Jamestown, VA

Our last Saturday in Virginia we went to Jamestown which was the first permanent English Settlement, established May 14, 1607. Below is a picture of the fort. The British flag is flying and if you squint and look closely you can see the statue of John Smith on the left. We enjoyed this day of learning and exploring.
Statue of Pocahontas. The story of Pocahontas and John Smith is so different from the Disney movie. :) But it was still interesting to learn. Pocahontas, after converting to Christianity, changed her name to Rebecca.

Captain John Smith, Governor of Virginia. He certainly was adventurous.

Model of the fort. It looks a lot better than the one I made out of Popsicle sticks in the fifth grade.

The red brick tower is the last of the settlements church.

We went to a museum where they show artifacts they have found in Jamestown. There was a section on skeletons they found. Through science, we can learn the person's ethnicity, age, possible death, illnesses, DNA, social status and more. I was totally fascinated. They had a skeleton displayed of a young man that had a bullet visible in the bone. I don't know why I enjoyed learning about this, now that I'm writing this, it seems kind of morbid. Oh, well.

Next we saw a glass blowing demonstration. Nels and I watched forever. We both loved watching the process, beginning to end, of how to make a glass.

Amazing, isn't it?

After Jamestown we hopped on (or rather drove onto) a ferry called Pocahontas to take us up the James River. Beautiful boat ride.

Looking good Nels!

Near, Far, Wherever you are. Yes, we were a little embarrassed to ask someone to take our picture as we posed. But I couldn't resist.

Farewell Jamestown.

New Hair Color

This is what my haircolor looked like before:
And this is After:

Going darker for the winter. P.S. Isn't Nels sooo cute! :)

Aircraft Carrier

Our friend's invited us to tour the USS George H. W. Bush CVN 77 aircraft carrier for the navy. We learned a lot about what it is like to live on and work on the ship. We definitely gained a lot of respect for people in the service. Thank you for all those who serve our country.
I like the banner and the words "Freedom at Work." There are three levels of bunks...pretty small, Nels looks pretty cozy in there.

The commander's chair. Watch out here come the Nyborg's!

I was walking on the deck and totally tripped over the huge, brightly colored yellow thing (I don't know what it's called.) Everyone laughed; I did too. So Nels and Jacob reenacted it.

This picture only shows the top part of the ship, there's many more levels below the water.We went up and down narrow staircases that are more like ladders. The ceilings were really low and everything is compact. I was amazed at everything that fits on the ship. It is like a city on a boat. Incredible. It was an eye opening experience for us.

Yorktown, VA

Well, a lot has happened since September. I'm going through pictures so I'll post a few updates. This is when we went to Yorktown, VA. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking around. There were shops and a self guided tour you could go on. We looked at a cave that townspeople took cover in when they were attacked in 1781.

Here's the outside of the cave.

Then we sat in our chairs next to the shore and soaked our feet in the salty water. I remember it being really peaceful and relaxing.

Part of the pier and shops. I loved how the sun shown through the scattered clouds.

That's all for this one.

Visitors!!!

Guess what? My sisters Kari and Melissa and Melissa's son Michael came to visit us! We were so excited and happy to have them here. We picked them up at the airport in D.C. and got a hotel for two nights. We were able to do a lot of sight seeing while we were there. So here's all about our trip.

Our guests were not coming until later in the afternoon so Nels and I went to D.C. in the morning. Nels wanted to go to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing...where they print the money. So we took a tour of their operations. Nels was so happy. He was like a kid in a candy store. He went from one stop to the next and read every bit of information that was posted. So here's a picture of how tall we are in $100 dollar bills. Roughly $1, 537, 800! The souvenir shop was cute and you could even by a $2 bill for the grand total of $7.95! We passed on that and just bought a magnet and postcards.
Here's Nels learning about money.

Afterwards we went to the Dulles airport and waited for the plane to land. I was so happy to see my sisters and nephew. They packed light...they only had carry ons. So we left quickly and went out into the pouring rain. Unfortunately, we were in traffic and rain all the way to the hotel. It took twice as long to travel. But we were just glad to be together. After we got settled at the hotel we headed outside on foot to find a restaurant to eat at.

We originally wanted Chinese, but the restaurant we found seemed a little...scary. So we passed on that and went to Panas. We ate the best empanadas.
Here's Kari, Melissa and Michael at the restaurant.

After eating we went to the hotel and relaxed. The next day, Friday, we woke up very early, ate a wonderful breakfast and hopped on the Metro. We went to the Smithsoninan Castle and learned about James Smithson. FYI: "In 1826, James Smithson, a British scientist, drew up his last will and testament, naming his nephew as beneficiary. Smithson stipulated that, should the nephew die without heirs (as he would in 1835), the estate should go “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” We're so glad he did that.

