Our Last Week in Virginia

We move in four days!  This past week has been a lot of fun and a lot of getting ready to move. Luckily we have movers so we don't have to do a lot of packing, but there's still a lot to get organized.

This past week we went to the zoo with Robert's work. Robert had his camera out the whole time, but as we were walking back to our car he said "I didn't take any pictures of the kids." So we have plenty of pictures of the orangutans on the o-line, but this is the only picture we have of Julia- Julia and Robert eating ice cream. Robert's new hobby is photography so he was more interested in getting good pictures than taking pictures of the kids.

We also had to run down the gas on our car before it gets shipped to California, so the kids and I took a drive out to Frying Pan Farm Park where we saw the animals, rode the carousel, and went on a wagon ride.

Micah spent the day under a burp cloth because I couldn't find his hat.

We have a million pictures of Micah just smiling but he's just so cute I can't resist taking more.

Finally, yesterday we were given tickets spur of the moment to a Nationals baseball game but got there after the game started and couldn't find any parking. So Robert and Julia had a daddy/daughter date at the baseball game while Micah and I drove the car over to the National Mall and went to the National Gallery of Art, one of the few place in in DC I hadn't been to yet that was on my list of things to see.

Flight 93 Memorial

On our way up to Pittsburgh we saw a sign indicating the way to the Flight 93 Memorial. We looked it up and it was about 20 minutes off the freeway, so we decided we would check it out on our way back home. So after we left Niagara Falls we took a beautiful scenic route through the middle of Pennsylvania to the Flight 93 Memorial. 

There is not a whole lot there right now, but things are in the works to add a little more. While we were there they were planting 40 trees for each of the people who died and there will also be a bell tower. Right now there is a long walkway in front of the field where the plane crashed leading to a wall with the names of all the victims. It was a nice stop on our long drive back home and Julia got all her energy out walking around. She fell asleep as soon as we started driving again and didn't wake up until we were almost home.

Some things that I learned about the flight was that there were only 33 passengers and 7 crew members on board. The terrorists chose cross country flights that typically didn't have a lot of passengers because they wanted the least amount of resistance from the passengers and the most amount of fuel. The plane was late taking off, which is why the passengers were able to find out about the other attacks and decide to stop the terrorists.

When the plane crashed the terrorist had flipped the plane upside down to stop the passengers who were trying to retake the plane, and then figuring that the passengers were just a few minutes from overtaking them they crashed the plane rather than allow the passengers to get control. At the time it crashed the plane was only about 20 minutes from Washington D.C. where it was supposed to have hit the US Capitol Building.

The spot where the plane crashed is marked by a large boulder on the field.

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