Mom's Turn: Reflections

We've been home for almost 48 hours.  Suitcases are unpacked, laundry is almost caught up, and our regular routine begins again with Awana tonight.  It's really good to be home.  And we had a great adventure with this trip.  I know most people have stopped following our journey by now, but I have a few more thoughts to record, if for no other reason than to write them down to simplify my scrapbooking later.  Between Tyler's camera and mine, we have well over 1,000 pictures.  But we have many more moments we'll remember...

Overall family favorite places:
Mt. Vernon -- for its open spaces, beautiful landscaping and views, and the feeling of stepping into history
Gettysburg -- for making the battle real as we walked where they walked and listened to the soldiers' stories
Smithsonian museums -- for opening our minds and expanding our ideas as we experienced the "real" stuff, from art to airplanes


Really, there wasn't a place we didn't like.  And looking back over our pictures, it's sort of overwhelming to see the volume and diversity of places we visited.  We saw lots!!  And there's so much more that we could have seen.

Kid moments I'll always remember...

Tyler -- The history of this trip and the real proximity to national politics totally energized Tyler.  Normally very composed, a wide grin and a deep sparkle in his eyes took over his expressions most notably in Philadelphia, the Capitol, the National Archives, and the Library of Congress.  He left these places inspired and determined to change the course of our country.  We'll see what the Lord does with this in Tyler's life.  He also loved the visit to Patrick Henry College, even if it left him questioning his own abilities in comparison to their high standards and highly talented students.  He would have loved to have read every word on every plaque in every museum... and to have lingered reflectively in many... but we told him he'd have to come back alone to make that happen.  This trip just teased him and made him thirsty for more.

Jacob -- Never lacking enthusiasm, Jacob found plenty of opportunities to express it.  He might have been in the most perfect position for this trip -- old enough to understand and remember the serious things that appealed to Tyler, yet young enough to enjoy and be entertained by the destinations that appealed mostly to Alyssa.  He set off the "don't touch" alarm at the Mt. Vernon museum because the textured upholstery on the antique chairs was begging to be felt.  He was carefully monitored by guards (and his parents) at the National Gallery of Art after he nearly touched one of the oil paintings -- he has been taught, after all, that one should experience art by doing it.  He spontaneously broke out in song and step -- "Singin' In the Rain", of course -- as we were drenched during our half-mile (or more) trek battling cold wind and rain one DC morning.  He sweetly and discreetly checked the status of his sister's ears and stomach throughout every flight and twisty-road drive.

Alyssa -- This girl was a trooper.  She endured earaches, motion sickness, short nights, and long walks.  She plodded onward without a complaint in the coldest rain even when she wasn't very well covered by the umbrella held too high by her parents.  She found her second wind more than once.  Other times she cried.  She threw up from motion sickness just as we entered the parking garage on the one day we drove into DC.  The guys waiting to park our car for us didn't quite know how to best get us out of the way when their waiting line backed up into the street.  Still, Alyssa got cleaned up and carried on.  She was thrilled at the kid destinations we chose -- Crayola, the aquarium, Hershey, and more.  She was entirely bored at some of the places where Tyler most wanted to linger.  I'll always remember the vision of her laughing face and hair flying in the wind as she trotted along atop the short concrete wall that encircles the Washington Monument.  It was one of those "isn't she beautiful" Mommy moments.

Jacob and Alyssa entertained the otherwise somber faces on the DC Metro.  It's really true that everyone seems to enter the "metro zone" when they step into the train.  No eye contact.  No words.  No personality.  But Jacob and Alyssa have never heard those rules, so they played "I spy" loudly, announced every stop across the aisles as they followed along with the map, and laughed.  After several particularly abrupt stops one day, Jacob loudly exclaimed, "He stops just like Dad!"  Muffled chuckles came from everyone in hearing range.  (Clarifying note:  Craig is a really good driver.  Jacob was referring to the dip in our driveway gravel where Craig parks the pickup every night.  The dip and and railroad tie behind it create the jerk, not Craig's wild stopping technique.)  So Jacob and Alyssa helped people smile on their daily commute, and it was good.

Other thoughts...
We saw a Gutenberg Bible with our own eyes.  We saw the only DaVinci painting in the western hemisphere.  We drove through inner city slums when we got temporarily lost in Jersey City.  It was the only time the kids have seen an area with garage door barricades protecting store doors and windows, and the groups that hang out at street corners.  We walked where the Founding Fathers walked.  We walked with lots of people who are different than us.  We looked out at New York and New Jersey from the crown of Lady Liberty.  We learned there are beautiful farms in Delaware and New Jersey, and we relaxed in the rolling green hills of western Virginia.  We glimpsed the bicycles and buggies and clotheslines of Amish life.  We experienced heavy fog, cold rain, and smiled at the sun.  We felt new respect for the freedoms that we so quickly take for granted, and new respect for those who fought so that we could have them.  We are free to worship as we choose, live where we want to, home educate our children, and speak our opinions with respect.  We looked across hundreds of acres of graves in Arlington and began to understand the phrase "freedom isn't free" in a deeper way. 

This trip was education at many levels, a vacation from our regular routine, and an adventure I hope we'll always remember.  We're so grateful to have had this opportunity... and we're just as grateful to be home.