The Capitol

The Capitol Building with cherry trees

We arrived at the Capital building and had just a few minutes before our tour began. We began the tour with a film that explained the history of the building and the laws that were passed to change the course of our nation.

One of the statues in the Capitol Building

We had a wonderful tour guide who escorted us through the public areas of the building. The beauty of the building can not be described. There was a purpose and meaning behind all the craftmanship that is displayed. The kids were amazed by the fact that the mural on the ceiling was done with the ceiling in place and the artist had to paint from scaffolding. The painting is of George Washington surrounded by 13 maidens. The sheer weight of the dome as we stood directly under it caused some worried looks—8,909,200 pounds of cast iron. With all this work ceing done long before the mammoth construction trucks we have today.

George Washington and maidens - the Capitol Dome

As I gazed around the rooms we passed through it brought a deep sense of pride in being an American. It also made me wonder what the building would look like if it were designed today. Would we have spent so much time and effort on conveying who we are and ensuring the building would be survive for many generations?

David in front of the Capitol Building

After the tour we walked past the Supreme Court and we had around an hour and a half to see the sights on our own. Of course, David wanted to head over to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. This is always David's favorite place to visit when he is in Washington.

One of the Capitol Building skylights

The bus ride back was very long, in fact we arrive back at the school an hour and a half late.

Boys on the Bus

After a very hectic week of doctor’s appointments—three to be exact—babysitting, house cleaning and prep for our field trip we were ready to roll. We were glad that David’s doctor said he no longer needed to be on crutches. His bedroom lamp was a casualty of a crutch gone astray. The gaping hole in his knee will still take several weeks to heal over. Of course it doesn’t help that he keeps sliding on his knees and reopening the wound. So he had an all-clear for his field trip.

Robert E. Lee House at Arlington Cemetery

So Friday morning I headed out in the pre-dawn hours at the back of a bus filled with 75 thirteen year-old BOYS. There were just two other moms on the bus and they sat in the first rows away from the fray. We had a total of 300 eighth graders heading to see the nation’s capital—two buses of girls and two buses of boys. You wanna bet the person who organized the bus arrangements was on a girls’ bus.

I was amazed at the number of kids who had MP3 players and cell phones, but few had an actual camera. The kids borrowed and tossed their expensive electronics with no regard to how much their parents had spent on them. I allowed David to use my MP3 player on the drive up. Yes, I have one, and no, he doesn’t. He had one and can’t find it so until he can save up the money he will not be receiving another one. The music kept David quiet and content for a good part of the trip. When we got very close he started his seat jumping and I was left all alone.

One of the guards at
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We arrived at Arlington Cemetery and began the long uphill trek to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was a rough walk because David flips from walking slowly to an almost outright jog up the hill. We stood and watched as the soldiers placed a wreath at the tomb. Years ago there was much more gun twirling than they had on this visit. We were very sad to not see the guns being thrown from one soldier to the other in such crisp movements. But David was impressed anyway.

On our way back down to meet the bus David was running to catch up with a friend. I had just yelled “don’t run” when, splat! David had gone off the sidewalk and slipped in the mud. It had been raining lightly all morning. When David got up his school uniform was a mess—the shirttail, both sleeves, pants and my backpack were covered in a wet mushy mess. Luckily one of the teachers chaperoning the trip was kind enough to loan David an extra shirt he had brought. Of course, this made David stand out since he was the only student not in his school uniform. Only my son!

Cherry blossoms

All boys on board and we headed to the Capital building. The drive over was beautiful. This was the day before the Cherry Blossom Festival and the trees were in full bloom. If you don’t know the history of these unusual trees, it really is interesting, Three thousand flowering cherry trees were a gift from the Mayor of Tokyo in 1912 honoring the lasting friendship between the United States and Japan. In 1981 Washington was able to repay the Japanese kindness when cuttings from our trees were sent to replace some cherry trees in Japan which had been destroyed in a flood.

I will share our experience at the Capital tomorrow.

Home Again, Home Again

David and me on the swings

Friday morning we returned for another fun filled day at Dollywood. We got in lots of rides that David wanted to return to. We also hit up some of the food stands that we had not tried yet. The food at Dollywood is so wonderful!

On the way out of Pigeon Forge we stopped at the candy store and bought some taffy. I bought normal taffy for our friends while Rich bought jalapeño taffy for the guys. Yes, I said jalapeño. We arrived at the right time to watch the taffy machine in action.

The Capitol movie theater

With candy in hand we headed to my home town, Greeneville. As we entered Main Street I admit I got very teary eyed. It has been too long since I have been home. The old movie theater still stood there, but is in desperate need of an overhaul. I was glad to see that there is a sign that is requesting funds to restore it to it's former glory. I spent many a hot summer day in the plush velvet seats, sometimes in the balcony. The red velvet curtains with the gold fringe would open as the film began. On the next block where the Depot grill once stood, the building was restored but I couldn't tell what new business was residing in that old familiar friend. We headed to my Aunt Carol's house where another aunt and uncle and several cousins joined us.

