Mt. Vernon, Virginia

After our beautiful day at the beach, we were able to travel down to Virginia to visit Opa (Gerrit's dad), Aunt Steph, Uncle Reeve, Jake, Sammi and Max.  We were so excited to see everyone.  After getting extrememly lost in DC ( I like to call it an early preview of the capital), we made it!!!  The next day, we set out for Mt. Vernon to see George Washington's homestead.  It was a HOT day, but we all had fun and enjoyed the estate.

 A picture Jackson took in the gift shop of a dollar bill watch.

 Our little Jr. Rangers.  They got a cool Mt. Vernon penny at the end. 

 George Washington's house.

 A very old, big tree on the estate.  I was very impressed by the huge roots. 

 Juliana, Jake and Jackson.  If you notice, Jackson is not smiling.  He would not smile in my pictures because he said people in 1776 did not smile in their pictures.

 Miss Sammi!!!  Love this girl. 

 George Washington's back porch. 

 I really liked this tree.  It was huge and beautiful!

 The view from George's back porch.  The Potamac, and our family, of course.

 Too bad you can't see if very well, but this is George Washington's head.  Everywhere you go around it, the eyes follow.  Cool and creepy at the same time.

 Jackson took a picture of me while we waited to get Opa's car unlocked.  Funny story....as we were walking out, after our 5 hour tour of the estate, Opa realized he didn't have his car keys.  Half of us went out to the car to see if they were locked in his car, and I stayed with him in the museum to see if he dropped them.  Not too long had passed and we got a call from the parking lot saying not only had he locked the keys in the car, but the car was also running.  Opa called AAA and they said the wait was an hour.  Finally, a Mt. Vernon cop had pity on us and used a special tool to unlock the car.  Everything worked out in the end and we had a story to tell.

Juliana finishing off the rest of my sandwich at lunch.  We were going to save this half for Gerrit but she kept sneaking into the box for "one more bite because it's so good."  Needless to say, there was nothing left for Gerrit.