After a bit of shopping, we left the Gettysburg visitor center for a two hour bus tour of the battlefield and surrounding area. I was surprized by the size of the battlefield over 25 square miles long. I’m not really sure what I expected, I guess just an open field or something, I was surprized to see so many homes that were original to the area during the civial war.

Our tour guide David was great. An ex-english teacher, he had a passion for telling the stories of the battlefield and captivated all the kids. They really paid attention to what he was telling them and you could tell he loved his job.

Tour Guide David!

We made our way through the “town” area of Gettysburg before we got to the battlefield. David showed us how all the historic homes all have a bronze plaques on the outside that states “Civil War Building”. You could see some of the holes in brick buildings from the bullets and cannonballs. He also said that at the end of the war, most of the homes were used as hospitals for the wounded soldiers.

Everywhere we went, you could see mounments, plaques, headstones, etc. Most of them were dedicated by vetrans of the civil war and through private contributions. We stopped at an open field and he had the kids all line up in rows, just like the soldiers of the civil war would do when marching through a battlefield.

David went on to explain to the kids why this method was not very effective and why battle at Gettysburg had the largest number of casualties in the Civil War.

Robert E Lee Memorial Statue

View from Littel Round Top

General Warren

Pennsylvania State Monument

I think this was one of my favorite monuments. We were able to get out of the bus here and climb a long spiral staircase inside the first column to the top of the monument. The view was spectacular!

Kaileigh & David from the top of the Penn Monument

We finished our day and drove, once again, to the next hotel. Dinner was at the Cozy Inn buffet. The food was good, nothing spectacular, but the pumpkin/sweet potato pie was awesome! Luckily our hotel was right across the street and we both fell into bed exhausted once again.

Our third day of the trip and we were up again at 6:00am and went down for breakfast by 6:45. Breakfast was good. Another morning of scrambled eggs, bacon, little potatoes, juice and fresh cut fruit. I have to say, one thing that I really liked about this trip was the fact that the trip leader (who looked like buzz lightyear) let all the parents get in line and eat first. I loved this little bonus!

After breakfast we hopped back on the bus and left for Monticello (which in Italian means “Little Mountain”), home of Thomas Jefferson. Before we could actually go down to the house, we had to line up (again) and get on a shuttle bus.

Before touring the house, we had about an hour or so to view the grounds and surrounding area around Monticello. We walked down a long dirt road that lead to the family cemetary and had various displays along the way.

Monticello was beautiful. We went on an inside tour of the home (where no pictures were allowed). All the beautiful furnishings either belonged to Jefferson or were exactly the same and from the same time period. The library was amazing and I loved his inventions that were scattered throughout his home.

After our tour we left Monticello and drove a few hours to Gettysburg. We stopped for fast food lunch and watched the Princess Bride on the bus. Most of the parents slept, while the kids forced themselves to stay awake and played cards or watched the movie.

We finally made it to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We started our tour at the Gettysburg Visitor Center and shopped for a bit. Don’t ask me how I talked her into it, but I was able to snap a picture of Kaileigh wearing an Abe Lincoln hat! Doesn’t she look cute! (and just so thrilled!)

After spending the morning in Williamsburg, we headed for Jamestown which is one of the three locations of the “Historic Triangle“. Our first stop was to the visitor center where they had a replica of the Powhatan Indian village and boats that came across the atlantic brining supplies and settlers. Some of the boats were so small! There is no way I would have gotton on one of those! We also toured the museum which had artifacts from the original settlement.

We got to watch as a guy demonstrated how they used a wood shaver/carver thing and watched a guy load and fire a shotgun.

Cute picture of Kaileigh and Maya at Jamestown

After Jamestown, we left for Yorktown to see where the British army surrendered to General George Washington, thus declaring the US as an independent nation. It kind of had an eerie feeling standing there looking out on to the field…

We then drove by bus for 3 hours to Charlottesville, Virginia, and watched “The Ultimate Gift” along the way. I fell asleep so I have no idea how it ended, but the hour or so that I saw, looked like a good movie. We stopped at Michie’s Tavern for dinner. The tavern was built in 1784 and served food that you would find during the same time-period. We had dinner by candlelight and it was delicious. Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn bread, coleslaw and peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert. YUM! This was, in my opinion, one of the best meals we had on our entire trip. The perfect end to our long day. After finishing up dinner, we left and checked in at the Holiday Inn around 9:30 and we were both asleep by 10:30.

After what seemed just like a short nap, our wake up call was ringing at 6:30am. Time to get cleaned up and head downstairs for the first of many breakfast buffets consisting of powdered eggs, bacon, sausage, cold cereal and pancakes. By the end of the week, I think both of us had enough buffet breakfast to last a lifetime. If I never see a big vat of powdered eggs again, I will die happy.

