What We Did On Our Thanksgiving Vacation, Part 1

Helloooooooo! We're back!! And if Dan has his way, we won't be going anywhere for a good long while! Poor guy. The minute he was finished with his last paper, we took off for the east coast, where we visited with his aunt and uncle, zipped through the museum of Natural History in D.C., and spent a soggy day at Mt. Vernon. Here are a few photos of the first part of our trip...

hands-on Ammonite

Thrilled lover-of-tarantulas

Hissing cockroaches, wandering about their brave little hands

Front row for the tarantula feeding

Sculpture gardens

I won't post photos of Mt. Vernon - it was too sad!! We sat through the bloody violent introductory film (I held my hand over Eliza's eyes!!), which did prompt some good discussion (um...so....the Indians were fighting because it was their land, right? So...why was George Washington talking about the colonies fighting for the freedom of their land if it wasn't theirs? Wasn't he just doing to the Indians what the British soldiers were doing to them? Ouch, history is prickly that way.) It would have been a beautiful place to roam with the girls, had we had good weather, but as it was, we got soaking wet, and by the time the house tour was over, we were ready to run through the rain to the car and back to Dan's family's house around the corner for some warm cider and a movie on the largest television I have ever seen.

The best part was getting a better sense of who this part of his family is, sharing amazing meals, playing Clue and Monopoly, hearing the owls during our evening walk, and having the girls connect so easily with family. Eliza especially just loves the notion of family, the ownership of family, and she can just have met you and feel she's known you forever, if you're family...Not a bad way to begin a week of thanks...