I'm going to Graceland... Graceland... Memphis Tennessee.
This stop was one that I never thought I would see. Graceland, Home of Elvis Presley. Now that we are here and the tickets to tour his mansion are $25 per person, I find that I don't love Elvis that much. I think that it was good to stop because of his status as an American Icon, but that seeing the property from the street and visiting the giftshop/museum area is enough to satisfy my dream of seeing Graceland.
The kids and a cadillac, which they were very disapointed with because it is not pink. (You had to pay to see the pink one.)
"So, this week started with the NationalHolocaustMemorialMuseum. It was a very interesting exhibit. 4 floors worth. When the exhibits dealt with large generalities or large groups of people did not have the same emotional impact as a couple of the exhibits that discussed individuals and their lives. I went in asking the question, “What would bring a nation to behave in such a manner?” and, “What would make a group of people so susceptible to a charismatic leader?” The answer I think was a sense of unrest, that the national pride had been insulted, general dissatisfaction, and being under-educated. Thus the need to provide education to all people is underscored in my mind. I was most impressed to read about the groups that resisted in the ghettos and in the concentration camps. I had always hoped that there was someone who resisted and fought back and tried to preserve their own lives. They were not ever successful on a large scale, but they are a great inspiration to me, restoring faith in the human spirit. The fact that gypsies (Roma), Jehovah’s Witnesses, and political enemies were killed along with the Jews is also glossed over in the history books. I was also very impressed with the number of non-targets that assisted underground movement to help people escape. There was a whole wall full of their names, sorted by country. How embarrassing for countries like Russia that only had one name on the wall. I had also never realized how much of a role our own country played with its informed inaction." From Kenneth's Sunday Letter
I thought that the Holocaust Museum was very well done and was interesting as a study of history as well as an opportunity for introspection. What kind of person am I? Kenneth and I took Christian, Truman, Sydney and Abby. (Paul met us after lunch) At home, before we left on our trip Abby expressed interest in coming and I had my doubts so I told her she had to read books about the Holocaust so she knew what she was asking. She read quite a few and still wanted to come. I think that she found it interesting. I can't say enjoyed it because that doesn't do the depth of the impact justice. We were all glad we went.
When we got back to Paul and Julie's house, they had prepared a fun Brazilian BBQ dinner. We lit some of the fireworks that we had bought in Illinois. Some of them weren't legal in Virginia.
What I love more than seeing the Atemple is seeing my Family at the temple. I am so thankful for the temple ordinances and the opportunity to have my family sealed for eternity.
After we took a picture outside we went into the visitor center to see an exhibit of photographs taken from the Hubble Telescope. All I have to say is that trying to understand the absolute immensity of space about Knocked me over!
This trip has really brought home to me all that I hold dear. I have been so impressed with our kids. They have been great travelers and fabulous tourists. I have also been reminded of the great heritage that is ours, our pioneer ancestors and our founding fathers. What a great debt I owe to so many who have given so much so that my life can be wonderful.
Today we celebrated our Independence in our nation's capitol. We got to The Mall early, Paul and I saved seats for the parade while some of the kids, Julie and Kenneth went to the National Archives to see a dramatic reading of the declaration of independence. The we watched the parade and had lunch. We walked the mall all day and saw all the monuments that we cared to. I particularly enjoyed Lincoln. Hazel had her photo taken on Einstein's lap because they have the same hair. Sydney read a book about Eleanor Roosevelt and so had her picture there.
We were all tired and went to the metro station only to find that they had closed that station so we had to walk 4 more blocks to the next one. The kids were real troopers and didn't complain.
After we viewed the monuments we had an adventure trying to find a good spot for viewing that had available parking. Then Julie had an adventure trying to find us. We had a great picnic dinner and really enjoyed the fireworks!
I would highly recommend the 4th of July on the Capitol Mall!!!