After breakfast, we left for Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Our tour guide, ironically also named Virginia (which she pronounced Virginer), took us on a tour of the historic area.

It was a beautiful day in the sun in Williamsburg, just slightly humid but not uncomfortable. One of our first stops was at the Tailor shop. They had several displays of period clothing, all stitched from hand, including his entire wardrobe.

One of my favorite stops in the town was at the Silversmith shop. Not only did they have beautiful displays, but the silversmith was super funny and kept us entertained. Did you know that cups were made for ‘cup stuff’?! Unfortunately, the shop was really small and I was in the back, so I didn’t get a very good picture of him but a great shot of the kids standing in front of me!

After visiting with the Silversmith, we went to the Blacksmiths shop. Another pretty cool trade back in the 1700’s. The walls were painted white and had a slight dusting of soot, which I imagine is how you would go home everyday as well! The Blacksmith was pounding out nails from iron bars. It was pretty cool how he would heat it up in the coal then strike the bar with the hammer and sparks would shoot out everywhere! I also thought the big bellow were interesting to watch.

The last of the trade shops we visited was a saddle shop. I thought it interesting all the different types of ‘leather’ they had tanned in the shop, including if I remember correctly, frog….

After visiting the trade shops, we stopped by the Jailor’s house and cells. It was facinating that they actually kept people locked up in there. The back side of the cell had a small hole where food would be passed from the kitchen into the cell. Apparently these cells even housed some of Blackbeards pirates!

At the backside of the house, you can see a replica of the gallows in the distance. Creepy.

Can you believe this beautiful view is just down the street?! How gorgeous it must be in the fall with all the changing colors and leaves on the ground.

The end of our visit we spent touring the Capitol which was built in the early 1700’s.  The kids had fun sitting in the general court area. I thought it would be funnier if they were wearing those long white wigs. Kaileigh scrambled and got a great seat on the left side. I sat behind the barrier where the spectators would have sat.

After touring all over Williamsburg, we were free to go our own way for a couple hours and had lunch and shopped a little bit. It only around 2:00 and we still had to visit Jamestown, Yorktown, drive for a few hours, and eat dinner before checking into our hotel for the evening. More about that in the next post!

After spending two days working on it, I finally got the video to upload. Not only did I upload it, I also added titles! How cool am I?!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get dad going down as he had the camera and needed to use 2 hands to zip line.  :cry:

After a sunny day in Haiti, we then headed to our second port, Ocho Rios (which means eight rivers), Jamaica. Once we arrived into port, we headed for our first (and only) Royal Caribbean excursion – The Original Canopy Tour! For me, I think this was one of the highlights of our vacation.

Once we got on the shuttle bus, we ended up driving almost an hour to get to the top of the mountain where we could zip-line. I should have gotten some pictures of our driver! That guy was a crack up! He kept saying “Everything is everything, Man” in his native Jamaican accent. I think I must have heard him say that at least 50 times in the hour he was driving.

When we got to the top of the mountain, we had to wait until everyone got geared up in their harnesses and helmets. Then we went through the how-to’s and safety orientation. Below is John getting fitted in his harness.

The four of us all suited up and ready to go!

The trek to the beginning of the tour. At least is was downhill most of the way and shaded. It must have been at least 100 degrees out and the humidity was incredible.

Unfortunately, we were at the back of the pack so we had a long wait while everyone in front of us got hooked up and zipped across to the next platform.

The platforms were pretty cool. They were harnessed to the tree trunks and could be moved or taken down without damaging the tree.

I’ve got some great video that John took of the kids and I on our first zipline. I need to upload it to YouTube but at the moment I’m sick and I’m going to go to bed and get some rest. Stay tuned for Day 5 – Part 2

On day 4 of our summer vacation, we pulled into our first port, Labadee, Haiti. Royal Caribbean leases this area directly from the government and they do all their own maintenance, etc. It was a really nice area, the water was super clear and wonderfully warm, and the sand was soft and powdery.

Because there is no dock, you have to get to the island from a tender station. The boats are pretty big and run frequently between the island and the ship.

They can get pretty crowded on the way back.

The entrance sign into Royal Caribbean’s side of the island. We liked the whole pirate theme (the island was once a pirate settlement back in the early 1600’s).

Once we arrived on the island, we were quickly escorted to the beach and had some beach chairs set up for us.

Here’s John-John and I in the water where we first set up camp. As you can see, there were tons of people. It didn’t take long for us to wander to a more secluded area of the island. This side was where the RC water park was, floating mat rentals, banana boats, and water slides were. It was pretty crowded to say the least.

