Washington, DC

We are now in Virginia but I need to take some time to bring you up to date. We arrived in Washington late on Sunday. After a day of school and laundry and all that stuff we headed into town on Tuesday. We took a shuttle from the campsite to the Metro and headed to the Smithsonian which is a misnomer....it should be called The Smithsonian Group because it actually consists of many museums of which we visited 2....and it took us almost all day!! We went to the museum of Natural History and saw everything from elephants to dinosaurs to hissing cockroaches to tarantulas. We also saw the Hope Diamond. Next we went to the Air and Space museum where we saw the Kittyhawk, the Spirit of St. Loius and a Lunar Modual amongst a thousand other planes, rockets and helicopters. Then, since we hadn't done quite enough walking (not!!) we went to the Washington Monument and saw the White House, Lincoln Monument and the Capitol. We were exhausted when we arrived back at the trailer!! Since we didn't have the heart to drag the kids around for another day we spent a day at camp and then headed down to Williamsburg, VA. So, here we are in beautiful Virginia. Today we cashed in on our passes to the Busch parks. This was a huge amusement park with 3 huge roller coasters and every other ride imaginable. The kids had a blast. Fortunately Matthew still likes the tame rides so I hung out with him while the girls and dad went on all the roller coasters and freaky rides. Richard did drag me on the two worst roller coasters though. It was so fun we are heading there again tomorrow!

Sesame Park

Lancaster County

The kids with their friends from New Joisey.

In the tourist info they ask that you not take pictures of the Amish. I managed a few shots from far away with our old camera and this was the only one I could get with the digital camera. Some Amish farmer was in the hardware shop.

NYC

Times Square.


A shot from the ferry of New York Battery Park. The World Trade Centre was left of this shot.

All the kids were quite taken with Lady Liberty.

New York City, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Well, we finally have come to a campground with wifi. Last Tuesday we drove to Newburgh just north of New York City. We completely rely on Betsy now....all the highways are so confusing and I won't even get into the traffic. We are starting to enjoy traveling on Sunday because the traffic is lighter. Needless to say we weren't going to venture into New York City! We did what is best for tourists, go on a tour. The tour was great but also long and tiring. We made the right decision....traffic was horrendous. In NYC traffic laws are suggestions. NO ONE waits till they can get through an intersection before entering it so you have traffic sitting in the middle of the interestection when you have a green light. Oh, and don't honk...$350 fine for honking! It was total gridlock and madness but it was fun because we weren't driving!

We started our day in NYC at the Statue of Liberty and then on to Ellis Island....USA's equivalent to Pier 21. After a lunch stop it was on to the Empire State Building. We saw nothing but buildings and although our tour guide said visibility was so good we would be able to see home we couldn't locate Victoria. A stop at Rockefeller Centre and Time Square and a DBW (drive by and wave mom) to Central Park and we were on our way home. All along the way we were entertained by stories about New York and learning to talk like a New Yorker. Our bus driver was from da Bronx and our guide was from Brooklyn. They hate New Joisey because they stole the rights for the Statue of Liberty (technically on New Joisey soil). If you want to talk you say "Yo, Steve!" (our tour guides name).

It is amazing how much like home the trailer feels. We left our campground the next day because they kept charging us $5 a day per kid. They didn't even have a pool open or any activities for them.....burns me up! We drove next to Lancaster in Pennsylvania. We got one of the few remaining campsites (big weekend in Lancaster) right on the road. The only good thing about that is that we could watch the Amish buggies drive right past our trailer. The kids met some nice girls from New Joisey....hi Valerie and Wendy. We spent Saturday at our first Anhauser Busch park called Sesame Street. It was mainly geared for Matthew's age and younger but since it was the first big theme park the girls had ever been to they loved it too. I think they went on the roller coaster about 20 times. They were kept busy with the rides and the scavenger hunt. The next big park we hit is in Williamsburg VA. Unfortunately the water park is closed so we will have to wait for Florida for a good waterpark.

After a church service on the campground on Sunday we headed down to Washington DC. So here we are. We had a little bit of trouble in Baltimore because we needed to change highways so as not to go through tunnels. We aren't allowed to take propane in the tunnels. Today was a school and laundry day, tomorrow we head downtown to the Smithsonian. All the museums are free in Washington. I love that price!!

Hampton, New Hampshire

Well, I must say, it was getting a little cold up in Canada so we figured we should head south. We crossed the border on Saturday without any difficulty and drove for a long time through Maine without stopping. We stopped in Hampton and we were right....the weather here is beautiful. We don't have to put on the funace at night anymore and today we spent the day at the beach....a beautiful one at that! The kids had fun boogie boarding because the waves weren't too high. The water temp was a little cool but not too bad. From here we head to New York city and stay there until Saturday. We will celebrate Richard's birthday on Wednesday in the BIG APPLE!

