Big Cities

John 15:3 "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."

Apart from Jesus I can do nothing.

I cannot be the wife and mother He has called me to be without Him.

He is changing our family dynamics on this trip. Molding and shaping the way we interact and work together. We are constantly challenged by new experiences...learning how to explore this path the Lord has blessed us with.

The past few weeks were no exception as we spent most of our time vising "Big Cities". One's where you have to navigate through toll roads, subway lines, security checks and crowds. Big ones like DC, Philadelphia and New York.

So much History.

On our way to our campsite in New Jersey we stopped to visit Philadelphia.

You can't visit Philly without trying a cheese steak and that's just what we did when we got there.

On the way to lunch we passed by the spot where Benjamin Franklin's house used to be.

We visited Independence Hall.

It was amazing to be standing in the same room that the Declaration of Independence was written.

Here is the Liberty Bell.

After Philadelphia we set up camp an hour south of NY in NJ. The rain started to kick in that night making our planned two day trip into NY cold and dreary. That didn't stop us from exploring.

We took the Lady Liberty ferry to our first stop, Ellis Island.

So many people passed through the Great Hall, including my Great Great Grandfather from Hungary.

Layne loved the audio tour, she was quiet the entire time listening to the voice inside her earphones.

Lady Liberty was our next stop. We climbed the stairs to the pedestal and looked out over the harbor.

This is the inside of the Statue of Liberty looking up. Interestingly we learned that Gustave Eiffel designed the interior framework of this statue as a sort of proving grounds for his later creation, the Eiffel Tower.

After, we took another ferry to Battery Park, Manhattan and walked around the lower end of the city. We saw the New York Stock Exchange...

and visited the 9-11 Memorial. It was surreal being at the spot where the terrorist attacks happened. I remember that day so vividly.

The new Liberty Tower, stretching high up into the sky. We couldn't see the end of it.

Finishing up our day we took a ferry back to our car and drove to Hoboken, NJ. Our kids were so excited to see Carlos Bakery. We parked right by the ally where they filmed parts of Cake Boss.

Day 2 of NY looked promising...the weather was warmer.

To get into Manhattan that day was exhausting. First we spent an hour driving the toll roads to park at Liberty Park. Then we took the water taxi which dropped us off on Manhattan. After that we took the subway and landed ourselves right at Times Square. I'm tired just remembering, but the picture below was totally worth the pain of getting there.

Haha...so much fun. They bombarded us, and in typical tourist fashion we gave in.

The rest of the day we took the subway to visit the many NY landmarks...

Times Square

Radio City Music Hall

Rockefeller Center

M & M's candy store...Birthday Cake flavor was our favorite.

We ended our day with a stroll through Central Park. It amazes me how something so beautiful and peaceful can be in the center of such a fast paced city. It was by far my favorite part.

One last mention about the toll roads...don't take them if you don't have to. That's all I'm going to say about that.

New York was big, exciting, and fast paced. I am ready to slow things down a bit. Currently we are spending the week in Cape Cod, enjoying the beautiful 80 degree weather. Our plans are to relax tomorrow, get some school done, and enjoy this journey the Lord has given us.

Sweet Hershey and Lancaster Farms

Berkie the Bus is the name we affectionately call our coach, Berkshire just sounds too formal.

Anyhow, Berkie needed a bath so on our drive from Gettysburg to Hershey we stopped at a truck wash and they hosed her down.

New experiences for our kids everyday.

Upon arrival to Thousand Trails Hershey we quickly realized that this camp was serious about it's road rules. They had their speed bumps set at an angle to control speed.

I don't think they realize how it feels to be sitting in an RV while driving over them. Cups and children went flying...it felt like a So Cal earthquake.

Are they afraid that crazy RV folks like ourselves are going to drag race or something?

Seriously those speed bumps were uncalled for. On top of that the speed limit is 5 mph. We could idle the car and pass 5 mph!

Good thing the beauty of TT Hershey makes up for the road rules.

Justin and the kids fished everyday. They caught trout and catfish.

The weather has been beautiful here, the wind picks up in the afternoon a little, but we have enjoyed Hershey.

I was really looking forward to our tour at Hershey's Chocolate World. What girl doesn't like chocolate?

We took the free tour ride and enjoyed the chocolate sample at the end.