As David swam and tried his hardest to get his cousin Haley to join him. We all caught up on the years that have passed.

My cousin Wendy had offered for us to spend the night at her house, but since her daughter was having a birthday party the next day we decided to head out. Haley, like David, became a teenager this year.

We arrived home in the wee hours of Saturday morning. After sleeping for four hours in the car David was wide awake at 3am. However, Rich and I were dead tired. Finally, David fell asleep at 5 in the morning.

I have unpacked our clothes and stowed the luggage. Now I have to wrap and store the many gifts we purchased for our loved ones.

Mystery Mine

I thought I would share a little bit of the rides here at Dollywood. This is the ride that David says he will never ride again.

ENJOY!

A Day To Relax

When we were at Dollywood we saw a sign that made me laugh and nudge Rich. "Aunt Granny's Country Buffet" serves fried bologna! This has been an ongoing disagreement since we got married. Rich says he has never heard of anyone ever eating fried bologna while I on the other hand say everyone eats fried bologna. Every time I would cook this, he would just shake his head. I have explained it has to be cooked just right—at a slow temperature til it gets a bit crispy but not burnt. He has never appreciated the fine art of cooking bologna.

Aunt Granny's Restaurant

I made a little headway when the movie "Sweet Home Alabama" came out and the father asks the mom to pull out the bologna cake. But, this little restaurant has finally vindicated me after all these years.

So we got up early to get to the park before it opened and had breakfast at "Aunt Granny's." Since we were first in line at the gate we began to talk to the lady at the front and we explained our errand and disagreement. She was on my side and even told us that when they bring in the fried bologna sandwiches to the employee lounge the word spreads fast and there is a rush to get them. Yes, everyone loves fried bologna sandwiches. While we were entering the restaurant Rich asked the hostess out front if she were Aunt Granny, she explained that Dolly is Aunt Granny.

Part of the menu from Aunt Granny's

David has always shared my love for fried bologna and always asks why daddy doesn't like it. Well, it's a good thing they make lots of food because David really chowed down on the bologna and other food. Rich didn't have any bologna but there was lots of other good food for him to enjoy.

We hadn't planned on riding the rides yesterday since the previous day Rich's knees were bothering him. David even complained about how his legs hurt because they were so tired. I on the otherhand felt just fine thanks to my treadmill sessions. So we decided to take it a bit easy. That lasted until after breakfast and the rides kept calling David, please ride me. So we headed to the midway and rode a few rides several times before heading over to take some pictures and buy a few gift items we had spotted the day before. Our early day at the park lasted until after lunchtime.

One of the Lid'l Dolly's dressmakers

Then we headed to a leather shop to buy a gift for David for Christmas. Then we had to buy a Lid'l Dolly dress. These dresses are old fashioned ruffled dresses in pretty colors and lots of bows. We bought one many years ago before David was born for our little girl. It was eventually given away since she turned out to be a he baby. We also bought my neice one of these dresses. Now that our good friends the McKinley's are about to have a baby we wanted to pick one up and stash it away. If it is a boy then we will have to hold on to it until they have a baby girl.

Choosing just the right dress

The store is set up in the front with quilts, dresses, purses and pillows but in the back Monday through Friday you can watch them making these beautiful items. All the work is done by ladies sitting at sewing machines, no big mass production here. A had to buy a wonderfully intricate baby quilt and lap quilt. The prices are amazingly low and I had a 10% off coupon from an ad I picked up at the hotel.

We ate at Fuddruckers, which is a place I love. Then I found a scrapbook store that I could buy my Tennessee scrapbook items at.

Dollywood central fountain

When we got back to the hotel the guys headed to the pool and I headed for the laundry (yuck!) I hated having all these dirty clothes piling up and the thought of waiting until we got home sent me into action. I wasn't the only mom who had this bright idea. Just as I was taking my clothes out of the washer another mom was bringing hers in. There are only two washers and dryers and one of the dryers wasn't working. So I explained this to the lady. She told me "Well, I used to work in the hotel industry and I'm going to go to the desk and give them a piece of my mind." Since there were more clothes in the one dryer I told her it would take more then one cycle for ours to get done since I had washed two loads. As she was loading her clothes into the two washers another mom came in with her dirty clothes. She wasn't happy that someone beat her to the machines.

Dollywood's "Friendship Path"

As it came near to the time the second lady's clothes were due to finish washing, I sat outside of the laundry room. Sure enough she showed up just as her wash cycle was done (which was still 20 minutes before my dry cycle was done.) She said she thought she saw me take my clothes out already. I explained I had taken some of the dry ones out to allow the others to dry quicker but it would still be a while. She then told me the front desk hadn't heard the last of the situation since her husband was going to give it to them when they checked out the next morning.

