My Whirlwind Trip

Okay, here is a few shots from my whirlwind trip but you have to picture the start time and conditions. Wednesday morning, 2:30, to be exact, 34 junior high kids and 8 adults start the two hour bus ride to the airport. This was a very chatty bus ride as for many of these kids it is their first plane ride and they are so excited. I so enjoyed hearing their excitement and you should have heard the oohs, ahs and cools as the plane climbed above the clouds.

Our first stop, Washington, D.C.
The White House:



An unexpected stop at the National Archives, the line was short and the tour guide wanted us to see the Declaration and Bill of Rights.



This is one of my favorite places to see in DC, the changing of the guards and the playing of Taps, I never have a dry eye.

We did several monuments, in fact most of them and arrived at the motel at midnight.

Back up at 5:15 a.m. for a half-day in DC

We went to the Jefferson Memorial and FDR Memorial and the Capital.

Here is a fun shot, I composed with the girls.



At noon, we climbed on a bus to head to New York City. We ate in Little Italy.



Shopped lots in China Town and then went to the Empire State Building.



This was the favorite of many kids. End of Day Two, back to motel at 11:30.

That is all my pictures, the next morning I had an accident with my brand-new, Mother's Day present camera. I bought a bottle of Diet Pepsi and put it in my purse after drinking a bit. You guessed it, I did not have the lid on tight. The camera would not turn on for hours, I worried about the pictures I had already taken. Finally, the camera did turn on and I could see my pictures, a sigh of relief went through me. Something was not right for the picture taking mode, the colors are all in pinks, blues and yellows. To make matters worse, the twins' cameras batteries had died and we did not have their charger. Well, super-mom or crazy mom came to the rescue. On the ferry, to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, I bought a $18.36 disposable camera. The girls were thrilled and I felt happy as they could take pictures of this once in a lifetime event.

What else did we do: Wall Street, Trinity Church, Ground Zero, saw the Broadway Play, Wicked (fabulous, incredible, wonderful, specatacular), Times Square after the play (my least favorite, too many people and it was hard to keep track of our group) Okay that is Day Three and we are back at our motel at 12:30.

Day Four, we get to sleep in a bit 6 a.m. is the start of this day. We ride the Subway for our fourth time, old pros now, you know! Central Park, 5th Avenue (only an hour here), we went into FAO Scwhartz, Tiffany's and I took them into Fendi's for sticker shock! We only had an hour on 5th Avenue, I was trying to soak up the designer's windows while guiding 10 kids around. Then Rockerfeller Center and Times Square for a quick walk. On the bus for hour ride to JFK, our plane delayed, might have to spend another night in NYC or in the next city at our connection. A collective sigh went through the group, we want to go home. Well, thanks to our wonderful airline, Northwest, we did make it home, 4 hours late but that didn't matter we were home and now can look at the wonderful pictures and remember the sites we saw.

Want to hear about more water and my belongings? Well, we have had way too much rain since March and while I was gone the unfinished side of the basement flooded. What is in this part? Washer, Dryer and my sewing machines. The countertop where all the machines sit had standing water on it when my husband got home from work. He cleaned it up, lined everything up to dry and turned on my machines. I held my breath as he told me this, they came on. Hurray. This is the one thing did when I arrived home last night! Want to know what day this happened? You guessed it, the same day as the camera mishap.

So as my oldest daughter said 17 years ago "It is glad to be home!"