We're back from a whirlwind tour of Virginia and D.C! Our trip to Roanoke, VA and Washington D.C. were certainly eventful. We left on July 17th in the late afternoon and drove 6 hours to Roanoke, VA. We didn't get to our hotel until well after midnight! Then the kids were wide awake from a three hour "nap" in the car, so we watched TV until 2:30 a.m. Needless to say, we were all exhausted the next morning. I was so tired I forgot to bring our camera along to our visit to Natural Bridge. You can look it up on line if you want to see what I'm talking about.

Natural Bridge is a rock bridge naturally carved from the creek that runs below it. It was awesome. It was immense and beautiful. When Thomas Jefferson saw Natural Bridge, he decided to purchase the land. They also have a spot where George Washington carved his initials into the rock. The kids absolutely loved it!

The rest of our time in Roanoke was celebrating a very important event: the marriage of Kim Miller to Todd St. Clair. Here are pictures from the day.


Eliza and Nathaniel were thrilled to be part of this special day!

Kim was Nathaniel's first love. This is a great picture of them together!
I love this picture of Kim with her sisters and dad just minutes before the wedding!

Sunday morning we visited with Kim's family at breakfast before heading out for the rest of our journey. Later that afternoon, we spent time at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. It was fascinating to see how this man tinkered with things to make himself more comfortable. He had thousands of ideas and interests as well. It was sweltering during our tour, and we were glad to hop back in the car and drive to Leesburg, VA.

Sunday evening, we had dinner with our dear friends, Brad and Lynn Curl. It was wonderful to see them and spend time with them. Our kids have fond memories of our time together.

Monday morning, we, the lunatics that we are, loaded up, all nine of us, and headed into D.C. Another 90+ degree day, and we had no idea how to use public transportation, so we walked everywhere. Not our brightest idea. We found out just how spread out D.C. is. We started at Union Station booked over to the Washington Monument (which we toured) then visited a museum and then more monuments. We were exhausted, grumpy and reminded how foolish we sometimes can be!

Finally, we're getting relief from the heat inside the Washington Monument.

Eliza was so beat from the day, she dozed off on Dave at around 5 p.m.
Joel loved splashing around in the fountain!
Hannah took the next set of pictures from the Lincoln Memorial. She studied the Civil War this year, so visiting the monument was a significant event for her.

Tuesday, we visited Arlington National Cemetery. We didn't stay long because of the high temperatures again, but we did enjoy our visit. The kids were awed by the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
Later that day, we had a wonderful visit with my cousin, Dean and his wife, Tia. For me, in fact, this was one of the best parts of my trip. I loved getting to know Tia better and she graciously prepared us a wonderful meal! Our time with them was relaxed and so enjoyable.

Tia is a really neat woman. She is exceptionally talented and a fabulous cook!

Finally, on Wednesday, we ended our trip with a tour of the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum. We saw a model of the space shuttle used to see if a pilot could really land them, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb, a stealth bomber, and so much more. As interesting as it was, Joel was still not impressed!

Before heading out, we had dinner with more of our wonderful Leesburg friends. Here is Gwen and her sons Terrence and Gary. It is always a pleasure to be with them and to hear stories about Dave when he lived with them in Leesburg.

Since our vacation, so much has happened. Our twins turned one...Hooray!!! We got a new baby niece...Hooray!!! And we started back to school. We are never bored here in Bailyville! Hope you enjoyed the blog!