After that we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We walked through an old plane, saw engines, and planets, and famous pilots and walked through what a space shuttle would be like and so much more.

Then we went to the Washington Monument. Here's Nels and Michael on their backs, so they could feel the building "fall" on them.

Michael , me and Nels...Lincoln Memorial is in the background.

Us Girls, Kari, Me, Melissa

We were able to get tickets and ride to the top of the Washington Monument...some 500+feet in the air. We saw the view which was amazing. All four sides. Starting on the North side...White House, East, Capital building, South, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and West, Lincoln Memorial. Amazing.
Here's the White House

Here's Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool.

We did a lot of walking. No kidding. From the Washington Monument we walked to the White House....here we are.

Then we went to the World War II Monument.

Representing Idaho are the Swensen sisters. Cheese. :)

Michael and Melissa at the Lincoln Memorial.

Then we walked to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. The sun went down and my pictures didn't turn out very well. We walked to the Metro and rode it to Chinatown where we had Mexican food. :) We were so exhausted by the end of the day and super happy to climb into bed with our sore feet. Saturday we left the hotel early and went straight to the National Archives. This was actually a really neat place. We learned a lot about records and what records they keep there. They had letters from kids to the different Presidents over the years that were funny, and different patents that you could see and of course our primary reason for going there...we saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. We felt very patriotic and blessed to be living here. Then we headed to our place in Virginia.

Just a quick note: Michael was so much fun and hilarious. He was always making us laugh. He gave Kari a nickname of Platypus that evolved into Grandpa Platypus...don't ask me how he came up with it. But it was so funny how he said it. He was a good sport with all the walking too. At the hotel he loved the elevator and one time he managed to push all the buttons for a long elevator ride. He made up songs and loved the escalators at the Metro. We were so happy he could come.

I loved talking with Kari and Melissa as we walked and just had a great time.

Anyway's here's a few Artsy pictures:

This is the ceiling of the Native American building. We stopped in for a minute, we thought we would eat lunch there. But we decided not to pay $12 and up on a small plate of food. Instead we ate at the Corner Bakery which has delicious food for half the price.

Washington Monument. I love the lighting and the reflection in the pool.

Washington Monument and the Capitol Building in the background. Both of these were taken on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Willow trees at sunset. These beautiful trees were lined up along the river leading to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

This was the only picutre with all five of us. We are holding up our last tickets to ride the Metro. Yes, we are in the metro station and a nice lady took the picture for us.

So we girls all bought the same sweatshirt and Michael bought a sweatshirt too. Here we are trying to be gangsters...I think Michael did pretty well. The rest of us need some work. :)

Last Picture and we were soooooo sad to see them leave. We have such great memories from this trip. Thanks for coming!!!

Monticello

One weekend in August Nels and I went to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. We learned so much about the third president of the United States. Here are just a few:

• Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence at the age of 33
• He taught himself to be an architect and Monticello was one of his designs.
• Founder and architect of the University of Virginia
• During his presidency he conducted the Louisiana purchase and sent Lewis and Clark across America.
• Had 6 children...sadly many died shortly after being born.
• He knew many languages, studied and learned all of his life. He woke at sunrise and wrote letters, and studied books.
• He loved gardening and tested different ways to grow plants.

Here's a few pictures of our adventure at Monticello:

This was the path that led up the hill to Monticello. It was about a half mile uphill, but a pretty walk.The family's graveyard was about half way up the hill. The Jefferson clan is buried here. It was said that Jefferson wanted to be buried under a large oak tree. There's trees all around and it's very peaceful there.

This is part of the vegetable garden. It was a huge garden that stretched for at least 1/4 of a mile. There were all different kinds of plants and different varieties. There were also herbs like basil and lavender that smelled so good.

A small building that had two chairs inside. I'm sure Jefferson spent time just sitting, thinking, and watching his plants grow.

Flower garden near the house. He grew a widerange of flowers. Most of them I had never seen before.

Monticello:

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside. There were a lot of little inventions that Jefferson had implemented in his home. He was always trying to come up with a more efficient way to do things. He had a bell system, and a pulley system for wine to be pulled from the cellar to the dining room. He also had an ice house on the north side of the home. In the winter large chunks of ice would be placed in the ice house (a large circluar room below the ground). This way they would have water/ice for several months. Oh, and Jefferson loved French cuisine. Being entertained in the Jefferson home meant having the best French food.

We wrote our name with a quail feather and some ink.

We noticed this tree on our walk to Monticello. I love this....I call it Tree Hugger.

Two different types of trees are entertwined...hugging. The one on the right shows the two different types of leaves.

It was a great trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it!