The weather forecast is calling for thunderstorms this afternoon, but that's what they said for yesterday and we had wonderful weather. The plan at this point is to head to the water park and see if we can keep from burning today.

A Day of Adventure

Yesterday while waiting for our cousins to join us at the hotel we kept David busy. Right after breakfast it was a trip to the pool. David's swimming has improved so much over the summer since he has spent almost everyday at the Y's pool.
When it was time to go to the room nearer our guests arrival time David opened the curtains and questioned me about who was coming, their ages and our relation to each other. Each vehicle that pulled up he would ask "Is that them?" He was very excited when Wendy and her kids got out of their truck, spotted him and waved. David's first comment was "Haley's pretty."

Smokey Mountain River Rampage

After the greeting we headed to Dollywood. We started with the tamer rides and worked our way up. Dylan, Haley and Peyton are not as daring as David is. While they rode many of the rides, there were some that I had to ride with David. We rode the rampaging river boats and got soaked, while Rich stood on shore to capture our ride. We headed to the Midway that held rides that brought back memories of traveling carnivals. This is a great area for the younger kids and eight-year-old Peyton got to ride more rides in this section.

David, the day before, had wanted to ride the Thunder Head—a traditional wooden roller coaster. It is a long and very nerve-racking looking ride. We told him to wait until Sunday, since the park was closing when he asked. We were hoping Wendy's kids would ride it with him. Luckily, Dylan was willing to ride it and the two of them set off.

Mystery Mine Roller Coaster

We had to purchase the picture that was taken on the ride. I will scan the picture when we get back home and will be able to post it. None of the other kids would ride the Mystery Mine, I can't understand it. Just as we were pulling out David looked at me and said "I changed my mind, I don't want to ride this." The ride has two straight up hills, you are flat on your back and all you can see is track. Then the drop is amazing! On our first straight uphill climb David grabbed my hand and didn't let go until after the ride was over. We were seated in the very front and even felt the heat of flames that shot out at us. The ride also has two upside down turns. He decided that the ride was too intense for him, until next year.

The result of River Battle soaking

We all rode on River Battle. We floated down a winding river on a raft with people spraying water from cannons on the side of the river. But, we had our own cannons and fought a hard fight. We were so soaked by the end of the ride that we went right back on for a second soaking.

We rode many other rides with the kids making up different combinations of riding with each other. David loved telling everyone who would listen that these were his cousins. We have made plans on visiting them on our way back home—the day before Haley becomes a teenager.

Welcome To Your Blog-cation

Today we are taking you on the first day of your blog-cation. After a five-and-a-half-hour drive, we have arrived. Unfortunately you are not the only ones who decided to join us. The road was jammed with many others who wanted to have a great time.

Before we arrived at the hotel, our fun began. We had to stop and take pictures that we really wanted to share. The first was of a "Beef Jerky Outlet" but we never entered the shop. As we entered the John Deere store, we saw a sign that requested that we not bring "food, drinks or spit cups into the store." Now I ask you, what are we suppose to do with our spit cups?

So what are we supposed
to do with them?

Upon arriving at the hotel David had decided he didn't want to go to Dollywood, but would prefer to swim in the hotel pool. You'd think that spending five days a week at the pool would make him a little less enthralled with it, but not my son. After about 20 minutes in the pool he decided he was ready to hit the park.

Instead of driving in all the traffic, we walk one block over to the trolley. We have to switch trolleys part way through our journey. But finally arrive at Dollywood! David is scoping out the rides as we pull into the parking lot and knows which ride will be the first one on his list. First we head to the cars that go around a track. We then went to one of my favorite types of rides—the river raft ride. I ended up in the seat that would soak me more then any of my fellow passengers. By the time the ride finished my shoes sloshed with the water that flowed down my backside on the ride.

My boys, flying high

We arrived at the train station just in time as the steam engine pulled in just as we entered the gate. Our ride was very spacious and David had a smile from ear to ear the entire trip. Then David and his dad rode a ride that took them high in the air and spun them outwards. I stayed on the ground and photographed them. There were a couple other rides we were able to cram in before the park closed.

While the ride on the trolley worked well for our journey from the hotel to Dollywood the same can not be said for the return trip. You see, we caught the right trolley but we thought they would turn around a lot sooner then they did. So we were still on the trolley long after we expected. David was very sleepy on the trip and laid his head on me to rest.

It is now about midnight and we have just finished dinner and are getting ready to go to sleep. It has been a very fun and exhausting day. Tomorrow my relatives will join us for the day so it promises to hold even more excitement since we will also have a full day here.