Eggs

Our weekend started off with grandma coming to visit! Maren couldn't get enough of her. When grandma was ever out of sight, Maren would ask, "Where's my grandma?" And when Maren was playing with grandma and mom tried to come in the room, Maren would scold, "Go away." Grandma's going to need a vacation from her vacation.

And for FHE, we dyed Easter eggs. It turned into a small disaster. (Note to self: Don't buy Paas at the dollar store.) But the day was saved with food coloring, which supplied a recipe for dying eggs on the back of the box.

National Cathedral

Maren and I had a quick visit to the National Cathedral today. We happened to show up during Holy Eucharist so we spent most our time outside in the Bishop's Garden, which is now my mental image of the Secret Garden. Maren is a really good sport on these adventures, but most of our tourist trips have to be abbreviated...she isn't usually down with Mom studying all the signs. I did try my darndest to find the Darth Vader gargoyle, but Maren was becoming a little cantankerous at that point and it was raining and some of those gargoyles are really high up and hard to see. Next time I'll bring my binoculars.

April showers

The cool, rainy weather last week finally paid off. Our little radish sprouts (quite suddenly it seems) pushed their way through the soil. Looking forward to very warm weather today and cheered at the thought of spending our day outside.

Antietam

Saturday we spent the morning visiting Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland. (I've made a list of a few key battle sites that are fairly close which I hope to visit. I was pleased to mark another off my program.) Chris actually visited the Antietam while serving his mission (a decade ago...yikes!), but was excited to take me and Maren. The little farming town was so picturesque; it's amazing to think that it was the stage to the bloodiest one-day battle of the American Civil War.


Visitor's Center

(Below) Major General George McClellan and Abraham Lincoln on October 1962, following the Battle of Antietam. This photo was covering a wall at the Visitor's center and I just love it.



Dunkers Church


Sunken Road (Bloody Lane Trail)

Lower Bridge (Burnside Bridge)

dinner and a movie

Last weekend, we had a little Tangled party. Maren and Chris hadn't seen the movie so I decided to make a "big deal" of it. Now, I like to make Maren laugh by singing in my best drunk voice, "I got a dream, I got a dream...knife!"

Glen Echo Park

Today, I took Maren to Glen Echo Park in Maryland where we saw "Animal Crackers," a puppet show. I just had to take a little picture of Maren before we left because she looked so cute in her new spring top and I knew her hair wouldn't last (and I was right...she pulled the flower out of her hair the moment we got into the car.)

The puppeteer let all the kids meet Carmen the Bear. (Sadly, I didn't have my flash on. Arg!)
After the show and the park, we started to wander. We ended up taking a little gravel road to this studio and met Paul. He let us stay and watch some demonstrations.

Bull Run

GEORGE: Wow, Keith Hernandez. He's such a great player.

JERRY: Yeah, he's a real smart guy too. He's a Civil War buff.

GEORGE: I'd love to be a Civil War buff. ... What do you have to do to be a buff

JERRY: So Biff wants to be a buff? ... Well sleeping less than 18 hours a day
would be a start.

Living in Virginia has provided me many opportunities to visit Washington DC and other historical sites. In fact, whenever I feel a little blue about living far from family and I'm missing my husband, I pull myself out of my funk by planning a short excursion. Still, I never expected to become so fascinated with Civil War history, but living conveniently close to many major battlefields (like-under-a-mile close) has really ignited some interest. Last week, Maren and I visited Manassas, the site of both battles of Bull Run.


Henry House

Maren walking through the "big grass."
When Maren first saw this statue of Thomas Jackson, she asked, "Mama, who's that?" I told her it was Stonewall Jackson. Later in the bookstore, she spotted a little statue of a man riding a horse and pointed out "Stonewall Jackson!" (It was actually Robert E. Lee.) Here she is trying to climb onto Stonewall Jackson's horse.
Stone House