the 3 little pigs

This week for preschool we are learning about fairy tales. On Monday we read about the 3 little pigs and then we built the houses and reenacted the story. The kids had so much fun and Jonathan wanted natali to be the big bad sheep (wolf) Jonathan was the little lion, the little panda, and the little smurf (3 little pigs) hahaha we didn't have the right animals for this but the kids thought it was funny and they laughed. we had to do it 3 times and natali blew blew blew with all her little lungs:) It was fun. today they will read about Jack and the beanstalk and we are going to try and plant a bean and watch it turn into a bean stalk. wish us luck! I sure am enjoying this preschool and the things we are learning.

Mount Vernon

 Welcome to mount Vernon, home of George Washington

 This building is the kitchen

 This is the inside of the guest house.

 Out the back door. Beautiful view

 Inside of the kitchen

 Outside of the guest house

Washington's riding chair.
This was a great trip. Mount Vernon is just on the south side of DC so on our way down to Virginia for my brother in law (Kalen)'s wedding we stopped by mount Vernon for a couple hour detour. I have always wanted to go and I am so glad we got to go. George Washington was an amazing man. He was the 3rd owner of the house. His dad built it (It was smaller) then he passed away and the house was passed on to George's half brother. Lawrence, the half brother built onto the house(still smaller then it is today) A few years later his half brother passed away and half was given to George's sister in law and the other half to George. The sister in law remarried right away so George bought her half. Then George remarried and built on to the house and buying the land around them and added onto the property. It was like a city in there with how many buildings were there are places for the slaves and workers to live. It was amazing. I would go again:) sorry no pictures inside the house because they told us we couldn't take pictures inside. I guess you will just have to come visit us and take a trip down there:)

Arlington National Cemetary

As I look at these pictures I stand in awe! These men and women fought for our country and I will be forever grateful for their service. There was so many graves and as we were walking by a military marching band walked by and right behind them was a horse drawn carriage with a casket. The American flag draped over the casket and the black cars following it filled with the family members. I wept for the family. I don't know this family or what happened but my heart went out to them. I said a little prayer for that family and thanked that soldier as his casket rolled on by. What a touching experience.  As we were leaving the cemetary I noticed rocks on top of some of the graves (mostly with a Jewish star on the grave stone) I asked Jason if he knew why there was rocks on top and if it could possible be a Jewish tradition but just then we walked by one with a cross and we were confused so of course I had to look it up. This is what I found out.. "The tradition dates back to Jacob’s sons placing rocks atop their mother Rachel’s grave. It also serves as a cover to a grave in sandy climates where winds may expose the buried to animal predators." They also said it was adopted by Christians and Muslims as well especially in areas they can't leave flowers or in bad climates. I thought this was interesting. It was a great day.

Kennedy

We went and saw Kennedy's grave site next. As you turn to go back down the stairs this is the site you see. You get a beautiful view of the Washington monument and there are parts of his famous speech on stone at the bottom of the stairs.

Unknown Soldier

We took a trip to the Arlington cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. We of course had to see the tome of the unknown soldier. We got there just in time to watch the changing of the guard. What an honor that would be. It was so peaceful there and beautiful (even though it was super hot and humid). I am glad we went. It was an amazing experience to watch. I think everyone should go.

National Aquarium in Balitmore

Of course we all know Jonathan's favorite animals are the shark and the dolphin so we had to go see them at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It was a fun day. The dolphins did a show for us as well as taught us a lot. They taught us how to tell them apart, about each dolphin they have and about dolphins in the wild. It was amazing. I had no idea and of course the kids were loving every minute of it. Jason was just as excited because this was his first time seeing a dolphin in real life not on tv! What a great learning day:)

Lighthouse

We took a 2 week brake from preschool because Jason's parents and grandparents were in town. We were taking the kids to the National Aquarium in Baltimore (I thought it would be a fun thing for the kids to learn on their week off)  and we parked on near the bay. We were walking to the aquarium and we saw this lighthouse. It was a museum you can go into and see how it was used. The first picture is the bedroom, second picture is the names of all the lighthouse keepers for this light house. The 3rd picture is what it use to look like when it was a working lighthouse. the last picture is what it looks like today. It was fun to go check it out.