BUSY, BUSY,BUSY!

 ANDREA

Life has been busy at the Thomas household this summer.  Morgan went on her first mission trip (see her blog: morgansmissiontrip09.blogspot.com for more info.), Andrea went to her first summer camp, and both boys tried their hand at water polo. As for the parents-- Cynthia is recovering from her surgery and Bob is busy at work.

York- third day

Yesterday we had a 'low' day and today we went out in the extremely cold weather to visit the caves. We also went on a bus tour which took us around to visit the bobcats, bison, bears, elk, deer, steers, and other fascinating animals. By the time we were finished we the tour we were ready for the warm welcome center before getting cold again. During the cave tour we learned about the water cave and looked at stalagmites and stalactites, do you remember what one grows from the bottom and which one grows from the top? Anyway besides cold hands and cold toes we made it out safely!!!

Williamsburg- sixth day

Morgan and Alexander are about to enter the haunted house!

We are about to watch a dance show

Uncle Keith, Aunt Maritza and Alexander

We are waiting for the boys to get out of the roller coaster

Today we went to Busch Gardens with our Uncle, Aunt and Cousins. Most of the rides Andrea, Connor and Alexander rode were roller coasters while Morgan and Cynthia rode on other rides. It was a pretty park and it was the perfect day except for the crowds we were able to ride a lot of rides.

Williamsburg-Fiveth Day

We are at the Aquarium

We are at the imax theater

Smile!!!!!!!!

We visited the imax theater

uh-oh we are being swallowed up by a shark

Everyone is swimming except Mommy and Morgan

We are standing by the California Flag

Today we went to Virgina Beach and traveled to the Aquarium and went and ate dinner with Uncle Keith and his family and also played Smarter than a Fifth Grader and surprisingly we almost won because of how we study in school.

Williamsburg- Fourth Day

Today we took what we like to call the lazy tour. Instead of walking we drove around Jamestown and learned how Jamestown survived so long ago.

Williamsburg- third day

(Left to Right) John, Alexander, Connor and Bryan

We are on the ship Wisconsin with our cousin Kristen

The missile is taller than both boys

The Wisconsin is in the background

Our Uncle Keith giving us a tour of the Navy Station

Yesterday we went to Colonial Williamsburg again and today we went to the Navy Station, visited the Wisconsin, and finally met our cousins John and Bryan. We had fun looking at all the ships but both boys loved the Wisconsin because they were able to explore the ship and climb up and down ladders and see how big guns can become.

Williamsburg- First Day

say cheese!

Patrick Henry, the boys and Mr. Purdy

We have a few naughty boys

The court is now in session!

A little bit of humor to brighten your day

Anyone Hungry?

The girls

The bridge back-in-time.

We were blessed to have a nice sunny day. The sky was a deep blue and we were ready to walk back into time to about 1776. walking in the streets you might see Patrick Henry talking to another person or walk into the taverns to get a glimpse of the food served and even are able to talk to George Washington. Colonial Williamsburg literally brings history to life. We learned a lot of valuable information that are not written into the text books. It is one of the best things we have seen yet.

Washington DC- Third Day

All of us at the Jefferson Memorial

We are at the Jefferson Memorial

Can you guess what is in his left hand? The declarations of Indepence and he was one of the main writers and was known to have the gift of forsight.

We visited the Jefferson Memorial on the third and final day of our stay in Washington DC. We planned to visit a museum called Crime and Punishment and visit Mt. Vernon but we were extremely tired and we lost our way to Mt. Vernon so we drove to Williamsburg and just took a pleasant walk to the Jefferson Memorial.

Washington DC- Second Day

We visited the Natural History Museum were the second Night of the Museum was filmed

The Capitol is behind us, unfortunately we were unable to visit the capitol

This is the changing of the guards ceremony to honor the unknown soldier

This is the only wooden cross in the Arlington Cemetery

The boys at Arlington

We visited the Arlington Cemetery, the Air and Space Museum, and the Natural History Museum . It was a bit cold and rainy but it was still fun!

Washington DC-First Day

Alexander Poising over the World War II Memorial for California

At the World War II Memorial

The Capitol Building

Between the flags you can make out the Lincoln Monument

There are fifty flags for all fifty states that surround the Washington Monument

At the base of the Washington Monument there are American flags in a circle

The Washington Monument (picture above) was very cool! We were not able to walk into the Washington Monument unless we had arrived at 7:00 in the morning.

The Capitol building is behind us but we could not get it into the picture.

We are slightly tired from the flight into DC but this is us before we got to experience the subway.

Yesterday was slightly bumpy ride to DC but we got in safely to the hotel around 2:00am and got about five hours of sleep before we headed to the International Spy Museum. After about two to three hours of the Spy Museum we headed over to the WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korea Memorial and the Washington Monument andalso grabbed a quick bite of food before heading over to the Arlington Cemetery but we got there to late to actually see it so we are planning on visiting it tomorrow.

Alexander- Enjoyed everything so far
Connor- Connor's favorite thing was the spy museum
Andrea- Andrea's favorite thing was the spy museum
Morgan- Morgan's favorite thing was the spy museum
Cynthia- Cynthia's favorite thing was The World War II Memorial