We stopped, thank goodness! TheWife went into the hotel to get our room while I waited outside with the kids, who unfortunately woke up as soon as I turned off the engine. I could tell the TheBoy was still tired and ready to go back to bed. TheGirl on the other hand – was ready to party.
We settled into our room, kids were put in pajamas and went to bed, or so we thought. TheBoy passed out immediately and TheGirl wanted to carry on a conversation, play with my hair, and rub my face. That wasn’t bad; the pillows in the hotel were 12×12 shitty pillows, which made sleeping difficult. I think both TheWife and I got a total of 4 hours of sleep.
“It’s just a lot of grass and rocks Daddy!”
Blasphemy son!! This is history. We are walking on hallowed grounds. You could be standing in the same spot as Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant. One of the greatest battles in our American history was fought here, isn’t that awesome? Blood was shed here, lives were lost here, and this placed served as inspirations to one of the greatest speeches known to man. How can you not think this is awesome? This is HISTORY!!
“I just want to climb the tower?”
Gettysburg offers two different towers that you can climb to truly understand the enormity of the battlefield(s). TheBoy who has no fear (unless it’s Ursula from Little Mermaid) climbed a 75ft. tower with ease. TheWife on the other hand – I’ll leave that for another time.
I think, as parents we sometimes forget things we think are cool are not cool to our children. If all my children remember of Gettysburg are cannons, towers, and the awful cow manure smell, I’m okay with it. It was great family bonding experience at a historical sight I will never forget. Observing the innocence of a child while walking the battlefields of Gettysburg makes one put things into perspective – in the end, it could be worse, we could be worse.
WE MADE IT!!! I hope Mike and Kelly are ready for us (click here to read their blog)? Our friends live in the beautiful suburb of Arlington, VA and near a Metro station, which makes travel easier for those not brave enough to tackle D.C. traffic and roundabouts. We unpacked our bags and headed out to our first adventure to the National Mall.
Our trip was planned around the blossoming of the historic Japanese cherry trees (yes, the cherry trees were given to the US as a gift in 1912 from Japan) which surround the Washington Monument and the tidal basin near the Jefferson Memorial…This is HISTORY!!
Needless to say, it was very busy with lots of photography and celebrating going on. I have a tendency to get a little nervous in big crowds; it’s very suffocating to me and difficult to deal with. It also didn’t help it was 90 degrees out. With the culmination of lots of people accidently rubbing their sweatiness on me freaked me out. However, I was able to take some fantastic pictures.
Both TheBoy and TheGirl were amazed by the beauty and sweet color of…the pink lemonade we bought them. They could have cared less if they were looking at a cherry tree or redwood. They had little interest in the beauty, the white and pinkish tones of the blossoms, or the history…THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE HISTORY!!
If my children didn’t truly absorb the beauty of the cherry trees or the significance of a battlefield – I’m okay with it. They were able to absorb the sweet taste of pink cherry lemonade, climb a tower, and breath in the stench of cows – which will in turn remind them of their trip to the grassy field and the place with a white rod coming our of the ground with a sharp point at the end of it.
To be continued…
