Spring Break: Assateague Island

Charis (Josh's sister and my freshman roommate) and Craig and their three adorable kids came to visit us for Spring Break: April 11-22, 2014.  It was a fabulous, wonderful, busy trip full of playing, site-seeing, and bike riding not to mention Easter and Lucy's birthday.  It was so fun to see all the little cousins together (7 kids under one roof for 11 days, phew!).  They all got along really well and other than poor little Charlie getting a cold there were no major hiccups.  Oh how I wish we lived closer!

We love going to Assateague Island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  It's about a three hour drive through beautiful country (and over the Chesapeake bay bridge) and makes for a rather long day but we love to do it whenever we have new visitors.  The day we went was a gorgeous day, not hot and not too cold, and it wasn't crowded. 

Elsa was not so sure about the sand.  She refused to walk in it for a long while after we got there.  Eventually she warmed to it.

Love those little sand covered toes!

Everyone into the COLD water.  Elsa did not approve.  The other kids it took a little bit of time but before long they were drenched.

 

Sisters

 

Charlie was fascinated with everyone's shoes.  And couldn't manage to keep the sand out of his eyes.

Elijah spent a majority of his time digging a massive hole in the sand.

By the time we left it was big enough for him to curl up in completely.

 

I think we brought half the beach home with us. 

 

And yes we did see wild horses (even a baby one) while we were on the island.  We just weren't crazy enough to get close to them for pictures.  Some people sure were!

We finished the trip off with a yummy dinner eating blue crab and broiled shrimp, both smothered with the Maryland famous Old Bay spice.  It's a rather disgusting process to have a table full of people chowing down on all you can eat crabs and shrimp with all the legs and body parts strewn across the table, but worth doing once in a while and is sure tastes good! 

Ash Lawn-Highland

After a filling and fun lunch at Michie Tavern where they serve a time period-esque southern buffet, we decided to go to the home of James Monroe: Ash Lawn-Highland.

This house is a stark contrast to Montpelier and Monticello.  They refer to the house as a "cabin castle" because of it's quaint outside but ornate, French decorated inside.  It was really quite charming. 

James Monroe, unlike Madison and Jefferson, did not die in debt.  He sold this home a few years before he died.  With that money and a grant he obtained from the government, Monroe was able to pay of his debts, most of which were incurred while he was in government office.   Because he died solvent about 80% of the items in the home are his, most of which are on loan from Monroe's decedents, as opposed to Madison and Jefferson whose belongs were all sold in order to pay for their debts after their deaths and have been scattered to the wind.  Interesting.

Attached to the side of the "Cabin Castle" is an old Victorian home.  At one point the owners decided to open the property to the public, moved their family into the top story of the Victorian and used the main floor as a gallery (much like it is today) and allowed visitors to tour the home.  Now that is dedication to sharing our history!

 

 

As you look from the Victorian you see this old brick path flanked by bushes that leads to a large statue of Monroe.  It was quite charming and the boys loved to run along it.

Yep, I was there.  Those are my toes.

This little lady was so well behaved throughout the house tours.  By the end of the trip the poor girl was dying to just get down and crawl around on the floor. She was such an adorable trooper that would melt down when strangers paid any attention to her (sorry waiters at all the restaurants).

 Beautiful old white oak tree behind the cabin-castle/to the side of the Victorian.  The tour guide said it was over 200 years old which means it was there when Monroe was!

I had to take a picture of this little guy.  It's a furry little caterpillar.   As we were driving down to Virginia we could see dozens of these working to cross the road.  They were also all over the place on the grounds of the houses.  The boys would always stop and watch them for a bit and wish them luck on their travels (we also saw many that hadn't made it)!

There were also some animals on the property.  We went for a little walk to find the chickens and the lone, sad peacock (his ladies having recently become victim to a coyote).  We walked a bit further and I got some cute pics of my adorable family.  I'll share those in the next post.

Monticello

After an unnerving wake up call-- yep, the fire alarm went off minutes before my phone alarm was to go off.  Talk about a rude awakening and an adrenaline rush to start off your day, and a yummy breakfast of apple cinnamon waffles (yes, I recommend the hotel despite the wake up call), we were off to Charlottesville to see Monticello, Michie Tavern, and Ash Lawn-Highland. 

It was interesting to do the tours again for Montpelier and Monticello and have different guides.  You get a slightly different perspective.  I wouldn't be opposed to going again.

 The view from the top of the little mountain is stunning and the boys I get to hang out with are rather handsome too!

 View from Mulberry row down into the gardens and across the landscape.

 The back side of Monticello.

 Ben taking time to smell the flowers.  Sniff Sniff

And we discovered last time we were at here (and roasting from the heat) the Monticello Root Beer.  We had to get it again.  It was that memorable and quite tasty.  And Elijah and Sam were more than willing to model it.

Okay, Sam is playing it up.  That man is a total goof.  Hmm, wonder where he gets that... NOT!

Montpelier

Josh's parents came for a visit last week and we took the opportunity to go down to Virginia with them and show them the houses of Madison, Monroe, and Jefferson (similar to the trip we took in June but the weather was SO much better).

 

This time around we didn't get stuck in hours of traffic and were able to spend a lot more time seeing the things we wanted to see.  Our first stop was the home of James and Dolley Madison in Orange, Virginia.

 

Meet Dolley and James.  James was known as the Great Little Madison.  He was a small man and soft spoken but when he did speak he had brilliant ideas that shaped our constitution and our country.  We spent some time hanging out with them on the bench behind their home.  In the background you can see the entrance to the Dupont gardens.

Montpelier is so beautiful and the fall season made it even more so.  It was such a peaceful place with the gentle rain of leaves all around us as we walked around and explored. 

My pathetic attempt to get this lone rose.  The late bloomer was the only one left on the entire bush. 

The "Temple" built by the Madisons.  It actually covered their ice house. 

There is active archeology digging going on around the property.  They are literally going through the Madison's garbage piles.  An interesting, though tedious process.  We got to talk with the people cataloging and digging and sifting the dirt.  And down in the lab they had a box of dirt for the kids to sift through and find their own artifacts.  Ben was in heaven!  That little man loves rocks.  Frankly, Elijah and Sam were quite into it too.

Backside of the house

As we toured the house Sam raised his hand and asked a question in about every room.  It was pretty cute.  And Elijah was excited to see the cardboard cutout of Lafayette sitting at the Madison's dining table.

Cool old tree stump behind the house.  Of course the boys had to climb on it.

This is the stunning view from the path that goes down to the Madison family cemetery.  The picture doesn't do it justice. 

After spending time at the Montpelier we headed to our hotel, checked in and then went out for a bite to eat.  We ate at a little pizza dive (there really isn't much in Orange) and then it was back to the hotel to swim for a bit.  The highlight of the trip for the boys... they couldn't stop asking when we were going to go.  We stayed at the same hotel as before (comfort inn and suites) and they have a [semi] heated indoor pool.  This time we were able to convince Ben to actually get in the water with us.  He was very timid at first, plastering himself to Josh, but by the end of the night he was floating on his back, splashing and kicking water at his brothers, and even blowing bubbles.  Little lady and I also went swimming and we pretty much had the pool to ourselves for an hour of great fun, albeit a little cold.