Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Last weekend was President’s Day weekend, and we celebrated it in the most appropriate way you could ever celebrate it. Yes, we did in fact visit the birthplace of George Washington. Yeah, no joke. Well, actually we were going to Westmoreland State Park in Virginia, but stopped at a little town called Colonial Beach and at Pope’s Creek Estate where Washington was born. I’d never heard of it, and wasn’t expecting much, but they had a pretty nice set up, and the area was beautiful on a warm February day. The replica house overlooked the Potomac River filled with noisy geese, sheep wandered around the yards, and there weren’t many tourists moving around, so it was all pretty good.


Adam rolled around in the grass on a sunny day. George may have done the same thing here when he was his age. Maybe Adam will start a revolution, kill a bunch of British, and then be President of a bunch of colonies some day. That would be cool.


Not walking yet, but you can be sure his big brother will help him figure it out. And then Paul will probably be annoyed that he's following him around everywhere.

It was all smiles at Westmoreland State Park, watching his brother roll down the grassy hill.

Adam and his father, taking a break along the Potomac River down in the Commonwealth of Puh-ginia (as Paul called it).

What, Dad? I'm trying to look for crabs and fish and other water things. Almost thought he was going to fall in here... thankfully he didn't, because Becky wouldn't have appreciated me throwing her in after him. That water was probably cold.

Sittin' on a picnic table at the park, about to eat a lens cap.

No Swimming? No Swimming? They're not serious. Or at least that doesn't mean us, Paul. Let's go!!

Yes, it couldn't have been a better President's Day. I guess next year we'll have to travel to Sinking Spring Farm in LaRue County, Kentucky to celebrate. If you don't know what that is, then you should probably spend more time on Wikipedia.

The rocket's red glare...

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, then you’ll know that we’ve been to a few battlefields and forts. I honestly don’t know what Becky’s obsession with historical sites is, but she is constantly searching the maps to find new, off-the-wall places for us to visit so that she can take pictures of the boys by cannons. I don’t get it, but that’s what she’s into I guess. Ok, maybe it’s me who finds these places and drags them along, but someday when the boys learn American history then I can say, “Yeah, you’ve been there!”

So last weekend we went to arguably America’s most famous historical fort. We took the short drive up to Baltimore to see Fort McHenry, site of the failed British invasion in 1814. Because of the dauntless courage of the fighting Baltimorons, the harbor and the American dream were preserved. It was here that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner about the massive flag that flew above the fort. At times they still fly a 40 foot flag, but the day we went the wind was too strong and it would have wrecked the flag pole, so they had a much smaller one flying. But the fort was still, well… a fort, much like the others we’ve been to.

Yep, looks like an old fort, has red bricks like an old fort, smells like an old fort... must be another old fort.

Adam took some time to beat on a loaded barrel of gun powder. Then we let him play with a lighter and a sharp object.

Paul would have rather been playing his Leapster... but too bad, it's time to learn valuable information about history so that he can be smarter than a 5th grader when he's a 1st grader.

Adam enjoyed the warm weather. The wind was brutal atop the ramparts where we watched the flag so gallantly streaming.

Behind Paul is the harbor where Key was on a British ship when he wrote the anthem. You can't see it in these photos, but the so aptly named Francis Scott Key Bridge crosses the harbor where they say he watched the battle from. Of course, they try to ruin the legend by saying he couldn't even see the flag from that distance, but whatever.

And here we are, Rebecca. You got your photo of us by a cannon. I hope this makes you happy.

So Fort McHenry was as exciting as any fort could be, and what's better, we got to use our pass again so that saved us the $15 it would have cost to get in! And now we can say... yeah, we've been there! Next up... Fort Sumter, Fort Ticonderoga, The Alamo, Fort Knox, the Bastille, the Great Wall of China, Wolfsschanze, and Lolo's Fort Fizzle!!

Wild Horses, Water Snails, and Hibernating Crabs

Last weekend we returned to the ocean for the first time since we left it in Jacksonville, more than a year and a half ago. We’ve been to the Chesapeake Bay, which is basically ocean, but this time it was the real Atlantic. We drove over the bay to the eastern half of the state and checked out Ocean City, MD. It had a similar feel to Daytona Beach, mostly a party town shut down this time of year, but it was interesting. We really went to see the Assateague National Seashore, a thin strip of land running out into the ocean controlled by the National Park System, where we could use our America the Beautiful pass that we got for Christmas. The park is famous for its wild horses. Yes, seems strange, but there are wild horses running free in Maryland. The legend was that a Spanish ship ran aground offshore and the horses onboard got off on the island and have been there ever since. We drove around but never saw the herd, just a couple loners eating grass on the side of the road. It would have been better had it not been intensely foggy to the point that we couldn’t see more than a hundred yards. But the ocean was as awesome as it’s ever been.


Maybe our roots have always been in the mountains, but this is where our family grew. It was good to hear it again...

Don't think about it Paul, please. It's far too cold and we didn't bring you any other clothes.

Keep an eye out for horses, or whales, or yes... even great white sharks!!

At the visitor center a ranger gave a talk about the different sea life along this seashore that Paul and I found very interesting. We learned what a Whelk is (a sea snail often called Conch in the southern warmer waters), and we learned about these creatures, Horseshoe Crabs. Turns out they hibernate this time of year, but this one is more than just sleeping.

Trying to keep warm with the ocean breeze a little bitter on this fine February day.

It was Adam’s first visit to the ocean, he wasn’t too sure about it…

... unlike his brother, who is a natural born boy of the sea, complete with salt water running in his veins.

And Paul finally found this great white land shark! Gravel lots in Ocean City are dangerous, and we're going to need a bigger boat.

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet, our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”

And we journey on...

Adventures with Grandpa Billy

Paul and Adam’s grandfather, Grandpa Billy (as Paul was so kind to call him over and over again) came to visit a couple of weeks ago, mostly to work on the list of chores Becky made for him. He built some shelves for the new shed, patched some drywall, did some plumbing and electrical work, and went to Home Depot at least a dozen times. He was also fortunate enough to show up at the time the flu ran through our house, and probably got sicker than any of us. Lucky! But during all that, we did get a chance to go out in the frigid winter wonder-Maryland.

Pretty much as cold as you can get, here in Annapolis on the bay. The water was iced over and the wind was brutal, but we survived... we are all from Montana afterall... well, except the boys, but Paul's Florida blood has adjusted to snowy weather.


Back in the day the kids in grade school used to call me the True Value boy because I always had an assortment of True Value t-shirts. I should have stopped in to Stevens to pick one up.

Adam Michael says, "It's cold."

Ted and I stopped for a moment to hear a story by Alex Haley. It was about some dude named Kunta Kinte, or maybe his name was Toby... I don't recall.

Later in the week, we went to the Washington DC auto show, where all the 2011 cars and concepts were on display. Paul drove in the big race with a remote control car and took home the checkered flag!

And then the snow fell, and a snowman had to be built.

So the boys had a good time harassing their grandfather, and are looking forward to spending some time with the rest of the family coming up in March!