Our family adventure in Maryland has come to an end.
We spent our last week with a few more beach visits, and a memorable trip to Annapolis, Fort McHenry in Baltimore, and Washington D.C..
Our first stop on Monday, July 3 was to the Maryland State House.
We did a self-guided tour of the State House.
It was very awesome to stand in the very room where George Washington resigned. It was neat to be able to share this experience as a family, and explain to the kids why his resignation was so important.
We then walked to the U.S. Naval Academy. We took a nice walk around, and took in some of the sites.
We then did a short walk by the water.
Annapolis was very nice. Kind of wish we had spent more time in this area. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.
We then drove to Baltimore for a visit to Fort McHenry.
As we pulled up the full sized Star Spangled Banner was waving over the Fort. It looked awesome. I wanted a photo now, but I was still driving. Unfortunately by the time we got into the visitor center, the winds had picked up, and the large flag was replaced with the storm flag. I was seriously bummed.
This place is preserved very well, and the presentation in the visitor center is very well done. Another for sure visit if you're in the area.
I have this thing with making the kids pose for a picture whenever we are in a National Park. This one is great just to show the scale. The bridge in the upper left corner is about 4 miles away. The British were about 2 miles away. Francis Scott Key would a been a few to several miles out watching the battle, and then seeing the Star Spangled Banner raised over the Fort in the morning.
Pretty awesome!!!
We then drove to Alexandria, VA for our night's stay.
The morning of the 4th, we made our way into DC. We wandered through the American History Museum a bit. I always enjoy this museum. In this photo I found the name of the canning seals very funny.
We also wandered around the Mall.
The balloons were all ready to go for the parade.
There were many circus acts practicing along the Mall.
Gavin was taking in all of the new trampoline tricks.
We then met up with the Carson family from Huxley to watch the parade.
Later in the afternoon we headed back to the hotel to rest and freshen up.......it was a hot, hot day!
I enjoy the DC Metro.
(That is until it doesn't go according to my schedule.)
And it really stinks when you leave your newly loaded Metro cards at home........but that's a whole other story.
That evening with our Jimmy John's sandwiches in hand, we made our way to the Marine Memorial to wait for the sun to go down.
We ate our supper, and watched fireworks from other celebrations in the background.
This was exactly the view I wanted for us to remember.
It was also pretty awesome.
The 5th we headed back to home. The 6th we loaded the truck. The 7th we headed towards Iowa; spending the night in Cambridge, Ohio. There were a few tears, and lots of emotions as we left our Maryland home.
We got in to Huxley about 8:00 Saturday night.
The house had been cleaned by cleaning fairies named Donna and Stacey. They even did a bunch of yard and garden work.
Our fridge had been stocked by grocery fairies named Stacey, Beth, and Mindy.
My mom and my sister's family came Sunday to help unpack. Phil's mom also came to help, and returned the family cat.
This Saturday my sister hosted a nice party for us.
Sunday we went to church, and then out for pho.......the usual routine.
So that chapter has come to an end, and we are most thankful for the adventure.
The next chapter is beginning.
Phil is traveling this week for work. He is busy with start up in Colorado, and finishing up the project in Delaware.
Cora is busy getting in as much Iowa as she can before she leaves in September for five months in Austria.
I have decided all three boys will be going to public school this year. This decision didn't come lightly for me, but I do believe this is where our family is now. I may look for a small bit of work, but I haven't committed to anything yet.
It will be very interesting to see what the next chapter holds for the Soash Family.
Thanks for reading -Jessica