After the morning chasing rockets and a nice lunch with Paul and Julie, we went to visit my cousin Ann in Baltimore. I have been reading her blog for a while and have been jealous of all the fun her visitors have. I have to say that our visit was everything that I had hoped it would be. It should have been a 1 hour drive but traffic made it take almost 2 1/2 hours. When we finally walked through the door we were greeted by hot cookies and milk, Yummy! Then we played frisbee in the park behind her house while we waited for the traffic died down. Then we drove into Little Italy to play Bocce Ball. Rebekah wowed us all with her amazing bocce skills. There were even some league players watching who commented on how good she was. After playing ball we needed some dinner. Kenneth asked about seafood, seeing that we were on the coast. Ann had a great idea and we went to Bo "something" (sorry we can't remember the name) for some crab. Kenneth ordered an oyster for each person and this was recieved with mixed and often humerous results. Then he ordered 50 "dollar crabs". The dollar crabs are missing a claw or light in weight , basically they are reject crabs. The table had paper on it and the crabs are steamed and spiced with "Old Bay", and dumped on the table. Everyone had a hammer and we were given a lesson on how to disassemble them. We managed to eat 42 of the crabs. They were delicious. Hazel and Kenneth ate the most. Hazel had a really hard time picking apart the crab so Ann most graciously sat and picked apart crabs for about half an hour and fed them to Hazel. We think Hazel ate at least 5 crabs.
Hazel eats an oyster (kind of... It came right back out)
Nate eats his oyster.
Abby makes a show about eating her oyster.
Waiting for the crabs to come, with a fine view of the Chesapeak Bay.
We put museums behind us for the day and went to a park near Paul's house to shoot off some model rockets. The best part was when one of the rockets landed in a tree and the men and kids spent 30 minutes freeing the stranded rocket.
Paul explains the trajectory that is expected
Prepare for launch.
Kenneth uses Truman and a stick to try to free the rocket.
Kenneth and Paul use Truman, Evelyn and a stick to try to free the rocket.
Kenneth and a bigger stick.
Kenneth, Paul and a small tree being used as a stick.
The kids bringing all the big sticks they can find.
Kenneth and Paul comparing really big sticks.
Running to chase another rocket after freeing the first rocket.
We took a tour of the USS Barry a Navy Destroyer this afternoon, the kids enjoyed the unstructuredness of it. After exploring the ship we went across the street to another museum, it was fun but the kids mostly just played with the guns...
Kenneth and I and the really big ship.
All the cousins on a really big cannon, on shore.
Kenneth on deck
Abby on deck.
Hazel at the Helm.
Kenneth cracked the code and managed to break into this safe on board.
Hazel and all the kids loved turning all the dials and controls...
The bunks for the enlisted men.
Sydney checking out the mess hall. Hey what's for lunch?
MONSTER OF A DAY!!! Kenneth, Paul (his brother), Christian, and Truman went really early to wait outside the Washington Monument to get us 15 tickets to go up to the top. The ticket window opened at 8:30AM and they were in line before 7AM. They did get us tickets, Hooray! Then Julie (Paul's wife) and I brought up the rest of the kids and we were in the Natural History Museum at 10AM when it opened. We saw a lot of cool stuff until the time for our tickets at the Washington Monument, we went up and saw its cool tallness from inside. I would have liked to walk down the stairs and see all the engravings on the insides of the walls, but it is not allowed, bummer. We had a picnic lunch and went in for round 2 in the Natural History Museum. We divided up into groups, it was a fun change and I think I saw more exhibits. Nate Hazel and I really enjoyed the insect zoo, and the mammal exhibit. I thought the exhibit about forensic anthropology was fascinating and Nate and Hazel were really good while we looked at it. Then we had a picnic dinner and ran over to the Air and Space Museum by way of a sculpture garden. Kenneth took our pictures with our favorite piece, I chose a Rodin. Then we watched Night at the Museum 2 in the Air and Space Museum IMAX. It was great!!!