Here’s a better shot. At least that guy isn’t standing behind us, but you can’t see our ship. Maybe I’ll have to superimpose the two…

After taking a quick dip in the water, we headed to the Kids Club and let John-John hang out there for a while. I thought it was pretty cool that the kids had their own play area and the Kids Club crew members from the ship where here as well.

Once John-John got signed in, we headed to explore the shops. They were run by locals and big John likes to barter

After a little shopping, we had a barbecue lunch which was catered from the ship. The food was pretty good but nothing special. After lunch, we headed to the other side of the island where there were less people. It was pretty relaxing and we enjoyed soaking up the sun. The girls and big John snorkled around a bit. I mostly did this:

Look how dark John got on just our first day of sun!

That’s about it for Haiti. It was pretty relaxing and the water was beautiful! I wish we had beaches like that where we live!!

Day 3 of our vacation was spent getting to our ship and getting acquainted with our accommodations. This was my second cruise, my first being a 3-day to Mexico back in 2000. The ship was at least twice as big as the one I had previously been on and our room was probably 3 times bigger! The girls and Evelyn had taken an Alaskan cruise a couple years ago but I think they were all impressed with our luxurious ship and room! Big John has been on a few cruises as well, but for little John, this was his first time.

Here’s the first view of our ship (the Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas) from the freeway

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Once we arrived at the ship, we had to then check in and go through security. Because we were staying in a family suite, we were able to bypass this huge line of people. That alone was worth paying the extra money!

Once we got our bon voyage picture taken and boarded the ship, we made our way up the elevator to our floor. Here’s the view of the promenade from our floor. Needless to say, we were all surprised at the scenery!

Our family suite was beautiful! It was a the back of the ship with a large balcony, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room and a small walk-in closet. Plenty of room for the 6 of us, it was very comfortable. We’ve definitely set a higher standard for future vacations!

View of the master bedroom

View of the master bathroom. The best part is that we had a full size tub which was great for bathing John-John!

View of the second bedroom. This one actually had 4 beds in it, the two that are showing and two more that dropped out of the ceiling!

View of the second bathroom. It was nice having two since there were six of us in the room

After checking out our rooms, we had to report to our muster station with our life jackets.

After mustering, we went up and toured the spa, work out room, pools, and kids club. It was a huge ship and had tons of stuff to do as well as shopping, eating, bars, coffee shops, casino, Ben & Jerry’s, and even a Johnny Rockets!

Day 2 of our family vacation was spent at the Magic Kingdom which is really similar to Disneyland in California except for it’s about 10 times bigger.

One of the really cool things I did this year was follow the suggestions of Tour Guide Mike. If you’re planning a trip to Disney Florida, I would really recommend spending the $20 or so it costs and follow Mike’s suggestions. It really made the difference in our vacation. Also, buy your tickets here. We ended up saving quite a bit of money for the 6 day park hopper tickets.

Anyway, we started the day early and got there before the park opened (like Tour Guide Mike suggested). It was really fun watching the park open! The characters all came out on the train and did a little song and dance, then they did a countdown and then they dropped the ropes and people rushed everywhere!

Our first stop of the morning was the Dumbo ride. Having stood in line for 45 minutes last year at DisneyLand to ride this ride, I knew we wanted to get this one out of the way.

After Dumbo (which we only waited in line less than 5 minutes for), we hit the Carousel, Peter Pan’s Flight, It’s a Small World, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey’s Philharmagic all in the first hour! It was amazing how many rides we were able to get on, being there so early and being at the other end of the park.

Here’s Alanna & Kaileigh on the Pooh Bear ride.

Mommy & John-John on the Peter Pan ride. I love the look on John’s face!

Alanna & Kaileigh on the Peter Pan ride. The amazing thing about this picture is that they were in front of us and it was completely dark inside the ride when John took this picture!

Little John & big John in line for the Tomorrow Land Indy Speedway.

I love this picture of John & John-John. The only thing you can see of John-John is his hat!

Mommy & John-John on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin – This is my favorite ride!!

Near the end of our day. We stopped to watch a parade and the skies opened up and started raining on us! Here are 4 of us crowded under one small umbrella. John-John was huddled in the corner of his covered stroller trying to stay dry!

Another great day and another big thank you to Tour Guide Mike, his suggestions sure helped our day run smoothly!

During the time we went on our vacation, I wasn’t blogging a lot. So, I’ve decided that I wanted to go back and recap our family vacation we had this summer. Otherwise, I’m going to forget exactly where these places were and what we did.

We started our two week vacation in Orlando, Florida. The day we arrived, we hit Disney MGM Studios.

We managed to catch a great parade. John & little John were right up front!

We saw Buzz Lightyear

A life-size, waddling, green army man

Took a nap

And rode on a backlot tour

It was a fun, hot, humid day in Florida. Between that and the time difference, we all slept pretty soundly that first night!