History at our fingertips - Gettysburg

This past week was Spring Break. 

Usually that means a trip back to Ohio to see the family while daddy works, 

but this time daddy decided he could get away.  

Over the holidays we started talking about places we could go 

and Rosie expressed a great desire to go to DC. 

From there our spring break plans were made.

We all know I am really bad at editing myself so 

here is our trip and everything else in its entirety. 

Heading East on Friday we made a pitstop in Ohio 

to drop off Grandma Judy who had been helping us out for a week and 

to see Grandpa Bill for his birthday. 

 We saved hotel expenses for a night by staying in Kalida and 

got to see the Schulte cousins.  Yeah!

 From Kalida, we took the route that took us through central Ohio. 

My hubby is the king of odd pitstops, and that brought us to our first 

stop Grandpa's Cheesebarn. 

It was a great place to grab a snack, cheese curds and fudge. 

Just what we need on a 9 hour drive.  

 Through Ohio and Pennsylvania, it was close to bedtime before we made it to 

our hotel in Gettysburg.  

Gettysburg was not something the kids knew to much about before our trip. 

We had read a lot about Washington DC, about the presidents, 

and some of the landmarks, but not so much about wars. 

Gettysburg was our first reality check in what people 

go through to fight for what they want. 

The kids love Lincoln.  

Like capital LOVE Lincoln.  

He is my favorite president and the kids also. 

Around Gettysburg are so many statues of Lincoln. 

We had fun exploring each and every one of them. 

The fact that Abraham Lincoln had a major role in freeing blacks from slavery, 

makes him a white knight in my book.

Souvenirs from trips can go a little crazy with 4 kids, but Nate 

was right on top of this at our first stop. 

Something he had always wanted as a child was a National Parks 

Passport.  When he saw them at the Gettysburg Visitors Center he told 

me that he wanted to get one for each of the kids. 

They ended up being the single best thing we purchased on the trip. 

At many of our stops/monuments/parks we could walk into the 

gift shops and get a stamp in our passports saying we've been there. 

Lil Miss carried her passport around everywhere like a trophy.

In Gettysburg, the battlefield is so large that you have to travel by car to see all

memorials and battlefields.  

It was a windy day, but we bundled up and enjoyed snacks 

and the heater in the car in between stops. 

In Gigi's words "its alot of stones with words and hills."

but it is more than that.  

We downloaded an app for our ipads so that we could 

watch reenacted videos about the Civil War as we drove through the auto tour. 

The kids had lots of questions and thanks to Google we could answer most of them. 

It was a way for us to the tour at our pace.

Did I mention it was a windy day?

We saw pretty much all we wanted to see in Gettysburg in one full day.  

Yes we could have seen the diorama, we could have gone to Eishenower's National 

Historic Site, but the kids were so anxious to get to DC.  

We couldn't pack our bags fast enough. 

I convinced Dad to make one extra stop on our way out of town and

that was at Sachs Covered Bridge. 

It was such a pretty bridge. 

This was the bridge the confederacy took out of town to retreat from the 

battle of Gettysburg. 

This is one of two family pictures we had taken on the trip. 

I had to add it.

Before we made it into DC, we made one stop at Mount Vernon. 

Learning about another president, George Washington, 

we walked on hallowed ground as we explored Mount Vernon, Washington's mansion. 

Our first glance of the Potomac River. 

The kids got less and less excited seeing the Potomac as we crossed it every morning and 

every evening entering and leaving DC going to our hotel in Arlington. 

The Mount Vernon mansion is a really cool tour for adults and kids. 

The puzzle scavenger hunt kept the kids occupied and 

involved in the tour from beginning to end.

Mommy was a fan of the beautiful grounds and 

gardens. This made this gardener very happy. 

We then made it into the city.... 

more to come.