Evangeline.....and Rachel

Picking apples in Annapolis Valley

Knot tying on the Silva

Taekemas, VanWoerdens, Elna(red coat on left), her nephew Asher DeGroot(green coat in back) and Marika on the Silva

Annapolis Valley, St. John and St. Andrews

Well, we finally left Halifax, none too soon for Richard who was getting ichy feet after 7days. We have arrived safely in St. John. If you accidently say St. John's (as in capital of Newfoundland) they will correct you.
Our last 2 days in Halifax were very fun. On Saturday we headed up to the Annapolis Valley. It was so beautiful! We first went to Grand Pre which is a Historical Site detailing the expulsion of the French Acadians from the valley in 1775. Thousands of Acadians were shipped south to the Louisiana area as well as England and France. The reason they were told to leave is because they would not sign an oath of allegience to the English king. There is very famous poem by Longfellow called 'Evangeline' which portrays a young Acadian boy and girl who were to be married but became seperated and sent out on different ships. Evangeline searches her whole life for Gabriel and only finds him in old age, dying in a hospital. On the site is a beautiful stone church and a bronze statue of 'Evangeline'. We had a picnic and then set off to find an orchard.
The kids said that they wanted to pick apples so we stopped at an orchard and picked a 10lb bag of apples and pears. Now they can have an apple or pear whenever they want to. We drove through beautiful little towns full of old houses with big porches and gables. It was all so pretty, we felt we could easily live there if it wasn't clear across Canada.
On Sunday we went back to the CRC in Halifax. There was another family from BC there! It was Elna's (we had dinner at her house last Monday) sister and her family (6 kids) who are doing what we are doing. We spent the afternoon together on a sailboat in the Halifax harbour. We saw the guns that protected the harbour during the First and Second World War. The ships would wait in the Bedford Basin and then go in convoy across the Atlantic in the war. The kids were entertained setting the sails, tying knots and learning about the boat. It was a fun day and we hope to meet up with the Van Woerdens again. Trivia: Halifax has the world's second largest natural harbour.
It has become noticably cooler lately. The sun is still shining but the nights are getting quite cold.
We stayed for 2 nights in St. John. Yesterday we drove up the coast to the Fundy Trail. We decided not to go in because it cost money and we were tired and just wanted to sit on a beach for a while. We found one by the town of St. Martins that was very rocky and we spent and hour or so looking for pretty rocks and playing in the water. We were overlooking an area of sea caves as well but we couldn't go over there because the tide was in.
We drove for a hour today down the coast to a small town called St. Andrews. We are once again camped right on the beach and it is beautiful and warm. The excitement for this afternoon is a disaster drill taking place in the harbour right in front of us. There are helicopters and huge planes as well as the Coast Guard boats.

Halifax

Sorry it has taken me so long to write Dad. The only excuse I have is that I wasn't feeling verbose. Last Thursday we took the ferry from NFLD back to Sydney,NS. We didn't make a reservation because the ferry was so empty the last time we went on it we figured it would be ok to show up. We forgot that it was a holiday weekend. I am happy to say that we squeaked on with no room to spare. We had to move our truck up under a semi trucks' overhang a couple of feet so they could close the doors behind us. We were relieved because we didn't relish the idea of waiting another 2 hours for the next ferry. The crossing was a little rougher than the last time. There were a few people grabbing for the barf bags...glad we aren't prone to seasickness. We stayed in a campground 5 km from the ferry, it was 11:00pm before we got the kids settled into bed.
On Friday we left for Halifax, we had done a lot of driving on Newfoundland and we wanted to find some place to just hang out for a while. We are glad we picked Halifax, there is so much to do. The first day we just vegged out, did laundry and school. On Sunday we went to church and Richard met a girl (Elna Siebring) from Victoria that he grew up with. It was a very friendly church, we stayed and visited for quite a while after. After lunch we decided to spend the afternoon at Peggy's Cove. It was very nice but it was VERY crowded. I had a hard time getting a shot of the lighthouse without people in it. You can see how I managed in the picture with Catherine. We found out after that it was the anniversary of the Swiss Air disaster. The kids had a lot of fun climbing on the rocks. Richard of course was imaging cracked skulls and after letting them roam for about 15 minutes we left. I could have stayed there much longer but it kinda takes the tranquility away when it is so busy.
On Monday we celebrated Rachel's 7th birthday. She chose MacDonalds for lunch and then she wanted to go bowling. The only bowling available was something called Candle Bowling. There are 10 pins and they are very skinny and light wieght. When you hit one it knocks over most of the other ones. I really liked that and Michelle you will be happy to know that I did quite well. All the kids had a great time and Matthew and Rachel beat their older sisters so they were very happy about that. Matthew was so fun to watch. He would go up and swing the ball between his knees then as the ball trickled down the alley he was jumping up and down and cheering the ball on. For dinner that night we were invited to Elna's place. We brought Rachel's birthday cake along and had a delicious meal with cake to follow.
Tuesday we headed downtown to Pier 21. There is where both Richard and my parents landed in Canada and recieved their landed immigrant status. It was interesting to see the displays and hear the stories of other peoples experiences. There was an excellent film chronicling all the years Pier 21 was in use, welcoming war brides and sending soldiers to Europe as well as inspecting the papers of all the immigrants. I was able to go to the research centre and see the passanger lists of the boat my parents were on. So many experiences, so many stories.
Yesterday we headed into Halifax again to see the Maritime Museum. They had displays on all things to do with fishing in the past 200 years. There was an interesting display on the Halifax Explosion. We later headed up to St. Pauls Church and saw a wooden piece of a window frame stuck into the plaster wall of the church. There is also an anchor 2.5 km from the explosion site. As we were in the church one of the pastors got to talking to us and he showed us the tomb of an old bishop under the floor boards as well as the guy who signed the edict expelling the Acadians from Nova Scotia. There is a plaque on the wall in remembrance of a girl who at 12 years of age was married (1775). She had 6 sons and 6 daughters and died when she was 40. He had to point that out when he found that Jenna is 12. There was also a Titanic display at the museum. Halifax was in charge of the salvage operation. All of the unidentified bodies are buried here, including a 2 yr old boy, some 300 bodies.
That's all for now, today we are off to Lunenburg.

Halifax

Rachel's birthday

This is a guard from the Halifax Citadel. He was at Pier 21 for a performance for the cruise ship passengers.
Peggy's Cove