the Old South Meeting House.  the seating was divided up into boxes. Families bought their box and could bring furnishings from home and decorate them whatever way they wanted. If you couldn't afford a box then you sat on the 2nd level. the 3rd level was for the servants, negros etc.
The reasons for the doors in the boxes was that there was no heating in the building so they would bring these special containers that held coals. The doors held the warmth in as best they could. In the warm days the doors were wide open to encourage a  breeze.

 Paul Revere and our students! Most of them enjoyed posing when asked to!!!

Above is Plymouth Rock...it is pretty disappointing in size!  For many years the forefathers allowed people to take souvenirs from it making it smaller & smaller! Then it was moved and moved again and it cracked in half....it is now protected from the weather and people, the crack is still there....

Day 5 - New York City & on to Boston!

 On the way to the ferry we passed Ground Zero...I had never thought about how the buildings were right on the sidewalk & streets....this is what it looked like as we passed from the bus window. Tower 1 is center & 2 is in the right hand corner of the picture.

 We took the ferry to Ellis Island. We stopped to let people off on Liberty Island. We didn't get off because you can only go into Lady Liberty if you have a ticket, which is given in a lottery type of give away. Only a certain number of people are allowed to go up inside per day.

 Melissa & I on the ferry crossing to Ellis Island!

This is the main hall where people were registered and evaluated for consideration on their eligibility to enter the USA. Oh if those walls could talk! We walked from room to room and followed the process. It could be the beginning of a new life in the country of dreams come true or the death of that dream....

 This metal sculpture was inside one of the buildings on 9/11. It used to be a round sphere.

 Here we are on Wall Street. We were surrounded by many famous buildings such as the Stock Exchange!

 The picture above is a panoramic of the 9/11 memorial. Names of the dead are on the edge of the waterfall, on all 4 sides. There is a section of calm water and them it falls very loudly to the next section before it fall again. (There are 2 of these water features which are identical except for the names).  In the center of the pic  is a shiny building which will be the museum. It is unknown when it will open. You can see in the upper right hand side of the pic another tower that has been started. it was a very sobering memorial. I remember most of what was on the tv the day the towers fell and to actually be standing where so many died was pretty tough. I was very emotional.

 I was able to take a very long shot of Melissa & Riley as they stood at the edge of the memorial. I took care of Riley the day of 9/11. Of course she was so young she wouldn't remember any of it first hand.

We got to go to 5th Avenue to go shopping! (Well, mostly window shopping!)  We wandered through Tiffany's They have attendants in their elevators! We unfortunately didn't buy anything there! We also just winidow shopped through the Apple Store. It is huge and underground! We had a great time in FAO Schwartz . Riley & I custom chose a box of crayons! I bought a birthday gift for Riley (she promised to be surprised!) and we bought candy by the pound there too!!!! It was a store you spend days in! I think it was 4 floor & we only saw parts of 2!!! Next we had a 5 hour drive to Boston which took over 7 hours because of an fiery accident that shut the New Jersey Turnpike down both ways. We were very happy to see our hotel that night! Unfortunately is was a short sleep!

Day 4 - BROADWAY!!!!!!!!! (REALLY!)

We arrived in New York City at about 3pm with one hour to get ready for the evening! After eating at Chevy's we walked a few blocks to Time Square! Talk about sensory overload! The lights, the traffic, the noise was amazing! Very exciting!  We went to our play (our BROADWAY PLAY ON BROADWAY!!!)
Which was Lion King!!!!  Riley and Melissa looked ready for the whole scene didn't they!!!!

 If you look on the left side of the picture above you can see the ABC Studio where Good Morning America is done and the Evening News with Diane Sawyer!!! I just kept telling myself...You really are in Time Square!!! It was so hard to believe!!!! We saw where the ball drops on New Years Eve!!!
It seemed very surreal!!!  I WAS REALLY IN TIME SQUARE!!!!!!!  (But I do have to disclose that I was surprised at how small it seemed compared to how it looked on t.v.!!!

 The play was fantastic, the costumes were out of this world! At one point when the hyenas came down the aisle next to us it was pretty creepy cause their heads came out of the person's chest!!! I have seen bits & pieces of it on tv but it just doesn't do it justice!!! Everyone was thrilled with the play!!!

Day 3 of our trip!

 Here we are in front of the White House!  It is pouring down rain & we got soaked. This was the first day of self-guided tours. We toured the East Wing & Michelle forgot that we were coming for tea...so disappointing! Oh well, she really missed out!

 The Smithsonian was our next stop! The First Ladies Dresses,  Julia Child's Kitchen, Girl Scouts, The Hope Diamond, Mummys....even lunch boxes through the years! So much more than we could see in 3 hours!

 Arlington Cemetary...very gut-wrenching.  So many headstones. So many of our troops through the years.

 President Kennedy & his wife Jacqueline's grave. The Eternal Flame.

 The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Four of the CCS Students were allowed to place a wreath in front of the tomb.  We saw a changing of the guard and also were able to talk to two of the soldiers stationed here at Arlington. The tomb is guarded 24/7 .

 The students recited the Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial. They did a great job. You can't really understand how huge Abraham Lincoln is until you stand next to him!

 This is the Korean Memorial, We saw it in the dark and it was a bit eery to see the soldiers walking in the night.

 Riley said that the Iwo Jima memorial was her favorite. It is the Marine Memorial and was very impressive.

DC Trip day 2

 This is Randy our very wonderful tour guide. He did a devotional thought for us each morning as we drove to our first destination stop. I really valued these moments. He gave the students an over view of what they would see and what the historical importance would be. He linked each stop to the next. He is a walking encyclopedia...actually, a walking Google (when it came to history!)

 The Capitol Building! We had an amazing tour through  the House of Representatives and The Senate.  Here are only a few photos of the inside... I will post more of them at a later time!

 The pictures below were taken in front of the Supreme Court. The people who have red tape on their mouths are a group that have been protesting in front for at least 10years, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. They stand quietly with tape over their mouths praying for the unborn. They are a group of all ages. It is a peaceful protest against Roe v. Wade.

 Our students stood with them and prayed for them and their safety.

 This is inside the Library of Congress! It is a beautiful building & I have lots more pics of this too!

 The picture below is of the students on the front steps (not really) of the Capitol  You see the true steps are closed for construction of the Inaguration Stage! If you look close you can see that they have begun building it! Riley is center front in sun glasses.

 This is just one picture of the WWII Memorial.  We saw it at night and it was very impressive.

 The Pentagon Memorial...It was very moving to see it. These are benches that are for each of the victims who died on Sept 11th.

 Not sure when this was taken! Just showed up & couldn't move it!!! I think Ri took a self portrait!

 This is the Air Force Memorial. 3 Spires that represents the missing man formation that is flown when a member has perished.It is near the Pentagon & is in the same flight pattern of the plane that hit the Pentagon.

We also saw the Holocaust Museum, the Supreme Court & the Iwo Jima Memorial which is also the Marine Corp Memorial.

Day One of our trip!!!

 

 Mount Vernon was our first stop! The girls are posing with George Martha & their 2 children!

 These beautiful windows show some of the adventures of George Washington.

 Cockscomb was everywhere and so pretty! I bought some seeds to plant in my yard!

 Riley and George!

 A Class picture in front of the National Archives! The Students recited the Constitution there. It made me proud to be a part of this group! It was moving to hear them.

 Our evening view of the Washington Monument! It rained very hard not long after these pics were taken! It was okay! We were prepared for it!!!

 The view from the Jefferson Memorial. Riley and a friend!

We had dinner at a pizza restaurant in Union Station...what a cool place it was! Something to see if I ever go back to DC!!!