We didn't stay long, but we browsed the candy area and found this huge chocolate kiss. I'm not a huge Hershey's chocolate fan, I prefer See's. Specifically Scotchmallows. Mother's day is around the corner, hopefully Justin will read this in time. Hint.

Hershey is not far from Lancaster County...Amish Country. I have always been fascinated with how others live and the Amish are no exception. Reading Beverly Lewis books I was very familiar with their culture and beliefs, making our trip to Lancaster that much more fascinating.

This is a picture of an Amish home and farm that you can tour (we didn't end up going though because the timing wasn't right), but it was so weird that a Target was right next to it.

We stopped off at the Kitchen Kettle Village and had lunch and decorated Gingerbread cookies.

Driving through the back roads of Amish Country. The farm land is absolutely breathtaking.

The Amish use these bicycle like scooters instead of bikes.

Driving along we saw so many horse buggies.

Our experience in Lancaster was amazing. Beautiful farmland, beautiful people.

Since space is limited I am in constant battle with stuff being left about, sometimes I just give up and let it be. This is our messy Monday.

We have enjoyed our time in Hershey, today was a down day. Laundry is done, kids are fishing and I am getting ready to make dinner. Life is so good and we are cherishing every minute.

Gettysburg Gorgeous

From DC to Gettysburg we stopped off at a repair shop to get the awning on our slide fixed. It was damaged from the wind in the Outer Banks. We have not been able to push out our kitchen slide since the damage so it was nice to get that fixed and have a little more room.

After the repair we headed to Gettysburg Farm where we stayed two nights. The kids were in heaven with all the farm animals. I loved the beautiful scenery, a farm in the springtime is absolutely gorgeous.

The farm had pigs, bunnies, cows, alpacas, goats, peacocks, and geese.

During our visit we drove to the battle of Gettysburg and purchased an auto tour cd to help us visualize the battle scenes.

While we were driving through the beautiful rolling hills of Gettysburg I realized that I missed my Canon 5D camera. Before the trip I sold it along with my lenses not wanting to lug it around and spend time editing.

In my head I figured that if I didn't have the camera I wouldn't feel the pressure to make every picture perfect and so I would enjoy our trip more.

All pictures taken on this blog have been with my iphone or Justin's...it has worked out well, but our time at Gettysburg reminded me that an iphone can only do so much.

It was hard to imagine these fields covered in dead and wounded soldiers. There were monuments everywhere, dedicated to the lives of the soldiers who fought there.

We stopped at the lookout tower, guess who didn't climb to the top.

Here we are taking a little break to eat battlefield fries.

We finished the auto tour and then headed back to the farm.

It rained off and on during our time there. I wish we would have stayed longer, but we have future plans booked and need to keep moving.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures of our stay in Gettysburg...

Eyes closed in every picture I took. It was because we were both laughing so hard at that moment, I don't even know why. Justin's going to kill me when he see's this.

Last Day in DC

The bugs are gone, thank goodness. It's still a mystery as to how they came about. I'm sure it will not be the last time.

Our last day in DC we woke up bright and early to hop on the Metro for a tour of the Capitol Building.

A week ago Justin emailed our Congressman, Darrell Issa, for tickets to visit the Capitol. His office responded quickly with a date and time.

When we got there we waited in a long line with others, most of whom were in large groups. Expecting to be lumped together with them we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were scheduled for a private tour with one of Congressman Issa's interns.

It was so nice, just the 6 of us. We were able to ask questions and take our time.

The Rotunda reopened after some renovations just a few days before our tour, so although construction work was still in progress, we at least got to see it.

Inside the Capitol each state is represented by two statues...California has Ronald Reagan and Father Junipero Serra who is the only sculpture of a non American character. My Reagan is always excited to see or hear anything about Ronald Reagan. He was an amazing President and we are so glad we have our Reagan named after him.

Our Capitol tour ended with a trip to the House of Representatives. Thankfully it was in session so we were able to sit and listen to Congressmen and women address the House with their petitions. It was very interesting.

From the Capitol building we walked on over to the Air and Space Museum. Our last stop in DC.

Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and the plane she did it in.

We even got to see the actual plane that the Wright brothers used for the first flight.

Layne never ceases to entertain me...she knows mamma has a hard time in museums.

Our trip to DC was busy, educational and fun. I don't know if I could have done another day, but I'm so grateful for the time we did spend.