Gettysburg

"Soldier" at Gettysburg: "Are you a Billy Yank, or a Johnny Reb?"

Luke: "Well... I'm a Cardinals fan"

Soldier: "Are you a Rebel?"

Luke: "No!"

Soldier: "Well, are you a Yankee?"

Luke: "No!..... I'm from Wisconsin"

Soldier: "Oh, you're a Yank."

Bridal Bouquet

You really can't appreciate how HUGE this bridal bouquet is just by looking at the picture

10 stems of hydrangea

12 pink intuition roses

12 pink orlando roses

plus pearls, limonium, and italian ruskus...

I couldn't get my hand around the stems!

Lime Green Glads

This spring I bought these green gladiolus bulbs. Susie planted them for me, but warned me that they probably wouldn't bloom this year, because they were planted late.

BUT! YIPPEE!!! Here they are!!!

Here's a close-up so you can really appreciate the color

Backyard Barber

Once month or so Mom sets up shop in the backyard




And gives free haircuts
To her sons

Partners in Crime

In the short story collection, Partners in Crime, we meet Tommy and Tuppence after six years of marriage, bored and in need of a new challenge they take over the nearly-bankrupt detective agency 'Blunt's International Detective Agency' and solve cases in the manner of assorted great detectives including Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown and Hercule Poirot

____________________

The visitor was ushered into the private office, and a pleasant faced young man with red hair and and air of brisk capability rose to greet him.

"Sit down. You wished to consult me? I am Mr. Blunt."

"Oh! Really, I say, you're awfully young aren't you?"

"The day of the old man is over.... Let me tell you this, sir, not a person on my highly trained staff is a day over twenty-five. That is the truth."
Since the highly trained staff consisted of Tuppence and Albert, the statement was truth itself.
"First of all," he said, "will you give me your name? My office boy is trained never to ask names. In that way the consultations can remain completely confidential."

"Oh! rather," said the young man. "Jolly good idea. My name -er- my name's Smith."

"Oh! no," said Tommy. "The real one, please."
His visitor looked at him in awe.

"Er - St. Vincent," he said. "Lawrence St. Vincent."

"It's a curious thing," said Tommy, "how very few people there are whose real name is Smith. Personally, I don't know anyone called Smith. But nine out of ten who wish to conceal their real name give that of Smith. I am writing a monograph upon the subject....."

Later...
..... Tuppence laid aside her pad.
"Do you wish for our special twenty-four hour service?" she asked in business-like tones.

"What's that?"

"The fees are doubled, but we put all our available staff on to the case."

"What? I say, that's wonderful."

"We only employee experts - and we gaurantee results," said Tuppence crisply.

"But, I say, you know. You must have the most topping staff."

"Oh! we have."

________________________________

The girl was shaking hands with the celebrated "Mr. Blunt", whilst Tuppence sat by with eyes demurely downcast, and pad and pencil in hand.

"My confidential secretary, Miss Robinson," said Mr. Blunt with a wave of the hand. "You may speak freely before her." Then he lay back for a minute, half closed his eyes and remarked in a tired tone: "You must find traveling in a bus very crowded this time of day."



"I came in a taxi," said the girl.



"Oh!" said Tommy aggrieved. His eyes rested reproachfully on a blue bus ticket protruding from her glove. The girl's eyes followed his glance, and she smiled and drew it out.



"You mean this? I picked it up on the pavement. A little neighbor of ours collects them."


______________________________



The Villian: "Don't you understand that I have got you- got you in the hollow of my hand? That you're absolutely in my power? That no one who knows you is ever likely to see you again?"


"Can't we cute out the melodrama?" asked Tommy plaintively. "Have I go to say 'You villian. I'll foil you yet?' That sort of thing is so very much out of date."

-Partners in Crime

Agatha Christie

Did you know...

If you spent 15 seconds

In front of every display in the Smithsonian Institution

It would take you 12 years to see everything

Coffee

A recent study shows that Coffee helps your cognative abilities...

Ummm... I knew that already...

MOM

My mom has become an overnight celebrity in our little town. A friend who works at the newspaper asked mom to do her a favor and submit some recipes to help get their "recipe corner" column started. Mom agreed of course... Many issues later... mom's still the only one submitting recipes and all over town people stop her to say how yummy her recipes are...

Chicago

Last weekend my sister Katie and I went to Chicago with some friends. I didn't get any pictures, but Kristi did! So, I'm just going to to link over to her blog so you can all see how much fun we had. And how wet we got...

Chicago trip

The White House

Here we are in front of the White House.

Did you know there's a dress code for the West Wing?

I don't think you can read it so here's what it says:

"Those not appropriately dressed and wearing the following will not be allowed to tour the West Wing. "

• 
  
  Jeans
• 
  
  Sneakers
• 
  
  Shorts
• 
  
  Mini-Skirts
• 
  
  T-shirts
• 
  
  Tank tops
• 
  
  Flip flops

Civil War Day

The homeschool group here is having a Civil War day this fall. Period garb is mandatory of course... that's all the fun!

So, I'm taking votes... which dress should I make?

Simplicity 4400

Simplicity 4551

Butterick 3992

Battle at Kruger

You have to watch this all the way to the end. It's AMAZING!!!

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

We took a ferry from Jersey City out into the harbor and circled the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

I couldn't help imagining how those thousands of immigrants that sailed into New York Harbor must have felt when they got that first glimpse.

