Gettysburg

Our trip to Gettysburg started with early morning fun- dressing up in Civil War clothing for photos. Rick was a confederate general, Jacob was a foot soldier and the rest of us gals were dressed appropriately. Becca, at age 14, was ready to be married off. Rick didn’t like that. Becca and I wore interesting hair wraps that our hair was tucked into quickly.

Our next stop was the Gettysburg national military park. We saw a movie about the three day battle then headed upstairs to see the cyclorama. This was a beautiful oil on canvas painting that surrounded us- it is as big as a four story building and longer than a football field! This was created in the late 1800s after the battle. I couldn’t believe the size and the detail.

We then toured the museum and viewed uniforms, equipment and even hard tack from the battle! The hardtack wasn’t moldy- that’s kind of frightening. I always enjoy the interactive exhibits and the kids got a kick out of listening to the different bugle calls.

We finished the day driving through the battlefield. There are many monuments to the different states and groups that fought here.

New York City- day two

Touring New York with children is a different experience than if we were alone. I wouldn’t have gone into Toys R Us and I may not have cared to visit the “Night at the Museum” museum, but that’s what we did. We started off our second day in New York touring the museum of American history. We saw the hotspots from the movie and learned a little along the way.

When we left we strolled past The Dakota where John Lennon was shot and then wandered through Central Park. The NY marathon was the coming weekend so they were setting up tents in the park and there were runners everywhere. There were downed trees from the snow the week before and city workers were busily cleaning up. We found the Balto statue and posed for pictures. Balto was a Siberian husky that lead a sled dog team with serum 600 miles to Nome in 1925 to save sick children from diphtheria. The Iditarod commemorates this event annually. My kids enjoyed Balto’s Disney movie so we stopped for photos.

We hopped on the subway and headed to Wall Street where we saw the Stock Exchange and Federal Hall where George Washington was inaugurated as our first president. We made our way to the 9-11 memorial walking past Occupy Wall Street. There were police everywhere surrounding the Occupy Wall Street area.

The 9-11 memorial is free, but you have to reserve tickets. They were very organized and we made our way to the memorial. It was incredible. Just beautiful.

I had learned somewhere about a pear tree making it through the attack- it was the only tree that was standing at the time. It was nursed back to health and was the only green leafed tree among the changing oaks.

The worst part about touring New York with children? Explaining 9-11. Neither Rick nor I could get through what happened, why it happened and the days following it without tears. I loved the saying on the t-shirts and magnets- “In darkness we shine brightest.”

Famous faces, famous places

It was a beautiful day today. We’ve really had great weather for the past six months. We headed to Liberty Park in NJ to take the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty. As we approached the park there was a gathering of people. We weren’t sure what was going on then we recognized Gov. Christie was giving a speech in the park. There were news crews and a lady eyeing us as we slowly drove past.

We paid for our ferry tickets and took the short trip to Ellis Island. Our country has provided refuge for millions for hundreds of years. In the beginning, as people arrived in our country they didn’t have to meet any requirements, but the first restriction for entry was if they were hardened criminals or prostitutes. Later they were checked for disease and given a questionnaire with 29 questions. They'd have to fill out their name, vocation, where they were from and answer other picture type questions since there could be a language barrier or the immigrant might not be able to read/write. There was a lot to see and learn, but we were on a restricted time schedule so we didn’t get to all of it.

We hopped on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. As we rounded Liberty Island it was wonderful to see the statue right in front us of. It was just great!

Our first stop was at the ranger station. Faith worked on her Jr Ranger program prior to our arrival so they awarded her with her badge and we went to listen to a ranger speak about the statue. Our guide was very knowledgeable and our 30 min tour turned into an hour.

We learned many things about the statue- her crown has seven spikes for the seven seas, seven continents, seven days of the week, because it’s a lucky number… or it might just be for symmetry- they are not sure why seven was chosen. Originally, she had the shackles on her left ankle and a broken chain in her hand because she was willing to fight for her freedom. With the end of the Civil War it was decided to go a more gentler way to unite the country and she was given a tablet to hold with the date our of centennial anniversary inscribed on it. This gift to the United States from the French started as a way to show their appreciation and condolences to Mary Todd Lincoln. They wanted to make a medallion to present to her, but Napolean III, the ruler in France at the time, was against it. People donated two pennies each and $40,000 was raised for the medallion, which was placed in a purple box and presented to her. The box is now in the Library of Congress with Robert Lincoln’s collection. During the planning of this medallion the idea of the statue started. The statue took nine years to make and three years to get here! It was shipped in 300 pieces that took 5 months to reassemble.

