Chesapeake Bay - Grandview

Enjoying a baby in my arms.

Johannes:  "I'll keep the hat on for Aunt Shanea.'

Thaddeus with his sand claws for castle creation with cousins.

Marshal totally relaxed with medicine three days and nearly 3000 miles behind him.  Seth direct from the hospital.  Both looking forward to the future when they can really enjoy what they do.

Two year old in salt waters - family classic.

And this two year old is soooo cute!

Distraction from sand castle demolition.

"My castle."

Castle completion.

Two months old, Nathanael Seth with Dad.  Look at the dimple.

Old-fashioned girl.

"You call that a locust, Mom?"

Biggest grasshopper.

Colonialists

Back to Williamsburg in the late afternoon....

Jamestown Settlement

We've arrived at the first English colony.  Jamestown Settlement on the Godspeed!

Cook's quarters on Susan Constant.

Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed.

Arrrg!

A heavy hat.

Ball and ninepins.

1611 replica church in Jamestown Fort.

Just like Pocohontas.

Powhatan brave.

Grinding corn.

Sharpening a dear bone knife.

Working with deer bone - needles, fish hooks....

Gabe's favorite - the weapons storehouse.  We watched the musket firing demonstration just before.

It was a real treat to go to Jamestown Settlement and the Powhatan Indian Village living history museum after Gabe, Lydia, and I read aloud The Captive Princess, A Story Based on the Life of Young Pocohontas, from the Daughters of Faith Series.  We came across the book this summer at our local library, and the timing was perfect.

Cannons and Stocks

We took an evening stroll down the main street of Colonial Williamsburg.  We had the town to ourselves after business hours.  Gabe was all about cannons and guns this trip.  He ended up in the stocks with his accomplice, Lydia.

The Other Washington

We flew non-stop to Washington D.C.  After renting a car, we stopped at the monuments before continuing on a small road trip to Seth and Janelle's home in Virginia!

Lydia in the cockpit before take-off, Sea-Tac to Reagan National.

We met the pilot on the gate ramp, and he invited the kids into the cockpit for a little pre-flight lesson.

“With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”  Martin Luther King Jr. memorial.

Lincoln Memorial lit with the sun.

Reflection pool serving its purpose that beautiful balmy Saturday evening.

Lydia's favorite president.

"In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever."

Beautiful thunderheads.

Walking alongside Korean War Veterans.

So true... someone always pays the price.  I can't take freedom for granted.  So many have and continue to die every day for our political and social freedoms.  And One chose to die for my freedom from the curse of sin and death.  Christ willingly came to "give His life a ransom for many."(Mark 10:45)  The words of the verse John 8:36 came to mind, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."  It is good for me to remember that that freedom is NOT free and think on the Love that paid that price.