Snowden's on Tour: August 2010

Saturday, August 28, 2010

We had so so so so so so so so much with Nick and Ali on this trip...thanks guys for coming out to see us!!! We walked around the Green figuring out our barrings, and taking in the environment. Nick & Ali were the perfect couple to go to DC with...I love how they are so politically active! The Senate & House were not in session when we were at the capitol because the flags weren't flying.

Nick & Ali's jumping picture in front of the Supreme Court....Work it Ali...I had to put a funny picture up girl...you know me!!!

Lincoln Memorial at Night.....it was very moving!

Nick acting like our Senators....hard at work :) If Dentistry doesn't work out it looks like he fits right in...haha

This is where Martin Luther King Jr. stood and made his "I Have a Dream" speech!!!

This statue is for all the medics and nurses in the Vietnam War

World War II Monument

Library of Congress...this is one of my favorite places in DC! It has such beautiful ceilings! We saw the first Bible printed by the Gutenberg Printing Press

Ali & I are at the center of DC....there is a point in the capitol that is considered the center and everything has been built from that central location. The dome and Lady Liberty is the tallest point in DC!!!

We had so so much!

AIR & SPACE SMITHSONIAN

We are standing on the porch discussing aerodynamics with my distant realtives.....The Wright Brothers!!!!!

Ali is touching a MOON ROCK!

Nick & Ali at their first Smithsonian....Air & Space!

Did you know that a monkey went into space? Actually, two went up...but only one survived :(

Ali loved space when she was little, I think her exact words when she saw this was "Oh, I have always wondered what this looked like!"

Well, at least if I become an astronaut I wouldn't have to give up my Coke!

We saw rockets, Hubble space telescope, Spirit of St. Louis......

Well, we picked up Nick & Ali at the DC airport and then went straight to our Hotel, which was just a block from the Green. Our first stop was the Air & Space Smithsonian, they had a really good exhibit on the Wright Brothers....with the actual planes that they flew with real footage! Ali was already becoming POP-Poporitzi :)

GETTYSBURG/NEWPORT

Dad and I in the Gettysburg Museum
Fact: The south took Abraham Lincoln off the Voting Ticket....and he still won!

We are on Gettysburg Battlefield looking at where Picket's Charge started in the tree line about a mile away.

Me and Mom on the rock wall that was really close to where the Yankees and Rebels started hand to hand combat.

Seth and Marcus think they might want to become Civil War rein-actors! :)

Dad is in heaven...Civil War History!

Dad with his girls....learning history with him!

Jessi wanted to dress just like me! She is such a sweet little sister!

This women's husband was on the confederate side and her father was on the Union side....how sad and scary that would be!

Fact: Robert E. Lee had sons that fought as Confederate soldiers for him!

We are at a Submarine Base. We are firing some sort of gun weapons.

They were pretty close quarters in the Submarine....

Dad is reinacting "The Hunt for Red October"...

Mom got some tennis history at Newport, this is where the Tennis Hall of Fame is located. This club had to dress all in white and they played on grass courts with smaller tennis rackets.

READ THIS BOOK!

Isn't that special!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

MANSIONS IN NEWPORT / FAMILY PHOTO SHOOT :)

We drove to Newport, Rhode Island three days in a row!!! Day one: Went to the beach that had great waves for the Northeast, warmer water, but RED TIDE :( We caught some great waves and had a blast, but once we got out Jessi and I started having a panic attack (pictures soon to be posted...Dad has them on his camera b/c I was flipping out) we had gobs and gobs of red seaweed stuck in our hair....SERIOUSLY STUCK with only like 10 minutes to shower....then we started noticing little critters crawling/living in the seaweed in our hair and swimsuit.....FREAK OUT TIME! Seriously....we would pull handfuls of this stuff out of our board shorts...sick nasty! We ended up getting it all out by using some sample hair conditioner that I happened to have and we had to brush and rinse and brush and rinse....we had a small mountain of red seaweed at our feet when we finished. MEMORY MADE. Then we went to visit Chris and Rompton, they are friends we made during the ice storm from Dad's work.

Day Two: We ate at the most authentic Italian restaurant that I have been to since I have been in Italy....wonderful! Then we started visiting the Newport Mansions and finished the day walking the Cliff Walk behind the mansions.

BLEAKERS MANSION = VANDERBILT OLD MONEY = INCREDIBLY AND OVERLY BEAUTIFUL/OVERWHELMING

We couldn't take pictures inside the mansion, but this my family looking out onto a beautiful backyard that is closed in by the Atlantic ocean.

This is just the side of the house...most things inside were gold plated and everywhere you looked there were carvings, sculptures, statues, tapestries, portraits, and tapestries!

The boys like all the big shade/climbing trees the mansions had on their property.

Mom and Dad outside Rosecliff Mansion. This Mansion had a room that looked like it could have been taken from a scene in "Pride and Prejudice" so imagine Mom as Lizzie and Dad as Mr. Darcy in this kissy picture below....I am sure Mom is a little embarrassed right now....love you mom!

P.S. The picture below and to the left....is Mom and Dad trying to chest bump....don't think I need to comment any further....except for Dad looks a little more into the chest/belly bump :)

The Robinson Bunch at RoseCliff Gardens

Before picture......

After picture....Marcus making it a little more interesting (look at his face...pure bliss)...by putting rocks down my shirt and making me whine. haha!