Our next stop was 15 minutes away in Hoboken- Carlo’s Bake shop from the tv show Cake Boss. This Jersey fella runs the shop with family members and makes incredibly designed cakes. Becca loves the show so we hoped the lines would be short so we could grab a sweet treat. Lucky for us, we were able to not have a long line and to be able to see the pastries. They boxed them up for us and we were off to the airport to pick up Gramma. My mom is staying with us for the month of November so we drove to Philly to pick her up. We stopped at the Molly Pitcher rest area along the way. It was a great day and everything went smoothly.

The kids measuring themselves to see if they are taller than Gramma!

Day off!

We had an unplanned day off due to exhaustion from walking around NYC. Rick wore boots instead of tennis shoes so his feet were killing him and, after 10 hours of sleep, our early riser was still asleep! So we spent the day doing school work, went shopping, found a Chick Fil A and prepared for Gramma’s arrival. My mom will be joining us for the month of November. We needed this day off, but the days to come will be exhausting too. The snow storm threw us off schedule, but we’re going to try to get everything in.

Tonight we happened by chance to drive past Molly Pitcher’s Inn. Becca wrote a paper on her a few years ago. She was nicknamed Molly Pitcher for bringing water to the troops during the Revolutionary War. Her husband died while manning the cannon so took over.

New York City- day one

We took the train from NJ into the city. Coming up from underground we were in the fashion/garment district. The names of famous designers were at our feet as we walked. Our next stop was Times Square. We saw the “ball” that signals the start of the new year, M&M World, huge blinking billboards, and Toys R Us with a three story ferris wheel inside.

Shopping for Monster High dolls

Lunch on the street

We walked to Rockefeller Center and I was surprised the holiday ice skating rink was already in session. I would love to skate there! We headed to the Top of the Rock for the observation lookouts on the 68th-70th floors.

You can see the Times Square ball that drops each year lit up on the right side

The zamboni was cleaning the ice

We walked up 5th Avenue to find FAO Schwarz and play on the big piano. You can buy your own for $250,000! We also found a foos ball game with Barbie dolls as the "players" for $25,000.

It was Halloween so we saw many people in costume, but this guy was the most creative!

Times Square at night

It sure felt like we covered a lot of ground. We spent eight hours in the city and walked for probably seven of those hours. The kids did a great job and only complained about their aching feet, rightfully so, at the end of the day.

Snowtober

Snow was predicted for Saturday, but we wanted to try to get at least part of our sightseeing in before the afternoon snow storm. When we left it was 39 and within a half an hour it dropped to 33. The cars coming from the north had snow on them and it started to snow on us. We decided to pick up some groceries and head back to the RV since the places we wanted to visit were an hour north. It was a good decision since West Orange, our destination, received 8” of snow. We had planned on seeing Thomas Edison’s home and workshop, then heading to the Statue of Liberty and Carlos bakery from the show Cake Boss. We are now trying to figure out how we can shuffle things around and what might be dropped from our itinerary.

This was only the fourth time it’s snowed in Central Park in October since the Civil War. Over 2.7 million people are without power due to the snow. The trees are not used to having leaves when it snows so the weight of the wet snow on the leaves and branches caused down lines and a bunch of problems. I’m thankful that the storm came on a weekend so fewer people were out on the roads.

Jersey Shore

After 70-100% chance of rain on Thursday I knew it would be best to go to the Jersey shore on Friday. We had great weather as we drove south to Atlantic City. We drove around and saw the sights then headed further south to see Lucy, a six story elephant shaped building.

Lucy was built to attract visitors and potential buyers to the Jersey shore by a real estate investor. It worked- presidents and royalty from around the world came to see Lucy and climb up her spiral stairs. She has survived hurricanes, floods and even a fire (a tavern once occupied Lucy and the fire was set by drunk patrons). In the 60s Lucy was neglected and a businessman bought the property and planned to tear it down. The Save Lucy committee formed and raised enough money to move the elephant two blocks down. In 1976, Lucy was designated as a National Historical Landmark.

While visiting Lucy we popped over to the beach. The sand was so fine and lovely. It was brisk out- about 42 and the beach was empty. Are those clouds filled with the predicted snow for tomorrow?

Our last stop was Cape May at the southern most point on the shoreline. There’s a lighthouse there and a bunch of Victorian homes.

It was just us and the birds at the beach. There are a lot of birds that migrate to the area.