They must have been exhausted from their many weeks at sea. They might have been sick, hungry. They disembarked at Ellis Island and while they were trying to get back their land legs they were herded through lines. They waited for hours to be inspected and finally allowed to walk out onto American soil.

I've been to foreign countries and experienced the apprehension of culture shock. Being surrounded by an alien language is bewildering to say the least. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for these immigrants to uproot their entire lives and move to completely unknown territory.

But, they came because they wanted something better for their families. Something better than they had always known.

Wedding

The Bride and her Father

Unity

Mr. and Mrs.

Bridesmaids Bouquets

The Reception

Cake

Abraham Lincoln

"And that Lincoln memorial... Gee whiz! Mr Lincoln, there he is. He's just looking straight at you as you come up those steps. Just... sitting there like he was waiting for somebody to come along."

-Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Yep, that's how I felt

We read the Gettysburg Address... and yes.. I cried.

Ford's Theatre where President Lincoln was assasinated.

More Washington D.C.

Dad bought Luke a genuine replica George Washington Hat and Sword.

And this is what Luke looked like for the rest of the trip...

We were excited to see "Constitution Ave"

We're pretty easily amused...

After the Smithsonian we went to the National Archives It was truly amazing.

We saw the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and The Magna Carta among other things. Flash photography isn't allowed because of the damage the light does to the documents so I dont' have any pictures of them.

But, here's the front of the building.
And here we all are!!
The Capitol

Arlington National Cemetery which was SO MUCH bigger than I had imagined. It was very sobering to read the inscriptions and think about the men buried there and everything they sacrificed for our freedom.

Washington D.C. day one

We had so much fun on our trip out East that I think I will be posting pictures for a while!!

Our first stop was Washington D.C. and I have to tell you we were THRILLED to be there!!!

We are gigantic history buffs and we have wanted to visit our nations' capitol for a long time!!

The first day in D.C we took a metro into the city to The Smithsonian Institutian.

When we got off the metro and walked up the stairs we turned around and saw this!

It was very exciting!!

You might not know this (you probably do) but the Smithsonian is actually lots of smaller museums all laid out in a mall and together they make up the Smithosonian Institution.

We most wanted to see the National Museum of American History

We were dissapointed to discover that it was closed for remodeling and won't reopen until next summer.

But, we didn't let that deter us. It took us about 10 seconds to decide to go to the Air and Space Museum instead.

They had an incredible display devoted entirely to Orville and Wilbur Wright.

Here they are with a little 21st century friend.

And here is the actual plane that they flew at Kitty Hawk for the very first ever flight! I know, I know. It's awesome, right?

THEN! Very exciting news! Although the American History Museum was closed 150 of their "treasures" were in a special display called "Treasures of American History" at the Air and Space Museum!! Yippee!!!

We lost no time seeing that display!!

The top hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing the night he was assasinated.

George Washington's uniform.

This is getting to be a very long post so I will stop for now.

Much, MUCH more to follow, very soon!!!

home sweet home!!!

We are home from our trip out East!! Just rolled in a few hours ago... we're exhausted. But, VERY, VERY glad to be home. I loved our trip and I will have SO MANY pictures to share! We had so much fun touring Washington D.C., seeing the Statue of Liberty, visiting Getttysburg, PA... but, I must admit... I LOVE the good 'ole midwest.

I'll sort through pictures and post some soon!!! You can expect lots of history related posts coming up soon!! (My family is huge history buffs.... we didn't go to D.C. for the shopping... )

Joseph's thoughts after the birth of Jesus...

"The elsapsed time since The Eternal Son of God first drew breath as a

Son of Man on earth could be counted by a single hour and a handful of minutes.

Yet His true age was beyond time-everlasting-and thus

beyond human comprehension."

- Sixth Covenant

Bodie and Brock Thoene

Read Slowly...

"Mr. Speaker, I said the honorable member was a liar it is true and I am sorry for it. The honorable member may place the punctuation where he pleases."

-Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) British dramatist. On being asked to apologize for calling a fellow MP a liar. Attrib.

You know you're from a big family if...

-There are pictures of your family in matching outfits

-You wrote your name on the bottom of your socks

-You went to the bathroom just to get away from your siblings

-You never said "I'm bored" because your mom always made you take care of your siblings or do the dishes

-You learned valuble negotiating skills and honed them from a very young age

-You found creative ways to hide things you wanted to keep for yourself

-You shake your head in disbelief when you hear someone say they've never changed a diaper

-Your mom found creative ways to force you to get along with your siblings

-When one sibling annoyed you it was okay because you could just go hang out with a different one

-Sometimes in public you pretended you weren't with them

-Strangers think that big sister is actually mom

-You wouldn't trade the fact that you got the opportunity to make a bunch of best friends that are stuck with you for life

On the Road Again...

When I was a little girl my parents used to sing a song On the Road again... Rebecca Joy is on the road again... I guess we used to travel quite a bit back then.

Well, we're on the road... you guessed it... AGAIN!!

This time we're on the East Coast!! We are having a BLAST!!! Our family has always dreamed of seeing Washington D.C. and we just finished up two wonderful days of touring D.C.!

I have lots and LOTS of pictures to sort through, but unfortunately I don't have time right now.

I promise I'll post pictures soon!

And I'm back online for the rest of the trip (hopefully) so, I'll be posting regularly again...